As he resigned from his post Wednesday, former special counsel Robert Mueller explained that “longstanding” Department of Justice policy prevents a sitting president from being charged with a federal crime. Therefore, while his office investigated potential offenses committed by President Donald Trump, charging Trump was “not an option we could consider.”
The policy blocking indicting a sitting president dates back to the presidency of Richard Nixon. In September 1973, just under a year before Nixon resigned, the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel determined that a criminal case against the president “would interfere with the President’s unique official duties, most of which cannot be performed by anyone else.” Therefore, impeachment is the only manner by which a sitting president can be penalized for wrongdoing.
