President Donald Trump hasn't ruled out invoking executive privilege should his former national security adviser John Bolton be called to testify in the Senate impeachment trial, and the "same principle" would likely come into play should acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney be brought in, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Friday.
"There's a lot of sensitive information, national security information that they discuss," Grisham told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "That is something that should be protected, absolutely, for this country, and again, for future presidencies."
She claimed that it is being misinterpreted that Mulvaney acknowledged back in October that Trump had held back military funds from Ukraine in exchange for investigations.
"He was simply saying that there was corruption," Grisham said. "A country that was known for corruption, Ukraine, needed to be looked into before releasing the aid. That is something the president has said publicly over and over again about his concerns over not only corruption but European countries that just don't share in the costs that the U.S. constantly shoulders. These are not new things. That's all Mick was saying. They are trying to put an interpretation into his conversation like they are doing with the transcript."
She also called comments during the impeachment proceedings that Trump's actions were worse than the late President Richard Nixon's "absurd."
"They continue to be obsessed with getting this president out of office, or at the very least, affecting the next election," said Grisham. "The facts are that they are the ones abusing their power. They are taking all of this time and going through all of this sham impeachment for something that the president didn't do."
Meanwhile, Grisham claimed that Trump isn't "even thinking about this" and was instead talking to her earlier about speaking at the March for Life event in Washington, D.C.
"He's very excited he's the first sitting president to ever attend and speak in person," said Grisham.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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