Ted Lieu in The Mueller Report


On Principles & Values: Trump committed all three elements of obstruction of justice

LIEU: The first element of obstruction of justice requires an obstructive act. On pg. 97 of Vol. 2, you wrote [that Trump attempted] "to end the existing investigation into the president and his campaign." That would be evidence of an obstructive act because it would naturally obstruct their investigation, correct?

MUELLER: Correct.

LIEU: The second element of obstruction requires a nexus to an official proceeding. You wrote, "by the time of the president's meeting on June 19, 2017, the existence of a grand jury investigation was public knowledge." That would constitute a nexus because a grand jury investigation is an official proceeding, correct?

MUELLER: Yes.

LIEU: The final element of the crime of obstruction to justice [is] intent. You wrote, "the president's effort to limit the scope of the special counsel's investigation was intended to prevent further investigative scrutiny of the president & his campaign's conduct.". That's in the report, correct?

MUELLER: That is in the report.

Source: Mueller Report House testimony regarding impeaching Trump Jul 24, 2019

On Principles & Values: Trump committed obstruction but presidents can't be indicted

LIEU: To recap what we've heard, we have heard today that the president ordered former White House Counsel, Don McGahn, to fire you [Special Counsel Robert Mueller]. The president ordered Don McGahn to then cover that up and create a false paper trail.ÿ I believe any reasonable person looking at these facts could conclude that all three elements of the crime of obstruction of justice have been met. And I'd like to ask you the reason, again, that you did not indict Donald Trump is because of [the Justice Department] opinion stating that you cannot indict a sitting president, correct?

MUELLER: That is correct.

LIEU: The fact that their orders by the president were not carried out, that is not a defense to obstruction of justice because a statute itself is quite dry. It says that as long as you endeavor or attempt to obstruct justice, that would also constitute a crime.

MUELLER: I'm not going to get into that at this juncture.

Source: Mueller Report House testimony regarding impeaching Trump Jul 24, 2019

The above quotations are from The Mueller Report
Presented with Related Materials
by the Washington Post.
Click here for other excerpts from The Mueller Report
Presented with Related Materials
by the Washington Post.
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Page last updated: Mar 16, 2021