Conway Leaves Door Open To Trump Blocking Comey's Senate Testimony

Mr Comey is widely expected to be asked about conversations in which the President reportedly pressured him to drop an investigation into his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, whose ties to Russian Federation are under scrutiny.

Former FBI Director James Comey will have the nation captivated next Thursday when he testifies before a Senate panel about the stunning accusations that President Donald Trump pressured him to end his investigation into his former national security adviser's ties to Russian Federation.

"Director Comey was sacked by the president And you have the president himself making derogatory comments, in effect, at least reported to the press, calling Comey a nut job.Totally inappropriate", Warner said. But such a maneuver would draw a backlash and could be challenged in court, they said. What is executive privilege? For instance, in the Nixon Watergate probe the existence of Nixon's White House taping system was revealed in a surprise tidbit of testimony from a little-known presidential aide named Alexander Butterfield. In the 1970s, the Executive Branch sought a preliminary injunction against AT&T's response to a Senate subpoena on national security/executive privilege grounds.

The Associated Press reported earlier this month that Comey planned to testify before the Senate committee after Memorial Day, but the approval from Mueller to do so could indicate that date is fast approaching. Before invoking executive privilege, the president typically obtains a written memorandum justifying the decision from the Office of Legal Counsel, a division of the Department of Justice.

He said he had not spoken to the White House counsel, Don McGahn, about the matter. Have presidents invoked executive privilege in the past? "Yeah look, he's going to show up, and my suspicion is he is going to say the president brought this up and I was offended by this".

Trump's attempt to lift the sanctions were ultimately blocked, but there are new reports that Trump is planning to give Russian Federation back facilities in the United States taken by President Barack Obama in the initial sanctions over the election interference. Specifically, given how massively politically disadvantageous it would be ― sending a clear message, whether accurately or not, that there's something to be feared in Comey's testimony ― to try to throw up roadblocks anyway would suggest something dire about whatever the administration is anxious about. Trump likely would argue that Comey's testimony involves confidential conversations or matters of national security.

In the dead of winter several months ago - before either one officially joined the Justice Department - Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein met to discuss replacing James Comey as Federal Bureau of Investigation director.

Trump has denied any collusion between Russian Federation and his campaign.

Collins says that while the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election is "taking up a great deal of time" the committee is eager to question Comey on the circumstances following his recent termination.

Though executive privilege has existed in practice for centuries, it wasn't formally recognized in the USA until 1974, when the Supreme Court addressed the issue in United States v. Nixon. Any claim of protecting privilege could be undermined by Trump's tweets about his conversations.

Typically a president uses executive privilege to prevent government employees from releasing information. He is now a private citizen, so he doesn't have to fear retaliation for defying Trump.