AFTER MUELLER

Elizabeth Warren Wants to Ensure That Sitting Presidents Can Be Indicted for Criminal Activity

This proposal comes after the 2020 contender called for Trump impeachment proceedings to begin last month.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is proposing changes to Department of Justice policy that preclude presidents from being indicted, following a public statement from Special Counsel Robert Mueller in which he said that very policy effectively prevented him from making a final determination as to whether President Trump broke the law. “Congress should make it clear that presidents can be indicted for criminal activity, including obstruction of justice,” Warren wrote in a Medium post this morning. “And when I’m president, I’ll appoint Justice Department officials who will reverse flawed policies so no president is shielded from criminal accountability.”

She wants Congress to pass a law clarifying that DOJ can indict any president of the United States, amend obstruction-of-justice statutes to allow for indictment when the “president abuses the powers of the office,” and appoint an assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel who will reverse OLC opinion arguing that presidents cannot be indicted. Warren was one of the earliest in the field to call for impeachment proceedings last month when the Mueller Report came out.