Trump’s shocking grab for power will create secrecy for him and his cronies

August 17, 2026 — 2:30pm

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

The Trump administration’s latest assertions about executive privilege — that it protects the confidentiality of a president’s communication with private advisers who aren’t part of the government — are like too much else in this White House: politically unprecedented, legally wrong and morally dubious.

From a legal standpoint, the point of executive privilege is to protect communications that occur within the government, between the president and other public officials. Politically speaking, this is a naked attempt to protect the president from congressional investigation of potentially corrupt deals with his cronies, any of whom who could be called “advisers” to avoid subpoena.

If President Donald Trump invokes this executive privilege in future fights with Congress, as seems likely, the legislative branch cannot fold. It must insist on its rights, bring the issue to court, and force the Supreme Court to reject the claim.

The Trump administration’s claims come in the form of a new memo by the assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel, known as OLC. Historically, OLC has tended to adopt a maximalist position on presidential power. At the same time, the office has traditionally worked to maintain legitimacy by sticking to its independent understanding of the scope of presidential authority. That is supposed to mean not knuckling under to White House pressure except in rare (and infamous) cases, such as the so-called torture memos written and subsequently withdrawn by OLC lawyers under President George W. Bush.

As this memo demonstrates, Trump’s OLC has no qualms........

© Brisbane Times