Elizabeth Warren Calls On Congress For Law Clarifying That Sitting Presidents Can Be Indicted For Crimes

The Hill reports:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on Friday for Congress to pass a law clarifying that the president can be indicted for alleged crimes. She also vowed that if she is elected president, she will appoint Justice Department officials who would roll back a policy holding that a sitting presidents cannot be charged with a crime.

Warren’s comments, made in a post on Medium, came two days after special counsel Robert Mueller said in public remarks that his team could not have brought charges against President Trump given Justice Department guidance that forbids bringing charges against a sitting president.

From the Medium post:

We must also clarify that the President can, in fact, commit the crime of obstruction when he abuses his constitutional authority and be charged for it. That’s what Donald Trump did when he fired Jim Comey and forced out Jeff Sessions to obstruct the Russia investigation.

It’s what he did when he dangled pardons to his friends and former staffers to try to get them to lie for him.

Most people agree that these laws apply to the President, but some partisan extremists, like Attorney General Bill Barr, have argued that they don’t. We should amend these laws, codified in 18 U.S.C. §§ 1501–1521, to make it crystal clear that the President of the United States can be guilty of obstruction of justice.