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WaPo: Trump admin sought to block Sally Yates from testifying to Congress on Russia

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C

chadskin

Member
The Trump administration sought to block former acting attorney general Sally Yates from testifying to Congress in the House investigation of links between Russian officials and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, The Washington Post has learned, a position that is likely to further anger Democrats who have accused Republicans of trying to damage the probe.

According to a series of letters reviewed by The Post, Yates was notified earlier this month by the Justice Department that the administration considers a great deal of her possible testimony to be barred from discussion in a congressional hearing because the topics are covered by the presidential communication privilege.

Ms. Yates and other former intelligence officials had been asked to testify before the House Intelligence Committee this week, a hearing that was abruptly canceled by the panel’s chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). Yates was the deputy attorney general in the final years of the Obama administration, and served as the acting attorney general in the first days of the Trump administration.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...7_story.html?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.195f17ae2970
 
E

Eidan

Member
It just never stops. Is there anyone left who still believes there is no "there" there when it comes to Trump and Russia?
 
C

Chained Prometheus

Member
Like I said in the other Nunes thread- as annoying as the GOP's attempts to deflect the Russia scandal over to the Democrats (or any other possible scapegoats they can think of) can be, it's not doing much to actually stop the bleeding on Trump's ties to Russia.

This report is just another case in point. I hope we get statements from Sally Yates soon.
 
T

The Jackdog

Member
so at this point are we just hoping the incredibly incompetence of this admin just brings this whole scandal into the open and brings them down?
 
ThatStupidLion

ThatStupidLion

Member
when is there going to be a straw that breaks the camels back? i feel like theres never a consequence and the amount of shady shit is just insane. more than anything else. is there just no hard evidence? i thought there was, but then why does it all seem fruitless?
 
J

JonnyDBrit

Member
Can someone explain what the Presidential Communication Privilege is, and what sort of matters it actually covers? Because I want to be assured that this would be a breach of its intended uses and thus could be summarily ignored.
 
F

Futurevoid

Member
JonnyDBrit said:
Can someone explain what the Presidential Communication Privilege is, and what sort of matters it actually covers? Because I want to be assured that this would be a breach of its intended uses and thus could be summarily ignored.
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A nice primer:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_privilege

In the United States government, executive privilege is the power claimed by the President of the United States and other members of the executive branch to resist certain subpoenas and other interventions by the legislative and judicial branches of government to access information and personnel relating to the executive branch. The concept of executive privilege is not mentioned explicitly in the United States Constitution, but the Supreme Court of the United States ruled it to be an element of the separation of powers doctrine and derived from the supremacy of executive branch in its own area of Constitutional activity.[1]

The Supreme Court confirmed the legitimacy of this doctrine in United States v. Nixon, but only to the extent of confirming that there is a qualified privilege. Once invoked, a presumption of privilege is established, requiring the Prosecutor to make a "sufficient showing" that the "Presidential material" is "essential to the justice of the case" (418 U.S. at 713-14). Chief Justice Burger further stated that executive privilege would most effectively apply when the oversight of the executive would impair that branch's national security concerns.
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If there was nothing to hide here, they would not be fighting as hard as they are to obfuscate and derail these hearings. There's too much smoke here at this point for this to be nothing and that's depressing to say out loud.:(
 
E

Eidan

Member
heckmanimation said:
when is there going to be a straw that breaks the camels back? i feel like theres never a consequence and the amount of shady shit is just insane. more than anything else. is there just no hard evidence? i thought there was, but then why does it all seem fruitless?
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I think it's because your expectations are off. Few things in our government are meant to be done rapidly. Especially investigations. I personally have been surprised at just how much information keeps coming out week after week. It just never stops.
 
C

CopperPuppy

Member
giphy.gif
 
M

Morts

Member
heckmanimation said:
when is there going to be a straw that breaks the camels back? i feel like theres never a consequence and the amount of shady shit is just insane. more than anything else. is there just no hard evidence? i thought there was, but then why does it all seem fruitless?
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This is where I'm at. The constant leaks occasionally make me feel like something has to happen, but it's so difficult not to get impatient.

It just seems crazy that this administration gets to govern while all this goes on. And even if none of this Russia stuff existed there's the nepotism, government expenses at Trump properties, refusal to divest from his holdings, Attorney General perjury...
 
R

Rockandrollclown

lookwhatyou'vedone
Its amazing to me that Republicans aren't taking this opportunity to throw this treasonous fuckhead out on his ass. I mean colluding with Russia I would have thought is over the line for them. Pence would be a more establishment guy too.
 
Link

Link

The Autumn Wind
Eidan said:
It just never stops. Is there anyone left who still believes there is no "there" there when it comes to Trump and Russia?
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All of his dumbass supporters and a good chunk of Republicans, unfortunately.
 
B

BoogieWoogie

Banned
Rockandrollclown said:
Its amazing to me that Republicans aren't taking this opportunity to throw this treasonous fuckhead out on his ass. I mean colluding with Russia I would have thought is over the line for them. Pence would be a more establishment guy too.
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Because who knows how many of them are in on it?

Like I said in a previous thread, Russia must look like a utopia to some members of the GOP and they decided to turn the US landscape into that.
 
B

Binabik15

Member
Putin is laughing all the way to the bank, no matter how this turns out. Trump in the White House is the biggest egg in the face the US could imagine. If he feels especially cartoon villainous he could even go "what, independent election observers from the US, in MY country, when their own election was so clearly manipulated
BY ME WUAHAHAHAHAHA
" next time Russia gets to "vote".
 
X

x24hrs2livex

Banned
JCX said:
Sally Yates better run for something soon.
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I read somewhere that GA Dems want her for the Governors race.

Trump and his whole team is dirty as fuck. Any sane rational person can see it from a mile away. We just need one Republican to put country first to get the ball rolling.
 
R

RCSI

Member
What's stopping the Senate from having Yates testify, if they can get sufficient showing that material is essential?
 
X

x24hrs2livex

Banned
RCSI said:
What's stopping the Senate from having Yates testify, if they can get sufficient showing that material is essential?
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Nothing. But the senate hearing on Thursday is just a hearing with senators. No one is testifying before them, so it would be a little bit before Yates would appear before them.

GoldenEye 007 said:
Wouldn't the communications at issue have been before Trump took office?
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The communications between Yates and Trump would be while Trump was in office as she was Acting AG under him for like 10 days.
 
S

Slacker

Member
Rockandrollclown said:
Its amazing to me that Republicans aren't taking this opportunity to throw this treasonous fuckhead out on his ass. I mean colluding with Russia I would have thought is over the line for them. Pence would be a more establishment guy too.
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They're in a bind. There are a small but significant number of idiots who will follow Trump off a cliff if he asks them too. Republicans don't like to admit this, but they need those idiots to keep voting for them or they won't have a chance in any election.

Don't feel bad for them, as they did it to themselves by fostering an environment of anti-intellectualism and distrust of the government in general. I thought it would bite them in the ass and cost them the election in November, but it will happen sooner or later.
 
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