During an interview with Fox News host Mark Levin on Sunday evening, former President Donald Trump admitted that he obstructed justice in the Russia investigation by firing then-FBI Director James Comey.

Mediaite reports that Levin suggested to Trump that others were to blame for the fact that the ex-president’s campaign had multiple contacts with Russian nationals during the 2016 election:

“Hillary Clinton was behind most of this. What do you want to say to Hillary Clinton?”

Trump responded:

“I think it is disgraceful. I think I always knew it was a hoax.”

And then the ex-president said something that sounded like an admission he deliberately obstructed justice in order to stymie the investigation:

“Don’t forget, I fired Comey, had I not fired Comey you might not be talking about the beautiful book.

“I fired Comey, that whole group, now that group is coming back again? I mean, it is not believable. It shouldn’t be allowed to happen. Shouldn’t be allowed to happen.”

And there is it: Evidence that Trump did indeed obstruct justice by firing Comey as a means of ending the investigation that had begun inside the Justice Department when the DOJ began receiving reports that Trump campaign officials had met with Russian citizens to obtain “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.

Back in 2019, Time took a look at whether or not Trump had obstructed justice by firing Comey and reported:

During a private dinner at the White House in January of 2017, Trump asked FBI Director James Comey to pledge his loyalty. “The President said, ‘I need loyalty, I expect loyalty,’” Comey recounted in testimony before a Senate committee that June.

In a one-on-one meeting in February of 2017, Trump asked Comey to shut down an investigation into his former national security advisor Michael Flynn. Comey wrote in the memo that Trump told him, “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”

Sure sounds like textbook obstruction. And it can still be charged if Attorney General Merrick Garland chooses to. He even has Trump’s admission to bolster his case.

Featured Image Via NBC News