How Trump Built an Obstruction of Justice Case Against Himself
The president’s pattern of behavior may be enough to surmount the high legal threshold for proving that he sought to stifle the special counsel’s investigation.
President Trump’s own actions, as reported on Thursday night, have strengthened the case for obstruction of justice against him, despite the significant legal obstacles to pursuing such a case against a sitting president.
Trump ordered his White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential obstruction of justice by the president, The New York reported. Trump relented only when McGahn threatened to resign, an echo of the 1973 Saturday Night Massacre, in which President Nixon’s top Justice Department officials resigned rather than carry out his order to fire the special counsel investigating the Watergate break-in.
