The series of attacks launched by President Donald Trump against witnesses during the investigation into Russia, along with former White House lawyer Don McGahn, could pave the way for new charges of obstruction and falsification of witnesses, according to jurists.
Legal experts say that he is particularly vulnerable because these charges can be laid after he leaves, as special advocate Robert Mueller pointed out in his report.
"It is disconcerting that the president continues to do many things that are the same as those that have landed, at least in part, in this mess," said a senior senior DOJ official at INSIDER.
Trump's ongoing attacks on McGahn and others could also contribute to a growing appetite for the dismissal of the Democrat-led House of Representatives.
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President Donald Trump has not hid in recent days his fury with regard to the final report of the special advocate Robert Mueller in the investigation on Russia, that the Justice Department published last week with slight redactions.
In addition to accusing Mueller and his team of "18 angry Democrats" for taking part in a fishing expedition, the president also addressed the Democratic legislators who investigated him and the former Ministry of Labor. Justice and the FBI officials who opened the investigation.
Crucially, Trump has also targeted people such as former White House lawyer Donald McGahn, who painted a portrait in Mueller's report of a frustrated president who has repeatedly tried to outsmart Mueller's diligent investigation.
After the release of the report, Trump took it to McGahn, urging the public to "monitor" him and accusing him of having invented his testimony before prosecutors.
Read more:"Total Bulls —": Trump targets former White House lawyer Don McGahn as he tears up the Mueller report
According to veterans of the Department of Justice, these remarks could open the door to new charges of obstruction and falsification of witnesses.
"It's a federal crime of reprisal against a witness – it's about taking specific actions to harm a person (by shooting, for example) in connection with his previous testimony or his statement to the police," Elie Honig , a former federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, told INSIDER.
"It is also a crime to touch a witness if the bullying efforts can be seen as efforts to influence or prevent the testimony in the future by the parties attacked or by the accused. other, "added Honig.
This is not the first time the President and his lawyers have launched public attacks against the witnesses who testified against Trump.
Michael Cohen. AP Photo / Julie Jacobson
Read more:Mueller revealed why he did not accuse Trump of obstruction, which directly contradicts what Barr Barr told the public
While Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer and advisor, was preparing to testify before three congressional committees on the president's conduct in February, Trump and Giuliani suggested that investigators also target Cohen's father-in-law.
Subsequently, Cohen postponed his testimony, citing "continuing threats" by the president against his family.
McGahn, meanwhile, issued a rare statement through the intermediary of his attorney after the attack on his credibility by Trump and Giuliani, claiming that the incidents of potential hindrance to justice that he reported to the Mueller team "are accurately described in the report".
"It's risky," Donald Trump's political assault on McGahn, William Jeffress, a Washington criminal defense lawyer who represented President Richard Nixon after his departure from the White House, told Politico. "I find this surprising because he's taking these shots against witnesses who have provided information to Mueller, and I think he has to be careful because there is an explicit federal law punishing retaliation against witnesses. "
Robert Mueller. AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite
"Trump has a glass jaw"
A 1973 decision by the Office of the Legal Counsel of the Ministry of Justice stated that a sitting president could not be charged. In his report, Mueller cites this decision as one of the reasons why he refused to "give a traditional judgment of the prosecutor" on whether Trump obstructed justice.
But the special advocate presented a detailed roadmap of evidence that prosecutors had collected during the obstruction investigation. After describing 11 possible cases of obstruction of justice, Mueller's team wrote: "If after a thorough investigation of the facts we had confidence, the President had clearly not obstructed justice, we We should know that, depending on the facts and applicable legal provisions, however, we are unable to reach that judgment. "
Read more:Mueller has returned 14 criminal cases to other prosecutors, but only 2 of them are so far public.
The report also pointed out that a president can be criminally prosecuted after leaving office. And this highlighted the power of Congress to investigate potential wrongdoings of the Executive Director.
A former senior justice department official who worked closely with Mueller when he was at the FBI told INSIDER that the "special advocate" is as meticulous as he comes to choose his words ".
"He would not have included these statements in the report if he did not think there was evidence of potentially criminal behavior," added this person. "It is disconcerting that the President continues to do many things identical to those that have landed, at least in part, in this mess."
Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Michigan, told INSIDER that Trump's efforts to prevent witnesses from testifying or retaliating against them "could be an impediment to justice, but they are not more likely to be criminally prosecuted than those listed in the Mueller Report case. "
Read more:Mueller says that Trump failed to influence the investigation of Russia – but mostly because his aides did not follow the orders
Jeffrey Cramer, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago who spent 12 years at the Department of Justice, presented a different point of view.
It is "impossible to prove that the witness was falsified by a guy who constantly insults everyone who comes across him," Cramer told INSIDER. "Trump is unique in that his normal speech attacks those who say anything against his interest – he has a glass jaw."
Prosecutors and jurors "react to evidence that acts go beyond the normal course of events to demonstrate that witnesses have been manipulated, etc.," he added. "The simple fact is that 99% of the population does not spend the day criticizing others, and our president resides in the remaining 1%, so it would be difficult to pursue a criminal case."
Reuters
& # 39; Witness tamper with the view & # 39;
But the president could face other obstacles, especially from a newly-empowered Democrat-led House of Representatives.
Since the publication of the Mueller report, the Democratic response has fallen into one of the two camps.
Some of the most progressive members of Congress, such as New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, try to prevent the removal of the president.
Read more:House Democrats Subpoena Full Mueller Report and Its Underlying Evidence
But establishment Democrats, such as Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, put a stop to the impeachment process while demanding an unredacted version of the Mueller report. asserting that Congress needed all the facts before going forward.
The chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House, Jerry Nadler, also said that he wanted more information before opening the impeachment procedure. To this end, in addition to summoning the entire Mueller report, his committee also recently summoned McGahn to appear on the witness stand.
The continuation of the President's attacks on his former White House council and other witnesses would make "certainly more likely" the dismissal of the House against Trump, a Democratic assistant in the House Judiciary Group, who would instructed to formally initiate the proceedings, said INSIDER. "It would be a witness who traffics at sight."
