Perspective: Barr tried to exonerate Trump. That’s not how the special counsel rules work.
By Neal Katyal and Joshua A. Geltzer April 19 at 12:22 PM The redacted version of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report made one thing quite clear: Attorney General William Barr has gone out of his way to try to exonerate the president. But Barr’s comments about obstruction of justice have been deeply flawed — and at odds with the spirit of the regulations governing this type of politically sensitive investigation by a special counsel.
Barr has at times appeared to take the position that a prosecutor must prove an underlying crime to bring an obstruction charge. But there is nothing in the text or purpose of the obstruction statutes that suggests this. Obstruction is a separate and independent offense. It has to be, or else someone could commit a crime, destroy all the evidence, then turn around and invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
In his news conference Thursday, Barr argued that Trump’s interventions regarding the special counsel’s work — the president tried to limit the investigation and even have Mueller fired — stemmed from frustration , as if that cleared Trump of obstruction. But ending frustration with an ongoing investigation is precisely the type of improper motive that can sustain an obstruction of justice charge.
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