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Then you look at 1503 which professor tribe just cited or maybe 1510, or 1512, all of which deal with obstruction of pending proceedings. the word proceeding is a legal term of art. it does not include an fbi investigation. and every single court that has looked at that question has said an fbi investigation is not a pending proceeding within the meaning of the obstruction statutes. >> all right, let me get larry tribe in here because we're on television and this might be getting too technical. >> well, i obviously don't agree. i don't agree. i'm a lawyer, too. i have read those statutes. 1503...

The president simply cannot be guilty of obstructing justice because as head of the executive branch, he can completely control any prosecution. the supreme court has twice rejected that view. unanimously in the nixon case, by a vote of 8-1 in the morrison case. the fact is that the president has all kinds of powers, but if he abuses them, for example, by accepting a bribe from russia or any of a number of other things, if he does in a corrupt way or with threats of the kind that he made to comey about his retaining his job, if in either of those ways he interferes with the due administration ...

Complicated. when you tell an fbi, the director of the fbi to shut down an investigation or ask, you know, the crime of obstruction of justice takes place regardless of whether you succeed in obstructing or not. the crime, section 1503, says obstruct or attempt to obstruct. now, since he's the president, i think there's a very clear -- unclear constitutional question about whether he could ever be charged with a crime while he's president. but certainly if congress decides to look at this as a high-crime and misdemeanor, they will look at obstruction of justice and it doesn't matter that comey...

Resources to put into the investigation and announces that there's an investigation before the u.s. senate, what does trump do? he fires him. >> you're a prosecutor. you know if you're going to make a case you need a statue the statute and a target. when you say there's an obstruction case here who's your target? >> the target would be 2 president of the united states and anybody else who was involved in that decision to fire jim comey. it could be jared kushner. the statute is section 1503 of title 18 an endeavor to obstruct justice which includes fbi investigations. clearly, the only issue h...

Trump sat on that for 18 days until the press finally put the heat on him, and then at that point he fires him. the next day he meets with comey and asks comey to back off the investigation, and then when comey asks for more resources to put into this investigation, and announces that there is an investigation before the u.s. senate, what does trump do? he fires him. >> you're a prosecutor. you know if you're going to make a case, you need a statute and you need a target. when you say there's an obstruction case, who is the target? >> the target would be the president of the united states and ...