@Timber1972 - man, this is not a partisanship issue, it's a matter of US case law, there doesn't have to be an underlying crime to obstruct justice. After all if you successfully obstruct justice, you may have covered up the underlying crime if it exists. This is not something that is debated between Democrats and Republicans, we all agree. Now if you believe there was no underlying crime you may think that the Obstruction is less serious, and that is understandable, but it doesn't really change it legally. Obstruction requires corrupt intent, obstructive conduct, and a connection to a pending proceeding. There are many examples in US case law where someone tried to cover up something that wasn't a crime, and it is still obstruction. In Trump's case, if we assume that there was no illegal conspiracy with the Russians, but he didn't want it known that the Russians intervened in his favor and he could be guilty of obstruction for interfering with the purpose of making that not known. He could also be protecting friends such as Flynn. Granted Barr seems to argue that you can't have corrupt intent if there is no underlying crime, but this is not consistent with the law.