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In Leaked Memo, Trump’s Lawyers Argue the President’s Constitutional Powers to Avoid Meeting Mueller

In Leaked Memo, Trump’s Lawyers Argue the President’s Constitutional Powers to Avoid Meeting Mueller

Last updated on: June 3, 2018 at 10:25 am by Susan Wright

In Leaked Memo, Trump’s Lawyers Argue the President’s Constitutional Powers to Avoid Meeting Mueller 2018-06-03T10:25:06-04:00 Susan Wright

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When is a president more than a president? When is he above the law?

Checks and balances were built into our system of government for a reason. They keep a single man from overtaking our government and reshaping it to his whims.

And speaking of Constitutional ignorance and unfitness to lead, a confidential letter has been leaked today, sent from President Trump’s team of lawyers to special counsel Robert Mueller.

This was part of their efforts to convince Mueller’s team that the president was innocent of all wrongdoing, and as such, had no need to be interviewed by special counsel.

In a brash assertion of presidential power, the 20-page letter — sent to the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and obtained by The New York Times — contends that the president cannot illegally obstruct any aspect of the investigation into Russia’s election meddling because the Constitution empowers him to, “if he wished, terminate the inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon.”

It’s all about the so-called “perjury trap.”

Trump’s legal team are convinced that there’s no way he could sit through questioning by Mueller and not tell a lie.

I honestly don’t know if Trump should be flattered that they’re pulling out all the stops to keep this from happening, or if he should be insulted because they’re apparently of the belief that the man is a compulsive liar.

Mr. Trump’s broad interpretation of executive authority is novel and is likely to be tested if a court battle ensues over whether he could be ordered to answer questions. It is unclear how that fight, should the case reach that point, would play out. A spokesman for Mr. Mueller declined to comment.

“We don’t know what the law is on the intersection between the obstruction statutes and the president exercising his constitutional power to supervise an investigation in the Justice Department,” said Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard Law School professor who oversaw the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel during the Bush administration. “It’s an open question.”

The letter, written by Trump lawyers Jay Sekulow and John Dowd (who bailed Trump’s legal team several months ago) was hand-delivered in January 2018 to Mueller’s office.

I’m not sure who leaked the letter, or what the end goal was to be, but the letter does go into details of the turmoil that followed the new president through the first year, as if it had nothing to do with the dysfunction of the administration and everything to do with the Russia probe.

That’s just not true. The chaotic days of that first year may have been exacerbated by tensions from the ongoing probe, but the dysfunction was a feature, not a bug, and by most every account, it was encouraged by Trump, himself.

Trump’s lawyers have pressed their need to protect their client, and suggested in the letter that the testimony from other witnesses, as well as documents already turned over to special counsel should be enough, without the need for Trump to speak to Mueller in person.

Documents are no match for questioning somebody face-to-face.

Mr. Mueller had raised the prospect of subpoenaing Mr. Trump to Mr. Dowd in March. Emmet T. Flood, the White House lawyer for the special counsel investigation, is preparing for that possibility, according to the president’s lead lawyer in the case, Rudolph W. Giuliani.

The attempt to dissuade Mr. Mueller from seeking a grand jury subpoena is one of two fronts on which Mr. Trump’s lawyers are fighting. In recent weeks, they have also begun a public-relations campaign to discredit the investigation and in part to pre-empt a potentially damaging special counsel report that could prompt impeachment proceedings.

The daily Twitter ragers from the petulant child in the Oval Office are not without a purpose.

There was No Collusion with Russia (except by the Democrats). When will this very expensive Witch Hunt Hoax ever end? So bad for our Country. Is the Special Counsel/Justice Department leaking my lawyers letters to the Fake News Media? Should be looking at Dems corruption instead?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 2, 2018

The “very expensive witch hunt” was recently estimated to have cost taxpayers $16.7 million, so far.

By comparison, President Trump’s multiple trips to Mar-a-Lago or other of his lush clubs during his first year has cost taxpayers well over $17 million (and climbing).

His further attacks on those who are key to the investigation, like former FBI Director James Comey, seem pointless, if not panicked.

“We cannot emphasize enough that regardless of the fact that the executive privilege clearly applies to his senior staff, in the interest of complete transparency, the president has allowed — in fact, has directed — the voluntary production of clearly protected documents,” his lawyers wrote.

Presidents frequently assert executive privilege, their right to refuse demands for information about internal executive branch dealings, but its limits are murky and mostly untested.

They’re bluffing. They’re hoping Mueller won’t push the issue, so it may very well come down to a presidential game of chicken.

“Ensuring that the office remains sacred and above the fray of shifting political winds and gamesmanship is of critical importance,” they wrote.

They argued that the president holds a special position in the government and is busy running the country, making it difficult for him to prepare and sit for an interview. They said that because of those demands on Mr. Trump’s time, the special counsel’s office should have to clear a higher bar to get him to talk. Mr. Mueller, the president’s attorneys argued, needs to prove that the president is the only person who can give him the information he seeks and that he has exhausted all other avenues for getting it.

He’s got time.

He’s doing nothing but watching “Fox and Friends” and live tweeting whatever they’re talking about until 11am every morning, while calling it “executive time.” Tell him he’s going to have to put his phone down and sacrifice a morning.

“The president’s prime function as the chief executive ought not be hampered by requests for interview,” they wrote. “Having him testify demeans the office of the president before the world.”

Demeans the office of the president before the world?

Oh, my. I believe that ship has already sailed.

One of the more interesting points to be raised from the letter is the admission that President Trump dictated the statement from his son, Donald Trump Jr., about the June 2016 meeting with the Russian lawyer at Trump Tower.

So what was the purpose behind leading his son to lie to authorities? The innocent don’t feel that need.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers also try to untangle another potential piece of evidence in the obstruction investigation: his assertion, during an interview with Lester Holt of NBC two days after Mr. Comey was fired, that he was thinking while he weighed the dismissal that “this Russia thing” had no validity. Mr. Mueller’s investigators view that statement as damning, according to people familiar with the investigation.

But the lawyers say that news accounts seized on only part of his comments and that his full remarks show that the president was aware that firing Mr. Comey would lengthen the investigation and dismissed him anyway.

So we’re to believe he didn’t care how long the investigation took?

Ok. Sure. If that’s the case, however, then there’s something else that’s making him lose his mind on a daily basis.

You can mull it over and come to your own conclusions, but the introduction of that letter lends to the ongoing debate over special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, and whether Donald Trump will get his time in the hot seat.

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