President Trump is threatening to force the DOJ to release the unredacted version of Mueller’s authority as special counsel to the House.
Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan want to see how far Mueller has strayed from his original orders. Of course, Rod Rosenstein could have given him a wide path he could follow but for Mueller, that would be worse because it would immediately shut down the investigation. That’s because such an order would violate the Special Counsel Act and make the document null and void.
“A Rigged System – They don’t want to turn over Documents to Congress. What are they afraid of? Why so much redacting? Why such unequal “justice?” At some point, I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!”
A Rigged System – They don’t want to turn over Documents to Congress. What are they afraid of? Why so much redacting? Why such unequal “justice?” At some point I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2018
Meadows and Jordan also want to know what part Jeff Sessions played in the raid on Michael Cohen’s home, office, and hotel room. That could be another can of worms if Sessions was unaware of the raid because he didn’t recuse himself from anything but the collusion investigation.
So, what can President Trump do about it? Any damn thing he wants. As Commander in Chief, he is the sole authority on what is and isn’t classified information.
He can do it and you can bet he will.
Experts agreed that the president, as commander-in-chief, is ultimately responsible for classification and declassification. When someone lower in the chain of command handles classification and declassification duties — which is usually how it’s done — it’s because they have been delegated to do so by the president directly, or by an appointee chosen by the president.
“The President, after all, is the ‘Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States’” according to Article II of the Constitution, the court’s majority wrote. “His authority to classify and control access to information bearing on national security … flows primarily from this constitutional investment of power in the President, and exists quite apart from any explicit congressional grant.”