In the weeks since the New York Times reported that President Trump allegedly asked James Comey to drop a pending criminal investigation of Michael Flynn, there has been much debate about whether the president committed obstruction of justice.
Looking at the entire affair from the standpoint of strict legal analysis, there's just one conclusion: All available evidence says he did.
Under such a plain legal analysis, of the sort my students and I conduct in the law school classroom, it is highly likely that special counsel Robert Mueller will find that there is a provable case that the president committed a federal felony offense.
The Justice Department, as well as many scholars, have opined that a sitting president cannot be indicted and tried for a crime. So the ultimate issue, whatever Mueller's findings, will come down to the political question of impeachment. But Mueller's determination will be critical because the crime of obstruction would be the most legally potent charge in any impeachment debate, as it was in the articles of impeachment against both Presidents Nixon and Clinton.
It's worth looking at the already strong publicly available evidence, as well as the supposed flaws in that case. Even taking into account possible shortcomings, the current case for an obstruction of justice charge is crystal clear.
The professor goes on to state categorically that the three basic legal elements of obstruction of justice are satisfied in this case.
First Trump's request to Comey that he drop the case against Michael Flynn clearly qualifies as an attempt to obstruct an ongoing investigation.
Second the request was clearly made to rescue his former national security adviser from prosecution.
And third the attempt was made with the "corrupt intent" of obstructing justice.
According to Professor Samuel Buell that is all it takes for this case to move forward.
The professor does recognize that Trump's attorneys will have a number of tactics at their disposal for arguing that this case is without merit or that Trump is immune from prosecution, which is why it will be left up to the House and Senate to determine how to deal with Mueller's findings.
And while we have every reason to doubt that the Republicans will want to move for impeachment of their president, literally every day Trump does or says something so troubling that it may leave them with little choice in the end.
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