WASHINGTON: US President Trump cannot be charged with obstructing justice because he is the country's chief law enforcement officer [under the constitution's Article II] and has every right to express his views on any case, his personal lawyer John Dowd has said, as the United States moves rapidly towards a defining debate on whether the President can be tried for any wrong doing, and his unbridled powers, including the power to pardon himself and his family members.

The new row erupted after Trump's weekend tweet that he ''had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI'' opened him up to charges of obstruction of justice because it implied the President knew Flynn had lied. The ostensible faux pas was compounded by the fact he then reportedly told then-FBI director James Comey to go easy on Flynn the day after he had fired him. "He (Flynn) has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!" Trump further tweeted in defense of his former National Security Advisor.

The statements convulsed the political and legal fraternity but his lawyer Dowd said it would be "an ignorant and arrogant assertion" to say Trump obstructed justice given the powers bestowed on him in Article II. He appeared to be referring to what many constitutional scholars call the Unitary Executive Theory under which the President has absolute power and control over the executive and "can be removed from office only through impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Other constitutional scholars have contested this and while there is disagreement about the strength and scope of the doctrine, it is now possible that all this will be put to test over the next few weeks and months. There is already much tattle about whether Trump will pardon Flynn, particularly after he again tweeted his sympathies for the fallen general on Monday morning, saying he "feels badly" for him and it's "very unfair" nothing happened to Hillary Clinton although "she lied many times to the FBI."

Some legal experts say nothing could ever happen to Trump and his family because of the enormous powers vested in him under the Constitution - and its absolutist interpretation. Even if Flynn implicates Trump's son and son-in-law, he could just pardon them. Some go so far as to say Trump can pardon himself.

"There is no reason to believe that Trump or anyone related to him will ever face prison time," said CNN's legal analyst Page Pate. "Even if Mueller were willing to go after the President, Trump may be able to simply pardon himself and avoid prosecution."

Even Preet Bharara, the US attorney who was fired by Trump and has been a trenchant critic of the President, said in an interview on NPR that charging a president with obstruction "is a very high bar, it's a very high threshold, it's a difficult thing, it's never been done before."

"But the mere fact that the president is the president doesn't immunize him from an accusation of obstruction," Bharara said.

But it may not go so far. On Monday, Trump's lawyer Dowd claimed that he had composed the tweet on behalf of Trump and done a sloppy job, and it was not the president himself who tweeted. It was the first time anyone had said Trump does not himself tweet, and the assertion was greeted with disbelief.

