When they launched their impeachment investigation, House Democrats announced that they would be calling witnesses, and last Friday, the Department of Justice made an announcement of its own.
In a statement authored by Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel, the DOJ specified that any administration personnel who are called to appear must be allowed to have legal counsel present, otherwise, their subpoenas will be considered “invalid.”
Counsel required
“Congressional committees participating in an impeachment inquiry may not validly compel executive branch witnesses to testify about matters that potentially involve information protected by executive privilege without the assistance of agency counsel,” the DOJ statement read.
“Congressional subpoenas that purport to require executive branch witnesses to appear without agency counsel in these circumstances are legally invalid and are not subject to civil or criminal enforcement,” it continued.
What’s more, the DOJ will be fighting both new subpoenas as well as those issued prior to Oct. 31, arguing that the latter “were not properly authorized.”
“As we have previously advised you, prior to October 31, 2019, the House had not vested any committee in the current Congress with the authority to issue subpoenas in connection with an impeachment inquiry. As a result, subpoenas issued before that date purporting to be ‘pursuant to’ an impeachment inquiry were not properly authorized,” the statement declared.
However, that isn’t all the Trump administration is doing to push back.
“Absolutely immune”
What’s more, The Hill reported that White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote a letter to an attorney for White House lawyer John Eisenberg stating that he and other senior officials are “absolutely immune” from requests for testimony “with respect to matters related to his service as a senior adviser to the President.”
Eisenberg is a senior attorney at the National Security Council and was scheduled to testify earlier this week.
“The constitutional immunity of current and former senior advisers to the President exists to protect the institution of the Presidency and, as stated by former Attorney General [Janet] Reno, ‘may not be overborne by competing congressional interests,” the letter explained.
“Accordingly, in order to protect the prerogatives of the Office of the President today and in the future, and in response to your request, the President directs Mr. Eisenberg not to appear at the Committee’s deposition,” read the letter.
On Monday, Eisenberg stated through his attorney, William Burck, that he would “follow the direction of his client and employer, the President of the United States” and would not appear to testify “at this time.”
No comments: