On Monday morning, the president took to Twitter to praise Roger Stone, his longtime political adviser and associate, for refusing to speak to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team.
On Sunday’s This Week on ABC, Stone vowed not to testify against the president.
A number of legal experts from both sides of the aisle have said the president’s tweet could represent an illegal attempt to influence a witness in the special counsel’s investigation.
George Conway, a longtime conservative lawyer and vocal Trump critic who is married to presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, suggested the message violated portions of the US code governing witness tampering and obstruction of justice:.
Neal Katyal, who served as acting solicitor general under President Barack Obama, piled on, as did lawyer and ethics expert Norm Eisen.
This is genuinely looking like witness tampering.
Trump is genuinely melting down, and no good lawyer can represent him under these circs https://t.co/zqFUoQvWTf — Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) December 3, 2018. »