Obstruction of justice is defined in the omnibus clause of 18 U.S.C. § 1503, which provides that "whoever . . . . corruptly or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication, influences, obstructs, or impedes, or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice, shall be (guilty of an offense)." Persons are charged under this statute based on allegations that a defendant intended to intefere with an official proceeding, by doing things such as destroying evidence, or intefering with the duties of jurors or court officers.
A person obstructs justice when they have a specific intent to obstruct or interfere with a judicial proceeding. [...]
And according to Trump’s own words in today’s interview with Lester Holt — it kind of seems like the “clueless one” admits to just such obstruction intentions — when he summarily fired James Comey because this “Russian Thing” was taking soooo loooong
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Donald Trump OK Firing Comey While FBI Probing His Campaign Because Dems Made Up “Russia Thing”
by Lisa de Moraes, deadline.com — May 11, 2017
[...]
Trump brushed aside Holt’s question about the timing of the firing, which has raised eyebrows, coming as it did while Comey was overseeing an investigation into possible Trump campaign collusion with Russians who meddled in the election.
“There was no good time to do it,” Trump said. “And, in fact, I when decided to just do it, I said to myself, ‘You know, this Russia Thing, with Trump and Russia, is a made-up story.’ It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost and election. They should have won, and the reason they should have won it is, the electoral college is almost impossible for a Republican to win. Very hard. Because you start off at such a disadvantage. So everybody thinks they should have won the election.”
“When I did this now I said I probably, maybe, will confuse people, maybe I’ll lengthen the time [of the FBI investigation]. In my opinion it should have been over a long time ago, because it’s an excuse.”
And Vox.com took special notice of this “statement of intent” too, from today’s Holt interview:
On Thursday, Trump told NBC’s Lester Holt that “regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey.”
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The definition of Obstruction of Justice makes no mention of what the Obstructor’s “personal opinions” on what the merits or timeline of the Investigation, might be.
It just says the Investigation must not be interfered with.
Uh oh!
… Ignorance of the Law, is no excuse for Breaking it.
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