Based on the evidence available at this point, there is no case for obstruction of justice charges against President Donald Trump, former Clinton-era independent prosecutor Ken Starr said Thursday.
"It's too soon to tell, [but] from what I have seen, no," Starr, whose years-long investigation of former President Bill Clinton ended in his 1998 impeachment, told CNN's "New Day" co-host Alisyn Camerota.
"We don't know a whole lot, but the answer is no."
Obstruction of justice is a "very hard crime" to prove, said Starr, because the subject must not only wish that an investigation would go away, but "you have got to take really affirmative action."
On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported that former FBI Director Robert Mueller, the special counsel in the probe into Russian interference and collusion in the 2016 campaign, is investigating Trump for possible obstruction of justice charges.
The Post, quoting several anonymous sources, said the probe has expanded after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.
According to The Post's report, several senior intelligence officials, including Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, National Security Agency Director Adm. Mike Rogers and Rogers' former Deputy Director Richard Ledgett are being questioned.
"Director Comey said in his testimony that even though the expression [Trump used] was 'hope,' he took it as a directive," Starr told CNN.
"But what we know is he didn't do anything about it, right? That is, he did not dismiss the investigation or curtail the investigation. There comes an interpretation, and I think it is just a very hard case to make out."
Starr on Thursday also said he believes it's within Trump's rights to fire Mueller, and said that he himself could have been fired "for good cause" back when he was investigating Clinton.
"Now it's just a tougher call because of the lesser degree of independence that the special counsel enjoys under these regulations," said Starr. "But it's essentially the same standard."
Starr also argued on Thursday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions was "on very solid constitutional ground" when he said he had to protect the "president's privilege" when it comes to revealing conversations publicly.
"You don't, as an officer of the Justice Department, reveal your conversations with the president of the United States," Starr said. "It's just part of the separation of powers in our system."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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