US President Donald Trump has received warning from Democratic lawmakers to give up attempts to block former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony before Congress next week, The Hill reports.
In a letter to White House Counsel Don McGahn, top Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee pushed back on Trump potentially invoking executive privilege in an attempt to block Comey’s testimony.
According to the Democrats “any such assertion of privilege is almost certainly baseless, particularly given that Mr. Comey is no longer employed by the Trump Administration”.
“We urge you in the strongest possible terms to counsel the President accordingly,” wrote Democrat representative John Conyers, the panel’s ranking member, and six other Democrats on the committee.
“Any assertion of privilege by the President would be seen as an effort to obstruct the truth from both Congress and the American people,” they added.
Comey will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, as part of the panel’s probe into Russia’s interference in the election and any ties to the Trump campaign.
In his conversations with Comey, Trump allegedly pressured the FBI director to ease off his former national security adviser Michael Flynn and requested the law enforcement official’s loyalty.Trump has spoken publicly about his talks with Comey before he fired him last month.
The Judiciary Committee Democrats said Friday that two types of executive privilege aimed at protecting presidential communications could be applicable in the Comey case, but said “neither aspect of executive privilege would likely apply.”
“In short, use of executive privilege to block Mr. Comey’s testimony would be a mistake. We caution you that it would fail on the merits. We also warn you that the public would likely––perhaps rightly––view the decision as additional evidence of obstruction of justice” they wrote the White House Counsel.
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