Accountability for Trump - and for other economic and political elites

David Rothkopf raises important points about whether US Attorney General Merrick Garland has moved as aggressively as he needed to on the Trump criminal prosecutions. (1)

Looking for scandals is an often unsavory part of politics. But it is part of politics.

But we do have a situation that has developed since Gerald Ford’s blanket pardon of Richard Nixon that grew to the current point where Republicans shamelessly hype imaginary scandals against Democrats: Vince Foster! Hunter Biden! Obama’s birth certificate!

But on the “other side of the aisle,” Democrats are hesitant to hold economic or political elites legally responsible for serious crimes, from the Cheney-Bus torture scandal to the outrageous misconduct of so many corporate executives around the 2007-8 financial crisis. They are dangerous addicted, both politically and in the legal realm, with the duck-and-cover impulse (2):



Finally, with the prosecutions of Trump for insurrection-related and other crimes, the justice system is doing a lot of what it should be doing with these situations. Rothkopf pints to real concerns.

This Lawfare report looks at the recent Circuit Court decision rejecting the extreme Nixon-Trump attitude that the President is above the law:

This morning [Feb. 6], the D.C. Circuit finally handed down its decision—and the answer to all of these questions became immediately clear. The reason for the delay, it turned out, was that the ideologically diverse three-judge panel was writing a 57-page opinion that is thorough, comprehensive as to the several issues Trump had raised, and importantly, unanimous. The per curiam ruling holds, with no concurrences or dissents from any judge, that Trump, as a former president, is not shielded from criminal liability for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election. It holds that the separation of powers does not prevent the courts from examining presidential conduct under criminal law. And it holds that conviction in the impeachment process is not a prerequisite for criminal liability for a former president.

None of these holdings comes as much of  a surprise. Trump’s arguments were always a stretch, and anyone who listened to oral arguments in January could tell that the panel was highly skeptical. Still, the decision is a major blow to Trump’s efforts to gum up his D.C. trial with delays and legal complications. And, while the appeals court’s decision arrived less swiftly than commentators wished, its thoroughness and unanimity should discourage Supreme Court review—which may well end up fast-tracking the Jan. 6 case for trial.(3) [my emphasis]

Notes:

(1) David Rothkopf. X [Twitter] 02/09/2024. (Accessed: 2024-09-02).

(2) Duck and Cover: Bert the Turtle. Reading Through History YouTube channel 10/02/22012. (Accessed: 2024-09-02).

(2) Duck and Cover: Bert the Turtle. Reading Through History YouTube channel 10/02/22012. (Accessed: 2024-09-02).

(3) Anderson, Scott (2024): Not So Immune: The D.C. Circuit’s Forceful Rejection of Trump’s Claim of Absolute Presidential Immunity. Lawfare 02/06/2024. (Accessed: 2024-09-02).

This post is also available at: https://brucemillerca.substack.com/p/accountability-for-trump-and-for