The onus is own Mueller to articulate a crime he is investigating before talking to Trump

Rowan Scarborough:
President Trump’s legal team is citing a three-pillar argument to convince investigators, and the public, that President Trump shouldn’t sit down for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller.

Mr. Mueller wants access to the president as part of an inquiry into suspected obstruction of justice in the firing of the special counsel’s longtime friend, FBI Director James B. Comey, in May. The president’s legal team has resisted but not given a firm no.

Here are the arguments against an interview.

• The White House has given Mr. Mueller unprecedented access to White House documents and people.

• There is no stated crime.

• A 1997 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, during the Clinton administration, put the onus on prosecutors to exhaust evidence avenues before turning to the president.

Concerning transparency, the Trump campaign turned over to Mr. Mueller 1.4 million pages of documents. Attached were all search terms and a comprehensive log.

More than 20 White House officials voluntarily sat down for interviews. They included White House counsel Don McGahn and seven members of his staff, as well as former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. Also, 28 campaign officials and associates have been interviewed.

“All the credit goes to the president,” John Dowd, one of the president’s attorneys, told The Washington Times last month as he released the scorecard. “He wanted Bob Mueller to have everything, and Ty Cobb made it happen.”

Longtime criminal defense attorney Ty Cobb is part of Mr. Trump’s legal team.

Trump associates say there is no crime to investigate, at least not one articulated by prosecutors. Suspected collusion with Russia to interfere in the presidential election remains unverified, and Mr. Trump has the constitutional power to fire any executive branch employee.

Mr. Comey and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe testified to Congress that the Russia-Trump investigation was not interrupted.

Andrew C. McCarthy, a former assistant U.S. attorney, argued that a president innately cannot obstruct a counterintelligence investigation, which is what Mr. Mueller is conducting, because such an inquiry is intended for the president to assess dangers to the country.
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Mueller has never said what crime he is investigating.  It is one of the defects in his appointment by Rob Rosenstein.  The White House lawyers are wise to make him put his cards on teh table before submitting to questioning.

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