I read the law this way: trump is a private citizen and can be prosecuted now for any crimes he may have committed in or out of office.
The idea that he can escape prosecution in the event he is a candidate for President in 2024 is simply absurd.
No person is above the law.
The United States of America faces severe negative consequences if we fail to indict trump for all criminal activities - such a failure may well let loose a cascade of violence and intimidation that can end the rule of law in the United States.
We should appoint a Special Prosecutor in the event the Attorney General cannot prosecute him expeditiously. Any delay encourages violence from his supporters.
Delaying prosecution sends the wrong message. Now is the time to act.
'Can a sitting U.S. president face criminal charges?'
By Jan Wolfe, Reuters, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-indictment-explainer/can-a-sitting-u-s-president-face-criminal-charges-idUSKCN1QF1D3
'COULD TRUMP BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE AND THEN PROSECUTED?
Yes. There is no debate over whether a former president can be indicted for conduct that occurred while in office. In fact, President Gerald Ford, who succeeded Nixon after his resignation, was mindful of this when he granted “a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed.” '
[WHAT ABOUT NOW?]
'...some lawyers have argued that the nation’s founders could have included a provision in the Constitution shielding the president from prosecution, but did not do so, suggesting an indictment would be permissible. According to this view, immunity for the president violates the fundamental principle that nobody is above the law....'
COULD MUELLER [HAVE INDICTED] ...TRUMP DESPITE THE EXISTING POLICY?
'Possibly. The Justice Department regulations governing Mueller’s appointment allow him to deviate from department policy in “extraordinary circumstances” with the approval of the U.S. attorney general, the nation’s top law enforcement official. Trump appointee William Barr currently holds that post.
Some legal experts have suggested Mueller could invoke this exception if he has uncovered serious wrongdoing and lacked confidence in the ability of the divided Congress to hold Trump accountable. Some lawyers also have said Mueller is not bound by the 1973 and 2000 memos because he is not a typical employee of the department.
Ken Starr, who investigated President Bill Clinton in the 1990s in the somewhat different role of independent counsel, in 1998 conducted his own analysis of the question of whether a sitting president can be indicted, indicating he did not consider the 1973 Justice Department memo binding on him.
Starr did not indict Clinton in his investigation involving the president’s relationship with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky, but lawyers in his office concluded he had the authority to do so, according to a once-secret internal memo made public by the New York Times in 2017.'
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