Blanche DOJ creates a dubious new immunity shield for Trump

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IuCpvfZyR1g

DC Special Grand Jury (feat. Joyce Vance) (Andrew McCabe and Allison Gill; Unjustified podcast)

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) put out a new opinion expanding the definition of executive privilege to cover up the administration’s corruption.

A former employee of the Southern Poverty Law Center has been arrested in California on charges that she oversaw secret payments to informants inside of white supremacist groups.

Donald Trump has appealed to the 11th Circuit asking them to halt the sanctions imposed by Judge Williams in Miami over the president’s lawsuit against the IRS.

Joyce Vance joins us to discuss the special grand jury empaneled by DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

Plus listener questions.
Interview: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dc-special-grand-jury-feat-joyce-vance/id1317481380?i=1000783570962

Biden moves could help shape political landscape in his favor - The Washington Post

Attorney General Merrick Garland asked Biden to exert privilege because the department feared providing the recordings to Congress could hurt future efforts to gain cooperation from administration officials, especially if they are asked to sit for recorded interviews. 

Garland's request was not without precedent; his predecessors in the Trump and Obama administrations also asked the president to exert executive privilege for investigative materials. 

House Republicans are seeking the recording of Biden's interview with special counsel Robert K. Hur, who concluded his investigation without filing any charges against Biden, arguing they needed it as part of their broader investigation into Biden and his family. But the White House argued their request was purely political, noting that the lawmakers had already received a written transcript of the interview...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/16/biden-executive-privilege-debates/

‘Where’s the beef?’: special master says Trump’s Mar-a-Lago records claims lack substance | Donald Trump | The Guardian

On the call, Dearie specifically asked Trump's lawyers to give him a better sense of how one document, for instance, could both be subject to executive privilege – a designation applying to presidential records – and simultaneously be a non-governmental, personal document...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/18/trump-mar-a-lago-documents-seized-fbi

Trump White House records temporarily blocked from release pending appeal - The Washington Post

"Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President," Chutkan wrote.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/appeals-court-temporarily-bars-release-of-trump-white-house-records-to-house-jan-6-committee/2021/11/11/0e71fd5e-423f-11ec-9ea7-3eb2406a2e24_story.html

Trump White House records can be given to Capitol attack panel, judge rules

"The court holds that the public interest lies in permitting – not enjoining – the combined will of the legislative and executive branches to study the events that led to January 6," Chutkan wrote in a 39-page opinion that delivered a major win to the select committee…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/09/capitol-attack-committee-trump-white-house-records

Cheney becomes GOP's Trump foil | TheHill

… Rep. Liz Cheney is using her platform on the special committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack to take direct aim at Donald Trump — and become a foil to the former president and de facto leader of the GOP… 

… "Mr. Bannon is claiming that discussions that he had with the former president, discussions on topics about which this committee is focused, which have to do with the planning for Jan. 6, that those discussions are somehow protected by executive privilege, which means [Bannon] was discussing those topics with the president," Cheney told The Hill in a brief interview. 

"So I think that it is a logical conclusion that if he's claiming that executive privilege covers those discussions, obviously the president was involved in discussions about the planning" of the attack...

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/577704-cheney-becomes-gops-trump-foil

Trump sues Jan. 6 committee, National Archives - POLITICO

Trump's lawsuit argues that the Jan. 6 committee doesn't have a valid legislative purpose for seeking the White House records — and, therefore, shouldn't get any of them. Congressional investigators must prove that they seek materials to aid in their legislative work.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/18/trump-sues-jan-6-committee-national-archives-516209

Executive Privilege Should Not Protect Trump's January 6 Actions - The Atlantic

… The determination here is both faithful to the purposes of executive privilege, and also an important instance of constitutional course correction—one that confirms the role of legitimate congressional oversight in our scheme of separated powers...

