CONGRESS/IMPEACHMENT/MEDIA/MICHAEL COHEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In a pointed exchange during William Barr’s confirmation hearing earlier this week, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., engaged the nominee for attorney general in an ominous hypothetical: If the president encouraged or instructed a witness to lie, would that act amount to obstruction of justice? ‘Yes,’ Barr said with little hesitation. Two days after Barr’s appearance, the nominee’s spare response potentially takes on new meaning in wake of a disclosure that President Donald Trump allegedly instructed former personal attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about the Trump Organization’s pursuit of a deal to build a luxury residential high-rise in the center of Moscow. The Justice Department has long taken the position that a president cannot be prosecuted while in office, but Trump’s alleged direction to Cohen, as outlined in a report by BuzzFeed, has prompted Democrats to press for new congressional inquiries and has revived consideration of impeachment proceedings.”
–Kevin Johnson and David Jackson, “Impeachment talk revived after report says Donald Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress,” USA Today, January 18, 2019 5:41 pm