step back and think about intent. the law cares as much about why people do things as it cares about what they did. if you re mopping the floor and somebody slips and breaks their arms, that might be very sad, but it s not a crime of battery. but if you put the same soapy water on the floor with a plan to make someone slip and hurt themselves, that intent could make the same situation the crime of battery. so think about that applied here to this more complex scenario. if trump s intent was to fire comey to obstruct justice, or if new evidence shows that it was part of some larger plot to impede an investigation, then, yes, the same firing could support an obstruction case. now here is how a former pentagon counsel explains the concept. if trump orchestrated the decision to fire the fbi director to subvert or undermine the integrity of the investigations into the trump campaign s possible coordination with russia, it may amount to an obstruction of justice. that takes more words than t
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changes that were made or any changes in the supervision of how the special counsel did the job. so it has to be somebody from outside the government. not just outside the justice department. it has to be a lawyer. and they have to commit to giving their full time, if that s what s needed. so if your reporting on a officials, both in the justice department or close to it, is this seen as a understandable place for emphasis or something that democrats have seized on but is perhaps getting excessive attention right now? no, i think it s still very much something potentially in play. and i suspect the whole events of the past week only make it more so. but, of course, it s up to one person. it s up to rod rosenstein. congress can t force the appointment of a special counsel. the attorney general s out of it. other officials in the justice department can urge the deputy to appoint one or not. but ultimately, the way the rules work, it s up to the
as mr. taddeo said. however, we do have the complication of this letter which does not appear to have been written in the format and using the protocols that justice has done in past documentation about famalfeasance or the reas a person should be removed from office that being said, that may not impugn his integrity. but once we get to the bottom who penned that letter, that might give us a little more clarity in which to determine he is actually on board with it or not. now, mr. taddeo, you do cyber. right. virtue hard in these kind of inquiries, especially the counter intel side of who hacked what, where the material went, who was behind it originally. how does this russia inquiry proceed. put all the politics aside, walk our audience through. what are the line agents doing as they try to continue to crack this case? well, you re right. it is harder to have a cybercomponent to an investigation.
a special counsel for russia. other democrats saying they support that strategy. here is senator schumer on state of the union today. i think mark warner s idea is a good idea. and i think it will get some broad support in our caucus. the key here, of course, is getting some of our republican colleagues to join us. we re hoping. we re waiting. we understand it s difficult. but i think patriotism and the needs of this country demand it. now, another one of you had the question of the week. this is from ebo lady on twitter who says isn t firing comey an obstruction of justice? now, the short answer is based on the public available evidence right now, no. the firing itself is not obstruction of justice. and that s because the president does have the lawful authority to remove an fbi director. so while the white house story has changed, and we ve been documenting that, trump still has some claims that are potentially valid for the termination, like that comey wasn t doing a good job. b