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An interesting (scary?) picture is starting to emerge with this legal theory coming from Dowd. I speculate Trump’s defense team had been aware of the legal hot water they were in even before the tweet. This may be their way of publicly admitting Trump had known about Flynn’s misstatements to the FBI back in Jan/Feb rather than letting Mueller’s team extract the information from the administration. It’s a PR stunt to minimize Trump’s appearance of culpability, which, unfortunately for them, has back fired. I’m not sure if Mueller forced their hands into announcing this publicly, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Flynn admitting to the media he is cooperating with the govt had forced Trump’s hands.
So now, Dowd is saying even IF the president had pressured Comey to look the other way or “go easy on Flynn” knowing that Flynn had lied to the FBI, the president still cannot be guilty of obstruction. This is getting into Nixonian territory. Mueller is damn good.
If a president cannot be guilty of obstruction of justice, he is not a president but an autocrat.
My conservative friends have better tread water carefully here as if you agree with this, the precedent will be set and the flood gates will be open to all kinds of presidential illegality in the future, and he/she may not be from your party.
Obstruction is a specific definition of events that MUST happen in order for it to be obstruction. Simply mentioning that he wishes they would let Flynn go doesn't encompass that. There MUST be a threat of some sort or a quid quo pro for doing it. Neither of those was there.
It can't be compared to Watergate because there was a crime that started an investigation. So Nixonian territory it is not.
Are you sure?
Watergate = physical break-in of an office
Trump-Russia Scandal = aiding, abetting, conspiring with Russia-sponsored hackers to steal private computer data and disseminating it to the public (a felony)
Both are illegal break-ins for political purposes.
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