The most intriguing question—legal, political, and moral—about the Trump indictment can best be understood through the vehicle of several hypotheticals: What if a white Southern prosecutor announced that he would only investigate crimes committed by blacks; he then devoted all of his resources to looking for black crimes and none to white crimes; as a result he uncovered evidence of a crime committed by a black citizen.
And it's precisely the issue at hand. They've spent seven years harassing this man, both privately and publicly, and finally, and somewhat oddly, they now smile from ear to ear, because they found something. But this attack on the rule of law doesn't just target Trump, but seems to be targeting anyone who supports him. They did the same thing to Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, and most of the January 6th crowd. I'm not a fan of Roger Stone's politics, or running into congressional buildings dressed like a Viking, but going to a 70 year old man's house at 4:00 in the morning, with tipped off CNN reporters, and helicopters with FBI swat teams, is clearly a political charade. Anyone with sound judgment, wearing an unbiased lens, can see that for what it is. That's corruption at the highest levels of the FBI.
Will some conservative prosecutor, appointed by the next conservative administration, prosecute Biden and Clinton with the same bug-eyed malice as Stone, Manafort and Trump? Clinton's NGO spends a lot of money on salaries, more so than on the mission of the organization, which is generally frowned upon. Should we now investigate all of her financial documents until we find something? Then, let's tell fox news to show up at her house at 4:00 in the morning as the FBI descends upon her with swat teams, because we wouldn't want that 75 year old, supremely athletic body to run away from us.
What you say is true. What bothers me though is that this is not already obvious. That you or anyone even feels the need to point out that selective, political persecution is bad.
Wow, so clearly articulated, thanks so much for writing this. Many folks have feel something is off about this case, and you have nailed it in clear legal terms. Surely in your analogy of a prosecutor that has been shown to only target blacks, he would not only be disciplined, but all his cases would also be thrown out.
You talk about how Nixon went down because his party turned on him. But Nixon was never in the Uniparty. Biden is in the Uniparty. If anything, Nixon was Trump, totally set up by the Deep State. Remember Obama did things twice as bad as Nixon yet no one batted an eye. Which is why I lost faith in people like you, heroes from my childhood, because you really don't believe what you preach. If you did, you would have gone ballistic when Obama used the IRS as his soft Gestapo. But you all didn't care. Because you have no values. You didn't like Nixon. You liked Obama. You absolutely hate Trump. So you sir are really a hypocrite.
Adbul set up on him for me to sue and sabbataging stealing law suit 8s plot contact Adelaida Pacheco look at realty for my number I will stop the money hungry for my octageneis money mines
The only flaw in this argument is that Trump's DOJ and the Republicans in Congress investigated Hillary for 4 years and were able to find nothing. I just think it's an innaccurate reading of the events here to suggest Jack Smith was out to "get Trump". Remember.
1. After leaving office, Trump retained some personal documents, in which some classified documents were mixed in. (let's assume for the sake of argument that this was INADVERTENT).
2. Over the course of a year Trump's team and the Archivist went back and forth to ensure that the documents belonging to the US were returned. This process is a STANDARD post-presidency engagement.
3. The archivist discovered some classified documents in the first tranche, and notified the FBI/DOJ, AS IS STANDARD POLICY.
4. the FBI/DOJ requested all classified documents back from Trump. At this point the Trump team did not fully comply.
5. The FBI became aware that additional documents remained FROM A SOURCE ON THE TRUMP TEAM, which then triggered the non-standard actions.
6. A warrant was issued and executed, resulting in the discovery of additional classified documents.
7. At this point, a special counsel was appointed to investigate and discover whether the retention of classified documents between phas 4 and 6 was criminal or not.
If, as Professor Dershowitz suggested, Garland had appointed Smith prior to step 1, that would clearly have been selective prosecution. But Smith began investigating Trump AFTER prima facie evidence of an actual crime was discovered. As such, the arguments above are inapposite.
