Trump Lawyer: A ‘President Cannot Obstruct Justice’

John Dowd, an attorney for President Trump, is now claiming that a president cannot be guilty of obstruction of justice, following a weekend tweet from Trump that some say amounted to an admission of obstruction. The “President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under [the Constitution's Article II] and has every right to express his view of any case,” said Dowd, who claims he wrote the tweet attributed to Trump. The message said, “I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!” The tweet implied that Trump knew former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn had lied to the FBI when the White House fired him, which raises new questions about the later firing of FBI Director James Comey. Dowd told Axios, “The tweet did not admit obstruction. That is an ignorant and arrogant assertion.” Author and famed investigative journalist Bob Woodward told Axios this area is a “legal thicket” that hasn’t yet been settled. “I think a president can only be reached through impeachment and removal,” he said. “But the House and Senate could conclude a president had obstructed, and conclude that was a ‘high crime.’”