There are very few issues that break one’s brain more readily than an attempt to find the most deserving article of impeachment against Donald Trump.
I mean, Jesus with blanket immunity, sorting out which actions most deserve impeachment is like strolling by the buffet at Golden Corral, being told to pick out the “fattening things.”
By some trick undoubtedly pulled by some jackass in a higher dimension, Donald Trump seems quantum-entangled with the “model” U.S. President, the person on Earth who is supposed to be the furthest above reproach. In each instance where we expect a President to behave with honest and open principles, Trump “flips” the nation from its normal quantum state to the mirror image. There is nothing too brazen, or too petty, or outrageous, from which Trump can diverge from all that we considered “presidential.”
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If we go back to our School House Rock days (People under 35, these were like TED Talks for 7 year olds long ago). The president sits atop the Article II branch. The function of the Executive is to “enforce the laws” both at home, and in taking the lead on foreign policy.
That has always made things a little tricky for the Justice Department and investigations of people in the White House, or any other cabinet-level department. In a sense, one is investigating oneself. Yes, Congress can investigate, and must investigate, but they cannot enforce the laws. There is no mechanism by which Congress can prosecute an individual, only remove them from office.
It is for that precise reason that the Justice Department has always been “different” than the other cabinet-level departments. It had to maintain some independence from the president, because it could always end up investigating someone in the White House.
It was a near unspoken “thing” in the federal government, the Attorney General, and under him/her, the Director of the FBI were far less political. It was not written into the constitution, it never really needed to be, at least not to the degree needed now.
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The NY Times article published today contains a paragraph that solidly reports what previously has only been speculated upon. It is a truly astonishing finding, one that would blow the doors off any previous administration:
One of Mr. Trump’s lawyers also reached out that summer to the lawyers for two of his former aides — Paul Manafort and Mr. Flynn — to discuss possible pardons. The discussions raised questions about whether the president was willing to offer pardons to influence their decisions about whether to plead guilty and cooperate in the Mueller investigation.
As they say down here in the deep South: “Do what, now?”
Perhaps you can help me, because I swear to dog, that paragraph states that the President’s lawyers shopped out discussions about possible pardons. But that cannot possibly be, because in the United States, that would lead to impeachment of anyone, even a Reagan, within the next 30 day pay period.
Me: Right?
You: “For real.” (Another southern thing).
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I believe that previously, the reporting had always been that possibly Manafort and Flynn’s attorneys “felt up” the Trump guys for pardon possibilities. Which is just so far over the event horizon as to what is “appropriate” so as to be beyond Hubble’s focus.
But that paragraph — and, check me on this, if you will, things are slower down here — that paragraph seems to state in plain English that it was TRUMP’S lawyers who reached out to discuss pardons.
Am I the only one who thinks that the revelation “might, could” be a rather big deal?
How the ever-living-fck does that happen? How does that happen? How does it happen involving people who know how to email and phone reporters, to the point it gets printed in the NYT, and the nation not be in an uprising for impeachment???
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Oh, I hear you. Yes, yes, there are “other revelations” in that article that are sucking up all the oxygen, you say? Well, I am sorry, but the revelation that perhaps Sean Spicer ( who is — strangely — an increasingly sympathetic figure) Spice-boy “oversold” the investigation into Flynn? That’s another revelation in the story.
Yes, that is big. But ...
How about the fact that Trump tried to wrestle control of the Cohen investigation from Whitaker from the SDNY? Okay, yes, now that does seem to be more in-line with the level of culpability of shopping around pardons.
But, I am sorry, I firmly believe that the above paragraph, the fact that Trump’s lawyers would never, ever “shop around pardons” ( aka do something so “obviously illegal”) on their own without express direction of the president. Even then, they might be disbarred because “my client told me to drive the getaway car” never got an attorney out of a prosecution.
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I admit, trying to keep up with the outrageous actions deserving of impeachment is somewhat of a fool’s errand. And there is no shortage of fools like me on the Rec list. But, I truly believe we’re seeing a media landscape so overwhelmed (and somewhat understandably) that I think they are ignoring the true “big blockbuster revelation” in this story.
By “shopping around pardons” Trump is undermining the very branch of government he sits atop. He is THE sworn-in head of the executive branch, and he is conspiring with defense attorneys litigating criminality against ….the executive branch!
Yes, the pardon power is “unlimited” within the constitution. But, actually, it is not. Though the constitution places no express limits on the pardon power, the constitution implicitly limits what the president can do, by keeping him under and within the law. He cannot simply offer pardons to everyone with evidence against him, not in my America, at least.
Shopping around a pardon for suppressing evidence — which is what Trump would be asking them to do — is the essence of abusing the powers of his office.
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Let this shit sink-in for just a second.
It used to be that if a president even commented on a criminal investigation it would invite serious blowback, even possible censure from Congress.
Damn, we’re back to quantum mechanics, and Trump doing the opposite. Trump is not only “commenting” daily upon the investigation, he is trying to “buy” himself out of it.
Moreover, this is NOT the lede story. What does that say about where the nation stands right now?
We are in much deeper trouble than we probably appreciate.
And THAT, my fellow libtards, is “for real.”
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UPDATE: Keen Kossack mittenstheunrulykitten noted that the fact that Dowd shopping pardons on behalf of Trump HAD been reported, last May.
But that only leaves me more aghast. This powerful basis for impeachment has swam comfortably in the national news current without the nation splashing into an uproar. The fact that this actually isn’t “new” news, the fact that even I didn’t know, just means we compounded the depth of the problem here. It was included again in this article — no doubt — primarily because it is shocking that nothing has been done about it.
The original NYT article setting it out is here.
UPDATE NUMBER 2: Evidently Chris Hayes is undergoing the same wonderment as me, as he just now listed the “Shopping pardons” as the biggest takeaway from the article, despite the fact it had been reported before.
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Peace, y’all. Love one another. It matters.
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