One more Swamp Rat and I expect the IG Horwitz report to reflect one more SWAMP Rat -IG Michael Horowitz himself who will do as He did in his first report --[See Report -Oversight and Review Division 18-04 Dated June 2018] 568 Pages of BS by IG Horowitz -"What I call the "Potomac Two Step" just a complete cover up of the "Truth" as too Who is behind all this Political Ploy to oust a Duly Elected President - - -We The People see right through the Washington BS and Cover up of The Obama Administration and many career Civil Servants to the SWAMP that feeds them their cushy jobs and retirements on the TAXPAYERS BACKS - - -We want a HONEST FBI and DOJ and most importantly Honest IG's - - -Shame on you Michael Horowitz ---
[Oversight and Review Division 18-04 June 2018 IG Michael Horowitz - - 568 Pages of a COVER-UP ]
FAKE NEWS - -Again - - -"Yet the witness accounts left one prominent hole that offered a lifeline for Trump and his GOP allies. None of the witnesses could personally attest that Trump directly conditioned the release of the $400 million in military aid on a Ukrainian announcement of investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee."
Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton’s allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers, a Politico investigation found.
A Ukrainian-American operative who was consulting for the Democratic National Committee met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort and Russia, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.
"The Clinton campaign received a steady flow of briefings on its paid-for Christopher Steele dossier, whose unverified Trump-Russia collusion charges made their way into election news stories and Clinton talking points.
The dossier emerged again as a Washington hot topic with the release of four FBI applications to a judge to spy on a Donald Trump volunteer. The petition’s evidence to convince the judge was largely based on what Steele said is the unverified, and unverifiable, dossier.
"SWAMP DEMOCRATS"- -Be careful what you wish for......... Impeachment trial will bring Many people to the witness stand. And ALL evidence about Ukraine, Bidens, Clintons Obama staff etc. No place to hide on both sides...Adam Schiff and His staff will be sworn in also, We The People cant wait..
Warrant was renewed by several judges {Names Please] - FBI lawyer or Agents [Names Please] - . - SOUNDS LEGAL RIGHT? WRONG - They fail to state the BIAS of the judges and the lawyers and FBI Agents involved , but we can surmise that they were pandering to the DNC.+ Deep State .
We The People Want Jail Terms for "All offenders " -We want to see What "Punishments are coming forward to the FBI Agent or Agents involved - -[ So The conduct of the FBI employee, who was forced out, didn’t alter Horowitz’s finding that the surveillance application of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page had a proper legal and factual basis, ] Our Justice system is "Corrupted and so is our Intelligence Community"- -example John Bolton is a Swamp Rat and I expect the IG Horwitz report to reflect one more SWAMP Rat -IG Michael Horowitz himself who will do as He did in his first report --[See Report -Oversight and Review Division 18-04 Dated June 2018] 568 Pages of BS by IG Horowitz -"What I call the "Potomac Two Step" just a complete cover up of the "Truth" as too Who is behind all this Political Ploy to oust a Duly Elected President - - -We The People see right through the Washington BS and Cover up of The Obama Administration and the many career Civil Servants loyal to the SWAMP that feeds them their cushy jobs and retirements on the TAXPAYERS BACKS - - -The Facts that the FBI and CIA were both working to get Hillary elected should scare every single 'Legal Voting American Citizen , Republican or Democrat.
We 'All" want a HONEST FBI and DOJ and most importantly Honest IG's - - -Shame on you Michael Horowitz ---come out and say it "IF Obama allow this spying to go on? Did Obama try to interfere with our election and the outcome ? If so -strip Him of His Pension -take everything away from him and Place His sorry Azz in Jail for a long-long time .
[Oversight and Review Division 18-04 June 2018 IG Michael Horowitz - - 568 Pages of a COVER-UP ]
Ever heard of the left leaning media Politico? Interesting thing about this is that within the Podesta and DNC emails, there’s multiple connections between the DNC, the HRC Campaign and the Politico Playbook among st others, elected and non elected officials. Ukraine did not meddle in 2016 elections? Politico begs to differ as well as many others within the DNC, Democrat Representatives, the HRC Campaign and the Ukraine Government.
The very same "Potomac Two Step" was well orchestrated by the "Durham Report" -
Brilliant, it's precisely the issue at hand. They've spent seven years harassing Donald Trump, both privately and publicly, and finally, and somewhat oddly, this attack on the rule of law doesn't just target Trump, but seems to be targeting anyone who supports him.
