Did Obama break the law by revealing sealed indictment in Benghazi attack?

 

oped: There is a catch 22 indeed...however a sitting President can be prosecuted if Congress Impeaches a sitting President and the Senate decides to arrest and prosecute for High Crimes and Misdemeanors as well as for Treason...However we have a sitting Congress and Senate who lack the cajones' to act on behalf of We the People...all they care about is their political careers and benefits that they put into bills to enhance their personal portfolios...damn we the people they only love our votes not our welfare!

by: Joe Newby
On Friday, Barack Obama became the first official to reveal the existence of a sealed indictment in the Benghazi terror attack. But ABC News reported that some were left wondering if Obama crossed a legal line when he did that.
President Obama was asked during Friday's press conference if justice would come to those responsible for last year's terror attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

"[W]e have informed, I think, the public that there's a sealed indictment," Obama said. "It's sealed for a reason. But we are intent on capturing those who carried out this attack, and we're going to stay on it until we get them."
Obama's statement is the only official confirmation of a sealed indictment, ABC News said.
"After all," Mike Levine reported, "according to federal law, 'no person may disclose [a sealed] indictment's existence,' and a 'knowing violation … may be punished as a contempt of court.' Contempt of court carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail."
It's doubtful, though, that the president will serve any time for making the indictment known, however.
Levine said that one official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, called Obama's disclosure "crazy."

"Doesn't the law apply to the president too?" the unnamed official asked.
But according to Peter Zeidenberg, a former prosecutor in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section who currently has a private practice in Washington, Obama is effectively immune from prosecution when it comes to sealed indictments.
"The [president], by virtue of his position, can't violate any non-disclosure/confidentiality rule," he said. "One of the perks of being the head of the executive branch: Nothing he says is technically a leak. If he does it, it is authorized."
But, he added, the case could be made that "a sealed matter can only be unsealed by a court."
ABC said that a White House official insisted Obama "was simply referencing widely reported information and was not asked about, nor did he comment on any specific indictment."

The Justice Department declined to comment.
On Tuesday, CNN reported that charges were being filed against Ahmed Khattalah, leader of a Libyan militia officials believe was involved in the assault on the compound. At about the same time, Obama dismissed the Benghazi scandal as "phony" while in Phoenix, Arizona.