White House Spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a briefing that President Trump was not going to stop Ex-FBI Director James Comey from making his statement before the Senate Committee, thereby choosing not to exercise his executive privileges as the president of the United States.
She said the President had the right to exercise executive privileges but chose not to in order to have a smooth and speedy investigation by Congress. These statements were made in the wake of rumors that the president would try to block Comey -- who has been ordered to present documents relating to his discussions with Trump -- from testifying.
Comey's testimony is expected to be explosive
The anticipated testimony will be widely viewed, both in and outside the U.S. The theme of the testimony relates to Russia’s interference with the 2016 elections and allegations of Trump using Comey to do his dirty work. Comey was ordered by his boss, President Trump, to abort the Michael Flynn case, according to sources. The conversation between the top government officials was documented by the former FBI chief. The panel intends to get details regarding those documents at the hearing on Thursday.
The Executive Privilege is something that the president can discuss freely with his staff. This law was enacted by the Supreme Court in 1974. The White House had earlier inferred that Trump was willing to take legal measures to tackle the Comey issue.
Trump lost his right to invoke his executive privilege?
Sean Spicer, the White House Secretary, said in a press conference that the White House was yet to make a decision. He stated that the Senate hearing was a notice and it was to undergo reassessment.
Legal practitioners are of the opinion that president Trump already lost his executive privilege because he made public declarations on the issue over Twitter.
The Republicans think otherwise. Donald Trump, in a tweet, cautioned Comey to make sure there was no leak of their conversations to the press.
A Harvard Law professor, Noah Feldman, reiterated that the executive privilege would work on the grounds that the conversations were confidential. He also stated that by releasing the tweets, President Trump had already breached the confidentiality clause.
Members of the Senate panel said on Monday that they weren’t sure if Trump would use his executive privilege, as they had not been notified in that regard.
