Donald Trump warned 'no one is above the law' by new House intelligence committee chairman

Justice department should reassess guidance preventing prosecution of presidents, says Adam Schiff

The US justice department should reassess legal guidance that effectively makes Donald Trump immune from prosecution, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee has urged.

“No one is above the law, not even the president of the United States,” said California Representative Adam Schiff.

Documents filed by New York prosecutors last week implicated Mr Trump in campaign finance violations that led to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, being jailed for three years on Wednesday.

Mr Trump is protected from prosecution while in office by long-standing Office of Legal Counsel (OCL) guidance which states the indictment of a sitting president would be “unconstitutional”.

That would change if he lost the 2020 election, but if the president served a second term in the White House the alleged campaign finance violation would have exceeded the statute of limitations by the time he left office.

Mr Schiff, likely to chair the intelligence committee when Democrats take control of the House in January, said there “ought to be a mechanism” to ensure any president accused of criminality could face justice.

He told CNN: “I don’t think that the justice department ought to take the position – and it’s certainly not one that would be required in any way by the constitution – that a president, merely by being in office, can be above the law, can escape the enforcement of the law, by essentially waiting out the statute of limitations.

“There ought to be a mechanism to make sure that that is not the case, whether that means revisiting the OCL opinion and allowing the indictment of a sitting president and staying the prosecution, or allowing both the indictment and the prosecution [while they are in office.]”

There have been suggestions that Robert Mueller could challenge the justice department guidelines if his investigation into alleged Russian collusion with Mr Trump’s election campaign brought up evidence of criminality.

But Mr Schiff said it was “very likely” the special counsel would adhere to the guidance.

The president’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, claimed earlier this year that Mr Mueller’s team had acknowledged Mr Trump could not be indicted.

Mr Cohen has alleged Mr Trump personally ordered him to pay hush money to two woman who claim they had affairs with the president before he was elected. The lawyer admitted the payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal were intended to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential vote.

Mr Cohen’s adviser Lanny Davis said following his sentencing hearing that he would disclose more information about Mr Trump’s “dirty deeds” once Robert Mueller has wrapped up his investigation.