A bold new legal defense for Trump: Presidents cannot obstruct justice

[DonViejo]

By Sari Horwitz and Philip Rucker December 4 at 7:08 PM

The brazen assertion Monday by one of President Trump’s lawyers that a president cannot be found guilty of obstruction of justice signaled a controversial defense strategy in the wide-ranging Russia probe, as Trump’s political advisers are increasingly concerned about the legal advice he is receiving.

Trump tweeted over the weekend that he knew then-national security adviser Michael Flynn lied to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador before firing him in February — and before FBI Director James B. Comey said Trump asked him to be lenient while investigating Flynn. Experts said the president’s admission increased his legal exposure to obstruction-of-justice charges, one of the core crimes under investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. But Trump’s personal lawyer John Dowd sought to excuse the president’s tweet in part by telling Axios and NBC News on Monday that the “president cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under [the Constitution’s Article II] and has every right to express his view of any case.”

Dowd declined to elaborate on his theory or explain the emerging legal strategy to The Washington Post.

Inside the White House, some senior officials were baffled that Dowd publicly offered this interpretation of the law, which has been advanced since the summer by constitutional scholar Alan Dershowitz in defense of Trump but flatly dismissed by many other legal scholars.

Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer overseeing its handling of the Russia investigation, said Monday that the Dershowitz-Dowd theory was not the president’s official legal strategy.

“It’s interesting as a technical legal issue, but the president’s lawyers intend to present a fact-based defense, not a mere legal defense,” Cobb said in an interview with The Post. “That should resolve things, but we all shall see.”

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/a-bold-new-legal-defense-for-trump-presidents-cannot-obstruct-justice/2017/12/04/b95cb262-d91c-11e7-a841-2066faf731ef_story.html

[DangerousUrNot]

1. Did Trump's lawyer actually pass the bar exam?

[dalton99a]

2. Yeah, go with that

[L. Coyote]

3. The retreating army digs a new hole ....

to try to get out of the last hole they dug and fell into ....

[Stuart G]

4. When Trump acts "above the law" then the action goes to the Supreme Court.

After the Supreme Court rules against Trump, then the constitutional crisis starts.

If Trump obeys the Supreme Court, then the crisis will subside.
If not, and he insists upon continuing his action, the crisis will get much worse.

Of course, that might never happen, but if it does, and republicans support Trump, and not the Court, then we are totally fuc**d up....

and I sure hope this does not happen.

That Trump resigns, if all of this takes place.. but no one knows.

[rock]

5. Yep, pretty bold

To introduce such a stupid argument. Oh, look. Here's a bold guy now