A Fox News legal analyst who has the ear of Donald Trump has said Robert Mueller may choose to indict the US president, due to the “ample evidence” he committed crimes before taking office.
Andrew Napolitano, a former New Jersey superior court judge, said he believed a grand jury subpoena for Mr Trump – in which he would be compelled to provide testimony in court – is now a genuine possibility.
“I think that Bob Mueller knows that he needs to lock the president in to a version of events before he takes the next step, whatever the next step is, whether it’s an indictment or referral,” he told host Shepherd Smith.
Asked if an indictment may follow, Mr Napolitano said it could, and cited federal judge William Pauley’s comments last week during the sentencing of Mr Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen.
Judge Pauley said in open court that Mr Trump had directed Mr Cohen to commit a federal crime when the lawyer agreed to arrange hush money payments to two women who claim they had affairs with the former reality TV show participant.
“There’s ample evidence—this doesn’t require too much analysis—to indict the president,” Mr Napolitano said. “The question is: Do they want to do it?
“The DOJ has three opinions on this. Two say you can’t indict a sitting president, one says you can, but all three address the problem of ‘What do you do when the statute of limitations is about to expire?’
“All three agree in that circumstance, you indict in secret, keep the indictment sealed, and release it the day he gets out of office.”
“You can’t let a person go scot free because they happen to be in the White House.”
Mr Trump appears to respect Mr Napolitano's opinion, having parroted them a number of times on Twitter. In February, the president quoted the legal analyst’s view the Department of Justice had a “treasure trove” of evidence of criminality by Hillary Clinton.
He also echoed arguments Mr Napolitano made on Fox News – the president’s favoured cable news channel - condemning government surveillance, and has reportedly met the former judge on several occasions since becoming president.
