Biden's DOJ Must Determine Whether Trump Should Be Prosecuted

[left-of-center2012]

Joe Biden won the presidency promising to bring Americans together. But now his administration is sure to come under pressure from some Democrats to risk exacerbating divisions by investigating and prosecuting Donald Trump. It would be a turnabout of the “Lock him up!” chants regularly directed at Biden by Trump’s supporters at campaign rallies.

Although Biden has said that prosecuting a former president would be a “very unusual thing and probably not very good for democracy,” he also vowed in an NPR interview in August that he wouldn’t “interfere with the Justice Department’s judgment of whether or not they think they should pursue the prosecution of anyone that they think has violated the law.”

It’s a real question because on Jan. 20 Trump will lose the immunity from federal criminal indictment that sitting presidents are granted under Justice Department policy. Prosecutors could revive the investigation into campaign-finance violations that resulted in a three-year sentence for Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen and re-examine the instances of possible obstruction of justice that former Special Counsel Robert Mueller uncovered in his probe into Russia’s 2016 election interference.

Some Democrats argue that not pursuing a criminal investigation of Trump would amount to special treatment that no ordinary citizen would receive. “Either we are a nation of laws or we are not,” said Representative Gerald Connolly of Virginia. “And no one -- either a president or ex-president -- is above the law.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-09/biden-s-doj-must-determine-whether-trump-should-be-prosecuted?srnd=politics-vp

[C_U_L8R]

1. I'd let NYS have a crack at him first.

He's not going anywhere.

[still_one]

4. +++

[JI7]

2. He is going to pardon himself or have Pence do it . We need to look to the states

But that doesn't mean whatever he has done shouldn't be invesitgated and exposed .

[still_one]

5. exactly

[Eyeball_Kid]

3. I have an idea. I can determine whether to prosecute Trumpy-Boy, eh?

I'd like Biden to give me that decision to make. It would be a great honor to be the one who pulls the trigger on THAT decision.

[vlyons]

6. First there must be a FAIR and Thorough independent criminal investigation.

Pence may not pardon him, because he has his own troubles to worry about. It all depends on 1) who is the next AG, and 2) if the House launches its own criminal investigation. If Sally Yates were the next AG, would she appoint an independent criminal investigation?

[Gothmog]

7. Trump will pardon himself

[servermsh]

8. It's not up to Biden

This is bad framing. The DOJ will be independent again and make their own choice for Federal crimes.

And the states will handle state crimes separately.

But the media is trying to frame this as "Biden charges Trump with crimes".

[getagrip_already]

9. Pardon or no, we need a Truth commission to uncover and document the crimes...

So no repug who participated in them can ever claim innocence during a run for office.

It all needs to put down forever in documentation under pain of perjury or obstruction.

[2naSalit]

10. One major step for Biden is to...

Join the ICC and let them have the whole fucking crew. They are all guilty of several crimes against humanity and if our judicial system doesn't feel it can handle this, the ICC in The Hague most certainly can.

[ScratchCat]

11. Publicly available evidence

Would tend to indicate there is a sealed indictment in SDNY for the campaign finance charges Michael Cohen plead guilty to. If there isn't then, at minimum, its sitting there waiting on the signature. We know this because Donald Trump was referred to as "Individual 1" in Cohen's court documents. There are only two potential reasons his name was obscured: He was the target of a criminal investigation or 2)There is a sealed indictment. Those reasons are one in the same, with the only difference being whether the indictment was handed down already/sealed or whether its "99%" ready to go.

There's likely nothing else outside of ongoing financial crimes that he would be looking at.

[usajumpedtheshark]

12. To ignore the illegalities of the current administration will only encourage future administrations

to engage in similar behavior. There must be a consequence to oath and law breaking otherwise these oaths and laws are devoid of any real value.

The GOP's historical emphasis on law and order and personal responsibility should be used to strengthen the need for such investigations. The emphasis should be on the entire federal structure (executive, legislative, and judicial branches) and to determine whether laws were broken, punishment of the guilty, and formulation of meaningful deterrence to prevent future instances.

I also think it is critically important that meaningful and workable check and balances be established.