Obstruction
Obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice is defined in the omnibus clause of 18 U.S.C. § 1503, which provides that "whoever . . . . corruptly or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication, influences, obstructs, or impedes, or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice, shall be (guilty of an offense)." Persons are charged under this statute based on allegations that a defendant intended to intefere with an official proceeding, by doing things such as destroying evidence, or intefering with the duties of jurors or court officers.
A person obstructs justice when they have a specific intent to obstruct or interfere with a judicial proceeding. For a person to be convicted of obstructing justice, they must not only have the specific intent to obstruct the proceeding, but the person must know (1) that a proceeding was actually pending at the time; and (2) there must be a nexus between the defendant’s endeavor to obstruct justice and the proceeding, and the defendant must have knowledge of this nexus.
§ 1503 applies only to federal judicial proceedings. Under § 1505, however, a defendant can be convicted of obstruction of justice by obstructing a pending proceeding before Congress or a federal agency. A pending proceeding could include an informal investigation by an executive agency.
Cornell Law School
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/obstruction_of_justice
Last night on MSNBC, there was solid coverage of how Trump's legal team is attempting to convince Robert Mueller not to charge Donald with obstruction of justice. The legal team's effort was focused on one thing – Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey. They submitted two memos to Mr. Mueller. The first made the case that a president has the power to fire anyone working for him/her; the second attempted to make the case that Mr. Comey would not make a good witness against Trump. Already today, we see the attempt by Trump's team to smear Mr. Comey, by focusing on his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's server.
It is not unprecedented for lawyers to try to prevent legal charges in such circumstances. Older forum members remember that Robert Luskin's “last minute” communications with Patrick Fitzgerald saved Karl Rove from the indictment that Mr. Fitzgerald was prepared to bring. This is detailed in the afterword of Michael Isikoff and David Corn's book “Hubris” (Crown Publishers; 2006; pages 399-404).
However, obstruction charges focus upon a pattern of behaviors. Each example of behavior intended to obstruct the investigations becomes a strand in a rope that ties Trump to the charge, rather than serving as a link in a chain that might be broken. And there are numerous strands of Trump's behavior, ranging from his pressuring Mr. Comey to end the Flynn investigation, to his attempts to get other intelligence leaders to “clear” him, to his demands that congressional republicans “protect” him. More, Trump's own words provide strong evidence of consciousness of guilt. The shifting explanations of why he fired Mr. Comey, as well as the false statements on the meeting between Donald, Jr., Kushner, Manafort, and the Russian agents, demonstrate an attempted cover-up.
Trump's legal team is aware that the firing of Mr. Comey isn't the lone evidence of obstruction. And, while they are correct that a president has the power to fire people, they recognize that presidential power can be abused. It is evident that the current reports on their communications with Mr. Mueller reflect their first step in fighting a charge they believe is very, very likely to be filed against their client.
And how are Trump and his alt-right supporters reacting to these events? The alt-right is reporting that Trump has been placed under “house arrest” – citing neoconservative John Bolton for evidence – while the reliable media is reporting that Trump is angered by John Kelly's attempts to make the president act in a sane manner.
Hopefully, there will be more leaks being reported on this evening's news. That should make for an interesting weekend.
Peace,
H2O Man
= new reply since forum marked as read
Thanks.
Always enjoy your posts, H2O Man. 
