Schiff: Justice Ministry Should "Re-examine" Guidelines That President-in-Office Should Not Be Indicted



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"I think the Department of Justice needs to re-examine this opinion from the OLC, the Office of Legal Counsel, that you can not charge a sitting president in circumstances where it could mean that person escapes justice "" Schiff

Schiff, future chairman of the House's intelligence committee, told CNN that there should be an exception to the opinion of the office of the legal adviser if a president leaves his post and if "can no longer be brought to justice."

"I do not think the Department of Justice should take a stand – and this is certainly not a position that would not be required in any way by the Constitution – that a president simply by being in office may be above the law (…), "Schiff told CNN.

That a president in office can not be impeached is the position of the counsel's office since the Nixon's D government was reaffirmed under the Clinton administration, but it has never been tested in court.

The office's guidelines, published in 2000, state: "The indictment or criminal prosecution of an incumbent president would unconstitutionally undermine the executive's ability to:

" investigators found potentially criminal evidence against President Donald Trump, the team of special advocate Robert Mueller would try to challenge the directions of the Department of Justice.

Schiff told CNN that it was "very likely" that Mueller will join the leadership. Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told CNN in May that Mueller's team had told Trump's lawyers that she could no longer indict a sitting president.
Schiff's remarks came the same day that Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, was sentenced to three years in prison. Cohen pleaded guilty to nine charges, including two hidden money campaign-related funding violations paid to women suspected of having relations with Trump, which Cohen says he made to his request.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told CNN on Wednesday that he would ask the legal council office "to obtain a notice that would retract his previous opinion, stating that the president could not be put in charge".

"I firmly believe that the president himself can be charged," said the Connecticut Democrat in an interview with CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360."

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