{"id":4618,"date":"2026-08-12T11:07:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T11:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4618"},"modified":"2026-08-12T11:07:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T11:07:50","slug":"doj-memo-decried-as-effort-to-shield-inner-circle-trump-is-scared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4618","title":{"rendered":"DOJ memo decried as effort to shield inner circle: &#8216;Trump is scared&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Just days after Senate Republicans confirmed US Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Department of Justice this week issued a legal opinion on executive privilege that was swiftly condemned as an attempt to unfairly protect some of President Donald Trump\u2019s top advisers from any accountability.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4616\">Trump\u2019s scheme to steal the midterms will lose in court. That\u2019s \u2018by design\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Historically, the president has been allowed to assert executive privilege over communications with executive branch staff, protecting them from disclosure.<\/p>\n<p>However, the DOJ\u2019s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) said in a Monday memo that \u201cpresidential communications with private advisers can fall within the scope of executive privilege so long as they relate to official presidential decisionmaking, involve or reflect communications with the president or his direct advisers, and are confidential.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The memo is signed by Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser. HuffPost reported that a DOJ official \u201cargued its veracity by comparing it to a similar one made by President George W. Bush\u2019s attorney general in 2007.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the issue has not been litigated frequently, the opinion reaffirms the long-standing position of the office going back at least as far as Paul Clement in 2007 and arguably as far back as 1972,\u201d the unnamed official said.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Shaub, a University of Kentucky School of Law professor who served in the Obama administration\u2019s OLC, told CNN: \u201cI would say it\u2019s not inconsistent with past positions&#8230; But it\u2019s never been stated publicly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shaub also told Axios that \u201cit really could be a pretty significant weapon\u201d for the second Trump administration \u201cto deflect a lot of that congressional investigation of private parties.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4614\">Former prosecutor tears into Trump over his \u2018worst appointment\u2019 yet<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Republicans are at risk of losing control of both chambers of Congress in the November midterm elections, and if they do, Democratic majorities could move to impeach Trump a historic third time\u2014for everything from the Trump family\u2019s profiteering off of the presidency to his illegal war on Iran. <\/p>\n<p>The Not Above the Law coalition\u2019s co-chairs\u2014Brett Edkins of Stand Up America, Praveen Fernandes of the Constitutional Accountability Center, Lisa Gilbert of Public Citizen, and Kelsey Herbert of MoveOn\u2014said Tuesday that \u201cTodd Blanche\u2019s Justice Department is doing what it always does: attempting to shield Donald Trump and the people around him before anyone can hold them accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis opinion is about protecting Trump and his allies from any real accountability, no matter where the questions come from\u2014Congress, the courts, or investigators of any kind,\u201d they argued. \u201cEvery senator who voted to confirm Blanche knew exactly what kind of Justice Department they were signing off on. They own it now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)\u2014who may not have enough support to lead Democrats even if they reclaim the upper chamber in November\u2014was similarly critical, concluding: \u201cDonald Trump is scared. He knows accountability is coming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s using his newly installed attorney general\/personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, to cover up his communications with private advisers and special interest cronies,\u201d Schumer said on Facebook. \u201cThese are the actions of someone with something to hide. And it shows he is petrified of the questions a Democratic Congress will demand answers to. We will not let Trump escape the accountability he deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4612\">The myth of Trump\u2019s \u2018Teflon Don\u2019 is crumbling around him<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Insiders claim the unprecedented guidelines reveal deep panic over brewing legal threats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>DOJ memo decried as effort to shield inner circle: &#039;Trump is scared&#039; - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4618\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DOJ memo decried as effort to shield inner circle: &#039;Trump is scared&#039; - 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