When the framers were debating impeachment at the Constitutional Convention, George Mason asked: “Shall any man be above justice?”
The same question faces us now: Can a president use the power of his office to hold himself above the law? Trump is unlikely to face impeachment anytime soon, or perhaps anytime at all. But it’s time for all of us — voters, members of Congress, Trump’s own staff — to be honest about what he’s done. He has obstructed justice.
He may not be finished doing so, either.
New York Times Opinion By David Leonhardt Jan. 28, 2018
This was in my Facebook memories for today. On this day, one year ago, you posted this link from your Tumblr account. A dead link to my now deleted Tumblr account. As I was reading over the list of charges in the article I realized the list is longer than 10 points now, a full year later. Some of these points have been enumerated on this blog over the last two years. This article is the latest in a series of articles that carry the tag #ImpeachTrump but even that list of articles is hardly exhaustive or even current. I’ve grown tired over the past two years. Tired of attempting to categorize the many, many impeachable offenses of the sitting president. But the offenses continue unabated, whether I’m paying attention or not.
The appointment of Matthew Whitaker to the job of Attorney General after firing Jeff Sessions would figure highly in the expanded list of charges. Appointing someone who was not Senate approved to the job of Attorney General is itself an extra-constitutional act, let alone naming someone who explicitly applied for the job by stating he would end the Mueller investigation.
…and yet Matthew Whitaker hasn’t done the one thing he was sent to do. Have you seen the video of the guy sweating in front of television cameras? That is the look of a man with his balls in a vice. Caudillo Trump gave him a job to do, and then Bobby three sticks explained to the idiot what would happen to him if he did the job that His Excellency sent him to do. Now Matthew Whitaker’s balls are in a vice. He can’t do what he was appointed to do and he can’t answer questions about the thing that he was sent to end because Mueller will throw him to the wolves along with Trump if he does. Clearly, Matthew Whitaker can’t wait to be out of the hot seat so that he can let the next guy take over.
Which brings me to the next point on the list of impeachable acts. The nominee for the Attorney General’s job currently being reviewed by the Senate. He too applied for the job by stating he would end the Mueller investigation. If he gets the nod from the Senate (and why hasn’t he already gotten that?) Bobby three sticks will explain to him, in pretty much the same detail he explained to Whitaker, exactly what will happen to him if he interferes with the investigation of Caudillo Trump. In short order he will be seen sweating in front of the cameras refusing to answer questions about the Mueller investigation, while it continues unimpeded.
Caudillo Trump just can’t seem to figure out that he’s digging his own grave with each thing he does to attempt to hinder the investigation. Each act, another example of his willingness to subvert justice. Why would an innocent man feel the need to keep trying to subvert justice in this way? Could it be he is as guilty as I argued he was two years ago? Caveat Emptor?
The Democratic party now runs the U.S. House of Representatives. Speaker Pelosi holds the gavel, and articles of impeachment would pass the house if they were proposed and seconded, and the trial were to be held today. But the Senate is still held by Republicans, and we need two-thirds of the Senate to convict the current occupant of the Office of the President and remove him from the office that he has repeatedly demonstrated he is not fit to hold. That number is sixty-six. Sixty-six Senators to vote to convict, and only 49 firm votes are currently available for that conviction. We need seventeen Republicans that want to get re-elected next year to step forward and call for the removal of Caudillo Trump. Who will those brave souls be?
First they’ll have to oust McConnell as leader of the Republicans in the Senate. I wish them luck in that endeavor. We could take that hard road, or we could hold out a little longer and then cheer President Pelosi as she accepts the nomination of the Democratic party for the office of President of the United States in 2020, an office she inherited due to the crimes committed by the previous president and his vice president. And then cheer her election that November, and her swearing in the following January. Pick one.
Editor’s note. William Barr became A.G. Barr, making the entire Republican caucus of the Senate complicit in Donald Trump’s crimes since they voted to approve A.G. Barr’s appointment to the Justice Department, where he promptly set about sabotaging everything that the Justice Department was doing that was impeding Trump’s unconstitutional agenda. Mueller Time was a bit of a dud when it occurred because of A.G. Barr’s lies concerning the findings of Robert Mueller, lies that Mueller did not explicitly call out during his testimony before congress.
William Barr should be under investigation now, just as his boss is currently under investigation for impeachment. There are hundreds of public servants appointed by Trump and approved by the Republican Senate that should similarly be under investigation, given what is now known about Trump’s reckless corruption schemes.
