August 6, 2018

Fox News judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano on Monday asserted that Donald Trump Jr. could be charged for conspiracy even if Russians did not give him damaging information about then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

During an appearance on Fox News’ Outnumbered program, Napolitano reacted to President Donald Trump’s admission over the weekend that his son had met with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower to get dirt on Clinton.

“There is no such law and there is no such word in the law as collusion, that’s a Hollywood and media term,” Napolitano explained to co-hosts of the show. “The legal term is conspiracy. If the Trump campaign and the Russians work together, but was there an agreement to work together?

“The crime is the agreement,” he added. “Whether the agreement was put into place or not. That’s what Bob Mueller is looking for.”

Co-host Melissa Francis wondered why Clinton had not been charged for funding the research for a dossier, which detailed alleged connections between Trump and the Russian government.

“Except that [special counsel Robert Mueller is] not investigating that,” Napolitano replied.

“Oh,” Francis sighed.

Napolitano continued: “He’s investigating whether or not the people from the Trump campaign entered into an agreement to receive dirt [on] Hillary, whether the dirt was received or not. The crime — if there were a crime — is receiving anything of value from a foreign person entity or government, if there is an agreement to do that.”

“You may argue and I’ve argued this unsuccessfully that an agreement that ends up not being carried out shouldn’t be a crime but it is,” he added. “It’s the prosecutor’s favorite crime, it’s called conspiracy. It’s the easiest to prove, all you need to know is who agreed and that one of them took a step in furtherance of the agreement.”

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