Judul : Trump is reportedly being investigated for obstruction of justice
link : Trump is reportedly being investigated for obstruction of justice
Trump is reportedly being investigated for obstruction of justice
Thomson Reuters
President Donald Trump arrives at Newark International airport
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference expanded to include whether President Donald Trump attempted to obstruct justice just days after he fired former FBI Director James Comey, the Washington Post report Wednesday.
As part of the probe, Mueller is interviewing senior intelligence officials and looking for proof of any financial crimes possibly committed by Trump’s associates, the Post reported, citing US officials.
A spokesman for Trump’s lawyer said in a statement that “the FBI leak regarding the President is outrageous, inexcusable, and illegal,” but did not dispute the accuracy of the report.
Three intelligence officials could be interviewed by Mueller as early as next week: Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, National Security Agency chief Mike Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, and former NSA deputy Richard Ledgett, who retired in April.
The scope of the probe had been previously limited to possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Former FBI Director James Comey confirmed in a Senate testimony last week that he had told Trump three times between January and March that he was not personally under investigation. Trump said he felt “vindicated” by Comey’s testimony.”
But that changed just days after Trump fired Comey, according to the Post, who was leading an FBI investigation into Trump’s campaign team and whether it colluded with the Kremlin during the 2016 election when he was dismissed on May 9.
A day later, Trump told two Russian diplomats in an Oval Office meeting that by firing Comey, who he reportedly called a “nut job,” he had taken “great pressure” off of himself, according to The New York Times. Days later, he told NBC’s Lester Holt that “the Russia thing” had been on his mind when he dismissed the former FBI director.
Those comments, combined with Trump’s alleged request to Comey in February that the FBI considering dropping its investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, have led lawmakers, legal experts, and now Mueller to question whether Trump sought to obstruct justice, a criminal and impeachable offense.
Comey testified last week that Trump asked everyone to leave the room before he expressed “hope” that the FBI could see a way clear to “letting Flynn go,” which Comey said he found “significant” and took as a “direction.”
Jeffrey Toobin, a CNN legal analyst, said last month that Trump’s request for Pence and Sessions to scram “suggests consciousness of guilt.” Claire Finkelstein, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, told Business Insider last week that Comey’s testimony “absolutely bolster the case for obstruction of justice.”
Obstruction of justice is broadly defined: It involves any conduct in which a person willfully interferes with the administration of justice. To charge someone with obstructing justice, however, prosecutors have to prove that “the defendant corruptly endeavored to influence, obstruct, or impede” an investigation, according to legal and national-security experts at Lawfare. That element “is the hardest to prove, because it depends on showing an improper motive.”
But Trump’s conversation with Comey was part of a broader pattern that could more easily open him up to charges of obstruction of justice, experts say, beginning with his reported requests for Comey to pledge his loyalty and assurance that he wasn’t under FBI investigation and ending when he fired him.
Trump has reportedly considered firing Mueller, who he thinks is too close to Comey and is engaged in a “witch hunt” against him. But he has been advised it by his aides in recent days.
Read more stories on Business Insider, Malaysian edition of the world’s fastest-growing business and technology news website.
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