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Former FBI director James Comey, who Donald Trump admits to firing because he wouldn’t drop the investigation into connections between the Trump campaign and Russia, is set to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.
This is the first time Comey has appeared in public since we learned that Donald Trump had leaned on him to halt the investigation into Michael Flynn’s antics as an unregistered foreign agent. To say that expectations for the testimony are running high would be a massive understatement.
The Russia maelstrom raging around Donald Trump's presidency reaches a momentous plot twist this week with a quintessential Washington drama set to unfold when ex-FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate.
There are reasons to not be too excited about what Comey might say on Thursday. For one thing, the Iran-Contra experience, in which testimony before Congress ultimately mangled the case against then National Security Adviser John Poindexter and NSC member Oliver North, has made everyone congressional testimony shy. There’s every possibility that, on every matter of real import, Comey might hold back from any testimony that could interfere with the case being built by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
And of course, there’s a possibility that Comey may not appear at all.
Former FBI Director James Comey is expected to testify next week before the Senate intelligence committee, but President Donald Trump may try to stop him by asserting executive privilege.
Trump’s chances of making such an effort hold up in court are worse than the proverbial snowball in a hot place. But throwing up petulant roadblocks that can’t possibly stand up in court is a Trump specialty.
Everyone is pretty much in agreement that, should Trump decide to throw smoke at the proceedings, it could be blown away pretty readily.
Executive privilege is not a well-defined legal concept. You can't find the words "executive privilege" anywhere in the Constitution. It's not written down in any federal statute, and it's not part of the rules of evidence. …
Presidents have often invoked executive privilege, and they have mostly failed when challenged in court. Richard Nixon tried to use executive privilege and lost. Bill Clinton tried, and he lost, too. The Obama administration asserted a type of executive privilege in connection with a congressional probe into Operation Fast and Furious. Although some documents were protected in that case, most were not.
In this case, where Donald Trump would have tremendous difficulty asserting any pretext under which his communications with Comey weighed on national security, odds are his protests would be pitched almost instantly.
Much more likely is that Comey will be reticent to say anything that lives up to the level of anticipation.
Anticipation over Comey's appearance will return the administration to a state of siege, which has been partially lifted in recent weeks during Trump's foreign trip and the build up to his decision to quit the Paris climate pact.
But of course, the reason the anticipation is so high is that the potential for what Comey says is also through the roof.
"If he says categorically, 'It is my conclusion that the President of the United States was trying to instruct my investigation,' full stop, that is historic. "
Historic. Though, like everything else since Trump took office, Republicans would probably find a way to shrug it off. After all, there are tax breaks for millionaires to plan.
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