Corey Lewandowski is supposed to be testifying before the House Judiciary Committee which is looking into the impeachment of Donald Trump, but it would be better described as stonewalling. Lewandowski was Trump’s campaign manager, but he never worked in the White House. That didn’t stop White House attorneys from trying to claim executive privilege. The Washington Post writes:

White House counsel Pat Cipollone sent a letter to Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), the committee’s chairman, saying that Lewandowski has been “directed … not to discuss the substance of any conversations he had with the President or senior Presidential advisers about official government matters, unless the information is expressly contained in the Report.”

Cipollone added the even more dubious claim that conversations Lewandowski had with Trump during the transition, before he even became president, might be protected by presidential privilege. 

Based on that Lewandowski’s response, several times during the hearing, has been “I recognize it is not my privilege, but I am respecting the White House’s decision.” As Vox’s Aaron Rupar writes, “Corey Lewandowski is straight up trolling Rep. Jerry Nadler.”

And Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), is egging Lewandowski along, trying in any way he can to end this hearing.

And as you can imagine this is all playing well with Trump. The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman says, “Hearing from sources that the Lewandowski hearing is being played on TV at the front of AF1 as the president travels to California. Aides are said to be enjoying the first several minutes.”

Trump is probably enjoying how the Democrats on the committee are dealing with this too. They have given the witness the upper hand by not taking any action to compel Lewandowski to cooperate in full.

While the Democrats on the committee are being heavily criticized for mismanaging the hearing, there is one person getting praise. Democratic committee attorney Barry Berke got 30 minutes to question Lewandowski at the end of the proceedings. The New York Times writes:

Barry H. Berke, a well-regarded white-collar defense attorney who has taken a leave from his New York law firm to consult for the committee, unleashed a rapid-fire cross-examination in which he quickly established that Mr. Lewandowski had lied in an interview earlier this year when he said he couldn’t recall any conversation he had with Mr. Trump about Mr. Sessions.