White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer would not say whether President Donald Trump would invoke executive privilege in a bid to block former FBI Director James Comey from testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee next week.
“That committee hearing was just noticed, and I think obviously it’s got to be reviewed,” Spicer said at the daily press briefing Friday when first asked if Trump would try to block Comey from testifying.
“So that’s not a ‘no?'” the reporter pressed. In response, Spicer added that he has not yet spoken to the White House counsel about the issue and was unsure how counsel would respond.
The former FBI director will testify before the Senate intelligence panel Thursday, and he is expected to detail how Trump asked him to drop the bureau’s probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, according to CNN.
Kellyanne Conway on Friday morning also left open the possibility that Trump could invoke executive privilege.
“The President will make that decision,” she said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” when asked if the White House would try to block Comey from testifying.
Legal experts say that Trump certainly could try to invoke executive privilege, but that he may not have the strongest case, since the President himself has made public statements about his private conversations with Comey.
I was going to say something about optics, but then I remembered pussy-grabbing and mocking the disabled and firing Comey and having Russian circle jerks in the Oval Office.
So I guess optics don’t really matter.
“Huh…hadn’t even thought of that. Thanks for the idea.”
Too bad.
We could have counted on Spicer telling us the opposite of what was really going to happen.
It’s not “won’t say” it’s “can’t say.” Trump won’t know what he’s going to do until the day after it’s done!
Please… PLEASE! block him from testifying. Honestly, I doubt Comey has an great bomb-shell/smoking gun revelations up his sleeve, and the backlash to the President actively obstructing the investigation into him, both in public opinion and Congressional oversight, will be breathtaking.
Nothing would make me happier than for the Trump administration to breath life back into the He-fired-Comey-to-hinder-the-investigation-into-Russia story.