Page 1117 - Wrongdoing News Today

Then take appropriate action as necessary. but this politically charged investigation, again, based upon what apparently the president would like, is unprecedented in my experience. >> yeah, but what if the president wants this just like he wanted a voter fraud commission and if theres no wrongdoing, like the voter fraud commission, the president will have to take it off the table. >> well, thats whats so troublesome about the way this seems to be proceeding. its just not the way fbi and doj ope...

Good faith in the process, he had language that raised the specter of disagreement between obstruction of justice. barr said mueller shirked his responsibility, which the ag repeated today. >> he could have reached a conclusion? >> he couldve reached a conclusion to indict a president of wrong doing in office. he couldve reached a decision whether it was criminal activity. >> do you see the suggestion that there is another venue in this, that was congress? >> im not sure what he was suggesting, ...

>> a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. the constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing. if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime we would have said so. >> now, mr. mueller said this is my first and hopefully last time speaking about the russia probe. not so sure about that. congress wants to hear from him. now, both speaker pelosi and house judic...

Charged with a federal crime while he is in office. charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider. >> if it wasnt a fundamental part of his inaction why does he keep mentioning it? heres why. because of what came out from the white house just hours later. >> mueller spent two years, did an exhaustive investigation and came back to say that there was no wrongdoing by the trump campaign or any american. >> thats just not true. just like he said in his report, th...

He wanted to present a notion out there and misdirect the american people before the release of the report. another example which brings us back to congress and what mueller intended for congress to do or not. this is p-103 and p-104. william barr said the special counsel decision described the facts of the obstruction investigation without reaching a legal conclusion leaves it to the attorney general to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime. robert mueller sa...

Findings you come up with, what conclusions, and then he obviously, in my mind, teed it up for congress and the courts to move forward with it. and how thats done is obviously now up to congress. >> john, i just want you to listen to this from mueller and then well talk. >> if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so. we did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime. the constitution requires a process ...

Counsel that he committed crimes. that is why really the most important sentence in that nine minutes of muellers talk yesterday was the reason im not doing that is because the criminal justice system is not the place to level a formal allegation of presidential wrongdoing. and i would add it is the congress. congress here you go, you have everything that you need in volume two especially where he lays out all of the evidence that lets us conclude that the president -- >> and i think the importa...

Do you think this is a continuation of a distraction? >> i think the people who perpetuated this smear of treasonous collusion with russia to steal the 2016 election understands that if there is investigation into how that narrative was set, how it was weaponized by our federal t government, who engaged in criminal wrongdoing such as the criminal leaks of classified information to undo a democratic election, they understand this is a threat and it might also be an effort to make sure there is so...

Helped him win the election. there was no proof that russia helped him win the election, but it was clear that russia wanted him to. listen to what mueller said, just the on sift what the president said. >> if he had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so. under long-standing department policy, a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. the opinion says the constitution requires a process other than the poll justice ...

Triggered the president again today. welcome to "the lead." im jake tapper. we begin with the politics lead. president trump going on an extraordinary tirade, even by his standards spewing a series of lies, falsehoods and misleading claims. in an apparent aim to undermine robert muellers remarks that made clear mueller could not exonerate the president of wrongdoing. the presidents initial reaction to mueller speaking yesterday was a fairly restrained single twe tweet that attempted to turn the ...