Mueller's evidence enough to charge Trump if he weren't president, Comey says

'The direction to Don McGahn to get the special counsel fired is to my mind a flaming example of corrupt intent'

The former director of the FBI has said he believes Donald Trump would face charges for evidence laid out in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election – were he not the president of the United States.

James Comey pointed to the numerous examples of possible obstruction of justice on the part of the president outlined in the special counsel’s report, which described Russia’s “sweeping and systematic” interference in the election that sent Mr Trump to the White House.

“There are a whole lot of facts in Bob Mueller’s report that raise serious questions about whether there’s a chargeable case for obstruction and witness tampering against this president,” Mr Comey, who was fired by Mr Trump in 2017, said in a CNN town hall on Thursday night.

He then pointed to two key examples of the president’s alleged obstruction of justice: when Mr Trump ordered former White House counsel Don McGahn to fire the special counsel, as well as when he attempted to severely the limit the scope of the investigation into only future elections.

“The direction to Don McGahn to get the special counsel fired is to my mind a flaming example of corrupt intent,” Mr Comey said.

According to the former FBI director, both instances serve as “examples that any reasonable prosecutor would charge.”

His comments arrived as more than 800 former federal prosecutors signed a public letter that said Mr Trump would face charges over obstruction of justice throughout Mr Mueller’s investigation were he not to have won the election.

Democrats on Capitol Hill have issued subpoenas for the unredacted Mueller report and its underlying evidence, meanwhile, as the president has attempted to invoke executive privilege after lawmakers moved to hold his attorney general in contempt of Congress for failing to supply the full report.

Mr Comey went on to say he believed it was possible the Russians had some form of leverage over the president.

“Do you think the Russians have leverage over President Trump?” CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked the former FBI director.

“I don’t know the answer to that,” he responded.

“Think it’s possible?” The reporter asked.

“Yes,” Mr Comey immediately replied.