Trump Will Likely Be Named An Unindicted Co-Conspirator, Says Former Federal Prosecutor Joyce Vance

During a MSNBC panel, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance said it is likely special counsel Robert Mueller will name President Donald Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator in his final report in the Russia investigation.

“I think it’s likely that we will see the president as an unindicted co-conspirator,” Vance said.

Mueller is currently tasked with investigating potential Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election as well as possible collusion with Russia on the part of the Trump campaign.

The president’s legal team has already claimed that Mueller will not indict Trump because to do so would go against precedent. “There’s no precedent for a president being indicted,” said Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in May. And, Vance pointed out, there is a long-standing policy in the Justice Department not to indict a sitting president.

But, Vance notes, that this doesn’t rule out the possibility of the president appearing in the report. According to the former prosecutor, it is still possible for the president to appear on indictments without being named, even if he himself was not indicted. And, she added, it probably won’t be long before analysts pieced together that the unindicted co-conspirator mentioned is the president.

Rather than focusing on an indictment, Vance believes “Mueller would be more likely to include all of this evidence in a report that would go up on the Hill that would form the body, potentially, of an impeachment proceeding.”

Mueller is still in talks with Trump’s legal team over a possible sit down interview with the president. If Mueller did in fact plan to indict Trump, Vance noted, he would have used his authority to subpoena the president. The fact that Mueller is instead negotiating is a sign that he isn’t likely to break precedent and will likely rely on the impeachment process instead.