You've got a body of people, I think, who are waiting and seeing... The risk of that is a prosecutor who's gone to a trial and convicted somebody of obstruction now knows he has a good case, i would think a conviction in that first case would inspire people to try to reach deals in their cases.

Michael Zeldin

United States of America's United States of America. by Michael Zeldin

United States of America's United States of America.

politics

We saw a judge in Sullivan who was prepared to Michael Flynn to jail. He's trying to make an evaluation of whether this guy is a traitor, not in a legal sense, but behaved with bad purpose and judgment.

politics

Mueller said' close call, here you go Congress,' maybe he intended Congress to take over because while it might not have been obstruction, it could have been abuse of power.

politics

I think Barr is in a terrible position from the standpoint of having two masters to please, each of which has a very different desire, he has a political nightmare on his hands.

politics

It will be a spectacle. No question about that, but after the midday TV drama is over, we'll see if there is anything that amounts to something from a legal perspective.

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That will send him down a path that for the next few years that would tie up his presidency in ways that are not in his best interests legally or politically.

politics

Whitaker's view of nullification is strictly political. That is, he would like it, politically, if States could disobey (nullify) federal law. As a legal matter, however, nullification finds no support in Constitutional law, indeed, Whitaker himself acknowledges this ... As acting Attorney General, I presume he will uphold federal legal principals.

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From a legal perspective... you have an allegation, you have an investigation, and then you have testimony, the notion that they are providing her due process -- a forum to tell her story, which she has already told in written form -- without there being an intervening investigation makes no sense to me legally.

politics

In some sense, Paul Manafort has already testified through the admission of Paul Manafort emails, as a prosecutor, you can say Gates was credible. He's not a saint, he's an admitted sinner, he's going to go to jail for his sins, but what he told you today is true. We know it's true because of all the other witnesses who we'll go through the testimony of, and all the documentary evidence which we'll go through, including emails from Mr. Paul Manafort, that corroborate Paul Manafort testimony.

politics

Either he can double down in his resolve to fight it or it's the last straw and it breaks his will and he decides to work out a plea bargain, i would think that going to jail is going to put enormous pressure on him from his family.

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I disagree with Giuliani and I don't believe the law favors the p... by Michael Zeldin

I disagree with Giuliani and I don't believe the law favors the position he is articulating.

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I don't know who said them and what context in which they were said -- and that matters, but if you look at the black letter of the quotes, those are very threatening words. There is probable cause to believe those words were intended to influence the testimony of a witness. Whether they were chargeable witness tampering, that depends on the context.

Criminalizing political opposition research-related activity of this type serves no criminal justice purpose, hopefully, this verdict will have a chilling impact on future prosecutions if John Durham intends to proceed using the same flawed theory of criminal liability.

In my view, that is a clear act of obstruction, the sole intention was to interfere with the investigation. There is no other explanation for it.