Mueller tells Nadler that report did not totally exonerate Trump

[Jim in CT]

did mueller choose to indict? you keep leaving that part out. you posted a link where Mueller said that kind of collusion is a crime in certain situations. Since Mueller
believes it can be a crime, and since he didn’t choose to indict, what other conclusion is there, that Mueller doesn’t believe Trump committed a crime?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[spence]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

did mueller choose to indict? you keep leaving that part out. you posted a link where Mueller said that kind of collusion is a crime in certain situations. Since Mueller
believes it can be a crime, and since he didn’t choose to indict, what other conclusion is there, that Mueller doesn’t believe Trump committed a crime?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Jim, I'm not sure you're really paying attention to any of this, or you're just listening to the wrong pundits.

Mueller clearly said he couldn't indict Trump per DOJ policy. The evidence was preserved as a matter of record.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by spence

Jim, I'm not sure you're really paying attention to any of this, or you're just listening to the wrong pundits.

Mueller clearly said he couldn't indict Trump per DOJ policy. The evidence was preserved as a matter of record.

no he originally said he couldn’t indict trump, then he clarified that. i posted a link where he denied that doj policy prevented him
from indicting.

i’m not then one
not paying attention. i posted the exchange.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

no he originally said he couldn’t indict trump, then he clarified that. i posted a link where he denied that doj policy prevented him
from indicting.

i’m not then one
not paying attention. i posted the exchange.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Not in this thread, and the link in the other thread did not say that.

Here's Mueller's statement:
“I want to add one correction to my testimony this morning," Mueller said. "I want to go back to one thing that was said this morning by Mr. Lieu, who said and I quote, ‘You didn’t charge the President because of the OLC opinion. That is not the correct way to say it. As we say in the report and as I said at the opening, we did not reach a determination as to whether the President committed a crime.”

That is a portion of what he said in his opening statement:
"Based on Justice Department policy and principles of fairness, we decided we would not make a determination as to whether the President committed a crime. That was our decision then and it remains our decision today."

Mueller clarified that he did not intend to support Lieu’s implication that Mueller would have indicted Trump if not for the OLC opinion.

That would have meant that Mueller determined that Trump committed a crime, but could not do anything about it.

Mueller also said the President could be indicted for obstruction after he was out of office, he did not say he would or should be.

[Pete F.]

Per DOJ OLC rules (https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...President.html) a sitting President cannot be indicted.

This is the closing paragraph from that document:

In 1973, the Department of Justice concluded that the indictment and criminal prosecution of a sitting President would unduly interfere with the ability of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned duties, and would thus violate the constitutional separation of powers. No court has addressed this question directly, but the judicial precedents that bear on the continuing validity of our constitutional analysis are consistent with both the analytic approach taken and the conclusions reached. Our view remains that a sitting President is constitutionally immune from indictment and criminal prosecution.
RANDOLPH D. MOSS
Assistant Attorney General
Office of Legal Counsel

In his opening statement Mueller said this about indictment:

"Based on Justice Department policy and principles of fairness, we decided we would not make a determination as to whether the President committed a crime. That was our decision then and it remains our decision today."

Some Constitutional Scholars have had discussions recently on this subject and disagree.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/yes-cons...ment-president

https://www.lawfareblog.com/can-pres...laurence-tribe

But this is not a new subject, here is something from 20 years ago.

https://scholarship.law.georgetown.e...context=facpub

The correct conclusion IMHO is that Mueller did his assignment and produced his report. The next step is up to Congress.

We will see if they have the stomach for it.