White House rules out possibility of Trump invoking executive privilege to block Comey's congressional testimony

James Comey.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

President Trump will not attempt to block former FBI Director James Comey's congressional testimony, White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Monday, officially putting to rest the question of whether Trump would try to invoke executive privilege to do so. Comey, who was fired by Trump last month, is slated to testify Thursday in an open hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee about his conversations with Trump regarding the ongoing investigation into Trump's ties to Russian election interference. The hearing will mark the first time that Comey has spoken publicly since he was abruptly fired.

Sanders said that while the president's "power to exert executive privilege is very well established," Trump will avoid excersing that power to "facilitate a swift and thorough examination of the facts sought by the Senate Intelligence Committee."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More