Posted on 07/22/2017 11:12:06 AM PDT by mandaladon
A newly-obtained memo written during special counsel Kenneth Starr's investigation of President Bill Clinton rejects a commonly held view that a sitting president can't be indicted, The New York Times reported.
The discovery adds a possible new wrinkle into the investigation into Russia and President Donald Trump's campaign.
The memo has been locked away in the National Archives since 1998, but was obtained by the Times' Charlie Savage through a Freedom of Information Act request, and represents a thorough analysis of the opinion, the newspaper reported Saturday.
According to the findings, the memo concludes that "no one, even President Clinton, is above the law" and says it is "proper, constitutional, and legal for a federal grand jury to indict a sitting president for serious criminal acts that are not part of, and are contrary to, the president's official duties."
Ronald Rotunda, a prominent conservative professor of constitutional law and ethics, was assigned to write the memo when deputy prosecutors told Starr they had enough evidence to send to a grand jury against Clinton. The prosecutors also compiled a draft for an indictment against Clinton.
The Times has also put in a request for that, but the National Archives is still determining if the document could fall under secrecy rules for grand juries.
Starr's findings were not the first time a special counsel had determined a sitting president could be indicted. Watergate special counsel Leon Jaworski, in 1974, also got a memo from his staff saying then-President Richard Nixon could be indicted.
Starr, as well as Jaworski, chose to allow the matter proceed to impeachment, rather than indictments, but the memos bring up a possibility that former FBI Director Robert Mueller, in charge of the Russia investigation, could have options allowing him to proceed with a criminal case.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
You must recognize the difference between criminally indicting and prosecuting a president and impeaching a president. The latter is authorized, the former is not.
God Bless for your service, but our duties are not yet complete...
As a couple of my T-shirts say - I once took and oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Be advised, no one has ever relieved me of my duties under that oath.
Except Billy boy lied to Congress, so...
bkmk
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