Giuliani says Mueller will not indict Trump

Trump’s lawyer says Constitution bars his prosecution.

— The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, will not indict President Trump if he finds wrongdoing in his investigation of Trump campaign links to Russia, according to the president’s lawyers. They said Wednesday that Mueller’s investigators told them that he would adhere to the Justice Department’s view that the Constitution bars prosecuting presidents. The disclosure provides the greatest clarity to date about how Mueller, who is also investigating whether Trump tried to obstruct the inquiry itself, may proceed. If he concludes that he has enough evidence president broke the law, legal experts say, he now has two main He could write a report about the president’s conduct that Congress might use as part of any impeachment proceedings, or he could list the president as an unindicted co-conspirator in court documents. Mueller’ s stance could serve as political relief for Trump, whose presidency has been the cloud of the investigation. Trump has repeatedly called it a “witch hunt.” But the question of whether the president can be indicted is an unsettled legal issue. Many legal experts current and former Justice Department officials be li ed that Mueller would follow the con c lu ons of Justice Department lawyers, who argued during both the Clinton administrations that an indictment would interfere with the president’ s constitutional re sp on si- bilities powers to run the executive branch. Trump’ s lead lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, said the special counsel’s offiffice displayed uncertainty about whether Trump could be indicted. “When I met with Mueller’s team, they seemed to be in a of confusion about whether they could indict,” said. “We said, ‘It’s pretty clear that you have to follow D.O.J. policy.’” Giulia ni said that one of Mr. Mueller’s office acknowledged that the president could not be indicted. Two or three days later, said, Mueller’s offiffice called another of the president’s lawyers, Jay Sekulow, to say that prosecutors would adhere to the guidelines. “They can’ t indict ,” Giuliani said. “They can’t indict. Because if they did, it would be dismissed quickly. There’s no precedent for a president being indicted.”