![]() ![]() To be guilty, Trump would need to actually intimidate the witness from testifying, which he didn’t, and it would have to be proven that it was his intention to intimidate. Joshua Dressler, law professor, Ohio State University Also, once Trump is an ex-president, federal prosecutors could charge him with witness intimidation if they chose. The House of Representatives could add witness intimidation as a separate article of impeachment. ![]() ![]() But accountability can come in different forms. Just as Trump cannot be indicted for campaign finance crimes while president such as those involving Michael Cohen, he similarly could not be indicted for witness intimidation including his tweets this morning either while he is still in office. However, in this case it is the president who is allegedly doing the witness intimidation and an OLC opinion (see Indicting a President Is Not Foreclosed: The Complex History - Lawfare) states that a sitting president cannot be indicted. Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, law professor, Stetson UniversityĪccording to the Department of Justice, intimidation of witnesses testifying before Congress is a crime under 18 U.S.C. As to whether or not it constitutes a crime, the question is almost irrelevant since prosecution is all but impossible. There wasn’t a perfect consensus, but most experts agreed that Trump’s tweet falls pretty clearly within our understanding of an impeachable offense. Their responses, edited for clarity and length, are below. I put this question to seven legal experts. But some observers - including some loyal to the president - said this tweet was, at best, a very bad idea.īut did this tweet really cross a legal line into witness tampering? Trump has a habit of blasting critics on Twitter. Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images This will soon cause real harm, if it hasn’t already.” Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testifies before the House Select Intelligence Committee on Friday, November 15, 2019. “As Foreign Service professionals are being denigrated and undermined,” she told members of Congress, “the institution is also being degraded. Her testimony on Friday was clear, calm, and mostly unflattering to the Trump administration. Yovanovitch was ousted from her ambassadorship back in April after she apparently got in the way of Trump’s efforts to persuade the government of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors.” “She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. “Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad,” Trump wrote. When Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine, testified on Capitol Hill Friday morning during the second day of impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump, it didn’t take the president long to send a tweet attacking her. ![]()
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