making. look, the president couldn t take a bribe from vladimir putin to fire jim comey. that would be a violation of the bribery statute. he can t corruptly order comey to cease and desist from an investigation in order to benefit a friend or himself and there s plenty of case law to that effect. so i think we re seeing another moment in what is going to be a very long process of but the president says but the president says le testify in front of that special counsel and we just got a preview of what he s going to say. there is a clear dispute over what the president says he s going to say and what we heard from mr. comey yesterday. and can i just make a point, it is not a he said/he said. the president exercises the investigatory and prosecutorial in the united states. he can no more commit
bribery. it s part of the constitution. it s essentially a bribery statute on steroids. it says you cannot take any benefit whatsoever from any foreign government, period, end of conversation. right now the chinese government is paying donald trump very, very handsome lease fees for his building in manhattan. the chinese government through the bank of china is also a big financial backer of donald trump s by providing him tons of credit. these things on the very face of it, if you look at the history and the purpose of the monuments clause arguably violate that provision and arguably give rise to an impeachment charge against him. any time a foreign government goes to a trump hotel, that s a benefit, a foreign official goes to the trump hotel, that s a benefit that government is providing to donald trump. any time a prosecutor, any time a regulator does anything in any of the business interests. donald trump has 111 businesses across 18 countries abroad. any time a regulator does anyth
favor with the president, all you have to do is pay the piper and do business with one of his companies. so nobody even thinks a full blind trust would solve the problem short of divestiture. the biggest problem for donald trump, however, the moment he is sworn into office to get to your question, lawrence, the moment he is sworn into office, he will probably be the first president in the united states in our history that is committing an impeachable offense. what do i mean by that? the clause is essentially a bribery. it s part of the constitution. it s essentially a bribery statute on steroids. it says you cannot take any benefit whatsoever from any foreign government, period, end of conversation. right now the chinese government is paying donald trump very, very handsome lease fees for his building in manhattan. the chinese government through the bank of china is also a big financial backer of donald trump s by providing him tons of credit.
obstruct. i believe, and a majority of scholars believe, yes, as a matter of law. a president can obstruct justice. congress has the power to cabin that firing authority, and they have done it by passing an obstruction statute. the obstruction statute, alan, is just like the bribery statute. you wouldn t say president trump could take a bribe from vladimir putin to fire jim comey. senator can he fire jim comey with corrupt intent. and there is a strong initial case, an initial case, tlae s do that he s done that. now we need to let the case play out but he can obstruct justice. of course he can obstruct justice by bribing, by destroying tapes. you don t think by saying he hopes the investigation goes away is obstructing justice? it is not even a close question. you can t say that the president s power has been constrained by an overbroad