If that's all he does he will be indicted.
Quote:What can Robert Mueller do if Trump answers under oath, “I do not remember” or “recollect” and goes off track from the questions?
Geoffrey Beebe
Answered Jan 9
For six months, I observed prosecutors in action. Here’s what I know.
If a suspect only answers “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember/recall” to every question, that’s immediately red flagged as suspicious behavior.
I’ve seen some prosecutors use that tactic alone - barring some form of mental illness, which is unlikely but possible - as grounds for obstruction of justice.
The thing is that sworn testimony only does certain things.
Bank records, investments, corporate purchases, air travel tell a much more concrete story than humans do. Did you know that the government can analyze EZ-Pass records? After all, government roads and whatnot.
You piss off the wrong prosecutor, and you better believe they can piece your life together better than you can. You think you know your life? Get an investigator to summarize your last 12 months. You can bet your butt they will.
Here’s the thing: if Trump were as smart as he thinks he is, he’d say the occasional “I don’t know/I don’t recall.” Except anyone paying attention to how he talks knows he’s not going to do that. He’s going to chump around and give verbal diarrhea. In either case, I think Mueller has a better story from the records than from any testimony he’ll be given.
He needs the lower-tiered folk to go after the big fish. That human testimony will matter.
Quote:John Tracker, M.S. Education & Psychology, University of California, Berkeley (1997)
Answered Jan 9 · Author has 386 answers and 110.8k answer views
The “I don’t recall” defense is weak and a good prosecutor will tie a defendant down with questions that has documentation and eye witnesses so using that defense only makes it obvious the defendant is lying and could be grounds for impeachment.
Keep in mind that this investigation will also be included in a report to the DOJ and congress to consider impeachment and that is a political not criminal process and only requires the appearance of high crimes and misdemeanors.
Can Trump plead the 5th? It's complicated!
Reports are that Trump's lawyers and Mueller's team are in discussion to set up parameters under which Trump will be required to testify under oath.
The fact is Mueller holds all the cards on this decision and he has the authority to subpoena Trump to testify under oath to the grand jury.
Trump's lawyers are hoping to make a deal with Mueller to let Trump testify in some other way because they know Trump is not capable of being grilled under oath by trained professional Federal prosecutors without screwing up and perjuring himself or saying too much and incriminating himself and others.
Grand Juries are not like State Courts
Grand juries are different than state court proceedings. The defense lawyers are not even allowed to be in the room during testimony. They can be out in the hall and the defendant can go out and speak to their lawyers during the hearing for legal advice but in the hearing they are on their own.
There is no blanket protection of the 5th amendment
There is also no blanket protection of the 5th amendment. Trump can't just say he pleads the 5th to everything and refuse to testify. The law is clear that the 5th amendment only applies to answers that might incriminate the person giving testimony not other people and that incrimination must be valid that it indicates the person pleading the 5th has “real risk that [if you were to testify] your answers would tend to indicate your involvement in illegal activity[,]” Commonwealth v. Martin, 423 Mass. 496 (1996).
https://www.bostondefenselaw.com...
Consider that carefully because pleading the 5th is basically an admission you believe you may have been involved in some illegal activity.
That in itself would be grounds for congress to begin impeachment hearings as the president and all Federal officials swear an oath to uphold the constitution and laws of the land and pleading the 5th is an admission you have violated that duty.
So Trump's lawyers are in a very tough spot because they don't want Trump to testify and they don't want him to plead the 5th because either way he is likely to end up being impeached and Trump can not use the pardon power in cases of impeachment which is his only hole card to save himself and his kids from Federal charges.
They have only two real options:
1- Try to get Mueller to compromise on some form of testimony like written responses instead of an in person interview so Trump's lawyers can control his responses to keep him from perjuring himself or revealing too much and incriminating himself.
2- Convince Trump he can not testify no matter what and he should pardon himself and his kids and resign and refuse to testify. That would prevent impeachment and prevent Federal charges against Trump and his kids and then they can fight state charges for years if they are charged at the state level.
Summary
Trump's lawyers are trying to accomplish that first option now to make a deal with Mueller but if that falls through (which is likely) expect them to push Trump to strongly consider his second and only real option to pardon himself and his kids and resign.
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