exec privilege
trump claims made up concept of absolute xp
holder BO
fast & furious
A settlement was announced in 2019 where both sides disagree with the prior court's orders and agree tocontinue to fight over privilege issues.[128][129]
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bannon jail? navarro?
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PKO
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It’s not just his quantity of high-profile clients that has drawn murmurs among fellow lawyers and the reporters who cover the many matters Woodward is involved in. He’s also been tasked with litigating some of the most complex challenges facing Trump world, including Trump’s ability — or lack thereof — to assert executive privilege as an ex-president.
Woodward spent a recent Friday sparring with Mehta over whether a private conversation between Trump and Navarro — with no witnesses but the two men — can be enough to prove Trump attempted to assert the privilege.
Woodward noted that Navarro would be unlikely to testify about the conversation, since doing so would waive his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. Mehta noted that there was one other person Woodward could call to vouch for Navarro’s version of the conversation.
“I don’t want to do that,” Woodward replied, describing Trump as a witness “who I don’t want to be involved in the process.”
Woodward’s allies say it’s not lost on him that his work on these matters, though, could reverberate across history — that a man in a sling who spends his limited spare time constructing Lego sets with his kids could shape the contours of presidential power.
It’s a remarkable place for Woodward to be. And one others didn’t imagine for him.
Ryan noted that Woodward has been in contention for a D.C. Superior Court judgeship, selected in November 2020 by the district’s Judicial Nominating Commission as a finalist for a presidential nomination to fill a vacancy. But given the trajectory of his career and his decision to take on a raft of polarizing clients, he said it’s unclear whether that path will materialize again.
“These things do mark you,” Ryan said. “Life is never the same after you do these kinds of things.”
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Court 'not going well' for DOJ as judge presses need to 'correct the record'
Judge lashes out at DOJ lawyer claiming 'executive privilege' on Trump’s posts
The Justice Department is in hot water Friday as they're facing off against a judge who made it clear she's lost all trust in the truthfulness of the government she placed her faith in.
While she began the hearing asking whether the DOJ needed to "correct the record" about any possible misstatements, it didn't get much better from there.
According to courts and justice reporter Chris Geidner, who publishes the "Law Dork" Substack, Judge Reyes called Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. to the stand to find out who ordered them to circumvent her previous court ruling.
Reyes began by asking Woodward about Trump's statements on Truth Social saying that the course will be closed down on Nov. 15.
“There was not a plan to close the course on Oct. 26," said Woodward.
“You are telling me, even now, that there was no plan even on Oct. 26?" she questioned.
Woodward said he can't "hypothesize."
“I’m not hypothesizing. I’m reading what he wrote," the judge shot back. She read the Truth Social post aloud.
After conferring with those at the lawyer's desk, the ultimate answer was about a “directive,” but Woodward still says he is “reticent to put meaning” behind the president’s words.
The judge asked, "You 'cannot say' what the president meant when he said the course will close on Nov. 15?"
Woodward agreed, saying that it falls within "executive privilege."
"He posted it publicly!" the judge exclaimed. She went on to call it an "extraordinary view of executive privilege."
As the Constitution outlines, executive privilege is the president’s claimed authority to withhold certain confidential executive-branch information from Congress or the courts, especially communications with senior advisers. It is meant to protect candid decision-making, but it is not absolute: courts can require disclosure when another branch’s need for the information — such as in a criminal case — outweighs the confidentiality interest.
As AlterNet previously reported, the ordeal "began on Oct. 12, the federal court brought the White House into court after it chopped down over 430 trees on Hains Point, where the public East Potomac Golf Course is, along with a biking and walking trail and other parks. The judge had told the government that she was to be notified before anything major was done to the island."
As Snopes reported on Oct. 16, that didn't happen. Instead, "the government only [notified] the court minutes prior to close of business on a holiday weekend."
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