1、CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress INSIGHTINSIGHTi i Executive Privilege and Individuals outside the Executive Branch Ben Wilhelm Analyst in Government Organization and Management October 9, 2019 White House assertions of executive privilege for presidential communications h
2、ave historically been confined to individuals who were executive branch employees when those communications occurred. While the idea that executive privilege could extend to individuals outside the executive branch predates the Trump Administration, it appears that recent testimony by Kris Kobach, f
3、ormer Kansas Secretary of State, and Corey Lewandowski, former manager of Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, are likely the first times the executive branch has actually made such an assertion to Congress. Use of Executive Privilege For decades, Presidents have asserted executive privilege by
4、 instructing current and former executive branch officials to refuse to respond to congressional questions about communications with the President and the deliberations of the executive branch. While the Supreme Court recognized in United States v. Nixon that the privilege is rooted in the Constitut