One of the more interesting tidbits in Michael Wolff’s book about the Trump administration, Fire and Fury, is that Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team, resigned after the administration released a statement dictated by Trump aboard Air Force One that Don Jr.’s meeting with several Russians in June of 2016 was only about adoptions. (As we all discovered almost overnight, it was really about getting dirt the Russian government allegedly had on Hillary Clinton.)
According to Wolff, Corallo privately confided “that he believed the meeting on Air Force One represented a likely obstruction of justice.” Various pundits continue to cite this Trump lie as part of Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation into possible obstruction of justice and the meeting and Trump’s actions in drafting the statement as an act of obstruction of justice.
I understand, certainly, how the false assertion in the Trump statement could be used as evidence of a pattern of actions or intent to derail the Russia investigation and thereby obstruct justice. What I don’t understand is how the act itself — that is, lying to the American public — could be construed as “an obstruction of justice.” If Trump had given that info directly to Mueller, or directed someone else to do so, sure, then I see it.
But merely shoveling another bit of mendacity to the American people? How is that in and of itself a crime?
Thanks in advance for your insights, lawyers!