I Don’t Understand: Conflicts of Interest, Executive Privilege, and a No-Action Letter

29 Jun

Okay, let me get this straight (via a post at the Blog of the Legal Times):

  • the AG writes a letter to the President saying that the exercise of Executive Privilege to protect the AG would be “legally proper”
  • The President uses that Executive Privilege to excuse the AG from turning over documents to Congress
  • Congress holds the AG in contempt
  • The DOJ then says it won’t prosecute the AG

Forgive me, but this reminds of the old game, how many triangles can you find:

Only this game is, how many conflicts of interest can you find?

The DOJ should not be opining on the use of executive privilege to shield the head of the DOJ.

The DOJ should also not be evaluating whether to prosecute, or not, the head of the DOJ.

I’m just thinking about Mr. Cole’s next evaluation, had he chosen to criminally indict the AG.  “Well, Jim, you did a great job this year, except for that whole thing where you had me indicted.  NO BONUS FOR YOU!!”

This whole situation has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous, in my humble opinion.

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