Days before in-person jury selection is set to begin in his second trial, President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort is in talks with the special counsel’s office about a possible plea deal, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.The reason may be because Trump's lawyers have convinced him that pardoning Manafort, arguably in order to hinder the investigation of a criminal conspiracy involving Trump and/or his sons, would, in itself, be an impeachable offense.
When I asked if there was a particular action Trump could take as president that [Rep. Jerry] Nadler would definitely call impeachable, he relayed a scene from the 1788 convention where Virginia ratified the Constitution. In discussing the unlimited presidential-pardon power, he explained, one delegate asked what would happen if a president engaged in a criminal conspiracy and then pardoned his co-conspirators. Nadler said: “And James Madison answered: ‘Well, that could never happen, because a president who did that would be instantly impeached.’They could impeach Trump, but getting to a conviction in the Senate is another question. Nixon wasn't willing to run the table on that, but Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were and survived.
“They viewed the impeachment power as a limitation on the pardon power,” Nadler continued. “What that also means is if the president pardoned co-conspirators—if we concluded that he was in a conspiracy with various other people and the Russians to use foreign influence on the election, and in order to stop that investigation he issued pardons to his co-conspirators—well that, we are told, is impeachable.”
The difference between 1974 and 2019 would be that, to my mind, Republicans in 1974 had some care for the rule of law. Republicans, nowadays, only care about power. They'd suffer Trump sleeping with a teenager if it meant that, by so turning a blind eye, they'd keep their seats in the Senate.
(H/T)
Before you comment: Keep your "whataboutism" comments to yourself, please. I have no time for that shit.
The republicans of 2018 have very little similarity to the party of 1974. The only way this current gang would vote to convict is if they thought that they would go down if they didn't. There is no honor among thieves. Once worked in a prison and one of the first things learned is that thieves first thoughts are of self preservation.
ReplyDeleteI'm not entirely convinced that Shithole couldn't start with pardons... for Federal offenses, anyway. There would be outrage on news shows. There would be news shows comparing Shithole crimes to something some obscure Dem did once. Polls would shift a tiny bit, but not meaningfully. Every last undecided would say, "Both sides! Amirite?" And America's situation would not improve.
ReplyDeleteShithole could announce he was going to nuke California and release all the plagues in the CDC to kill all the survivors... and there would be outrage on news shows. There would be news shows comparing Shithole crimes to something some obscure Dem did once. Polls would shift a tiny bit, but not meaningfully. Every last undecided would say, "Both sides! Amirite?" And America's situation would not improve.
Nang, gees, you sound like my worst moments of despair of the American electorate.
ReplyDelete"Eat a teenager"....FFS the Republicans could watch him blow a mule and then eat a boiled fucking baby on live TV and still attempt to rationalize it. They're grifters and stooges for billionaires who peddle hate to stay in power.
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