On Tuesday’s edition of CNN’s “AC360,” Jonathan Turley, a Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, responded to charges that President Trump committed witness tampering by involving himself in Donald Trump Jr.’s initial statement on his Russia meeting during the 2016 campaign by arguing that Trump involving himself in the initial statement isn’t close to witness tampering. He also criticized attempts to find crimes in everything the president does.
Turley said that while it wasn’t a good idea for the president to get involved in the crafting of the statement, it “is not witness tampering. It doesn’t even come close to that standard. You know, there wasn’t any plan for testimony on this point. But more importantly, it doesn’t meet the statutory definition.”
He added, “We have to be careful that everything the president does is not some perpetual motion machine under the criminal code. Everything he does is not necessarily a crime. It can be ill-advised. It can be even moronic. But, there is an effort to try to find crimes in everything that occurs here. There are serious problems here. There’s a legitimate investigation going forward. This was a remarkably bad idea, but I don’t think we should start talking about witness tampering.”
Turley concluded the segment by arguing that the statement was misleading “spin,” but spin isn’t a crime, “Otherwise, most of what happens in this city is a crime.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.