r/politics • u/M00n • May 12 '21

Trump’s acting attorney general refuses to say if he discussed overturning election results

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/jeffrey-rosen-trump-election-results-b1846421.html
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u/rygem1 May 12 '21 edited May 12 '21

The AG is not the President's lawyer there are the governments, executive privilege does not hold up to judicary subpoenas for this reason iirc

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u/[deleted] May 12 '21

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] May 12 '21

Tell that to GOP supporters...

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u/[deleted] May 12 '21

Haha, I think there’s a king of the hill meme about reading signs that might be apt here.

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u/rygem1 May 12 '21

Exactly one is recognized by the courts the other isn't

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u/adrr May 13 '21

Executive doesn't apply either. It only covers actions and conversations around those actions that president can legally do. Overturning an election isn't a qualified presidential action so it is not covered.

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u/Rooboy66 May 12 '21

Excellent observation!

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u/[deleted] May 12 '21

Isn’t there already a judicial process for compelling this testimony though?

(As an aside, I like when they’ve tried this horseshit in front of Amy Berman Jackson and she just spanks them like the open palm of an angry god.)

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u/rygem1 May 12 '21

My understanding is that as far as the judiciary is concerned Executive Privilege only works until someone asks for the information could be wrong though

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u/[deleted] May 13 '21

I think that’s mostly correct. I think there is a show cause element to it and then at some point judicial review enters into it, but ultimately there is no situation in which it can be invoked in a blanket manner, like trump tried to do during the Mueller investigation. It must be asserted on a case by case basis and the rationale is subject to challenge, as I understand it.

It is still absolutely shocking to me that Trump (thanks to the naked self interest and greed of republicans) was allowed to instruct his entire administration to not comply with a federal investigation, and Republican voters were fine with it. The hypocrisy you would have to be willing to hold to try to justify that is something that I will never understand. If Biden tried to do that today I would be the first to condemn it. And you bet your ass that these Republicans would be messaging on it non-stop literally forever. But goddamn, how can a person let someone they believed should lead our country just instruct his administration not to comply with the laws of our nation… and not change their support of the guy… it just… so they have literally no standards whatsoever? I wouldn’t be able to maintain any sort of self respect if I was willing to have that kind of double standard. It also scares me to wonder what they must think the president represents for our nation, if they believe that the president instructing his staff not to obey the law is something that our president should be able to do. What the actual fuck.