Mueller Points to How to Accuse a President of Wrongdoing
Special Counsel Robert Mueller said Wednesday morning that in any testimony before Congress he would not provide information beyond what is already public about Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election or accusations of obstruction into his investigation by President Donald Trump. But in what could be a roadmap forward for Democrats, he noted that there is another procedure for charging a president of a crime.
That procedure is impeachment by Congress.
“The Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing," he said, without using the word "impeachment."
His comment came as part of his explanation about why charging the president with a crime was "not an option we could consider."
Mueller repeated what he said in the report, that if the special counsel’s team had confidence that the president did not commit a crime it would have said so.
“We did not however make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime,” he said.
He also reiterated that a decision from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel did not permit him to charge a president with a crime while he is in office, even the charge were kept under seal and hidden from the public.
Democrats have been wrestling with whether to initiate an impeachment investigation into whether Trump tried to obstruct Mueller’s investigation, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging restraint. At the same she has been goading Trump in her public statements.
Last week, she said, “We do believe that it’s important to follow the facts. We believe that no one is above the law, including the president of the United States, and we believe that the president of the United States is engaged in a cover-up.”
Other Democrats have begun talk about impeachment.
"I'm one of those who believes that we will inevitably have an impeachment proceeding, and if we don't then we've actually neglected our duty under the Constitution," Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky, the Democratic chairman of the House Budget Committee, said on MSNBC on Saturday.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, Democrat of New York, is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which has the power to initiate an impeachment inquiry.
“Given that Special Counsel Mueller was unable to pursue criminal charges against the President, it falls to Congress to respond to the crimes, lies and other wrongdoing of President Trump — and we will do so," Nadler said after Mueller's statement. "No one, not even the President of the United States, is above the law."
Photo Credit: AP
from NBC New York - Top Stories http://bit.ly/2HJdBJ8
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