“Screwing with the work of the president of the United States”

According to The Washington Post, Mr. Trump’s thenlawyer John Dowd reacted strongly to Mr. Mueller’s suggestion that he could subpoena the president to testify before a grand jury. Mr. Dowd, who quit shortly thereafter because his client was ignoring his advice, reportedly said, “This isn’t some game. You’re screwing with the work of the president of the United States.”

There isn’t a direct precedent demonstrating that a sitting president can be subpoenaed in a criminal proceeding, but there’s no particularly good reason to imagine that one would be immune. The bedrock principle that no person, not even the president, is above the law, strongly argues for the notion that Mr. Trump could be compelled to testify.

Whitewater Special Counsel Kenneth Starr did issue a subpoena to Mr. Clinton, which led the president to agree to testify voluntarily. If Mr. Mueller sought to compel testimony and Mr. Trump dug in his heels, the matter might well land in the Supreme Court, where it’s a good bet that the justices would side with the special counsel. For one, there’s a related precedent: Mr. Clinton was compelled to testify in a civil lawsuit (brought by Paula Jones) while he was in office. The court ruled unanimously that the case could proceed while Mr. Clinton was in office and was unpersuaded by the argument that allowing such litigation would interfere with his ability to execute the duties of his office. The second reason is Chief Justice John Roberts’ well-established antipathy to the notion that the institution he heads be viewed as a political body. It would be surprising to see him shield a president (and particularly a Republican) from testifying in a criminal investigation.

The perjury trap