Day 473: Trump just can’t stop admitting to obstruction of justice
Mostly silent over the weekend on Twitter, Donald Trump awoke on Monday morning with a lot on his mind. From bashing a Republican hopeful in the West Virginia Senate race to election books to his nominees to the Iran deal, he hit on a number of topics. The third rail he loves to touch, the Robert Mueller investigation, was also prominent, of course.
The last line in a single tweet will certainly be highlighted by Mueller’s team: “There is no O, it’s called Fighting Back.”
Trump has waffled on his reason for firing James Comey from his directorship at the FBI. The initial pretense for the firing was that Comey mishandled the Hillary Clinton email investigation, including mistreating Clinton in the public forum. But that quickly morphed into Trump’s infamous line to Lester Holt about how Comey wouldn’t let go of “this Russia thing.” Trump would later flip-flop again and claim that Comey wasn’t fired due to the Russia investigation. Now, Trump and his team are again admitting that Comey was fired, at least in part, over the Russia investigation.
Trump’s Monday tweet tries to characterize the ouster as merely “fighting back,” a trope he has previously used to wash away claims of obstruction. Trump is just creating more evidence for Mueller’s team, as we wrote on Day 447, when Trump sent a similar tweet:
But the damning line from Trump here is, “No Collusion or Obstruction (other than I fight back)…” Trump appears to be saying that when he fights back it’s per se not obstruction, that he can do what he wants and it’s merely a defense.
However, Trump’s power is far from limitless, and admitting on Twitter to obstructing justice for the purpose of fighting back is a terribly misguided choice. By tying his presidential decisions to defending himself, he dangerously undercuts his previous justifications for certain actions.
For Trump to double down on his “fighting back” argument is as reckless as it is brazen. Trump clearly believes he’s above the law and his actions are appropriate because his power is limitless. But presidents are obviously not above the law and his power is far from limitless.
By continuing to contradict his earlier statements about the reasons for Comey’s firing, Trump is again helping Mueller prove the toughest element of an obstruction charge: intent.
The toughest hurdle to overcome in an obstruction of justice case is proving intent.
The bigger problem with trying to make an obstruction of justice charge stick is the always thorny matter of trying to prove intent. So, even if Trump desperately wanted Comey to back off from any potential investigation of his Russia tie and did try to undermine such an investigation, a prosecutor would still have to prove that he deliberately and willfully used illegal means to stop Comey from an investigation.
While he probably thinks lobbing verbal assaults helps him in the court of public opinion, with every word Trump utters about Comey or the Russia investigation, he hurts his own case.
473 days in, 989 to go
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