Unsurprisingly, trump officials are pushing the envelope with a novel claim for refusing to answer Democratic Senators’ questions.
They could claim that trump is asserting ‘executive privilege’, which would give trump some accountability, but they’re not doing that.
They’re instead arguing that they refuse to answer the questions when executive privilege is not being claimed, to protect trump’s ability to claim it later if he wants.
I don’t know why any Democratic Senators didn’t make the following point:
If a witness on the stand at a trial is asked a question, they can answer it, or assert their fifth amendment rights against self-incrimination.
But they can’t say they’re not asserting their fifth amendment rights, but they’re refusing to answer in case they want to assert it later. Witnesses can’t do it — and these witnesses shouldn’t get to.