Skjellyfetti wrote:Again, it doesn't matter at all if it was successful or not.
Nixon didn't successfully shut down the Watergate investigation. But, he did obstruct justice.
"endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due administration of justice"
Come on, you're skipping over history here. The obstruction of justice that was the basis of the pending impeachment against Nixon had everything to do with his admission on the tapes that they were paying money directly from the White House, at Nixon's full knowledge, to keep the folks directly involved in the Watergate break-in from talking and implicating the President. That was the obstruction of justice - the bribing of people in the midst of legal proceedings against them to stay quiet. If there's proof that Trump is doing that with Cohen or Mannafort or anyone else then that would be a valid obstruction of justice basis.
You're trying to spin the yarn that Trump firing Comey and then asking Sessions to resign is the same as the Saturday Night Massacre and that's just a misunderstanding of the history on your part (or the purposeful retelling of the story without important details just to support your view - I'm going to just assume your good intentions and that you're not remembering it correctly). Nixon was demanding the immediate firing of the special prosecutor, and when the AG and then his deputy in turn both refused to do so he fired them until he got to a replacement who would, and this is key, then actually DID fire the special prosecutor. There's no indication that Trump pointedly ordered Comey or Sessions to fire Mueller and then, when they refused, he fired them because of it. And further differentiating this from the Nixon comparison, Trump has still not put a person in the role of the AG who has fired Mueller. Mueller is still there, he's still working, and apparently Trump is even responding to questions in the investigation. All odd behavior for someone who is, if your comparison to the Saturday Night Massacre is true, trying to fire Mueller immediately. Mueller hasn't given any indication that he's been hampered or unable to do his job. So where's the obstruction?