Spicer didn't rule out blocking of Comey from testifying

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer didn't rule out President Trump using his executive privilege power to block former FBI Director James Comey from testifying in front of a congressional committee next Thursday.

Spicer was asked at the White House press briefing whether President Trump would seek executive privilege to keep Comey out of the hot seat. If Trump does, it probably isn't going to look good for him.

"The committee hearing was just noticed--it's gotta be reviewed," Spicer said. "The date for the hearing was just set; I haven't spoken to counsel yet, I don't know how they'll respond."

Executive privilege allows the president to withhold information from other branches of government.

Mr. Comey is expected to tell the Intelligence Committee that the president asked him to drop the investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and his Russian ties. 

But if Comey reports this and believed at the time the President was obstructing justice, then Comey too has violated the law for not reporting it at that time. I expect that he will say that he didn't believe when asked that President Trump was ordering him to stop the investigation.

As FBI Director, Comey wrote memos after all meetings. In February, he wrote a memo suggesting Trump asked him to shut down the probe into Flynn. But anyone can write anything they want to write in a memo--it doesn't make the memo a testament of fact.

Rather than answer any of the follow up questions on the matter, Spicer said, "All questions on these matters will be referred to counsel."

Hillary Clinton also blames Spicer for her loss to Trump in the presidential election.



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