Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman said on Wednesday that the case is closed – Donald Trump obstructed justice in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, the ex-Watergate attorney said Trump’s lawyer floating pardons to Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort “is obstruction of justice.”
Video:
‘This is obstruction of justice’: Former Watergate attorney blasts Trump effort to pardon Flynn and Manafort #Russia #Obstruction #Trump #Mueller pic.twitter.com/2A5AwJOZ2a
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) March 29, 2018
Akerman said Trump’s lawyer had “corrupt” intent when he was offering a pardon in exchange for Flynn and Manafort agreeing not to cooperate with Mueller’s probe:
This is obstruction of justice. You can do legal actions that can amount to an obstruction. I’ll give you an example. As a defense lawyer, I can advise a client to take the Fifth Amendment. However, if my advice is given because I don’t want my client to rat me out and point the finger at me for having committed a crime, then I have the corrupt intent to impede, influence and undermine the investigation and I would be guilty of obstruction of justice for doing an innocent act which would normally be an innocent act of advising a client, because what’s in my head – my intent is corrupt.
Mueller’s obstruction case is increasingly solid
As Akerman said on Wednesday, even if Trump has the legal ability to hand out pardons, it’s the intent that matters most. In this case, the intent was clearly to keep Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort from spilling the beans to Robert Mueller.
This isn’t the only example of Trump trying to impede the investigation, though. As I wrote a short time ago, this president has tried to derail the special counsel investigation at every turn – from firing James Comey and pressuring other high-level FBI officials to ordering the White House counsel to remove Robert Mueller.
For months, the obstruction of justice case against Donald Trump has been solid. Wednesday’s news poured concrete over it.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
