Justice under Trump is like gangster fiction

This post was published in the Wilson Times Feb. 15, 2020.

The fix is in. That is the only conclusion one can draw from the retribution rants of President Donald Trump and the willing compliance of his consigliere, William Barr.

Gaining acquittal on impeachment charges from the complacent, obedient GOP caucus in the U.S. Senate has unleashed Trump to follow his worst, meanest instincts. He’s out to extract payback to everyone who has crossed him and even from those who simply failed to give him their unequivocal fealty. He will do everything he can to make life miserable for Sen. Mitt Romney, the only Republican to vote to convict Trump in the Senate impeachment trial.

He has already extracted revenge from Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and Ambassador Gordon Sondland by firing. Both had the audacity to go before the House Intelligence Committee, after being subpoenaed, to honestly testify about the president’s request for electoral assistance from the president of Ukraine. Other witnesses are also being dismissed from the administration and humiliated, if possible, in the process. Even Eugene Vindman, twin brother of Alexander and also a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, was perp-walked out of the White House in retaliation for … what? He didn’t testify about Trump. He remained in the background, never running afoul, as far as the public knows, of Trump’s white-hot temper. This amounts to a tyrant’s “blood vengeance” against whole families.

Senate Republicans, who admitted that the evidence compiled by the House showed that Trump had used his powers to obstruct the House investigation and attempted to conceal his improper actions, claimed Trump had learned a lesson from the painful impeachment inquiry and would be on better behavior henceforth. The president’s retribution tour, just a week after his acquittal in the Senate, proves this president refuses to learn from his mistakes.

Having escaped punishment in the Senate, Trump is unleashed. All of his “enemies” are in danger from a president without restraints, a president who had earlier asserted that Article II of the Constitution gave him the authority to do whatever he wanted to do. (It does no such thing.) With its impeachment vote, the Republican majority in the Senate removed the last restraint within the federal government on Trump’s abuse of power.

It only gets scarier. With Barr, Trump’s sycophant-in-chief, wielding the awesome powers of the U.S. Department of Justice, there truly may be no constraint on Trump doing anything he dreams of doing. Barr, well known as an advocate of expanded presidential powers, is in a position to sculpt the Justice Department to suit Trump’s whims.

On Tuesday, Trump went on another rant, this one about the conviction and imminent sentencing of some of his cronies. As he has done in the past, he attacked federal judges over their rulings. He went too far for four career prosecutors involved in the Roger Stone sentencing. Stone, a long-time friend and errand boy in the Trump gang, was convicted of lying to Congress and witness tampering. Prosecutors recommended seven to nine years in prison for unapologetic Stone, a sentence within federal guidelines. If you’re not familiar with Stone, watch the 2017 documentary, “Get Me Roger Stone.” It’s available for streaming.

But Barr’s Justice Department has overruled its prosecutors on the sentencing recommendation, leading them to resign in protest. Also up in the air are sentencing for Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign manager, and Michael Flynn, former Trump national security advisor. Manafort was convicted, and Flynn pleaded guilty to their charges.

Perhaps worse than all this is a new policy at Barr’s Justice Department. It declares that no investigation can be opened into any presidential candidate without the written consent of Barr. Think he’ll sign off on an investigation of Trump or any of his troupe? Not on your life. The fix is in.

Gangster fiction terminology may be the only way to comprehend the Trump administration. Fictional gangsters would solve their legal problems by getting their cases dismissed by a judge the mob “owned.” Trump owns an entire Justice Department and still tries to intimidate federal judges with his Twitter tantrums. Like a gangster godfather, Trump protects those who are loyal and obedient and punishes those who cross him or disappoint him.

The scales of justice are being trampled by this administration.

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Foreign agents infiltrate U.S. government; where's the outrage?

Where is Joe McCarthy when you really need him?

You remember Tail-Gunner Joe, the senator who claimed he had lists of ___ (fill in any outlandish number) communists working in the State Department. McCarthy garnered a lot of publicity for himself without ever outing a single commie before the U.S. Senate finally censored him.

That was more than 60 years ago. Now the U.S. government faces another crisis of confidence in the institutions of government. Rep. Devin Nunes, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, has issued a four-page memo sowing doubts about the FISA court, which limits surveillance on American citizens, the Mueller investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 presidential campaign, the Justice Department and the FBI. Democrats failed to stop the release of the memo, which the FBI and the Justice Department have said is deeply flawed and misleading. President Trump seems to be egging on Nunes and his GOP colleagues in an effort to cast doubt on the Mueller investigation. Trump, Nunes and other GOP sycophants, do not appear to be concerned that their actions are harming public confidence in the FBI, the Justice Department and other institutions.

Despite all of the back-and-forth over the release of the disputed memo, no one has pointed out what should be obvious: The Trump presidential campaign was infiltrated by individuals who were Russian agents or had clear links to the Russians. Carter Page, the Trump advisor who was the subject of a surveillance request (plus renewals) sent to the FISA court, had been on U.S. intelligence services' radar for his Kremlin connections since at least 2013. (A friend with closer ties to Washington doubts that Page was ever a Russian agent, but he had been in contact with the Kremlin. Michael Flynn, another Russia-linked Trump advisor, was fired by Trump after Flynn lied about his Russia contacts. Another Trump foreign policy advisor, George Papadopoulos, has admitted to lying to investigators about his contacts with Russian agents during the 2016 campaign. It was Papadopoulos' contacts with Russian agents that first alerted U.S. intelligence agencies to Russian meddling and Page. Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort had worked for the Kremlin-backed government of Ukraine. Even Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was tainted by his Russian contacts during the campaign, and had to recuse himself from overseeing the Mueller investigation.

