How Robert Mueller can indict Donald Trump while he’s still in office
Based solely on the unhinged actions and tweets of Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani over the past week, it is clear that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump-Russia treason is zeroing in on the real targets. Trump’s frequent claims of ‘NO COLLUSION’ have suddenly changed to ‘Conspiracy with Russia is not a crime.’ This talking point, despite being demonstrably false, is being pushed across conservative media, especially Fox News, in an attempt to sway public opinion to believe treason is not a crime.
When Mueller completes the investigation, he will have two choices. The first is to turn the report over to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who would then submit Mueller’s findings to the House of Representatives for a possible impeachment hearing. No matter how incriminating the evidence shows, it is not likely a Republican controlled House would vote to impeach Trump. That would change if Democrats flip the House in the midterms, but then sixty-seven votes in the Senate would be required to remove Trump from office. Based on the lack of integrity or care for the rule of law currently shown by Senate Republicans, it is highly unlikely there would be sufficient votes for removal.
That brings us to Mueller’s second option: to indict Trump, the legality of which has long been debated by Constitutional experts. As Palmer Report has reported, Mueller likely has multiple sealed indictments against Trump, possibly as an insurance policy should Mueller be suddenly fired. If Mueller believes that justice will not be served through impeachment, he could choose to unseal the indictments at any time.
With Justice Anthony Kennedy officially stepping down from the Supreme Court on Tuesday, SCOTUS will only have eight justices until a new one is confirmed. As Giuliani has publicly stated multiple times, Trump would fight a subpoena to testify before a grand jury, so they would certainly attempt to fight an indictment. With the current makeup of the court, there is a good chance, at worst, it would be a 4-4 decision. Robert Mueller, who served as Director of the FBI for twelve years, knows what is at stake if Trump is allowed to escape justice. We can be confident that he will make the correct decision.
I’m a ceramic engineer living in Central New York, avid sports fan but find myself more interested in politics lately.