Top Democrat Feinstein says an obstruction-of-justice case against Trump is building

A Senate investigation into connections between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian meddling in the 2016 US election suggests that a potential case of obstruction of justice is developing against the president, Senator Dianne Feinstein said Sunday.

“What we’re beginning to see is the putting together of a case of obstruction of justice,” Feinstein, the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said about the committee’s investigation.

“We see this in the indictments, the four indictments, and pleas that have just taken place, and some of the comments that are being made,” said Feinstein, who is also a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “I see it in the hyper-frenetic attitude of the White House: the comments every day, the continual tweets.”

Feinstein, on NBC’s Meet the Press, was referring to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates, who face charges including money laundering in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation; former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos; and former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Papadopoulos and Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Feinstein said the most important instance was Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, which she believes was “directly because he did not agree to ‘lift the cloud’ of the Russia investigation” as he said Trump requested.

“That’s obstruction of justice,” Feinstein said.