Is Donald Trump Under Investigation for Obstruction of Justice?

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Is President Trump under investigation for obstruction of justice? His attorney appeared on TV yesterday to say it ain’t so:

SEKULOW: I want to be very clear about this, the president is not and has not been under investigation.

DICKERSON: How do you know?

SEKULOW: Because we’ve received no notice of investigation….

DICKERSON: Is it your view, and just to educate viewers, that — that if you were under investigation, there would be an obligation for the special counsel to let you know? Couldn’t you be under investigation and they’ve just not let you know yet?

SEKULOW: Well, look, I — I can’t imagine the scenario where the president would — would not be aware of it.

This is the whole story in a nutshell: Trump has not been notified that he’s the target of an investigation. That’s it. That’s all that Jay Sekulow knows. He has no idea whether Trump is or isn’t under investigation by special prosecutor Robert Mueller.

Neither do I, for that matter. The Washington Post says he is, and their evidence seems pretty strong. At the same time, it could be that Mueller is merely interviewing some folks as a way of deciding whether he should widen his investigation to include Trump.

In any case, that’s it. Mueller is interviewing some people about Trump’s firing of James Comey, but Trump has not been notified that he’s under investigation. That’s all we know.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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