Most Americans think Trump's a criminal — and should be subject to charges while in office

Here’s another poll Trump won’t like.

A large majority of voters, or 57%, believe Trump “committed crimes before he took office,” according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.

And, a whopping 69% of voters say that sitting presidents should be subject to criminal indictment if there is evidence they committed crimes, the poll found.

The poll comes after special counsel Robert Mueller said that Department of Justice policy barred him from seeking charges against Trump.

“Under longstanding department policy, a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office,” Mueller said in his first and, thus far only, public remarks since he became special counsel. “That is unconstitutional. Even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view, that, too, is prohibited. A special counsel’s office is part of the Department of Justice, and by regulation, it was bound by that department policy.”

Mueller said because of that policy, he did not want to say in his report whether he thought Trump committed crimes, because he thought it would be an unfair accusation without giving Trump a legal recourse to fight those accusations.

“Beyond department policy, we were guided by principles of fairness,” Mueller said in his public statement in May. “It would be unfair to potentially — it would be unfair to potentially accuse somebody of a crime when there can be no court resolution of the actual charge.”

Still, Mueller said that he could not exonerate Trump as part of his investigation into obstruction of justice.

Mueller laid out 10 possible instances in which Trump sought to obstruct justice by trying to shut down or hinder Mueller’s probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, and whether Trump and his campaign had any role in it.

But Trump’s possible crimes go beyond trying to obstruct Mueller’s probe.

Trump engaged in numerous shady business and tax practices, including “outright [tax] fraud,” according to a bombshell New York Times report from October.

It’s no wonder a large majority of the public believes Trump committed crimes before taking office.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.