Curtis Thompson
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
Mr. Barnhill quotes that well-known legal scholar Mark Hamill asking “Why would an innocent man bar witnesses who could exonerate him?” Mr. Barnhill must believe that spousal, attorney/client, priest/penitent and doctor/patient privileges should also never be asserted, or if they are, it must mean that the people asserting those privileges are “guilty.”
The executive and decision-making privileges are well-recognized privileges that are applicable to high-ranking government officials, such as governors, presidents and attorneys general. The privileges protect the office as well as the individual to allow free and unfettered discussion within those offices to allow the holders of such offices to engage with all of their advisors to decide how to proceed with the duties of those offices.
President Trump was excluded from the House impeachment inquiry by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and was therefore unable to assert such privileges. He will be able to assert them in the Senate and if he does, the chief justice will then rule on any objections. From my experience in advising attorneys general from both parties I expect the objections will be sustained for all Trump’s high-ranking advisors, both past and present. If Mr. Barnhill is married, would he want all his statements to his spouse be discoverable? Would he want all his statements to his doctors discoverable? If he is religious, would he want his private statements to his priest, rabbi, pastor, imam, or other religious advisor discoverable?
Please recall that Lois Lerner of the IRS scandal during the previous president asserted a privilege against self-incrimination and suffered no consequences. Do Mr. Barnhill and Mark Hamill agree she must be guilty of all possible charges? Moreover, when Attorney General Eric Holder ignored congressional subpoenas he suffered nothing as a result.
I submit that the executive and decision-making privileges to be even more important that the other privileges because the decision makers can impact the entire state in the case of governors or the entire country, and perhaps the world, in the case of presidents.
Please do not let your unbridled hatred of this President cloud your judgment. History will harshly judge the impeachment brought by the Democrat House and the President will not only be acquitted but will win re-election, in large measure because the voters will reject the hatred spewed forth by the Democrats and their supporters in the mainstream media.
"Opinion" - Google News
January 25, 2020 at 01:14PM
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Your Opinion: Response to Barnhill - Jefferson City News Tribune
"Opinion" - Google News
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