Perhaps the wheels of justice move very slowly, but am I alone in being concerned by the length of time that has passed since Trump left office with NO federal criminal charges being filed against him for either his business dealings or any of the criminal acts he perpetrated during the time he was in office? Yes, we hear that his CFO Allen Weisselberg has been indicted, but that was for state, and not federal charges. Plus, that’s not Trump.
There’s no shortage of federal charges that could be brought and much of the evidence has already been seen and heard by the American public on television: multiple counts of obstruction of justice (Comey investigation), campaign finance violations, attempt to influence an election, incite insurrection…that’s just off the top of my head. There’s likely a bunch more I’m not recalling.
Yes, there are several investigations going on, but how long are these going to drag out? It seems to me there’s a benefit in moving with celerity while memories are still fresh and witnesses still available to testify. I feel that window could soon be closing. It’s understandable that prosecutors would want to have the best evidence available and have all their ducks in a row to ensure success before embarking on what would be a historic undertaking. But at the same time, the iron should be struck while it’s still hot and there’s a chance of avoiding more shenanigans before another election cycle comes along.
I’ve been wondering about this too. I remember when the talking heads on MSNBC were saying that Trump was desperate to stay in office because of all the legal and financial jeopardy he would face once he was out—pending lawsuits, Tish James in New York out for blood, possible bankruptcy now that Deusche Bank has dumped him, investigations into his election interference, maybe even federal charges.
None of that seems to be happening. Trump is enjoying his life of leisure at Mar-a-Lago without a care in the world, and Republicans are dutifully making pilgrimages there to kiss his ass. He’s holding rallies that the media eagerly covers. He lost his Twitter account, but it doesn’t matter since every stupid thing he says is reported as if it was earthshaking news. And when he announces that he’s running in 2024, everyone will go nuts and the media narrative will be that Trump has the election sewed up and Biden is doomed because Afghanistan and vaccine mandates.
I’ve been wondering about this as well. I asked Google “why is it taking so long to prosecute trump?” And I found this handy-dandy pending litigation tracker, last updated August 26, 2021. Maybe it will be of use to you. I bookmarked it:
It would be disingenuous at this point to claim prosecuting Trump for his crimes is not politically motivated. It would be, but that’s not a bad thing in this context. A message needs to be sent to the country that no one is above the law and even leaders must be held accountable for their actions. However, I gather Merrick Garland is between a rock and a hard place on this; on the one hand, following the flagrantly partisan Bill Barr, it’s absolutely essential the DOJ reestablish the institution as being independent of the Executive and partisan politics and prosecuting the likely next GOP front-runner in the next Presidential election would create at least the appearance of partisanship simply because of who the prosecution would be going after. On the other hand, the nature of many of the crimes committed were by definition partisan in nature (I order you to dig up or at least manufacture some dirt on my rivals, dammit). Turning the other cheek or a blind eye to the many egregious and unprecedented criminal acts permits a horrible precedent to be established. Failure to prosecute will all but guarantee others will follow suit with even more flagrant crimes.
In the balance I think Garland NEEDS to go forward with prosecution, damn the torpedoes. He WILL be accused of continuing Barr’s partisanship, but failure to hold those accountable holds much worse consequences for the country.
I think that litigation tracker could be turned into a 2022 wall calendar. A fundraiser for Democrats and the perfect stocking stuffer in the upcoming Christmas season.
Out of curiosity, what are the prosecutable charges against him? What crimes did he commit while in office?
I could see some civil liability over ‘Trump University’ and maybe one or two,of his other endeavours, but I’m having a hard time thinking of any criminal charges that could be brought against him. And charging him would rile up his base and give Trump a whole lot of new attention and risk turning him into a martyr.
The New York DA went through his business dealings with a fine toothed comb, and only managed to find a few smaller infractions from underlings, but nothing on Trump himself. I think they tried pretty hard. Trump has good lawyers and apparently knew how to keep himself at arms-length from his shadier dealings.
Did you read the link from post #5? It’s a very straightforward list of all the current cases, civil and criminal, including a short one sentence blurb of the charge and the defense.
No, it really wouldn’t be, because Trump has never actually had any politics.
As for “what charges?”, my favorite (not the worst or most egregious, but my favorite) was that stunt with the hurricane map and the sharpie. Misrepresentation of National Weather Service data is a felony. And before you go saying that that’s nitpicking and that it’s petty to prosecute for something silly like that, things like that can cause billions of dollars in damages.
I have it on good authority that the guy who marked up the NWS projection of Hurricane Dorian was his long-time publicist John Miller, who just happens to sound exactly like Trump.
No, you are not alone in being concerned about the failure to prosecute Trump!
I’m not sure it will ever happen, though.
Remember the high hopes we had for the Mueller investigation? For the two impeachments? (They didn’t even require the president to testify.)
Note that the rabble in the Capitol putsch attempt are all being systematically arrested, tried, and sentenced. Somehow, though, they can’t yet pin anything on the instigator.
For reasons I don’t understand, in the United States, justice for those at the top doesn’t work the way we believed or expected it would. That’s the takeaway from my unwanted four-year degree at Trump University.
I can’t believe that anyone has to ask “charges? what charges?” Extorting an allied country, demanding them to manufacture political dirt on a political rival else their already-approved defense appropriations would disappear certainly seems prosecutable in my book. To me, that’s the most serious charge as it had worldwide political and military implications. How the Senate could not convict on this count just goes to show how utterly corrupt the Republicans are. And then to attempt to topple the government itself, which led to the deaths of several people, surely that’s prosecutable. He even tried to have his own ass-kissing vice president murdered. Jesus. What more do you need? Of course, Hunter Biden owned a laptop. And… Hillary… something something emails… and Benghazi!
I am against the death penalty but I’m nearing supporting it in his case.
He did things which were impeachable. Which things did he do in office that were violations of criminal law, which a completely different standard? Can you name the statutes he violated?
Yeah, I just looked at it. Lots of cases against the Trump corporation, mostly seeking various forms of compensation.
What do you think the best, most likely case is among them for actually sending Trump to jail, or at least giving him criminal record with some punishment?