If Mueller finds evidence of wrongdoing, can he indict Trump?

One of the most fundamental questions facing Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation of President Trump is what to do if he uncovers evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Trump.

Since 1973, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has maintained a policy that a sitting president may not be prosecuted or indicted. That policy was first articulated during the Nixon administration’s Watergate scandal, and was reaffirmed in 2000 following the assorted scandals of the Clinton presidency.

The policy seeks to insulate the nation’s chief executive from prosecutorial pressures that would “impermissibly undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions,” according to the formal policy statement announced during the Clinton administration.

Now, 19 months into the Trump-Russia investigation, legal analysts are questioning whether Mr. Mueller should jettison the 45-year-old Justice Department policy, if necessary, to indict Trump.

Much of the recent debate is being driven by Trump critics who are fearful that if Mueller has no ability to prosecute the president, Trump will escape accountability. Others have held the same position on the thorny constitutional issue through decades of presidential scandals.

“I just think [the policy] is

Constitutionally indispensable?Mueller's optionsStigma and opprobriumAll about timing