Legal expert: If ‘bumbling stupidity’ was a crime, Trump would already have been indicted
CNN legal analyst Paul Callan said on Saturday that President Donald Trump may or may not have obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James Comey, but that if “bumbling stupidity” was a crime, Trump would already be indicted by a grand jury.
Callan joined anchor Ana Cabrera Saturday evening to discuss U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)’s contention that there is a “very strong case” to be made that Pres. Trump is guilty of obstruction of justice for firing Comey during the investigation into whether or not Trump and his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to say the 2016 election.
“Trump’s version of the ‘tapes’ tweet is going to be, ‘I’m just warning this person that he better not tell lies about me,'” Callan said. “I think that’s what the president is trying to imply.”
He went on, “I think the president could be indicted for bumbling stupidity for the way he’s handling the firing of the FBI director, but I don’t think there’s enough to charge a crime at this point. Of course, he’s immune to criminal charges while he’s president of the United States. The only way the president can be processed criminally is by the filing of the Articles of Impeachment, and then after impeachment he can be prosecuted criminally.”
“That’s the way it works,” he said. “And I don’t think we’re there yet.”
Watch the video, embedded below:
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GUILTY: Jury rules Michael Flynn’s former business partner is guilty of lobbying for Turkey
Michael Flynn's former business partner Bijan Kian was found guilty by a jury for illegally lobbying for a foreign country.
The information was uncovered as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and as the Justice Department's crackdown on illegal foreign lobbying, CNN explained.
Flynn has had a difficult go in his court case, but information Flynn gave was helpful, according to the DOJ.
Kian is an Iranian-American businessman who was charged with conspiring to hide his lobbying work for Turkey without registering as a foreign agent for the Turkish government.
While previewing former special counsel Robert Mueller's upcoming testimony before the House of Representatives, CNN on Tuesday played a clip from six years ago showing Mueller schooling Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), who tried to corner the then-FBI director about his agency's work on the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
During the hearing, Gohmert tried to get Mueller to explain why the FBI supposedly hadn't visited the mosque that was frequented by the Tsarnaev brothers, the two American citizens of Chechen descent who carried out the attack.
"Why did no one go to the mosque and say, who are these guys?" Gohmert asked. "Why was that not done?"
President Donald Trump on Tuesday filed s lawsuit to block the State of New York from releasing his state tax returns. Empire State lawmakers recently passed legislation, signed by the governor, allowing the New York Department of Taxation and Finance to release any individual's tax returns to Congress.
The president's lawsuit names the House Ways and Means Committee, the New York State Attorney General, and a New York State tax official, according to The Hill.
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