Trump, meanwhile, seems to be considering firing FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, both of whom were hired by Trump, as a way of stalling or capsizing the entire Russia investigation under Robert Mueller. Trump has spent much of his presidency trying to derail or de-legitimize the Mueller investigation.

During the paranoia of the Cold War, any foreign influence into U.S. policy would have sparked an outcry from the public, an outcry McCarthy adroitly exploited, at least for a while. With the Cold War nearly 30 years in the grave, worries about Russian (no longer Soviet or Communist) infiltration into the highest ranks of government seem hopelessly anachronistic. But U.S. and other intelligence services say the Kremlin under Vladimir Putin is manipulating the electorate in Western Democracies in order to expand Russia's own global influence and military strength.

Who will have the courage to channel Joe McCarthy and declare, "Mr. Chairman, I have here a list of four Russian agents who played active roles in the Trump presidential campaign." This time, the list would have actual names (see above) of real Russian agents or sympathizers who advised Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign.

Now, what McCarthy did in the early 1950s and what needs to be done today are totally different. McCarthy needlessly inflamed public opinion to advance his own political career as he falsely alleged unnamed employees of the State Department were communists or communist sympathizers. What is needed now is someone who will point out the fact that the Trump campaign and the Trump presidency have attracted an extraordinary number of people with connections to the Kremlin. Whether there was collusion or coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign may not matter as much as this question: Why have so many people with Russian ties ended up in the the Trump campaign or administration? Russian agents or sympathizers have gained the ear of the president — something the Americans of McCarthy's day would have considered treasonous.

Nunes tried to inflame public opinion about a surveillance court application while ignoring the far more serious and undisputed fact that a U.S. presidential candidate was depending on advisors who were or had been agents or advocates of a foreign power.

Impeaching Trump will not be easy

With Michael Flynn pleading guilty to lying to the FBI in the special prosecutor's probe of Russian influence in the 2016 election and with new anger aimed at men who fondle and sexually harass women, one has to wonder whether President Trump's administration might truly be endangered.

Articles of impeachment have reportedly been discussed in the House of Representatives. Potential charges include obstruction of justice by firing FBI Director Comey in order to slow down or stop the Russia probe, false statements presented to the American public, either in interviews or tweets; racial, religious and ethnic discrimination in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and other legislation; and bringing disrepute upon the presidency by multiple alleged  incidents of sexual harassment of women.

Congress is far from an impeachment indictment, which is a rare event in the history of the Republic, and should be. However, the special prosecutor is gathering charges and testimony that could readily present an impeachment that easily could  match the seriousness of the charges against Richard Nixon and exceed the impeachment charges against Bill Clinton. Impeachment still seems unlikely, but it is not impossible, perhaps not even improbable.

The House of Representatives, which must vote to impeach the president, is standing solidly with the president on a string of controversial bills, regardless of public opinion. Passing an impeachment bill in the overwhelmingly Republican House has little chance as the Trump administration nears its first birthday. However, more indictments of top Trump aides and more details of cooperation with Russians in disrupting the 2016 election in Trump's favor could force all but the truest believers to vote to impeach.

The odds in a Senate trial, where Republicans have a 52-48 majority, might seem more hazardous for Trump, but the Senate is properly reluctant to remove an elected official from office, and a verdict of guilty to "high crimes and misdemeanors" seems unlikely.

Making the Senate's vote more difficult is the apparent willingness of die-hard Trump supporters of stick with their man regardless of what he says or does. This Trump base does not believe anything they read in the "mainstream media" — if they read anything at all from traditional news media — and blindly accept Trump's claim that any negative reporting about him is "fake news." They won't be moved, even if the House and Senate vote unanimously to impeach and remove the president from office, even if Vladimir Putin admits that he called the shots in Trump's election and helped him win.

This unyielding Trump base is believed to account for about 20 percent of voters, far from a majority but still a lot of angry people. It helps to remember that even after Richard Nixon resigned the presidency and was caught on tape trying to obstruct justice, millions of Americans continued to support him, bought his books and held him in highest esteem.

Impeaching Trump may be possible, but it is not likely without a landslide of new facts in the criminal probe. A better, more likely way of removing Trump will come in 2020. 

Facts and truth are at issue, not leaks

President Trump and his defenders, clobbered by news reports showing dishonesty and infighting in the White House and the firing of the president's national security advisor, are attempting to change the subject. To hear Trump tell it, the secret (and lied about) conversations between Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador, as well as other contacts between the Russians and the Trump campaign and transition teams, are nothing. What's important, Trump claims, is the fact that the actions he and his minions have been trying to cover up were leaked to the press and broadcast to the public.

What could be worse than a fully informed electorate? 

In a rambling press conference Thursday, Trump attacked the news media with his usual accusations of dishonesty and "fake" news. Nowhere did Trump explain or excuse the contacts with the Russians.

Trump defenders have claimed that Flynn's discussions with the Russian ambassador were not only legal but routine. If that's the case, why did Flynn find it necessary to lie to the vice president about his conversation? After Flynn was fired, the New York Times reported the discovery of frequent contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. Trump has branded those reports as "fake news" but has not addressed the issues involved.

Many Americans, and especially elected officials and foreign policy specialists, are uncomfortable with the Trump administration's cozying up to Vladimir Putin's Russia. To have Russian contacts shrouded in secrecy and lied about only raises the level of discomfort.

Soon enough, Trump will find that he can rant all he wants about the "dishonest media" and "fake news," but, as Ronald Reagan once said, "facts are stubborn things," and in a free marketplace of ideas, truth will eventually win.