Mueller's team says they won't indict Trump

Giuliani: Mueller's team says they won't indict Trump

Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has informed President Donald Trump's attorneys that they have concluded that they cannot indict a sitting president, according to the President's lawyer.

"All they get to do is write a report," Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani told CNN. "They can't indict. At least they acknowledged that to us after some battling, they acknowledged that to us."

That conclusion is likely based on longstanding Justice Department guidelines. It is not about any assessment of the evidence Mueller's team has compiled.

Klamath Falls, OR— Special counsel Robert Mueller's office has told President Donald Trump's legal team that he won't indict a sitting president, according to Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's lawyers.

During the final months of the administration of former President Bill Clinton in 2000, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel said in a memo that "the indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting president would be unconstitutional."

Neal Katyal, acting solicitor general in the administration of former President Barack Obama — the administration's top courtroom lawyer — wrote the current special counsel regulations as a young lawyer in Clinton's

Justice Department in 1999. They specify that a special counsel "shall comply" with the policies of the Justice Department, for whom Mueller works.

Katyal said on MSNBC's "The Beat With Ari Melber" in February that means that Mueller is bound by the 2000 Justice Department memo but that he "can seek exceptions."

"This old opinion from 20 years ago does preclude, in general, the Justice Department from indicting a sitting president for constitutional reasons," Katyal said. "But an exception can be given." Katyal repeated Wednesday that the rules "permit Mueller to depart from DOJ policy."

Referring to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is acting as attorney general in the context of the Russia investigation because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself, Katyal said on MSNBC's "All In With Chris Hayes": "The way to do this is to ask the acting attorney general, so he does have a way forward."

Robert Costa, a national political reporter for The Washington Post and a political analyst for MSNBC, said Wednesday night on Twitter that Giuliani told him that the statement didn't come from Mueller.

"One of his assistants broke in," Costa quoted Giuliani as saying. "But a day or two later, they called back and acknowledged it, which put it to bed as far as I'm concerned."

According to Costa, when he was asked which member of Mueller's team made the comment, Giuliani said: "I'll check with Jay and let you know tomorrow. Jay got a call and they said we acknowledge that we are bound by Justice Department policy."

Jay Sekulow is another member of Trump's personal legal team.

Giuliani, meanwhile, suggested Wednesday that Mueller may not even interview Trump.

"I don't think they need an interview, particularly if the interview is only for the purpose of giving explanations again that the president has already given," he told NBC News.

Giuliani said Mueller's office has not responded to questions that Trump's team has about a possible interview. He said those inquiries included issues like: "Why do they need an interview, what kind of questions, when are you going to resolve the investigation, show us the authority."

On Tuesday, Giuliani told NBC News that he had spoken by phone with lawyers for the special counsel's office and that talks about a potential presidential interview were in a "holding pattern."

On Wednesday, he also called on Mueller ahead of the one-year mark of the investigation on Thursday to "get it over with."

The special counsel's office had no comment.

RELATED STORY LINK: Blumenthal: Rudy Giuliani's wrong, Trump can be indicted

By James Garland of Tulelake News
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