Trump ally says making Obama testify would 'open up a can of worms' and set a 'bad precedent'
Former president appeared to respond to allegations with a one-word tweet: 'Vote.'
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Your support makes all the difference.Lindsey Graham will not try to force former President Barack Obama to testify about an investigation into Russia's 2016 election meddling that included Trump campaign officials even though Donald Trump called on the Senate Judiciary chairman to do just that.
The president is pushing a conspiracy theory he has dubbed "Obamagate," a complex web of related and semi-related probes, actions by then-Obama administration officials and other things he says was a plot to end his chances in 2016 then cripple his presidency.
In a morning tweet, Mr Trump told Mr Graham in a Thursday morning tweet to call Mr Obama as a witness.
"No more Mr Nice Guy," the 45th president wrote. "No more talk!"
But the Judiciary chairman later in the day told reporters calling any former president to testify would set a sour precedent.
"No president is above the law. But we do have separation of powers," Mr Graham said.
"I think it would be a bad precedent to compel a former president to come before the Congress, that would open up a can of worms," he added. "For a variety of reasons, I don't think that's a good idea."
It long has been the tradition that presidents and their closest advisers do not have to testify before congressional committees under executive privilege. The idea is to give chiefs executive enough running room to discuss complicated matters and make decisions about them, especially on sensitive national security issues.
New York University School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice defines the communication privilege this way: "The presidential communications privilege protects from disclosure any communications that are either by the president directly or by his immediate advisors in the Office of the President to the president."
"The [Supreme Court] grounded the privilege in the need for candor in executive branch decision-making and in the supremacy of each branch within its own assigned area of constitutional duties," according to the Brennan Center.
Still, Mr Graham said his committee soon will begin oversight hearings of all things related to the very conspiracy theory the president is peddling. Those hearings should start in early June, he said.
For his part, Mr Obama appeared to respond to the controversy and allegations from Mr Trump and some GOP lawmakers with a one-word tweet: "Vote."
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