Legal expert: Secret Service can be compelled to testify against Donald Trump in Russia scandal
Donald Trump’s attorney Jay Sekulow appeared to let slip on Sunday that Trump may have attended his son’s meeting during the campaign with representatives of the Russian government. The attorney claimed that the Secret Service wouldn’t have allowed the meeting to happen if it had been illegal. But in so doing he implied that the Secret Service was there – and at that time Trump was the only one under protection. Now a legal expert says this is an even bigger problem for Trump than first thought.
John Dean, the White House Counsel for Richard Nixon, was deeply involved in the Watergate conspiracy and coverup, and he knows exactly what’s privileged and what isn’t. Dean posted the following late last night: “Sekulow has no clue. SS doesn’t clear names for candidates. But if Trump attended the meeting the agent w/ him can be forced to testify!” (link). In other words, if Trump was in that meeting, the agents protecting him will have to give him up.
The Secret Service has already issued a brief statement: “Donald Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at that time.” But as we pointed out yesterday, the agency didn’t specifically deny that its agents were at the meeting (link). And now we know that if they were present, they’ll have to testify about who else was present.
If if it can be confirmed that Donald Trump himself was present at his son’s meeting, which took place for the explicit purpose of trying to conspire with the Russian government to rig the election against Hillary Clinton, then Donald Trump will have been proven guilty. The only debate will be whether the felony he committed was collusion, espionage, or treason. If you find Palmer Report valuable, make a donation.
