In declining to reach a traditional prosecution decision, Mueller wrote that he was adhering to DOJ guidelines and also considered the “burdens” an indictment would place on the President’s ability to govern and respond to the allegations while in office.
Mueller added that the President “does not have immunity after he leaves office” and that his team “conducted a thorough factual investigation in order to preserve the evidence when memories were fresh and documentary materials were available.”
The wording raises the remote specter of possible future criminal exposure for Trump when he is no longer in the White House. It isn’t the only criminal inquiry looming over him.
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Trump’s immediate criminal exposure is protected by his status as president and also by the decision of Attorney General William Barr, whom Trump appointed, to not bring a case.
Barr said “the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.” Mueller rejected the legal defenses put forward by Trump’s lawyers about his authority to investigate the president for obstruction.
Source: Mueller: President ‘does not have immunity after he leaves office’
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