Stevenson’s army, October 9
– The Post has a good tick-tock on the Erdogan-Trump phone call. It sounds as if Trump wen through his talking points to rebuild US-Turkish relations — trade, F-35s, WH visit next month — then Erdogan warned Trump of planned Turkish military moves in Syria, and Trump changed his policy. Right afterwards, WH put out a press release on the call. You know the rest.
Prof. Edelman has a good piece criticizing the US action.
NYT reveals a hitherto secret Russian organization whose mission is said to be to destabilize Europe.
Then there’s the impeachment mess. The WH Counsel sent a letter basically stonewalling all impeachment-related subpoenas. In federal court, DOJ argued that the Supreme Court precedent requiring Nixon to surrender his tapes doesn’t apply to President Trump.
As this recent CRS report shows, congressional subpoenas can be enforced by criminal action if DOJ agrees to take the case [as they already haven’t in the case of Trump] or by civil action through the courts, which can take years.
While there have been some high profile executive refusals of subpoenas in recent years — firing district attorneys under GW Bush and “fast and furious” raids under Obama — remember Obama administration complied with Benghazi hearings. And then this:
Schiliro, the former director of legislative affairs under President Obama and a former staff director of the House Oversight Committee, also pointed to the past:
Twenty years ago Rep Dan Burton, as Chair of the House Oversight Committee, issued 1,052 unilateral subpoenas over six years to the Clinton Administration and the Democratic Party. No matter how unreasonable many of those subpoenas were, either the information was provided or a compromise reached. Every previous Administration has recognized the legitimate and constitutional role Congress has in oversight. This Administration is asserting a radical legal position based on nothing.
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