--- title: Nancy Pelosi: It Could Be Possible to Indict President Trump description: Nancy Pelosi has indicated she thinks a sitting president can be indicted canonical: https://time.com/5492812/nancy-pelosi-trump-indict/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-03T13:44:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T15:47:04.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Nancy Pelosi Says It Could Be Possible to Indict President Trump og:description: Nancy Pelosi has indicated she thinks a sitting president can be indicted og:url: https://time.com/5492812/nancy-pelosi-trump-indict/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b395f04aeed65cc/69894290e76ad229cd633e4d/nancy-pelosi-today-indict.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Congressional Leaders Speak To Media After Meeting With President Trump At White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Nancy Pelosi Says It Could Be Possible to Indict President Trump twitter:description: Nancy Pelosi has indicated she thinks a sitting president can be indicted twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b395f04aeed65cc/69894290e76ad229cd633e4d/nancy-pelosi-today-indict.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nancy Pelosi Says It Could Be Possible to Indict President Trump by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 3:47 PM UTCPublished: Jan 3, 2019 1:44 PM UTC  House Speaker designate Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) talks to journalists following a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and fellow members of Congress about border security at the White House Jan. 02, 2019 in Washington, DC. House Speaker designate Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) talks to journalists following a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and fellow members of Congress about border security at the White House Jan. 02, 2019 in Washington, DC.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 3:47 PM UTCPublished: Jan 3, 2019 1:44 PM UTC Nancy Pelosi has indicated she thinks a sitting president can be indicted. Speaking with the _Today_ show ahead of being sworn in as House speaker for the second time on Thursday, Pelosi was asked whether special counsel Robert Mueller should abide by the Department of Justice’s guidance stating a sitting president can’t be indicted in his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. “I do not think that that is conclusive,” Pelosi said. “No, I do not.” > [](https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/1080801047994662912) When asked whether Mueller could indict President Trump over his campaign’s alleged connections with Russia, Pelosi seemed open to the possibility. “I think that is an open discussion, in terms of the law,” she said. Issued in 2000, the guidance from the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel says, “The indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President would unconstitutionally undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions.” Pelosi noted that “It’s not the law,” while speaking with _Today_. “Everything indicates that a president can be indicted after he is no longer president of the United States,” she said. Pelosi also did not rule out the possibility of Trump being impeached. “We have to wait and see what happens with the Mueller report,” she said. “We shouldn’t be impeaching for a political reason, and we shouldn’t avoid impeachment for a political reason.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5492812/nancy-pelosi-trump-indict/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5492812/nancy-pelosi-trump-indict/"},"headline":"Nancy Pelosi Says It Could Be Possible to Indict President Trump","datePublished":"2019-01-03T13:44:28.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T15:47:04.000Z","description":"Nancy Pelosi has indicated she thinks a sitting president can be indicted","url":"https://time.com/5492812/nancy-pelosi-trump-indict/","keywords":["Congress","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b395f04aeed65cc/69894290e76ad229cd633e4d/nancy-pelosi-today-indict.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b395f04aeed65cc/69894290e76ad229cd633e4d/nancy-pelosi-today-indict.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Congressional Leaders Speak To Media After Meeting With President Trump At White House","caption":"Congressional Leaders Speak To Media After Meeting With President Trump At White House","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5492812/nancy-pelosi-trump-indict/","name":"Nancy Pelosi Says It Could Be Possible to Indict President Trump"}}]}] ```