Page 3 - Blanket Assertion News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Counting on now. they knew this could be coming. >> kaitlan collins, thanks very much. joining me to discuss, shan wu, defense attorney and former federal prosecutor and ron brownstein, senior editor for the atlantic and cnn political analyst. a lot of cases to go through here. let's go on the mcgahn case. this is key. doj is going to appeal. not clear yet, i believe, whether they're going to ask for a stay, but probable they'll ask for a stay here. what is likely to happen next? >> that's exactly right. i think it's key whether they'll ask for a stay or not. it makes sense they would ask for ...

Waiver just as they're careful to recognize a blanket assertion. and the trump administration is treating executive privilege like the new black. they are just asserting it every possible opportunity. >> and basically challenging -- this to be challenged in court, right which democrats will likely do if they get satisfaction here. how long does that process play out? >> it could play out for a long time. the courts may expedite it a little bit. there are instances where it can drag out for quite some time like in the holder case, some of it wasn't resolved for years. other times it can move a ...

Right? >> well, a little bit of both. so it is certainly true that presidents of both parties have for a long time asserted that their closest aides are immune from testimony before congress. and that is a long-standing bipartisan position of the executive branch that the courts have never accepted and that congress has never accepted. so whether it's right or wrong, it is one with a bit of a bipartisan pedigree, historically. what is new to the trump administration is the blanket assertion of that over a much wider array of executive branch officials. not merely people like the chief of staff...

Now, if hope hicks has incriminating information to offer about the president, that could be viewed as obstruction of justice by the president. >> greg, can the president instruct hope hicks, a private citizen? she's not his personal lawyer, and while he has not asserted executive privilege yet, if he does that, is it game over and we're getting nothing? >> that could be the practical effect in the near term, but legally it's hard to imagine how that sort of blanket assertion of executive privilege could last long-term and protect or prevent her from testifying forever. as i've been saying thr...

Information, he would show up anyway. >> that's probably right. >> what would nixon have been able to do? >> it's not clear he would have been able to do anything. there is a difference. began got that memo. he literally got the memo. he is torn. >> from the office of legal counsel. under the control of william barr. doesn't that tell you something? >> hold on. there is an important point here. i don't want to be an a poll gist. in the 15-page letter, t partie many administrations serving a similar type of immunity to preclude congress from talking to senior officials in the administration. wh...