Mueller Has Authority to Name President Trump as an “Unindicted Coconspirator”
Mueller Has Authority to Name President Trump as an “Unindicted Coconspirator”
By
Ryan Goodman
Sunday, October 29, 2017 at 10:38 AM
Imagine if Special Counsel Robert Mueller finds sufficient evidence to charge President Donald Trump, but his hands are tied because he or the Department of Justice concludes that they cannot indict a sitting President? Could Mueller instead identify President Trump by name as an “unindicted coconspirator” when bringing charges against other individuals? The stakes are enormously high. Such action would have some of the same reverberations across the country as a criminal indictment of the President.
A facile answer would rely simply on the fact that the Special Prosecutor in Watergate did just that. The Watergate grand jury named President Richard M. Nixon as an unindicted coconspirator when it issued indictments of others.
Since Watergate, however, the Department of Justice has developed guidance for criminal prosecutions that places a presumption against naming individuals as unindicted coconspirators. The
U.S. Attorney’s Office Manual states:
“In the absence of some significant justification, federal prosecutors generally should not identify unindicted coconspirators in conspiracy indictments. The practice of naming individuals as unindicted coconspirators in an indictment charging a criminal conspiracy has been severely criticized in
United States v. Briggs, 514 F.2d 794 (5th Cir. 1975).”
The rationale behind this rule is that it is generally unfair for the government to tag people with the marker of criminality without an opportunity to defend themselves in court.
That said, the prohibition expressed in the US Attorney’s Manual is not categorical. The Manual says it applies
“in the absence of some significant justification”and that federal prosecutors “
generally” should not identify unindicted conspirators in the indictment. And later the Manual says “
Ordinarily, there is no need to name a person as an unindicted coconspirator in an indictment.”
These are no ordinary times, and the question here is whether the case of Donald Trump could provide a “significant justification” for naming him in the indictment, just as the Watergate grand jury did in the case of Nixon.
The norm about not naming unindicted coconspirators is sufficiently strong that one has to fully acknowledge the rationale and attendant difficulties. With that in mind, the case of the President is an occasion that could be narrowly cabined and where naming may be most appropriate.
At bottom, this is an area controlled not by categorical rules. Instead, it involves different risks and factors that must be weighed at different stages of the criminal process. Before trial, for example, the Attorney’s Manual
recognizes that the prosecution may identify unindicted coconspirators in a “bill of particulars” if requested by the defense. In that event, the Manual says prosecutors should “generally” (read: not always) try to file such documents under seal, and should not appeal any court order directing them to file publicly. At trial, a specific
exception to hearsay allows prosecutors to identify and enter statements by named unindicted coconspirators. At these junctures before and during trial, the interests of defendants to know the details of the government’s case against them and the interest of the government to prove its case can outweigh an unindicted coconspirator’s reputational interests in keeping her identity secret. The balance of equities also includes the press and public’s interest in knowledge about the case. Federal courts, for example, have
held that “
the public interest in disclosure outweighs the privacy interests of the coconspirators” in such instances. At least until 2013, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division
named unindicted coconspirators in plea agreements and justified those actions as necessary to inform the public. The question then boils down to whether the balance of factors supports Mueller’s having this option at his disposal in this case. It does. Let’s see why.
I. Deciding when it’s appropriate to exercise the option
If there were ever a need to make an exception to the presumption against identifying an unindicted coconspirator, Mueller’s investigation could be it. Simply put, a case in which two conditions exist—a person is immune from prosecution but there’s a strong public interest in knowing about their actions—can provide ample justification.
Inability to indict
Recall that the U.S. Attorney’s Office Manual refers to the federal court decision —
United States v. Briggs (5th Cir. 1975) — for having “severely criticized” the government’s identifying unindicted coconspirators in that case. The Fifth Circuit judges, however, rested their opinion, in significant part, on the idea that the government had the option of simply indicting such individuals—and the failure to do so thus appeared unfair. The
Briggs court said, “the indictment may make such additional persons defendants if there is probable cause to believe that they participated in the alleged conspiracy. We have been tendered no reason why in this case, if there was probable cause, the appellants were not included among those made defendants.” The
Briggs holding was based on the fact that the government did not have a good reply—why couldn’t the government just indict the conconspirators too?
