Fmr US Attorney Who Signed Letter on Obstruction: Mueller Didn’t Clear Trump, He ‘Documented Crimes’

Former US attorney and MSNBC analyst Barbara McQuade spoke to Steve Kornacki this afternoon on the letter she co-signed on the Mueller report.

The letter, signed by over 300 former federal prosecutors, argues that Trump would’ve been charged with obstruction of justice if he was not the president.

McQuade called Mueller’s report a “prosecution memo” and said, “All of the elements of obstruction of justice are met there. I think most prosecutors would take that and find that a crime was committed.”

She added that it’s important to hear from Mueller directly on this and not just from Barr.

At one point Kornacki brought up the counter-argument that Trump’s conduct, as Jonathan Turley argued, was “ugly,” but not obstruction, and charging him would amount to “a virtual thought crime.”

McQuade disagreed and said, “Attempting to obstruct justice is as much as a crime as obstructing justice. It’s in the statute.”

She said the point of the letter is that if any of them had received a memo like Mueller’s, they would’ve expected prosecution of the case.

“We want to let the American people know Robert Mueller didn’t clear President Trump,” she added. “He has documented crimes that otherwise would have been charged. What do you do with it? I think that is now for Congress to consider whether that amounts to a high crime or misdemeanor, which is a very different standard from proving that the elements of a federal statute have been violated beyond a reasonable doubt.”

You can watch above, via MSNBC.

[image via screengrab]

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