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Trump would've been charged with obstruction if he weren't president

BY JACQUELINE THOMSEN - 05/06/19 01:55 PM EDT 2

 

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Hundreds of former federal prosecutors have signed onto a letter asserting that President Trump would have been charged with obstruction of justice if he wasn’t the president.

In the letter posted Monday, the former Department of Justice officials argued that the evidence of obstruction as laid out in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report was enough to bring forward an obstruction charge. The Washington Post first reported on the letter.

Mueller had declined to make a decision on whether to charge Trump with obstruction of justice. Attorney General William Barr has said that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had determined there was insufficient evidence to bring forward such a charge.But the ex-federal prosecutors say they don’t believe there was a lack of evidence, pointing to Mueller’s findings that Trump ordered then-White House counsel Don McGahn to fire the special counsel and later draft documents asserting that Trump never made that request.

And they also point to other acts outlined in Mueller’s report, like Trump’s efforts to limit the scope of the special counsel’s investigation, as also being substantial enough to support an obstruction charge.

The former DOJ staffers wrote that to examine the evidence and believe that a prosecutor wouldn’t be able to get a conviction for obstruction of justice “runs counter to logic and our experience.”

They argue that guidance issued by DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel that states that a sitting president cannot be indicted was the deciding factor over declining to bring forward the charge.

“As former federal prosecutors, we recognize that prosecuting obstruction of justice cases is critical because unchecked obstruction — which allows intentional interference with criminal investigations to go unpunished — puts our whole system of justice at risk,” the letter reads. “We believe strongly that, but for the OLC memo, the overwhelming weight of professional judgment would come down in favor of prosecution for the conduct outlined in the Mueller Report.”

The letter, which has accrued nearly 400 signatures as of Monday afternoon, was organized by the non-profit Protect Democracy and is still open for signatures.

Among the letter's notable signatories are Bill Weld, a Republican