May 16, 2019
Last week, former White House Counsel Don McGahn — a key figure in
Volume II of the Mueller Report — reportedly was instructed by the
Trump administration not to comply with a subpoena from House
Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler for documents and testimony related
to the Committee’s obstruction of justice investigation. Continuing
our Mueller Report book club, journalist Quinta Jurecic joins
Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang to give listeners a roadmap to Volume
II. They examine the elements comprising obstruction of justice,
instances of the President’s conduct Mueller weighed against the
criminal statutes (including previous orders he gave McGahn), and
why Mueller felt barred by existing Justice Department policy from
indicting Trump — yet explicitly states the report does not
exonerate him. Jurecic is the managing editor of Lawfare and a
contributing writer to The Atlantic. She writes about politics,
legal issues, and the rule of law. She previously served as an
editorial writer for The Washington Post and as Lawfare's associate
editor.