UPDATED: Sen. King: 'Not prepared to reach' conclusion Trump obstructed justice
Source: The Hill
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 12/05/17 10:41 AM EST
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) on Tuesday said he's "not prepared to reach" the conclusion that President Trump obstructed justice by urging former FBI Director James Comey to end his agency's investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
But King said the president's alleged request raises questions after a tweet from Trump's account over the weekend claimed that he fired Flynn because he knew Flynn lied to the FBI.
In an appearance on CNN King said he was not ready to go that far when asked if Trump's actions constituted obstruction of Justice. "I'm not prepared to reach that conclusion, but certainly the tweet over the weekend ... I think that's a serious question," said King, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of the congressional panels investigating Russia's role in the 2016 election.
The discussion about Trump's decision to fire Flynn in February re-emerged a day after the former national security adviser pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the month before Trump took office.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/363288-sen-king-not-prepared-to-reach-conclusion-trump-obstructed-justice
UPDATE
Sen. Angus King: Impeachment is an ‘intermediate step’ before Trump goes to prison for obstruction
David Edwards
05 DEC 2017 AT 10:36 ET
Sen. Angus King (I-ME) said on Tuesday that impeachment is an “intermediate step” that Congress must take before President Donald Trump could be sent to prison for allegedly obstructing justice.
Speaking to CNN’s Poppy Harlow, King said that he had not yet reached the conclusion that Trump obstructed justice when he admitted firing FBI Director Jame Comey to end the investigation into Russia’s interference in the U.S. election.
“[Trump’s] lawyers have asserted nothing he does is illegal, that’s the Nixon defense,” King noted. “But I think what they’re missing, there’s a two step process.”
According to the senator, the country’s founders believed that a president “can be liable to prosecution in the ordinary course of the law” after being impeached. “So, the intermediate step here is impeachment,” King said. “And that’s a question that Congress will have to decide.”
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https://www.rawstory.com/2017/12/sen-angus-king-impeachment-is-an-intermediate-step-before-trump-goes-to-prison-for-obstruction/
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