President Donald Trump is quietly trying to kill congressional corruption investigations against him before they even begin, legal experts warn.
Alarm bells are ringing after the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel published a new opinion that Trump's executive privilege extends to all of his advisers — even those who don't work in government, Talking Points Memo reported Friday.
“The legal opinion has more holes in it than a slice of Swiss cheese,” University of Baltimore School of Law professor Charles Tiefer reportedly said. “It’s clearly a devious tactic to try to cover up the investigations into Trump’s corruption before they even get started.”
The Justice Department appears to be preparing to protect Trump from any congressional investigations Democrats might launch should they reclaim House Control in the 2026 midterms, experts said, as the memo could be used by potential witnesses who want to wriggle out of testifying.
“I’m sure that’s exactly what they’re trying to do here,” David Super, law professor at the Georgetown University Law School, told Talking Points Memo. "[It's a] clear attempt to create defensive barriers in advance of congressional investigations.”
Executive privilege claims typically concern communications between the president and subordinates — but the new opinion could extend protections to Trump's personal friends and business contacts.
The Justice Department argues expanding Trump's privilege would help him better serve the American people.
"Restricting executive privilege to purely intragovernmental communications would foreclose the President from relying on an array of important sources that he may find necessary to the effective discharge of his responsibilities of office," the opinion states.
"Such an outcome not only would impair the President’s Article II functions, but ultimately would harm the public itself.”
But Super argued this was an effort to help Trump better serve his friends — and protect himself.
“Presumably, the administration would try to help those people avoid testifying by sending a letter from President Trump saying, ‘I’m invoking executive privilege over what Joe the oil executive has been subpoenaed to testify about,’” Super said.
If Democrats take control of Congress in November, multiple experts predict they'll target Trump and he'll claim executive privilege in broad strokes.
This Justice Department opinion, argued Super, will help Trump do that.
“Then the question will come: Is that privilege justified?” Super said. “The OLC is trying to put down a marker saying, ‘Yes, it is justified. It’s very broad. It’s very sweeping. It’s very protective.’"
