Opinion: Did Matt Gaetz illegally intimidate Michael Cohen?
Rep. Matt Gaetz on Capitol Hill this month. By Harry Litman Harry Litman Contributing columnist focused on legal issues Bio Follow Contributing columnist February 27 at 4:11 PM The day before Michael Cohen was due to testify in an open hearing of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Rep. Matt Gaetz tweeted the following:
Prosecutors allege particular crimes and at the end of the day must march through the elements of the relevant statute and prove each one beyond a reasonable doubt. In this case, that means 18 U.S.C. § 1512 — it’s not the only possibly applicable statute, but it’s the most likely one — which makes it a felony to, in pertinent part, threaten or intimidate someone with intent to influence, delay or prevent their testimony in an official proceeding, such as Wednesday’s congressional hearing.
The next pivot point is Gaetz’s intent. Arguably, he was just letting off steam and seeking to score political points, as occurs in our contemporary, debased political debate every day. Could a prosecutor really prove beyond a reasonable doubt that his intent was to influence or delay Cohen’s testimony?
Finally, federal prosecutors often will decline to charge otherwise provable crimes for discretionary reasons. Here, for example, we have a single offending quote in the context of a particularly contentious moment in the Trump-Russia probe. A prosecutor might well conclude that it’s not worth the candle to make a federal case out of it.
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