There will be calls on the left for Mueller to be tarred and feathered when his report comes out, no treason, no collusion and just a couple of jerks lying about stupid things they should have just admitted. The criminal acts unrelated to the Trump campaign have or are already being prosecuted.
5
"King Chaos," David?
I heard he preferred 'the Lyin' King.'
That's just what I heard.
10
The investigations of Trump are skirmishes in a war he is certain to win. There is zero chance the Republican Senate will remove him from office for high crimes and misdemeanors or override a veto to stop his border national emergency. Trump emotionally over-reacts to the investigations, and lacks a strategy for becoming an autocrat, leaving the impression he’s losing. No; he has an instinct for power, and wields his 89% support of Republican voters like a warclub. If the Supreme Court validates his national emergency he will use it again, possibly against his enemies. If the Court, as Justice Thomas wants, reverses NY Times v. Sullivan to allow Trump to sue media commentators for libel, he will gain the power of intimidation.
16
Not enough people were punished for the 2008 financial debacle. A lot of them are still around, and Wall Street is as nasty as ever
That was and still the great complaint regarding that era.
So, why wasn't more done?
Praise for Khuzami rings a little hollow. And, oh yes, that issue of Deutsche Bank.
17
If Trump did not fire Preet Baharra, I'm sure Trump would be in jail by now.
12
Echo chamber echo echo echo echo
5
I admit, I used to detest the whole legal establishment. But I’ve changed my mind, as I’ve watched them stand up to the gangster family in the White House. I am now very grateful that it’s the Judiciary that is saving this country.
13
Khashoggi was never a journalist in his life, even the NYT shifted that to match the WaPo own website that listed him as columnist. None the less, he was brutally murdered by the Saudis. The United States along with a bunch European countries officially tut tutted his murder and kept right on doing business with the Saudi's. Hanging it Trump allone is bad faith in your part.
2
I would like to share this story about the transformative power of the law:
It was told to me by one of my law professors.
As law professors go, he probably was not particularly distinguished.
But I will never forget his story, as follows:
He served in the Korean War.
He told us that he was under enemy fire, and dived into a fox hole.
There was another service-man present.
They were both terrified and got to talking to calm their nerves.
They discovered they were both New York lawyers.
They started reciting their favorite lines from the decisions of Benjamin Cardozo, one of New York's greatest state court judges, who was elevated to the United States Supreme Court by FDR.
Chestnuts like:
Danger invites rescue. ... The wrongdoer may not have foreseen the coming of a deliverer. He is accountable as if he had.
Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom.
The criminal is to go free because the constable has blundered.
That's when I realized the law is a religion.
It has often been said, "There are no atheists in foxholes."
Well, if a couple of New York lawyers are being sustained by the soaring language of Justice Cardozo's opinions, that qualifies as a religion, in my book.
6
Woah David! My Jewish step-mother used to say, don't try to put fledgling birds to your bosom. In Yiddish it really sounds terrific. In colloquial English it's don't count your chickens until they hatch.
I'm not saying your prosecutor isn't what you say, a superhero of moral rectitude with an Vibranium spine but...these corporate lawyer types have an interesting history or exacting fines but putting no one in jail. Take Eric Holder. He is and was a partner in Covington and Burling. As Asst Atty General under Clinton he invented the rule that bears his name. Fine the offending company and offer deferred prosecution.
Judge Richard Posner called this what I think it was. Go thou and sin some more.
OK. Maybe this time it's different, different guys, different city, different white shoe law firm. But pardon me if I don't match your victory strut, David. I'm not holding my breath,either.
19
Our institutions are holding because the country's founders did a pretty amazing job of designing real checks and balances. The idiot in the WH is testing our democracy's strength each and every day in many ways, and for the most part it is holding together. This latest attempt to usurp congressional power over spending via the emergency declaration is imo the most dangerous example. It will be fought in congress and it's too bad there aren't more repubs with the guts to stand for their branch of government to override what will be a certain veto. That's a very tall order I guess. But this ends up in the courts, and likely DT loses there...if he's still in office by that time. I am not a democrat either, but I am very concerned about the ongoing pressures on our system of government.
5
Taking nothing away from those named in this piece, they represent only a tiny fraction of the Justice Department -- and DOJ is only a part of the legal system.