You raise an interesting point about selective prosecution:
"What if a white Southern prosecutor announced that he would only investigate crimes committed by blacks; he then devoted all of his resources to looking for black crimes and none to white crimes; as a result he uncovered evidence of a crime committed by a black citizen."
But I think you neglect to acknowledge that selectively DECLINING to prosecute is equally problematic. By your own hypothetical, the southern prosecutor is choosing NOT to prosecute white perpetrators. If President Trump committed crimes and the DOJ is electing not to prosecute by virtue of his "stature", isn't that inequitable application of the law?
The special prosecutor was tasked with investigating 2 issues and has charged him with one of them. A special prosecutor also needs to be charged with investigating Biden and the charges of bribery and unlawful influence as VP. This is not about party, it is about breaking the law. Trump broke the law and the special prosecutor tasked specifically with investigating 6 Jan and Mar-la-go is actually charging him within the scope he was given. How is this so hard to understand?
Professor, I’m not sure I buy the argument that because this special investigator’s jurisdiction is limited in scope to one individual it is not examining an issue of note - if President Trump broke the law he deserves punishment on this end, as do other politicians for doing the same.
The objective thinking should not start only when Trump is the target. During latter stages of presidential campaign a registered GOP FBI director, under a democratic president, opened an investigation aganist the democratic nominee. A lot of what trump is being investigated for was well on the way before he announced he would run again for president. No one is above the law
This is brilliant.
And it's precisely the issue at hand. They've spent seven years harassing this man, both privately and publicly, and finally, and somewhat oddly, they now smile from ear to ear, because they found something. But this attack on the rule of law doesn't just target Trump, but seems to be targeting anyone who supports him. They did the same thing to Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, and most of the January 6th crowd. I'm not a fan of Roger Stone's politics, or running into congressional buildings dressed like a Viking, but going to a 70 year old man's house at 4:00 in the morning, with tipped off CNN reporters, and helicopters with FBI swat teams, is clearly a political charade. Anyone with sound judgment, wearing an unbiased lens, can see that for what it is. That's corruption at the highest levels of the FBI.
Will some conservative prosecutor, appointed by the next conservative administration, prosecute Biden and Clinton with the same bug-eyed malice as Stone, Manafort and Trump? Clinton's NGO spends a lot of money on salaries, more so than on the mission of the organization, which is generally frowned upon. Should we now investigate all of her financial documents until we find something? Then, let's tell fox news to show up at her house at 4:00 in the morning as the FBI descends upon her with swat teams, because we wouldn't want that 75 year old, supremely athletic body to run away from us.
This is not a winnable game.
What you say is true. What bothers me though is that this is not already obvious. That you or anyone even feels the need to point out that selective, political persecution is bad.
You are 100% correct. As Lavrentiy Beria told Stalin: "Show me the man, and I'll find you the crime".
"These are issues worthy of serious debate in a society committed to equal justice."
"If you're looking for justice, you've come to the wrong place."
-Tyrion Lannister
Wow, so clearly articulated, thanks so much for writing this. Many folks have feel something is off about this case, and you have nailed it in clear legal terms. Surely in your analogy of a prosecutor that has been shown to only target blacks, he would not only be disciplined, but all his cases would also be thrown out.
You talk about how Nixon went down because his party turned on him. But Nixon was never in the Uniparty. Biden is in the Uniparty. If anything, Nixon was Trump, totally set up by the Deep State. Remember Obama did things twice as bad as Nixon yet no one batted an eye. Which is why I lost faith in people like you, heroes from my childhood, because you really don't believe what you preach. If you did, you would have gone ballistic when Obama used the IRS as his soft Gestapo. But you all didn't care. Because you have no values. You didn't like Nixon. You liked Obama. You absolutely hate Trump. So you sir are really a hypocrite.
Your focus on process and equal justice flies in the face of the conventional wisdom that "Trump deserves to be targeted."
