Analysis: Trump says Congress can’t investigate him, but the Justice Department seems to disagree
White House counsel Pat Cipollone listens as first lady Melania Trump speaks at a Be Best anniversary celebration last week. By Aaron Blake Aaron Blake Senior political reporter, writing for The Fix Email Bio Follow May 15 at 2:50 PM The White House’s position on Congress’s authority to investigate President Trump, it seems, is that it has none. A federal judge practically laughed at Trump’s attorney Monday when he made that argument, but White House counsel Pat Cipollone has now doubled down.
The defiant letter is the culmination of weeks of the White House saying it wouldn’t comply with basically any subpoenas from the Democratic-controlled House. You can’t do that without making some kind of legal argument as to why, of course. Apparently the White House has landed upon saying Congress can’t investigate anything the president does unless it pertains to legislation.The first is the one federal judge Amit Mehta noted Monday.
So how do you hold a president accountable for illegal actions? The Justice Department has determined that it can’t indict a sitting president. Given that policy, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III decided he couldn’t even accuse Trump of the crime of obstruction of justice. The only remedy for presidential wrongdoing, then, is through impeachment, which is enshrined in the Constitution.
And finally, the Justice Department itself seems to disagree with this argument — and it said so in the very same memo that exempts a sitting president from indictment. Moreover, in the event of suspicion of serious wrongdoing by a sitting President, the media and even Congress would likely pursue, collect and preserve evidence as well. These multiple mechanisms for securing and preserving evidence could mitigate somewhat the effect of a particular witness’s failed recollection or demise.
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