No one outside of special counsel Robert Mueller and his team really knows when he will finally issue a report of his findings in the Russia probe, but when he does, he is required to issue it to the Justice Department only, not Congress.
That could prove sticky because either Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker or Attorney General nominee William Barr—both of who have expressed public doubts about the investigation—will then be in charge of deciding how to handle the findings. Although there's no requirement that the report be turned over to Congress, House Democrats intend to demand access to it and make it public.
The White House has different ideas, however, and they expect to be able to review it before anything goes public and potentially claim executive privilege in order to withhold certain findings from Congress if necessary.
“We will look at it and see if the president thinks there is a valid claim and if there is, do we want to make it,” Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani told Bloomberg News. “We reserve the right. We don’t know if we have to, but we haven’t waived it.”
Okay, let's assume Trump decides there's a "valid claim," which he will because the report will almost certainly include information Trump finds objectionable. Presidents who claim executive privilege argue they must do so in order to continue getting forthright advice from their aides, who otherwise might not want to be privy to any wrongdoing or illegal activity.
But claims of executive privilege to rebuff Congress have typically faced stiff challenges in court, which is exactly where the issue would be headed if Trump tries to block any of the report from being disclosed publicly. The Obama administration, for instance, lost its privilege claim in court related to the "Fast and Furious" scandal and eventually abandoned the claim.
Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York suggested Trump's claim would meet a similar fate, noting that “executive privilege can always be pierced by a specific and legitimate criminal or congressional inquiry.”
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