04 June, 2017
President Trump will apparently not try to cite executive privilege in an attempt to block the Russian Federation investigation-related testimony of fired FBI director James Comey, according to two senior Trump administration officials who spoke with the New York Times.
But blocking former FBI Director James Comey from testifying to Congress could spark a political backlash.
Legal experts are skeptical the President could successfully invoke executive privilege to muzzle Comey because Trump has already written a letter about their conversations, talked about them publicly and even tweeted about them. Outside council did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "I don't know how they're going to respond", White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on Friday.
"The date for the hearing was just set", Spicer said. I have not spoken to counsel yet.
White House officials on Friday wouldn't rule out that Trump would attempt to invoke executive privilege, which Democrats have argued would be "baseless".
Comey, who was sacked by Trump last month, has been called to testify Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting a wide-ranging investigation into how the Russian government meddled in the presidential election and whether Trump's associates colluded with the Russians. Presidents can assert executive privilege to prevent government employees from sharing information. But seeking a restraining order barring testimony by Comey, who is now a private citizen, would be unprecedented.
Trump allegedly asked Comey for his loyalty and encouraged him to ease off an investigation into his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, according to a memo prepared by Comey and the former FBI director's associates.
The President has said that Comey informed him three times that he was personally not under investigation.
