Subject of an Investigation: The term “subject of an investigation” has a particular meaning within the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). According to the DOJ Handbook[2], a “subject” is: “a person whose conduct is within the scope of a Grand Jury’s investigation.” A subject is somewhere between a target and a witness. A subject has engaged in conduct that may look suspicious or unethical, but the prosecutor isn’t certain that a provable crime has been committed and wants to do more investigating in order to be sure.
• Target: The term “target of an investigation” is also specifically defined by the DOJ. A person is a target where the prosecutor or Grand Jury has substantial evidence linking him to the commission of a crime. Designation as a target provides a clear warning of a person’s criminal exposure.
Even though your status as a witness, subject or target may be important in guiding your strategy during a particular phase of a federal white collar crime investigation, the key thing to remember about these categories is that they are ultimately meaningless and offer you no protection. Why? Because even if you’re currently a witness or subject, there’s no guarantee that your status will remain unchanged.
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Not enough people in this thread paid attention to your excellent post outlining the specific, DOJ, definitions of “subject” and “target.”
From what I understand, Muller is a very buttoned-down, very ‘rule-following’ type of guy, and he very much believes that he needs to follow DOJ procedure. From what I’ve heard, this means he also is operating under the DOJ opinion that a sitting President cannot be indicted, which would mean that the President CANNOT, at any point, be a ‘target’ of the investigation, but will forever remain a ‘subject.’