After reviewing the list of questions that Special Counsel Mueller purportedly wants to ask President Trump, as reported by the NYTimes, Sean Hannity castigated Mr.Mueller for delving into the thought process of the president. How, Mr. Hannity demanded to know, can one be criminally punished for what he is thinking? Such inquiry is outrageous, said Hannity. What Mr. Hannity does not seem to realize, or chooses to ignore, is that a person's intent is almost always a required element of a crime. Thus, while President Trump may have been empowered to fire FBI Director James Comey, that action may constitute the crime of obstruction if it was corruptly motivated (i.e. intended to thwart an ongoing investigation).
One time-honored way, among several, to discern a person's intent is to ask him what he was thinking when he took the suspect action. Of course, given Mr. Trump's patent disregard for truth, Mr. Mueller would be well-advised to assess intent from what the president said to others about the reason for his action (eg, to the Russian ambassador and to Lester Holt of NBC) and by examining other relevant circumstances from which intent may be inferred.
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