The Justice Department on Thursday quietly published on its website some never-before-seen internal legal opinions that could help President Donald Trump block congressional requests as he faces impeachment by the US House and a trial in the Senate.
Eight of the opinions appear to bolster the White House’s stonewalling of Congress on witness testimony and document subpoenas. The opinions date back to the 1970s, when President Richard Nixon faced impeachment, and the early 1980s. One from 1982 was written by the former head of the Office of Legal Counsel at the request of Rudy Giuliani, who at the time worked within the Justice Department.
Some of these opinions have been made public before, and some had only been cited by the DOJ in other cases. All of them had not been collected before on their official website.
A DOJ official confirmed that the opinions were cited in the case involving Don McGhan’s subpoena to testify, which the DOJ is appealing after a lower court’s ruling.
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