Trump’s Lawyers Reportedly Sent 20-Page Letter to Mueller Arguing He Could Not Obstruct Justice
In a 20-page memo sent to Special Counsel Robert Mueller in January, President Donald Trump‘s lawyers argued that the president has broad authority, granted by the Constitution, that gives him the power to end federal investigations and thus Trump could not possibly have obstructed justice.
The correspondence, written by John Dowd and Jay Sekulow and obtained by the New York Times, asserts Trump has the authority to “exercise his power to pardon.”
It also asserts that, under the power of the Constitution, Trump could “if he wished, terminate the inquiry.”
The letter also argues that Mueller cannot force the president to answer questions on whether or not he obstructed justice because he could not possibly have done so.
The NYT reports:
President Trump’s lawyers have for months quietly waged a campaign to keep the special counsel from trying to force him to answer questions in the investigation into whether he obstructed justice, asserting that he cannot be compelled to testify and arguing in a confidential letter that he could not possibly have committed obstruction because he has unfettered authority over all federal investigations.
On Saturday, shortly before the letter was published by the Times, Trump seemed to preemptively respond to the NYT’s report, tweeting out: “Is the Special Counsel/Justice Department leaking my lawyers letters to the Fake News Media? Should be looking at Dems corruption instead?”
Read the full letter, via The New York Times, here.
Watch more above, via CNN.
[image via Getty Images]
