Adam Schiff Says Mueller Left The Door Open For Trump To Be Charged After He Leaves Office

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said that Robert Mueller made it clear that his investigation leaves the door open for Trump to be indicted after he leaves office.

The House Intelligence committee chairman said on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell:

First of all, both Barr and the president make the same misdirection, that is they say because the president wasn’t charged that means he’s here we’re in a circumstance where the president cannot be charged. So he’s not a typical defendant. he is a very atypical one. He’s the only one in that position, and so that line of reasoning doesn’t work at all. Rather what Bob Mueller said and I think the most important points he wanted to get across today were the Russians’ effort to interfere in our affairs was systemic, it was sophisticated and all Americans need to pay attention to it.

That is we need to protect the country going forward and there’s a lot more that we need to do that first begins by understanding what the Russians did, but second and contrary to what Bill Barr has been suggesting for weeks and weeks now if we could have exonerated the president we’d have. We didn’t intend for the attorney general to arrogate it to himself to declare the president had not committed the crimes of obstruction of justice. We intended this to be presented to Congress and more than that, to preserve the evidence for other potential actions and I think that should be read as meaning so the department can consider when he leaves office whether the president should be charged.

Video:

Robert Mueller made his public statement because he wanted to set the record straight and clear up some misrepresentations of his findings. Mueller never called out Trump and Barr. That is not his style. Instead, he reaffirmed the key findings of his investigation.

Trump was not cleared on collusion and obstruction, and that the Russian government attacked the US presidential election to help Trump and harm Clinton.

Mueller talked out preserving evidence, and why Trump couldn’t be indicted while in office. He never cleared Trump of anything, and Rep. Schiff was correct. The door appears to be wide open for Trump to be charged if he loses the 2020 election and is forced to leave office.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow Jason Easley on Facebook

• Author
• Recent Posts

Follow Me

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

Follow Me

Latest posts by Jason Easley (see all)

• Des Moines Register Should Laugh At Trump’s Lawsuit Threat - Mon, Dec 16th, 2024
• Third Federal Judge Sabotages Trump By Reversing Retirement Plan - Mon, Dec 16th, 2024
• Industries Urge Trump To Allow Them To Pollute Air And Water - Sun, Dec 15th, 2024