Take the option of indictment away—if the person is immune—what do you have left? Following
Briggs, a federal court
allowed the government to name a coconspirator on the theory that the government could not actually indict the person. He was dead. That’s a bit of an extreme case, but like a hypothetical in a law school classroom it helps illustrate the point. And, indeed, the federal judge in that case explained that the situation stood for a broader principle “where the person named as an unindicted coconspirator simply cannot be indicted and tried.” More to the point, the court explained other specific cases in which there would be good reason to name the person in an indictment including when an “unindicted coconspirator enjoys
diplomatic immunity.”
Strong public interest
Another factor that distinguishes the
Briggs’ ruling and the potential case of President Trump involves the government’s interest in naming him. In
Briggs, the court found
no substantial government justification, a veritable empty set to weigh against the unindicted individual’s interests. The Fifth Circuit court said:
“The Department of Justice suggests
nothing that rises to the dignity of a substantial interest. The Department does state in conclusory terms that ‘the interest of justice may on occasion require that (unindicted conspirators) be named in the indictment.’ These ‘interests of justice’ are not identified….”
In a later case, the Fifth Circuit would later say that, “in addressing the merits in
Briggs, this Court … made absolutely clear that … that
no legitimate function was served by naming and accusing an individual of a crime without indicting that individual as a defendant.”
In Mueller’s case of naming the President there are substantial, easily articulable functions and interests—the general one of
the public’s right to know is at its maximum here and Congress is waiting to know what Mueller thinks about Trump’s involvement. Indeed, it would be mighty difficult to square Mueller’s assignment with the idea that he cannot say whether the President committed a crime. The provisions for the Special Counsel, for example, give Mueller jurisdiction to investigate obstruction of justice and the public understanding is that he is, indeed, charged to investigate that matter and the matter of potential criminal wrongdoing in the Trump campaign no matter how high up it leads. In short, Mueller’s responsibility, best understood, includes determining whether Trump is guilty. And even the President’s own lawyers effectively acknowledged this fact, for example, in their efforts to clear the President by trying to set up an interview with Mueller. Having entrusted the Special Counsel with this solemn responsibility, it would make sense why Mueller should not have to wait for a defendant to request a bill of particulars or some opportunity like entering hearsay evidence if and when it finally comes to trial. At the very least it is safe to say that Mueller can clearly present a public interest that “rises to the dignity of a substantial interest,” far above what the court ask for in
Briggs.
Finally, what about the general concern of naming someone in an indictment without their having a proper forum to respond? This is a valid and important issue, which lies at the heart of the general presumption against this sort of action. However, the President has a powerful platform unlike any other to respond to reputational concerns and defend his name. What’s more, a lack of forum can’t be a decisive factor since individuals can be unmasked at trial (for example, under the hearsay exception) where they
still would not have the ability to vindicate themselves. And before a trial starts, even the
Briggs court recognized that “[a]n unindicted conspirator anonymously designated as an ‘other person’ or as ‘John Doe’ may be unmasked in a bill of particulars or at trial.” That said,
Briggs thought it was less injurious to be named in a bill of particulars or as a witness:
“The bill of particulars is, however, the statement of the prosecutor and does not carry the imprimatur of credibility that official grand jury action does. … When a witness testifies at trial he does so as a private individual and makes no formal adjudication regarding criminality.”
But we should not elevate form over substance. Any such differences should be acknowledged in the balance of factors. One could cogently argue that
the public’s interest in knowing that a federal grand jury has amassed evidence of criminal conduct by the President outweighs any reputational risk that the President might suffer from the disclosure of his role.
More broadly, we should not lose sight of how the balance of equities will shift in different cases. Recall that even a sitting President may be named in a bill of particulars before trial and as a coconspirator or as part of other criminal activity at trial. In other words, the marginal benefit to the prosecution, to the defense, or the public’s right to know in such cases can override a sitting President’s interest in not being publicly named—even including cases in which there is already overwhelming evidence to find the defendant guilty and the defendant can likely tell the identity of the unnamed person. The point is that our legal system allows tradeoffs at each of these stages, and it is far easier to accept naming a sitting President in an indictment when there’s an enormous public interest in knowing.
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