It's a prerogative of the executive branch and President Donald Trump to ignore congressional subpoenas, as it is the only branch that has prosecutorial power, Sen. Mike Lee said Wednesday.
"This has been litigated figuratively and literally over the course of many decades, with Republican and Democratic administrations, against Republican and Democratic congresses," the Utah Republican told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "Only the executive branch has a prosecutorial power, and as part of that, to have an attorney general or Justice Department willing to bring an action to support a subpoena."
He added that he does not believe that Attorney General William Barr has acted more on behalf of President Donald Trump than he did the American people when giving his summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's report.
He added that he doesn't think Trump disputes that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, but he questioned why then-President Barack Obama didn't do more to stop it.
Lee also commented on CNN's "New Day" about a story in The New York Times, which reported Wednesday that acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney had told Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, before she resigned, not to bring the matter of Russian interference in the 2020 election up in front of Trump.
"I don't want to armchair quarterback the White House chief of staff," said Lee. "It may be that what he was saying is let's find the right time and place and manner in which to bring that up...if it is the case, that's not terribly troubling."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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