Adbul set up on him for me to sue and sabbataging stealing law suit 8s plot contact Adelaida Pacheco look at realty for my number I will stop the money hungry for my octageneis money mines
The only flaw in this argument is that Trump's DOJ and the Republicans in Congress investigated Hillary for 4 years and were able to find nothing. I just think it's an innaccurate reading of the events here to suggest Jack Smith was out to "get Trump". Remember.
1. After leaving office, Trump retained some personal documents, in which some classified documents were mixed in. (let's assume for the sake of argument that this was INADVERTENT).
2. Over the course of a year Trump's team and the Archivist went back and forth to ensure that the documents belonging to the US were returned. This process is a STANDARD post-presidency engagement.
3. The archivist discovered some classified documents in the first tranche, and notified the FBI/DOJ, AS IS STANDARD POLICY.
4. the FBI/DOJ requested all classified documents back from Trump. At this point the Trump team did not fully comply.
5. The FBI became aware that additional documents remained FROM A SOURCE ON THE TRUMP TEAM, which then triggered the non-standard actions.
6. A warrant was issued and executed, resulting in the discovery of additional classified documents.
7. At this point, a special counsel was appointed to investigate and discover whether the retention of classified documents between phas 4 and 6 was criminal or not.
If, as Professor Dershowitz suggested, Garland had appointed Smith prior to step 1, that would clearly have been selective prosecution. But Smith began investigating Trump AFTER prima facie evidence of an actual crime was discovered. As such, the arguments above are inapposite.
Dear Mr. Dershowitz
Address what I call "The Potomac Two Step"
One more Swamp Rat and I expect the IG Horwitz report to reflect one more SWAMP Rat -IG Michael Horowitz himself who will do as He did in his first report --[See Report -Oversight and Review Division 18-04 Dated June 2018] 568 Pages of BS by IG Horowitz -"What I call the "Potomac Two Step" just a complete cover up of the "Truth" as too Who is behind all this Political Ploy to oust a Duly Elected President - - -We The People see right through the Washington BS and Cover up of The Obama Administration and many career Civil Servants to the SWAMP that feeds them their cushy jobs and retirements on the TAXPAYERS BACKS - - -We want a HONEST FBI and DOJ and most importantly Honest IG's - - -Shame on you Michael Horowitz ---
[Oversight and Review Division 18-04 June 2018 IG Michael Horowitz - - 568 Pages of a COVER-UP ]
FAKE NEWS - -Again - - -"Yet the witness accounts left one prominent hole that offered a lifeline for Trump and his GOP allies. None of the witnesses could personally attest that Trump directly conditioned the release of the $400 million in military aid on a Ukrainian announcement of investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee."
In other words, contrary to the first AP paragraph, no evidence, just speculation, presumption, opinion, and hearsay......https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446
Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton’s allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers, a Politico investigation found.
A Ukrainian-American operative who was consulting for the Democratic National Committee met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort and Russia, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/clinton-campaign-dnc-paid-for-research-that-led-to-russia-dossier/2017/10/24/226fabf0-b8e4-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html?utm_term=.b0ee5209f3f7
"The Clinton campaign received a steady flow of briefings on its paid-for Christopher Steele dossier, whose unverified Trump-Russia collusion charges made their way into election news stories and Clinton talking points.
The dossier emerged again as a Washington hot topic with the release of four FBI applications to a judge to spy on a Donald Trump volunteer. The petition’s evidence to convince the judge was largely based on what Steele said is the unverified, and unverifiable, dossier.
The Democrats have a long history with Russia: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/14/obama-russia-election-interference-241547
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/04/its_the_democrats_who_collude_with_the_russians.html
http://thefederalist.com/2018/02/21/democrats-try-to-rewrite-history-on-russia-to-make-trump-look-bad/
https://theblacksphere.net/2018/08/democrats-history-of-helping-russia-infiltrate-american-politics/
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-end-of-russias-democratic-illusions-about-america/
https://www.forbes.com/2009/08/27/ted-kennedy-soviet-union-ronald-reagan-opinions-columnists-peter-robinson.html#3b7d6769359a
http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/14/ted-kennedy-made-secret-overtures-to-russia-to-prevent-ronald-reagans-
"SWAMP DEMOCRATS"- -Be careful what you wish for......... Impeachment trial will bring Many people to the witness stand. And ALL evidence about Ukraine, Bidens, Clintons Obama staff etc. No place to hide on both sides...Adam Schiff and His staff will be sworn in also, We The People cant wait..
