As I covered earlier, Jay Sekulow appeared on ABC’s This Week Sunday to talk Trump. Among the topics: obstruction of justice.
During his time on the program, the President’s attorney lambasted the idea — courtesy of Robert Mueller — that The Donald’s work on Twitter constitutes obstruction:
“Obstruction of justice by tweet is absurd. The President has a First Amendment right to put his opinions out there.”
Boom!
Sekulow went on to explain more legal stuff, with a reference to the 17 lawyers working under Mueller.
“This theory that’s being bandied around that you can have an obstruction case by tweet — and by the way, [Attorney General] Jeff Sessions and Bob Mueller and all of them, the entire Department of Justice are under what? The Article II branch of government.
“And that’s why I go back to saying that at the end of the day, this is all about the Constitution. … If it went to court, that would be the question that the courts would be addressing. Someone can make an allegation of obstruction, those are Article II powers and a very compelling case.”
Compelling!
Then there’s Trump’s tweets. It seems The Donald is fond of talk of witch hunts:
A total WITCH HUNT with massive conflicts of interest!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 19, 2018
A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 10, 2018
WITCH HUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 23, 2018
….The greatest Witch Hunt in political history!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2018
The man likes “witch hunt.”
Here’s a doozy tweet at issue regarding obstruction claims:
“..This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!”
..This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2018
Note the word “stop.” Some goofballs have said this constitutes an official direct order.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders has dismissed the idea during one of her cool press briefings:
“It’s not an order. It’s the president’s opinion. The president is not obstructing. He is fighting back.”
Both Sekulow and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani have said the same to The Washington Post. Take a look —
Giuliani:
[Trump] uses tweets to express his opinion.”
Sekulow:
“The president has issued no order or direction to the Department of Justice on this.”
The New York Times has reported that Mueller’s particularly psyched about scrutinizing Trump’s tweets concerning former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
The idea that Donald Trump is obstructing justice by complaining on social media is silly. I’m all for investigating crimes, whether they’re committed by one side of the aisle or the other. But this investigation, it seems to me, has long ago jumped the shark.
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