Kamala Harris says her DOJ would pursue criminal obstruction charges against Trump
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) says that if she is elected president, her administration’s Department of Justice would likely pursue criminal obstruction of justice charges against Donald Trump.
In an interview with “The NPR Politics Podcast” in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Harris said that she believes the department under her presidency “would have no choice and that they should, yes.”
The California senator and former state attorney general went on to point out the 10 instances of potential obstruction that were detailed in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s extensive report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, which was released in April.
“There has to be accountability,” Harris said. “I mean look, people might, you know, question why I became a prosecutor. Well, I’ll tell you one of the reasons — I believe there should be accountability. Everyone should be held accountable, and the president is not above the law.”
Mueller said both in the report itself and at a press conference last month that although he was legally barred from determining whether Trump committed a crime, his report doesn’t exonerate Trump either.
Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, went on to say that “the facts and the evidence will take the process where it leads.”
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“I do believe that we should believe Bob Mueller when he tells us essentially that the only reason an indictment was not returned is because of a memo in the Department of Justice that suggests you cannot indict a sitting president. But I’ve seen prosecution of cases on much less evidence,” she said.
Harris’ comments echo her remarks issued just after the report’s release. She previously said during a CNN town hall she believed Congress should move forward on impeaching Trump.
“For those of us who have been following the investigation and have seen any part of that report, it is very clear that there is a lot of good evidence pointing to obstruction of justice,” she said. “I believe Congress should take the steps towards impeachment.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
