Attorney Rudy Giuliani is treading on dangerous ground by threatening the White House may claim executive privilege to block parts or all of special counsel Robert Mueller’s eventual report on his Russia-related investigation.

Giuliani, who is President Trump’s personal attorney rather than an official counsel for the White House, has absolutely no responsibility or authority to assert privileges that may adhere to the office of the president. He represents his client individually, not as president. An assertion of executive privilege is, at least in theory, an assertion of the legal rights of the presidency as an institution on behalf of the public, not to provide personal legal protection for whoever is the current inhabitant of the Oval Office.