Decided to look at the Constitution [View all]

[question everything]

No place there does it say that a sitting president cannot be indicted and I am not sure that Mueller said so with his double and triple negative. But many in the media, have interpreted it this way.

(Article 1, Section 3)

6: The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

7: Judgment in Cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

Here is what Mueller wrote: (page 213)

First, a traditional prosecution or declination decision entails a binary determination to initiate or
decline a prosecution, but we determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment.
The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) has issued an opinion finding that "the indictment or criminal prosecution
of a sitting President would impermissibly undermine the capacity of the executive branch to
perform its constitutionally assigned functions" in violation of "the constitutional separation of powers." (1)
Given the role of the Special Counsel as an attorney in the Department of Justice and the framework of the
Special Counsel regulations , see 28 U.S.C. § 515; 28 C.F .R. § 600.7(a), this Office accepted OLC's
legal conclusion for the purpose of exercising prosecutorial jurisdiction. And apart from OLC's constitutional
view, we recognized that a federal criminal accusation against a sitting President would place burdens on the
President's capacity to govern and potentially preempt constitutional processes for addressing presidential misconduct. (2)

Second, while the OLC opinion concludes that a sitting President may not be prosecuted, it recognizes that a
criminal investigation during the President's term is permissible .3 The OLC opinion also recognizes that a
President does not have immunity after he leaves office. 4 And if individuals other than the President
committed an obstruction offense, they may be prosecuted at this time. Given those considerations,
the facts known to us, and the strong public interest in safeguarding the integrity of the criminal justice system ,
we conducted a thorough factual investigation in order to preserve the evidence when memories were fresh and documentary
materials were available.

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Thus, it is not in the Constitution that a sitting president cannot be indicted; it is an opinion of the DOJ. Certainly both Nixon and Clinton continued with their duties. As a matter of fact, it was said about Junior that he decided to run for president after realizing that Clinton perform his duties while being under attack throughout his presidency. Concluded that it would be an easy task for him..