Former Gov. Mike Huckabee defended Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ refusal to answer questions under oath on Tuesday with wholly inaccurate information.
As Sessions repeatedly refused on Tuesday to answer senators’ questions regarding conversations he had with President Donald Trump, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee revealed a woeful misunderstanding about what the attorney general actually does.
Dems act like they never heard of atty/client privilege; AG is top atty in Exec branch; serves @POTUS and not stooge of Congress.
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) June 13, 2017
Huckabee’s inaccurate tweet came as Sessions testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee concerning Russia‘s attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and other related topics. Facing questions from Democratic members of the committee regarding his conversations with Trump, Sessions refused to answer on the grounds that it would violate the president’s constitutional right to invoke executive privilege at some later date. (That reasoning itself is hotly disputed.) As Huckabee appears to have understood it, Sessions was invoking attorney-client privilege to avoid revealing their discussions.
But Sessions is not Trump’s attorney, as Huckabee implies. (That role is filled by White House counsel.) Instead, Sessions is the top public attorney in the United States, serving the people, not the White House. And the internet was quick to let him know.
https://twitter.com/jackmjenkins/status/874723610354745345
https://twitter.com/HerbCarmen/status/874722095770611712
Dude. The AG is not the White House Counsel. The AG is our highest public attorney. https://t.co/UcOQuYjq1v
— 🕷Dante Atkins🕷 (@DanteAtkins) June 13, 2017
the president has a private attorney and that's not what the attorney general does and you are very dumb https://t.co/udyGAI9p6L
— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) June 13, 2017
The attorney general is not the president's lawyer. The White House counsel is who represents the White House. Buy a civics book. https://t.co/KHRjhQhPtF
— Nope. (@JoyAnnReid) June 13, 2017
Needless to say, this is incredibly wrong https://t.co/CeN7srckgI
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) June 13, 2017
The Attorney General serves the people of the United States of America.
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) June 13, 2017
Congress represents them. https://t.co/afHC7cRhVd
A former Republican presidential candidate but no longer in office, Huckabee has direct ties to Trump’s White House: His daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is the White House’s deputy press secretary.