[20180308]LSB10094_行政特权是否适用于当选总统的通信？.pdf

CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Does Executive Privilege Apply to the Communications of a President-elect? March 8, 2018 Former White House Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon and outgoing White House Communications Director Hope Hicks both appeared recently before closed-door meetings of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence as part of the Committees ongoing investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election. According to reports, Mr. Bannon did not answer questions relating to the transition period between the election and inauguration. Ms. Hicks answered “most,” but not all, of the Committees questions relating to that time period. One threshold question that appears central to these reports is whether executive privilege attaches to communications involving a President-elect prior to his inauguration. Executive privilege (or what is sometimes referred to by lower courts as the presidential communications privilege) is a relatively nebulous, constitutional privilege that protects the confidentiality of presidential communications on the grounds that “a President and those who assist him must be free to