Donald Trump Would Be Charged On Multiple Counts Of Obstruction If He Were Not President, Legal Experts Say
Donald Trump would already be facing multiple counts of obstruction of justice if he were not president, legal experts say.
Former U.S. attorney Mimi Rocah and federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti conducted an analysis of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report for The Daily Beast, noting that there is strong evidence to show that he obstructed justice with actions meant to thwart the investigation. The Mueller report noted the Justice Department’s policy of not prosecuting a sitting president, but said that Trump could still be charged after leaving office — and the report seems to be written for this very reason.
According to another article by The Daily Beast, “The Mueller Report even noted one reason to investigate the president was to preserve evidence for possible future use even though Trump can’t be charged now.” The analysis continued, “And Mueller collected a stunning array of evidence that clearly shows that from 2017 until 2019, Trump engaged in a persistent pattern to try to end, or at least limit the scope of, investigations surrounding him and his family.”
Though Donald Trump very publicly declared victory after the release of the Mueller report, many have noted that it contains sufficient evidence to bring charges against him, or at least an investigation from Congress to determine whether he should face impeachment proceedings.
Rocah and Mariotti wrote that there were several instances of clear attempts to obstruct the investigation from Trump, including his repeated efforts to have Robert Mueller fired, which only failed because those around him refused to carry out direct orders from Trump. Even after White House counsel Donald McGahn warned Trump that he could face legal consequences for attempts to fire Mueller, Trump still directed McGahn on multiple occasions to fire Mueller or “gin up false conflicts” as a pretext of getting rid of the special counsel.
Please have a look at this excellent piece by @EvanMcMullin. If we fail to act than we are lost as a country. Here's why Trump's betrayal and obstruction should trigger impeachment https://t.co/2ZWY9eWVLZ via @NBCNewsTHINK
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) April 27, 2019
Even some of Donald Trump’s onetime allies are siding against him after the release of the Mueller report. Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano, once a favorite of Trump who would frequently tweet Napolitano’s criticisms of Hillary Clinton, has taken a sharply critical view of Trump’s conduct as portrayed in the report.
As TheWrap noted, Napolitano also recently laid out the case for prosecuting Donald Trump.
“Depending on how you look at them, there might be enough to prosecute, but the attorney general has decided it’s not enough to prosecute,” Napolitano said on his Fox News digital series, Judge Napolitano’s Chambers. “But it did show a venal, amoral, deceptive Donald Trump, instructing his aides to lie and willing to help them do so. That’s not good in the president of the United States.”
