Still, a successful prosecution requires a crime and some evidence.
As CNN points out, rules governing special prosecutions required Mueller to inform Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein before obtaining the indictments.
Criminal prosecutions require proof "beyond a reasonable doubt," and Mueller clearly saw a strong case against Trump under that standard.
It ruled that an honest services prosecution required more than an allegation of an undisclosed conflict of interest or self-dealing on the part of a business executive or politician.
Mark Geragos, Anderson's attorney, said, "Nothing indicates it's a reliable or legitimate tape". Asked if that is Anderson's voice on the tape, Geragos cited "attorney-client privilege". If Bonds is convicted, he faces as much as two years behind bars, but perjury prosecutions require compelling corroborative evidence, legal experts say.
The Justice Department brought the case as a request for an injunction rather than as a criminal prosecution, which would have required a jury trial.
He reminded 34,000 petitioners for a full pardon: "The law at that time required a prosecution and, as such, long-standing policy has been to accept that such convictions took place and, rather than trying to alter the historical context and to put right what cannot be put right, ensure instead that we never again return to those times".
"However, the law at the time required a prosecution and, as such, long-standing policy has been to accept that such convictions took place and, rather than trying to alter the historical context and to put right what cannot be put right, ensure instead that we never again return to those times".
"Claims of political motivation behind prosecution required incontestable proof, which had not been presented," the judgment said.
To launch such a prosecution requires only the issuing of a charge with a magistrates' court (which is an administrative act, not one dependent on meeting any evidential burden).
