Justice Department releases Mueller-era memo on Trump prosecution

Two top aides to then-Attorney General William Barr said Trump’s acts wouldn’t have merited obstruction charges even if he were not immune as president.

By Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney, Politico, Aug. 24, 2022

The Justice Department has released a long-sought legal memo arguing that then-President Donald Trump’s actions during special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation did not warrant prosecution for obstruction of justice, even if a president was susceptible to criminal charges while in office.

In the nine-page memo disclosed Wednesday, two of the most senior officials in the Justice Department advised then-Attorney General William Barr that Trump’s threats to fire Mueller and his various public and private outbursts against witnesses he viewed as hostile or unhelpful to him didn’t amount to the sort of case prosecutors would bring under their established standards.

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