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QR Code Link to This Post Donald Trump's I-am-the-law defense on the Russia investigation
by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large Mon December 4, 2017
Washington (CNN)The President is the law, according to Donald Trump's personal attorney, John Dowd.
The "President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under [the Constitution's Article II] and has every right to express his view of any case," Dowd told Axios' Mike Allen on Monday.
For most people, Dowd's pronouncement echoed President Richard Nixon's infamous assertion to British interviewer David Frost that "when the President does it, that means that it is not illegal."
For me, it sounded a lot like Sly Stallone's pronouncement in "Judge Dredd": "I am the law!"
But, whether or not Nixon could have committed an illegal act as President was totally besides the point in terms of the politics of his situation. Watergate -- and his complicity in it -- made it impossible for Nixon to remain President. He resigned, but had he not, he would have surely been impeached by Congress.
Dowd's point is moot. And, the way that a President gets removed -- impeachment -- is a political process, not a legal one. If the Dowd argument ever does see the light of day, it has an almost 0% chance of succeeding. The politics of putting yourself above the law are a stone cold.
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