Special Counsel Robert Mueller, on Wednesday, went live on national television to contradict President Donald Trump’s claim that the Counsel’s report was a total exoneration in the Russia probe and also to tell the country that the responsibility of holding Trump accountable for possible obstruction of justice lays at the feet of Congress because he feels that the Department of Justice should not be making the final judgement.
“After that investigation, if we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that,” Mueller explained at a Justice Department press conference at which he announced he was dissolving his office and resigning. “We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime.”
Contrary to the suggestions of Attorney General William Barr, Mueller said he didn’t pursue such a finding because the Justice Department has a regulation barring the indictment of a sitting president and “the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing” — impeachment and removal from office.
This might slowly instigate a motion of impeachment by the House Democrats but it is also vital to note that the Senate would not oust Trump unless at least 20 Republicans voted to do so. “The Congress holds sacred its constitutional responsibility to investigate and hold the president accountable for his abuse of power,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement.
