I'm moderating this thread and hence cannot participate. This post only provides some additional information and should not be construed as part of the discussion. Please, no replies.
RAZD writes:
The conclusion was a bunch of weasel words to get around - imho - the restriction AG Barr put on the probe to not indict a sitting president. Barr was their boss, so they had to comply.
The Mueller report describes how Mueller and his team decided early on to follow the OLC (DOJ's Office of Legal Council) advisory that sitting presidents cannot be indicted, well before Barr became AG. One of the disappointments Barr expressed about the report was that it made no effort to decide criminality. Barr made this determination himself, deciding with assistant AG Rosenstein's concurrence to absolve Trump of any criminal acts.
Starr was not hampered by an AG with an unorthodox concept of excessive presidential rights that was trying to stop him, and even still he didn't prove the cases of obstruction of justice that he gave to the congress, he gave them a list of incidences which they used to write up articles of impeachment and which were then tried in the Senate.
Starr operated under different rules. He was an independent prosecutor who operated outside the DOJ under the Independent Counsel law and therefore
*could* allege criminal acts, such as that Bill Clinton lied about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Starr was not subject to DOJ rules, such as the OLC advisory about not indicting a sitting president.
The Independent Counsel law expired in 1999 and and was replaced with the Special Counsel law where special counsels operate within the DOJ. Mueller operated as a special counsel reporting to assistant AG Rod Rosenstein in the DOJ. Mueller served within the executive branch investigating the executive branch.
Edited by Admin, : Incorrectly referred to Sessions when I meant Rosenstein, fixed now.
-- | Percy |
| EvC Forum Director |