Tracing the Origins of Congressional Democrats’ ‘Obstruction’ Strategy
Efforts by members of Congress to advance the narrative that President Donald Trump “obstructed justice” have now replaced the disproven claims of Trump-Russia collusion.
The public narrative of obstruction, however, originated prior to the conclusion of the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller and his resulting report.
Less than six months after Mueller’s appointment—on Oct. 10, 2017—the Brookings Institution published the first of two reports titled “Presidential Obstruction of Justice: The Case of Donald J. Trump,” which outlined, among other things, a scenario whereby Mueller would refer his obstruction findings to Congress, which would then take up the matter and continue investigating. The report also discussed ways in which Congress could impeach the president, mentioning the word “impeachment” a total of 90 times.
Norman Eisen and Barry Berke, two of the authors of the Brookings report, were later retained by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) on a consulting basis as special oversight counsels to the Democrat majority staff.
As Nadler noted in an announcement, the two men would have a particular focus on reviewing Mueller’s investigation and would be advising the committee. It also appears Nadler intended for the two lawyers to question Attorney General William Barr.
Special Counsel’s Focus on Obstruction of Justice
It was initially believed that the primary focus of Mueller’s investigation centered around allegations of collusion, however, the release of Mueller’s report makes clear that substantial resources were dedicated to investigating potential obstruction charges—including the question whether the president obstructed justice by firing James Comey as FBI director.
Although the Mueller report was released as a single document, it contains two separate volumes, the first part focusing on collusion and the second section dedicated solely to looking into obstruction.
The Mueller report stated that in regards to obstruction, several statutes could apply including Section 1503 and 1505 but the special counsel chose to focus primarily on Section 1512, which as the report states, “is an omnibus obstruction-of-justice provision that covers a range of obstructive acts directed at pending or contemplated official proceedings.”
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