Can a President Assert Privilege to Withhold Public Records?
President Trump announced this week that he would withhold access to all public records generated by his Whitehouse and that they could not be accessed until 12 years after his term of office had ended. In doing this he was relying on a 2013 case brought by President Obama and ruled on by a three judge panel chaired by District Court Judge Merrick Garland. (There is an old political adage: be careful what you wish for).
That ruling, however, applied only in the DC district and to the Freedom of Information Act. Undoubtedly the case will be brought again in another district court in hopes of getting a different result. This time it may address other avenues of obtaining records.
What is at issue here is more than just the doctrine of t***sparency of government. In the 1974 Nixon Watergate tapes case, the Supreme Court ruled that Nixon could not use “privilege” to block the special prosecutor’s subpoena. It is a question of the existence of p**********l privilege and its limitations.
• It is a question of the ethical behavior and conflict of interest of elected officials.
• It is a question of whether or not a president is above the law.
• It is a question of the line between political corruption and proving it.
• It is a question of theoretical P**********l immunity from prosecution, if any.
During the debates of the Continental Congress in 1772, the subject of “privilege” was discussed at some length with the clear decision not to grant it to a president. The delegates acknowledged its possible need but decided to not include it in the document itself. The founders reflected on its abuse under kings and wished to avoid sanctioning it.
Ethical behavior is also not directly addressed in the Constitution. Today we have laws and regulations that were established under Jimmy Carter’s (Ethics in Government Act of 1978) following the resignation of Richard Nixon. It allows the Attorney General to bring civil action in any appropriate United States District Court against any covered individual.
Title I requires men and women in the public service sector to fill out financial disclosure forms which include the sources and amounts of income, gifts, reimbursements, the identity and approximate value of property held and liabilities owed. All such documents are to be filed with the Federal Office of Ethics by May 1. President Trump has refused to come into compliance with this law. See: http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/11/news/office-government-ethics-trump-conflicts/index.html
The President, Vice President, counsel appointed to the United States Department of Justice, and nominees to positions that require United States Senate confirmation must file with the Director of the Office of Government Ethics, t***sactions in property, commodities, and securities, and certain financial interests of a spouse or dependent. Disclosure must also be made available to the public shortly after they are submitted. The Attorney General of the United States can bring charges against anyone who falsifies information in the reports or fails to comply.
Yet President Trump has refused to file adequate disclosures with the ethics office and the deadline is May 1. He asserts that he can define compliance as he and his lawyer decide, contrary to law. Again, the only way to force legal compliance seems to be recusal of the AG and a court order mandating this.

I am going to copy your prediction and save it for reference 4 years from now.

I woke up from a nightmare this morning. I had been awakened to fear and had begun a plan of liberation from the alien invasion that had first cut off all communication between the people, isolated us into small non-family/friend groups and were beginning a regimen of impoverished diet, no external stimulus, sterility and colorlessness. The only thing worse would have been forcing me to live in a small cave. (actual dream)

I quickly remembered the attempted denial of due process and writ of habeas corpus that constituted the events of last night (immigrant ban). Salvaged in part by a federal judge. I also have lived through both Hitler and Stalin. So I got on twitter and opined that a c**p attempt had been made last evening by the trifecta of Putin, Bannon and Trump. The more I have thought about it, the more I see the emergence of a plan to systematically dismantle and neutralize the government departments that handle the internal and external functions of government, leaving only an intensely divided Republican party and a weakened Democratic party, the courts and state and city governments . Leadership at the State Department have been fired, attempts to gag all employees at EPA and other agencies has been attempted. Heads of the Armed Forces have been denied participation in the Whitehouse Security Council. The president has control of the nuclear button. Sounds like a c**p in the making to me.

The size and diversity of the country and the government means, on the positive side,will slow things down and on the negative side a single minded presidency has the advantage over a molasses covered Congress even when they are totally in sinc and that is no longer happening. The recent release of a closed discussion among Republican House members had just demonstrated their internal disarray. Meanwhile the people will be present in the streets and if that holds together for another 20 months, Trump can lose one or both houses of Congress and will have just about exhausted all of his executive orders potential.

The only ones who could help by staying silent are those who do not understand just how perilous the times actually are right this minute and they can read and ask questions.

OMG r****m in sports. What a departure from the norm. that a sister could help a sister is plausible... people that competitive are not totally immune... just unlikely... the added racial comment totally destroys your credibility... junk news.

all of you need to get over this one and go back to focusing on Elvis..... booooring. only relevant to conspiracy theorists and narcissists....

It recently, three days ago actually, occurred to me that DJT was acting stranger than usual. I have an extensive background in working with people who have various mental/emotional diagnoses and a Masters degree in Human Behavior, so I notice this kind of thing pretty often.

His behavior was becoming more erratic and he seemed to be closer than usual to incoherent. Then he spoke at the CIA in such an out of touch manner and with so much vitriol in an inappropriate place on an inappropriate topic that I suddenly realized what he reminded me of. I could see and hear the steel ball clicking in his hand as he whined about the press reports of crowd size. He is regularly fixated on sizes, but this time and place was so inappropriate as to be startling, even for him.

When I pictured the steel balls clicking in his hand, I quickly flashed to Captain Queeg and my most favorite actor, Bogie, of course, but I digress .... he was really such a little guy you know. Well anyway I probably had not seen the movie since its release in 1954, so I paid $3.95 to watch it streaming on my computer, just to check my memory and there he was. Trumps face on Bogie. Awful sight. After all, I have a 5'6" tall cardboard cutout of Bogie in my living room (truth).

That was the seminal moment that I fully understood just how much trouble our country is really in. Right Now. This Minute. Strangely enough I was somewhat calmed by the fact that it was at the CIA building that the truth exploded into reality. I figured they employed some of the best profilers in the world and they are now on notice to pay really close attention. I just hope they and the FBI are really paying close attention. Surely they must be. Even if the political appointed leadership turns out badly, the career people are always in place to make the real decisions. Aren't they?

We are in for quite a typhoon. The price of freedom is always and always eternal vigilance.