- In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, the former special counsel Robert Mueller repeated his conclusion from his report that President Donald Trump could be charged with a crime, including obstruction of justice, after leaving office.
- Mueller’s report outlined 11 instances of possible obstruction of justice but did not come to a prosecutorial decision about whether Trump obstructed justice.
- Mueller said he could not indict Trump because of guidance from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel that prohibits indicting a sitting president.
- Trump is also an unindicted co-conspirator in federal campaign-finance violations that Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer, pleaded guilty to in August.
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In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, the former special counsel Robert Mueller repeated his conclusion that President Donald Trump could be charged with a crime, including obstruction of justice, after leaving office.
Mueller confirmed that to Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado during his testimony.
On April 18, the Department of Justice released a redacted version of Mueller’s report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election and whether Trump and other administration officials attempted to obstruct federal investigations.
On Wednesday, Mueller is testifying before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees on his findings.
Read more: LIVE: Mueller testifies on Capitol Hill at blockbuster hearing
Mueller's report outlined 11 instances of possible obstruction of justice but did not come to a prosecutorial decision about whether Trump obstructed justice, saying the report "did not exonerate" Trump of any crime.
"If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state," the report said. "Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment."
Mueller said both in a May 29 public statement and in his testimony on Wednesday that he could not indict Trump because of guidance from the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel that prohibits indicting a sitting president.
Rep. Buck: "Could you charge the president with a crime after he left office?"
Mueller: "Yes."
Buck: "You believe that you could charge the president of the United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?"
Mueller: "Yes." https://t.co/m9KGQtpbkx pic.twitter.com/Sd1e1B7WMi
— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 24, 2019
Because Mueller could not indict Trump, he could also not accuse him of obstruction without giving Trump a chance to defend himself in court.
Mueller's report said that in many cases Trump failed in efforts to impede the Russia investigation and other federal investigations because his own aides chose not to follow through with his requests.
The 11 instances of possible obstruction included Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey in May 2017, his attempts to fire Mueller, who was appointed special counsel after Comey's dismissal, and his signaling that he would be opening to pardoning Michael Flynn and Michael Cohen.
Trump is also an unindicted co-conspirator in federal campaign-finance violations that Cohen, his former personal lawyer, pleaded guilty to in August.
Cohen pleaded guilty in the Southern District of New York to eight federal charges of tax and bank fraud and of violating federal campaign-finance law by making a hush-money payment of $130,000 - far over the legal limit of $2,700 - to Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress who says she had an affair with Trump.
According to Lawfare, while the statute of limitations for most federal crimes is five years, courts can allow for certain cases to be prosecuted after that under the "equitable tolling" principle.