A Justice Department memo published this week says President Donald Trump’s private advisers may claim executive privilege when asked to hand over their communications, a move that would greatly expand the historical protections upheld by the Supreme Court in multiple rulings. “Executive privilege can apply to presidential communications with private advisers so long as the communications relate to official presidential decisionmaking, involve or reflect communications with the President or his direct advisers, and are confidential,” Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser wrote in a memo opinion published Monday. Trump has attempted to exert executive privilege several times since his first term in office to shield himself from congressional scrutiny and court proceedings. Trump has also made several attempts to use executive privilege to block the release of information related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Navarro had attempted to appeal his conviction by citing the protections of executive privilege.