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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThere's No Way Mueller Will Indict Trump
The Atlantic:Color me deeply skeptical.
Mueller will not indict Trump for obstruction of justice or for any other crime. Period. Full stop. End of story. Speculations to the contrary are just fantasy.
He wont do it for the good and sufficient reason that the Department of Justice has a long-standing legal opinion that sitting presidents may not be indicted. First issued in 1973 during the Nixon era, the policy was reaffirmed in 2000, during the Clinton era. These rules bind all Department of Justice employees, and Mueller, in the end, is a Department of Justice employee. More to the point, if we know anything about Mueller, we think we know that he follows the rulesall of them. Even the ones that restrict him in ways he would prefer they not. And if he were to choose not to follow the rules, that, in turn, would be a reasonable justification for firing him. So the special counsel will not indict the president.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,112 posts)the GOP are traitors, but IF people stop HOLDING THEIR NOSES long enough to vote in 2018, problem solved.
Oh, remember tons of POC wont be allowed to vote. So gotta make up for that.
Indicting Trump was never an option, really. But impeachment is, but you have to have patriots to do that. Democrats have to be in charge.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,733 posts)stated in the article. While there is a credible argument to be made that a sitting president can be indicted (Laurence Tribe is of that opinion), since Justice Department policy is to the contrary Mueller will stick to the established practice and not ask for an indictment. However, when Trump is no longer president (and that can't come soon enough), he's fair game.
pbmus
(12,422 posts)Algernon Moncrieff
(5,790 posts)...even though action on those charges might have to wait until he is out of office. It'd be a little like Agnew's legal issues with the State of Maryland.
Algernon Moncrieff
(5,790 posts)The Republicans want to know what they are dealing with in terms of campaign issues (assuming we actually have something resembling free and fair elections); the Dems want to focus their outrage.
One reasonably supposes that any indictments of Trump family members (Don Jr. , Jared) will be quickly quashed with pardons.
What evidence he passes to state prosecutors will be more interesting. The implication from a lot of the articles is that the worst charges may involve money laundering and may have nothing to do with Russian election meddling.
flotsam
(3,268 posts)brooklynite
(94,595 posts)flotsam
(3,268 posts)They are at least biased.
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)be a criminal or do criminal actions. I dare say, it will be a grand jury that indite if mueller brings the evidence to them. Mueller doe not indite, a grand jury
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)and multiple members of the GOP for corruption.
After the election the Democrats will vote to impeach, and the hearings they will hold will put enormous pressure on the Senate.
In any case, the NY AG CAN indict Trump on any laws he broke in NY, such as money-laundering.