Ken Starr, the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton, said Thursday it will likely be hard to show President Trump obstructed justice, and said no evidence made public so far supports that charge.
“It’s too soon to tell,” Starr said on CNN. “From what I have seen, and of course we don’t know a whole lot, the answer is no.”
Democrats have charged Trump obstructed justice by suggesting that former FBI Director James Comey drop his investigation into former national security adviser Mike Flynn, and then fired Comey. But Starr said it will likely be difficult to show clearly that Trump meets the legal standard for obstruction.
“Obstruction of justice is really a very hard crime to make out,” he said. “It’s not just, you want the investigation to go away, you suggest that the investigation goes away. You’ve got to take really affirmative action.”
Former Clinton Independent Prosecutor Ken Starr: No obstruction case against Trump from evidence we’ve seen so far https://t.co/96u54TfU0M— New Day (@NewDay) June 15, 2017
Comey testified that Trump expressed the “hope” that the Flynn investigation could disappear, and that he took that as a directive. But Flynn noted that Comey didn’t act on that discussion.
“But what we know is, he didn’t do anything about it, right?” Starr said. “That is, he did not dismiss the investigation or curtail the investigation.”
Starr also said the language Trump used in that talk with Comey probably helps Trump’s case.
“His literal language was, ‘hope,'” Starr said. “And I think that that redounds to the benefit of the president.”
“He’s saying, ‘Golly, I sure wish this would go away, it’s in the way of my agenda. I need to run the country, and this is a terrible distraction, I hope you can see your way clear,'” Starr added. “That to me, just the language, is far removed from a directive.”
