Turley: Charging Nunes With Obstruction Is ‘Facially Absurd’ – ‘This Mania Has Become So Mainstream’

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” George Washington Law Professor Jonathan Turley responded to a New York Times op-ed by Brookings Institution Senior Fellow and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Chairman Norman Eisen, American Constitution Society President Caroline Fredrickson, and Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe entitled “Is Devin Nunes Obstructing Justice?” By stating that an obstruction charge against Nunes would be “facially absurd” and expressing concern about “how this mania has become so mainstream.”

Turley said, “It seems like the circle of people that are — that can be charged, according to many of these experts, is widening exponentially by the day. And it’s all because they’re expanding the definition of crimes like obstruction. And it’s part of the distemper of our politics. You know, the — this idea that Nunes could be charged with obstruction is facially absurd. And if you take a look at that article, I think it misuses historical sources and it takes radical departures from the case law. But the thing that I’m most concerned with is how this mania has become so mainstream. You know, as attorneys, we have an obligation to try to be objective, and it doesn’t mean that you have to like the president or dislike the president, but we have a service to the public to try to get things right, to say what is in the realm of possibility. This isn’t.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett