{"id":28816,"date":"2019-12-16T14:30:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T19:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/?p=28816"},"modified":"2019-12-16T14:30:37","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T19:30:37","slug":"professor-ciara-torres-spelliscy-weighs-in-as-expert-for-vox-poll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/index.php\/2019\/12\/16\/professor-ciara-torres-spelliscy-weighs-in-as-expert-for-vox-poll\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy weighs in as expert for Vox poll"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;line-height:18px\">By Sean Illing<br><em>Vox<\/em><br>Nov. 15, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Excerpt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump has a habit of blasting critics on Twitter.\u00a0But some observers\u00a0\u2014 including some loyal to the president \u2014 said this tweet was, at best, a very bad idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But did this tweet really cross a legal line into witness tampering?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I put this question to seven legal experts. Their responses, edited for clarity and length, are below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, law professor, Stetson University College of Law<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/torres-spelliscy-square.png\" alt=\"Ciara Torres-Spelliscy\" class=\"wp-image-28730\" width=\"137\" height=\"137\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/torres-spelliscy-square.png 300w, https:\/\/www2.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/torres-spelliscy-square-200x200.png 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 137px) 100vw, 137px\" \/><figcaption>Professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/jm\/criminal-resource-manual-1729-protection-government-processes-tampering-victims-witnesses-or\">Department of Justice<\/a>, intimidation of witnesses testifying before Congress is a crime under 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 1515(a)(1). However, in this case it is the president who is allegedly doing the witness intimidation and an OLC opinion (see\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawfareblog.com\/indicting-president-not-foreclosed-complex-history\">Indicting a President Is Not Foreclosed: The Complex History &#8211; Lawfare<\/a>) states that a sitting president cannot be indicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just as Trump cannot be indicted for campaign finance crimes while president such as those involving Michael Cohen, he similarly could not be indicted for witness intimidation including his tweets this morning either while he is still in office. But accountability can come in different forms. The House of Representatives could add witness intimidation as a separate article of impeachment. Also, once Trump is an ex-president, federal prosecutors could charge him with witness intimidation if they chose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"border-top: 1px solid #cccccc;width:100px;margin: 20px 0px 15px 0px !important;\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size: 11.5px;line-height:18px;padding-bottom:15px;\">The complete article was originally published on the Vox website on Nov. 15, 2019, with the headline, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2019\/11\/15\/20966716\/impeachment-hearings-trump-yovanovitch-witness-tampering\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Did Trump just commit witness tampering? I asked 7 legal experts<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sean IllingVoxNov. 15, 2019 Excerpt Trump has a habit of blasting critics on Twitter.\u00a0But some observers\u00a0\u2014 including some loyal to the president \u2014 said this tweet was, at best, a very bad idea. But did this tweet really cross a legal line into witness tampering? I put this question to seven legal experts. Their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faculty-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy weighs in as expert for Vox poll - Stetson Law News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www2.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/index.php\/2019\/12\/16\/professor-ciara-torres-spelliscy-weighs-in-as-expert-for-vox-poll\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy weighs in as expert for Vox poll - Stetson Law News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Sean IllingVoxNov. 15, 2019 Excerpt Trump has a habit of blasting critics on Twitter.\u00a0But some observers\u00a0\u2014 including some loyal to the president \u2014 said this tweet was, at best, a very bad idea. 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Their [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www2.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/index.php\/2019\/12\/16\/professor-ciara-torres-spelliscy-weighs-in-as-expert-for-vox-poll\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Stetson Law News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-16T19:30:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-12-16T19:30:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/torres-spelliscy-square.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ashley McKnight-Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ashley McKnight-Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/16\\\/professor-ciara-torres-spelliscy-weighs-in-as-expert-for-vox-poll\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/16\\\/professor-ciara-torres-spelliscy-weighs-in-as-expert-for-vox-poll\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ashley McKnight-Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/83abce307c65b375cdad58d579a9a613\"},\"headline\":\"Professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy weighs in as expert for Vox poll\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-16T19:30:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-16T19:30:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/16\\\/professor-ciara-torres-spelliscy-weighs-in-as-expert-for-vox-poll\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":246,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/16\\\/professor-ciara-torres-spelliscy-weighs-in-as-expert-for-vox-poll\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/torres-spelliscy-square.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Faculty In The News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/16\\\/professor-ciara-torres-spelliscy-weighs-in-as-expert-for-vox-poll\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/16\\\/professor-ciara-torres-spelliscy-weighs-in-as-expert-for-vox-poll\\\/\",\"name\":\"Professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy weighs in as expert for Vox poll - 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