Étiquettes
After a nearly two-year investigation, culminating in a 448-page report, Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 election but found insufficient evidence to prove the Trump campaign conspired with Russia. Mueller did not decide, however, if Trump obstructed justice.
The special counsel detailed 10 acts that could constitute obstruction of justice. But based on a memo from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel that says a sitting president can’t be indicted, Mueller refrained from concluding whether the evidence was sufficient to charge Trump with obstruction.
Mueller wrote:
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. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.
Yet, in spite of the fact that Mueller did not say the attorney general should decide whether Trump obstructed justice, William Barr took it upon himself to exonerate Trump of obstruction, less than 48 hours after he received Mueller’s report on March 23.
When the special counsel’s redacted report was made public on April 18, it became clear that Barr had whitewashed Mueller’s analysis. Indeed, Mueller systematically and methodically laid out the case for obstruction of justice against Trump.
The standard a grand jury uses to decide whether to issue an indictment is probable cause. Grand jurors must determine whether “a federal crime has probably been committed by the person accused,” according to the Handbook for Federal Grand Jurors. Once an indictment issues, a jury decides whether the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, which is a higher standard than probable case.
During the April 10 Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) asked Barr whether Mueller found probable cause that Trump committed obstruction of justice. Although Mueller didn’t conclude whether a crime had been committed, he stated in his report that he could not exonerate the president. That, Reed told Barr, “suggests that there’s a possibility that probable cause existed for a crime.”
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