But this is also Trump we're talking about here. His views of executive authority aren't exactly limited. And he has shown a real willingness to use any tactic to protect himself from what Mueller might find and to call into question the motivations of his opponents (see: 24 hours ago). Trump has already made an extreme claim of attorney-client privilege in the Michael Cohen case, for instance. He's also asserted that he can fire pretty much anybody at any time and is exempt from obstruction of justice charges. So who's to say he wouldn't make broad, extreme executive privilege claims to withhold details of a potentially damning Mueller report?

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We can say a few things: One, it seems unlikely to succeed, at least on a broad scale. And two, there could be some really interesting gamesmanship involved — both by Trump and Mueller.

As Vox explained a few months back, Mueller will be submitting his reports to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein — assuming Rosenstein is still overseeing the investigation — and it would then be up to Rosenstein to release the reports. Rosenstein actually has pretty broad authority at this point and could opt against it. Trump could also try to stop him.

One of the ways he could do that is through invoking executive privilege. He could do so for one or both of two reasons, said Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. The first would be if the report allegedly reveals sensitive state secrets. The second would be if the report allegedly reveals sensitive details of other ongoing investigations. The former seems the more likely of the two.

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"But it is hard to imagine that Mueller would fail to be careful about such information being made public in his report,” Rozell said. That wouldn't necessarily prevent Trump from trying, of course.

As with many aspects of the Mueller probe — and the Trump presidency — there doesn't appear to be a clear precedent here. But Jed Shugerman of Fordham University's law school suggested that the closest presidential precedent — the Watergate scandal — suggests that Giuliani and Trump's legal team would fail.

"This dispute is very similar to U.S. v. Nixon, in which the Supreme Court essentially rejected the basis for Giuliani's argument on executive privilege,” Shugerman said. “The difference is that the Nixon case was about a subpoena and this case would be about a report. That is a real difference, but it shouldn't change the result if it were to be litigated in court."

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Richard Epstein of New York University suggested that it was less certain.

"The law on this topic is very spotty to say the least,” Epstein said. “It is far from clear what is covered by that privilege, especially if the information is discovered from third-party sources. So there is sure to be a fight, but in principle the president could order Rosenstein not to disclose, and that should be binding."

The success or failure of this particular tactic may not be what this is really about, though. Samuel Buell of Duke University suggested that it could really be about the Trump legal team getting previews of the reports.

"Maybe the main play here would be to make sure that the White House got the whole thing in advance 'to review for executive privilege' so that they could tailor and fine tune their own 'report' and maybe even release theirs first,” he said. And indeed, the Trump legal team is already reportedly drafting its rebuttals for public consumption — aiming to avert impeachment in Congress.

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Shugerman suggested that there may also be a workaround for Mueller, too — by not issuing reports but instead detailing his case through other indictments (given that it appears that he doesn't think he can indict a sitting president).

"For example, he could indict a number of officials for conspiring to obstruct justice, and he could name Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal information document which reports the details of the case,” Shugerman said. “That document would reveal the case like a report, but because it would be part of a filed indictment, there isn't a similar opportunity to assert executive privilege to block it. Trump would probably have to fire Rosenstein and/or Mueller to stop them from getting new indictments."

There is also politics at play here. While Republicans have certainly tolerated Trump's bare-knuckle tactics in fighting back against the Mueller probe, standing by while Trump attempts to withhold the report or key details of it would be akin to the desperation of firing Mueller and Rosenstein, in the estimation of some. We seem to be ever searching for the red line here, but it's difficult to believe Trump could get away with this, even against that backdrop.

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And even if Republicans don't apply pressure or Mueller doesn't detail the case through indictments, there could be other options. Epstein, who suggested that Trump's order that Rosenstein withhold the report would be binding, also suggested that Rosenstein could decide that Trump's order isn't legitimate and release the report anyway.