Warrant was renewed by several judges {Names Please] - FBI lawyer or Agents [Names Please] - . - SOUNDS LEGAL RIGHT? WRONG - They fail to state the BIAS of the judges and the lawyers and FBI Agents involved , but we can surmise that they were pandering to the DNC.+ Deep State .
We The People Want Jail Terms for "All offenders " -We want to see What "Punishments are coming forward to the FBI Agent or Agents involved - -[ So The conduct of the FBI employee, who was forced out, didn’t alter Horowitz’s finding that the surveillance application of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page had a proper legal and factual basis, ] Our Justice system is "Corrupted and so is our Intelligence Community"- -example John Bolton is a Swamp Rat and I expect the IG Horwitz report to reflect one more SWAMP Rat -IG Michael Horowitz himself who will do as He did in his first report --[See Report -Oversight and Review Division 18-04 Dated June 2018] 568 Pages of BS by IG Horowitz -"What I call the "Potomac Two Step" just a complete cover up of the "Truth" as too Who is behind all this Political Ploy to oust a Duly Elected President - - -We The People see right through the Washington BS and Cover up of The Obama Administration and the many career Civil Servants loyal to the SWAMP that feeds them their cushy jobs and retirements on the TAXPAYERS BACKS - - -The Facts that the FBI and CIA were both working to get Hillary elected should scare every single 'Legal Voting American Citizen , Republican or Democrat.
We 'All" want a HONEST FBI and DOJ and most importantly Honest IG's - - -Shame on you Michael Horowitz ---come out and say it "IF Obama allow this spying to go on? Did Obama try to interfere with our election and the outcome ? If so -strip Him of His Pension -take everything away from him and Place His sorry Azz in Jail for a long-long time .
[Oversight and Review Division 18-04 June 2018 IG Michael Horowitz - - 568 Pages of a COVER-UP ]
Ever heard of the left leaning media Politico? Interesting thing about this is that within the Podesta and DNC emails, there’s multiple connections between the DNC, the HRC Campaign and the Politico Playbook among st others, elected and non elected officials. Ukraine did not meddle in 2016 elections? Politico begs to differ as well as many others within the DNC, Democrat Representatives, the HRC Campaign and the Ukraine Government.
The very same "Potomac Two Step" was well orchestrated by the "Durham Report" -
Brilliant, it's precisely the issue at hand. They've spent seven years harassing Donald Trump, both privately and publicly, and finally, and somewhat oddly, this attack on the rule of law doesn't just target Trump, but seems to be targeting anyone who supports him.
Spot on!!
You raise an interesting point about selective prosecution:
"What if a white Southern prosecutor announced that he would only investigate crimes committed by blacks; he then devoted all of his resources to looking for black crimes and none to white crimes; as a result he uncovered evidence of a crime committed by a black citizen."
But I think you neglect to acknowledge that selectively DECLINING to prosecute is equally problematic. By your own hypothetical, the southern prosecutor is choosing NOT to prosecute white perpetrators. If President Trump committed crimes and the DOJ is electing not to prosecute by virtue of his "stature", isn't that inequitable application of the law?
The special prosecutor was tasked with investigating 2 issues and has charged him with one of them. A special prosecutor also needs to be charged with investigating Biden and the charges of bribery and unlawful influence as VP. This is not about party, it is about breaking the law. Trump broke the law and the special prosecutor tasked specifically with investigating 6 Jan and Mar-la-go is actually charging him within the scope he was given. How is this so hard to understand?
Professor, I’m not sure I buy the argument that because this special investigator’s jurisdiction is limited in scope to one individual it is not examining an issue of note - if President Trump broke the law he deserves punishment on this end, as do other politicians for doing the same.
The objective thinking should not start only when Trump is the target. During latter stages of presidential campaign a registered GOP FBI director, under a democratic president, opened an investigation aganist the democratic nominee. A lot of what trump is being investigated for was well on the way before he announced he would run again for president. No one is above the law