U.S. Department of Justice
Attorney Work Product // May Contain Material Protected Under Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e)
validly prohibit a President's corrupt efforts to use his official powers to curtail, end, or interfere with an investigation.
- A. Statutory Defenses to the Application of Obstruction-Of-Justice Provisions to the Conduct Under Investigation
The obstruction-of-justice statute most readily applicable to our investigation is . Section provides:
(c) Whoever corruptly—
(1) alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object's integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or
(2) otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so,
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
The Department of Justice has taken the position that Section states a broad, independent, and unqualified prohibition on obstruction of justice.[1] While defendants have argued that subsection (c)(2) should be read to cover only acts that would impair the availability or integrity of evidence because that is subsection (c)(1)'s focus, strong arguments weigh against that proposed limitation. The text of Section confirms that its sweep is not tethered to Section ; courts have so interpreted it; its history does not counsel otherwise; and no principle of statutory construction dictates a contrary view. On its face, therefore, Section applies to all corrupt means of obstructing a proceeding, pending or contemplated—including by improper exercises of official power. In addition, other statutory provisions that are potentially applicable to certain conduct we investigated broadly prohibit obstruction of proceedings that are pending before courts, grand juries, and Congress. See 18 U.S.C. §§ , . Congress has also specifically prohibited witness tampering. See .
- 1. The Text of Section Prohibits a Broad Range of Obstructive Acts
Several textual features of Section support the conclusion that the provision broadly prohibits corrupt means of obstructing justice and is not limited by the more specific prohibitions in Section , which focus on evidence impairment.
First, the text of Section is unqualified: it reaches acts that "obstruct[], influence[], or impede[] any official proceeding" when committed "corruptly." Nothing in Section 's text limits the provision to acts that would impair the integrity or availability of evidence for use in an official proceeding. In contrast, Section explicitly includes the requirement that the defendant act "with the intent to impair the object's integrity or availability
- ↑ See U.S. Br., United States v. Kumar, Nos. 06–5482–cr(L), 06–5654–cr(CON) (2d Cir. filed Oct. 26, 2007), at pp. 15-28; United States v, Singleton, Nos. H-04-CR-5 1488, H-06-cr-80 (S.D, Tex. filed June 5, 2006).
160
