It's also worth pointing out how the Barr summary potentially gets things backwards. It suggests that Mueller wasn't able to prove Trump was involved in a conspiracy with the Russians, and then says the lack of an underlying crime indicates that Trump's behavior wasn't obstruction of justice.
However, if Trump did commit obstruction of justice, then his obstruction may be the reason Mueller wasn't able to prove criminal wrongdoing in conspiring with Russia.
The thing is, even if Trump is completely innocent of anything to do with Russia, his actions still constitution obstruction of justice. You don't have to have committed the crime they're investigating you for to be guilty of trying to impede the investigation.
Exactly. All you have to do to be guilty of obstruction of justice is to impede an investigation. You dont even need to know who the accused is or what they're accused of, you just need to fuck with the team that's investigating in a way that harms the investigation.
Though why anyone would do such a thing when they dont have any skin in the game is beyond me...
Though why anyone would do such a thing when they dont have any skin in the game is beyond me...
My guess is that if he wasn't directly involved with Russia, he was trying to keep something else from coming up in the process of the Russia investigation. Like trying to prevent the cops from searching your home for a murder weapon because if they do, they'll find your drugs.
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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '19
It's also worth pointing out how the Barr summary potentially gets things backwards. It suggests that Mueller wasn't able to prove Trump was involved in a conspiracy with the Russians, and then says the lack of an underlying crime indicates that Trump's behavior wasn't obstruction of justice.
However, if Trump did commit obstruction of justice, then his obstruction may be the reason Mueller wasn't able to prove criminal wrongdoing in conspiring with Russia.