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/january-6-trump-executive-privilege-biden/620393/

Pentagon watchdog unable to 'definitively' determine if White House influenced JEDI contract | TheHill

The Pentagon's watchdog in a report released on Wednesday said it was not able to "definitively determine" whether the White House influenced the Department of Defense's (DOD) decision to award a $10 billion cloud-computing contract to Microsoft over Amazon. The department's inspector general office said it was unable to rule on the issue because the DOD's general counsel instructed witnesses not to answer questions about conversations between the White House and Pentagon because of “the assertion of a ‘presidential communications privilege.’” https://thehill.com/policy/technology/492939-pentagon-watchdog-unable-to-definitively-determine-if-white-house

Trump takes immediate step to try to curb new inspector general’s autonomy, as battle over stimulus oversight begins - The Washington Post

In a White House signing statement, Trump called "unreasonable" the broad investigative authority given to a new inspector general office.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/27/trump-coronavirus-inspector-general/

Donald Trump learned all the wrong lessons from impeachment and Mueller

Democrats and Mueller punted on challenging Trump. So their legacy is that obstruction and dubious, vague executive privilege claims are effective. ....
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/02/14/donald-trump-learned-all-wrong-lessons-impeachment-and-mueller/4749640002/

It was chaos, and then a real lawyer showed up - The Washington Post: Opinion

Democrats' counsel corners, then skewers Lewandowski...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/18/it-was-chaos-then-real-lawyer-showed-up/

Justice Dept. to Congress: Back off contempt process, or Barr will ask Trump to shield census documents - The Washington Post

Attorney General William P. Barr will ask President Trump to assert executive privilege to shield documents from the administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census if Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee proceed toward holding Barr in contempt, the Justice Department revealed in a letter Tuesday. ....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/barr-will-ask-trump-to-assert-executive-privilege-over-materials-on-added-census-question-if-lawmakers-dont-back-off-contempt/2019/06/11/ce4fd3dc-8c7d-11e9-8f69-a2795fca3343_story.html

Trump asserts executive privilege to block access to census documents - POLITICO

The president took the aggressive step as the House Oversight panel began proceedings to hold William Barr and Wilbur Ross in contempt.....
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/12/trump-asserts-executive-privilege-to-block-access-to-census-documents-1361784

Trump declares entire Mueller report and all associated materials protected by executive privilege - Daily Kos

In advance of the contempt vote on Attorney General William Barr, Donald Trump followed through on threats to take the entire Mueller report hostage.....
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/5/8/1856235/-Trump-declares-entire-Mueller-report-and-all-associated-materials-protected-by-executive-privilege

As Democrats prepare to hold Barr in contempt, he threatens to take entire Mueller report hostage - Daily Kos

A vote is scheduled to be held on Wednesday morning to find Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for his repeated failure to produce the full, unredacted Mueller report in response to a congressional subpoena. But overnight, Barr responded with a threat. In a letter written to House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler, the DOJ told representatives to back off—or they will shoot the report.....
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/5/8/1856208/-Department-of-Justice-threatens-to-throw-a-blanket-of-privilege-over-the-whole-Mueller-report.

Sorry, Mr. President. Congress has every right to investigate you - The Washington Post

“THERE IS no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress,” President Trump told Post reporters Tuesday, explaining why he was preparing to stonewall congressional requests for administration documents and testimony, possibly by invoking executive privilege. “We’re fighting all the subpoenas,” Trump said on Wednesday. “These aren’t like impartial people.” ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/sorry-mr-president-congress-has-every-right-to-investigate-you/2019/04/24/ae869e9a-66cc-11e9-a1b6-b29b90efa879_story.html

Trump Just Waived Hope of Executive Privilege: Experts - Newsweek

Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor, also tweeted that any idea of using executive privilege is "is out the window" after Trump's latest social media display.....
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-tweet-executive-privilege-mcgahn-testimony-1406222

White House Refuses to Turn Over AT&T-Time Warner Records - Variety

The White House is refusing to turn over records of communications related to the AT&T-Time Warner merger after House Democrats demanded such information, prompted by New Yorker report that President Trump had ordered advisers to pressure the Justice Department to block the deal. ....
https://variety.com/2019/politics/news/white-house-att-time-warner-records-democrats-1203191050/