Cohen case stirs debate on Trump indictment
Legal experts question whether a sitting president can be indicted
WASHINGTON— For the first time, prosecutors have tied President Donald Trump to a federal crime, raising a legal dispute on whether a president can even be prosecuted while in office.
Prosecutors stopped short of accusing Trump of committing a crime, although prosecutors concluded that he directed his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to pay illegal hush money to women during his 2016 campaign.
Legal dispute
Lawyers dispute whether Trump committed a crime or whether he can even be prosecuted while in office.
“There is a plausible case against the president,” said Rick Hasen, a professor who specializes in election and campaign finance law at the University of California at Irvine.
In order to bring charges, prosecutors would have to prove Trump had criminal intent and “willfully violated the law,” said Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law Houston.
Something that would be perfectly legal to do as a businessman could take on a different standard as a candidate and campaign finance laws are “very open-ended,” he said.
Hasen said Trump’s lawyers could argue Trump didn’t have willfulness to break the law if the payments were completely personal and not connected to the campaign.
Some legal experts have also argued that hush-money payments to keep people silent about their affairs are inherently personal.
Can he be indicted?
Legal experts are also divided on whether a president can be indicted or whether he can be subpoenaed for testimony.
The justice department has maintained that a sitting president could not be indicted.
Two justice department reports, one in 1973 and one in 2000, came to the same conclusion.
Legal scholars have said that based on the justice department’s guidance, it would appear that Trump could be charged once he leaves office, but likely not before that.