Donald Trump has already ordered several of his former and current employees to disobey subpoenas and refuse to testify in Congressional hearings. Some of the hearings didn’t even involve Trump, such as the investigation as to whether KellyAnne Conway violated the Hatch Act with her partisan politicking while performing her official duties.
While he was the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller was a Justice Department employee and therefore part of the Executive Branch. Mueller would be no less susceptible to claims of Executive Privilege than any of the others Trump told not to testify(Don McGhan, Hope Hicks, Wilbur Ross, and William Barr). Some of the claims are preposterous and will surely fail in court, an order to Mueller whether from Donald Trump or the Justice Department would be equally ridiculous. Trump is making clear he doesn’t want Mueller to testify and might order him not to do so.
“Bob Mueller should not testify. No redos for the Dems!”
The average Democrat that has been longing to hear Mueller speak about his report. May expect Mueller to defy any Executive Order and testify anyway. What they may be ignoring is that Mueller already didn’t want to testify and may welcome the excuse to get out of it. Mueller feels his report should stand on its own and previously said in his lone press conference; he hoped it would be his last time speaking on the subject.
It took a subpoena to get Mueller to agree to come and he seems willing to grudgingly do his duty. It remains to be seen if he will be accompanied by multiple lawyers (Hope Hicks had five) including some from the Justice Department whose only job is to object to every question.
The truth is, Mueller can do whatever the hell he wants to. While he may say little beyond what he’s already revealed in his 448-page report. He likely knows a thing or two on a few related subjects and may just be tired of Trump’s tweets? On July 17th we’ll all find out what Mueller is willing to say and whether Trump allows him to say it?
ENIGMA IN BLACK 