Re: Chauncey Devega's interview of Richard Painter regarding the DOJ's protecting of Trump
The interview appeared in this morning's Raw Story, republished from the original Salon article.
Painter said, in essence, that the DOJ is protecting Trump from prosecutions based on the notion that presidents, former and acting, cannot be subjected to the Rule of Law- for the principle reason that to do so would be a direct threat to the institution of the presidency. Presumably, that is why the DOJ is positioning itself to defend Trump in legal and civil proceedings, no matter how egregious his offenses.
Many of us are patiently waiting for AG Garland to exercise his job responsibilities AS WE SEE THEM. We've been reading of Trump's treasonous and felonious crimes for months and years. We are at times aghast that, month after month, Trump is still positioning himself to overthrow the Constitutional processes that preserve the peaceful transfer of power through free and fair elections. We sometimes feel assured that Biden's choice of AG, Merritt Garland, will fulfill his duties as AG by showing all of us that even a former president is subjected to the Rule of Law, and that the DOJ would LEAD efforts to bring him to justice.
Sure, I want to see it happen. It's common for anyone to adhere to a sense of justice and personal responsibility. We teach that to our kids. We tell them to behave and we insist upon it. But if they become president, they can abandon their values and murder, cheat, lie, and maim, and those who are subjected to a president's decisions and suffer get no recourse, no tort claim, no nothing. A "president" can destroy populations, bomb islands, commit genocide, and can sleep easy knowing that nothing will befall them. CHECKS AND BALANCES? Don't count on it.
There are still plenty of people in influential places who caution us and tell us to be patient, to wait for the wheels of justice to turn, and that the "new AG" Garland, will set the wheels of justice onto a relatively smooth road, and will prove that we can trust that the laws will be faithfully executed. But Garland, it appears, is choking. He will allow Trump to gain power once again. He will NOT intervene.
I'm writing this opinion as a warning of sorts. As a nation, our leaders make decisions. They make them by both their actions and by their inactions. The DOJ is making statements by doing both. By defending Trump's felonies, they are acting in defense of the indefensible. It's madness, but it's reality. And by turning away from directly prosecuting Trump's felonies, his treasonous behavior, his LEADING OF AN ATTEMPTED GOVERNMENT OVERTHROW THAT IS STILL ALIVE, the DOJ's inaction is also a comment on the dubious state of the nation.
It doesn't look good, folks.
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if charges are brought against him regarding the insurrection, but charges won’t be brought because the DOJ, in its discretion, will not ever charge a POTUS even though that POTUS committed a crime against the nation❗️
