A former Justice Department lawyer argued President Trump could be indicted for wanting the agency to prosecute his political enemies, even if he never officially made the request to administration officials.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Trump told then-White House counsel Don McGahn he wanted to direct the department to prosecute former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and fired FBI Director James Comey, who is a witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
“This is an attempt at obstruction of justice,” Gene Rossi told MSNBC’s “The Beat with Ari Melber” on Tuesday. “What he did with the attorney McGahn, that is an attempt to obstruct of justice. … The president of the United States is essentially asking McGahn to commit a crime by obstructing justice. So that’s what I would charge.”
According to the Times, McGahn told Trump he had no authority to order the prosecution of Clinton or Comey, and warned that doing so could lead to Trump’s possible impeachment, according to the Times.
White House lawyers also wrote a memo to Trump, which said such an action could potentially be seen as an abuse of power by Congress and voters, which could lead to his impeachment or being voted out of office. It’s not clear whether Trump read the memo or continued to press his aides further about prosecuting Clinton and Comey.
Trump submitted written answers to Mueller’s questions on Tuesday, but his lawyer Rudy Giuliani said the president did not answer questions about allegations of obstruction of justice, and would not do so in the future.
