No. of Recommendations: 4
Wow, this is one of the privileges of having Albaby on this site. I'm not sure I'd ever find this even with my best Goggle Fu. I could be at it for some time and get discouraged. But here it is, and Albaby knew it existed. I'm in awe. I was in awe at the discussion of asylees when the Geneva convention came up too.
When evidence embraced by this privilege is introduced--either in trial or in grand jury proceedings--the effect can be as troubling to the prosecution as introducing the fruits of an illegal search. See United States v. Durenburger, 1993 WL 738477 (D.Minn 1993); Helstoski, supra; compare Johnson.
In addition, both the House and the Senate consider that the Speech and Debate Clause gives them an institutional right to refuse requests for information that originate in the Executive or the Judicial Branches that concern the legislative process. Thus, most requests for information and testimony dealing with the legislative process must be presented to the Chamber affected, and that Chamber permitted to vote on whether or not to produce the information sought. This applies to grand jury subpoenas, and to requests that seek testimony as well as documents The customary practice when seeking information from the Legislative Branch which is not voluntarily forthcoming from a Senator or Member is to route the request through the Clerk of the House or the Secretary of the Senate. This process can be time-consuming. However, bona fide requests for information bearing on ongoing criminal inquiries have been rarely refused
The chamber votes on whether it is a bona fide inquiry and agrees to compel testimony and documents. A political process. And I would assume the DOJ would set up something similar for the President. The President has hiring and firing power over the DOJ, but I would assume that if he fired the person(s) who approved the summons, it would be viewed as a Saturday Night Massacre and impeachment might be in the offing. With the hold Trump has on MAGA +, I doubt if it would go through. It would be a spectacle though. (Please correct any misunderstandings I have.)
What a country! Well, here's hoping when Trump dies that the ability to get past all impeachments dies with him. I don't have faith in it though.
