The Mueller report outlines at least three reasons that the special counsel didn't charge Trump with obstruction of justice. DavidGSavage explains:
Robert S. Mueller III walks past the White House after attending St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington on March 24.
First, Mueller said Justice Department policy forbids the “indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting president.” Because Mueller was acting as a special prosecutor within the Justice Department, he said he had to follow this policy. This suggests Mueller believed that no matter what the evidence showed, he did not have the authority to charge the president with a crime.
In theory, defendants can be charged with criminal obstruction of justice even when they have not committed the underlying crime. However, it would strike many as wrongheaded to charge Trump with obstructing the Russia probe after a lengthy investigation concluded he and his campaign had not conspired with Russians in the first place.
“What ends up saving him is that others in the White House did not follow through on his orders,” Levenson said. “This was not a clear-cut case of obstruction, but the report is not a clean bill of health either.” For about half the nation, that appeared to be exactly what Trump had been doing since shortly after taking office.But motives are also critical. The law requires obstruction of justice be linked to a “corrupt” intent, such as urging a witness to lie under oath to mislead the grand jury.
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