The problem, according to legal experts, was that presidents have typically been required to have a specific reason for invoking executive privilege rather than seeking to exempt an entire subject or cohort. This could be a problem for Trump as well, because several Trump aides have refused to answer whole categories of questions in testimony before Congress, saying that they were declining to provide information in case the president decides to claim executive privilege on these topics later.

Courts have also looked askance at presidents who have tried to withhold records in situations in which some of the information was already publicly available — like President Barack Obama’s failed attempts to keep documents about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ botched “Fast and Furious” gun-trafficking investigation out of the hands of Congress.

The leakiness of the Trump White House could pose problems on this front if Trump invokes executive privilege to avoid providing information that has already made its way into the press.