If Mueller finds evidence of wrongdoing, can he indict Trump?
“I just think [the policy] is wrong for the reason that nobody is above the law,” says Paul Rosenzweig, a senior fellow at the R Street Institute, who served as a senior counsel during Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr’s investigation of President Bill Clinton.
Despite his legal assessment, Mr. Rosenzweig says he believes Mueller will follow the Justice Department’s policy and not seek to return an indictment charging Trump.
“This has been their consistent policy no matter who the president is,” he says. “It was first adopted for Nixon. They reaffirmed it for Clinton. And if they are called upon to do it, I’m sure they will reaffirm it for Trump.”
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Rosenzweig agrees there are practical arguments for why indicting and prosecuting a sitting president could hinder the government.
“You don’t want the most powerful man in the world to be spending 9 to 5 working on nuclear war with North Korea and then from 5 to 8 worrying about what his testimony is going to be,” he says.