It would be of greater comfort to me if I knew that all U.S. attorneys, and all their offices, were similarly dedicated to the rule of law over the rule of Trump. Unfortunately, the disgraceful behavior of Alexander Acosta reminds us that there are bad apples along with the good, and the example of our amoral president encourages the stinkers to indulge their worst impulses.
I fear we'll only learn the extent of any damage Trump has inflicted on the judiciary, the other major component of the legal system, after he's no longer president. We'll just have to hope we have no judges as indifferent to law and as fond of power as Joe Arpaio.
Cheer on the ones who should be cheered, yes -- but don't assume the institutions are rot-free.
8
Where I come from we have a saying, "Praise the virgin in the morning." I withhold my adulation for Mr. Khuzami.
4
Thanks again to David Brooks for recognizing the integrity and professionalism of the people who work in government. Contrary to Trump's contention that everyone in government is political, venal, lazy, or stupid, those who work as civil servants are more often smart, conscientious, public spirited, and hard working. Thanks for recognizing this and saying so.
4
one reason trump has not turned the US into another ill-liberal democracy like Hungary is that the constitution is very difficult to amend. had it been more easily changed there is no doubt that we would be well on our way to the status of a banana republic.
5
"If we get through this." David Brooks 2/22/19
Trump as president makes me feel as if a drunken man has taken the wheel from my car and is petal to the metal down winding, narrow, hilly roads on a foggy night.
I hope we get through tis too.
13
I don't see people going to jail after these legal actions. A small fine and a slap on the wrist is all they get. Its the "cost of doing business" for the miscreant entities and people who hide behind them. These legal actions make great work for lawyers but in the end no one is held accountable and nothing changes. On the other hand, little people who act for the common good, people such as Chelsea Manning (who revealed the kiliing of journalists by the US army) get put into prison. And people Aaron Swartz (who downloaded JSTOR journal articles which JSTOR did not create nor pay for) was hounded by prosecutorial over-reach and ended up taking his life.
6
Trump Bashing seems to be almost as popular as claims
of FauxAttacks by FauxVictims.
The suggestion acts of courage by individual lawyers are needed to save democracy sadly demonstrates just how battered democratic instinct is in America these days. It's not We the Lawyers. As inspiring as noblesse oblige can be, it's a sop. Take democracy.
8
"Others argue that since he’s been through the revolving door between the elite firms and big government, he’s actually been soft on Wall Street bigs, charging them penalties but not actually holding them responsible. The critics may have a point. But..."
Doesn't "having a point" mean "It's true"? If not what??
But IF TRUE, there can be no redeeming "But..." Let alone
"if we get through this, it will be because of people like him."
Rather. IF TRUE, if we get through this, it will be despite people like him. And you too.
Let's hope his critics don't get it right.
6
The question of the Trump era has always been, are there decent and honest Republicans in elected office. We know that ~90% of self identified Republicans don't know right from wrong and are essentially unAmerican. Complete legislative support from Republicans drives home that there are zero good ones out there. This is what we've learned.
12
All of these people, including AG Barr are going to have to figure out what side of history they are going to come down on. Seriously , for the life of me I can't understand why anyone would side with Trump. Let's follow this through, once the Trump wing is out of there, it opens the Republican party back up to sane people once again.Those who where actually patriotic and did the right thing during this time could actually been seen as heroes. We are living in bizarro world that this is being allowed to happen... Thank goodness for the Americans like in this story who are actually looking out for the country and the people in it.
9
I disagree. The Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United was the root cause of a lot of our problems.
15
Trump's early and (typically) crude attempt to cow the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (USASDNY), by firing Preet Bharara for no other reason than because he could, has blown up in his face.
The USASDNYC is emerging as a greater threat than Mueller & Co. to Trump, his presidency, and those around him. Trump's legal nightmares are further compounded by close working relationships between Mueller's team, USASDNY and New York state prosecutors, who can pursue charges not eligible for presidential pardon.
16
Two cheers, David Brooks. When I hear of the Federalist Society condemning the court packing systematically being carried out in the Senate, not to mention Trump's almost daily assault on judges and newspapers, then I shall be more sanguine that our legal profession is really up to its task.
13
I agree, Mr. Brooks, the institutions, and the people in them, are holding firm. (With the exception of certain invertebrates in Congress.) And thank heaven for the professionalism, patriotism and character of the people you mention and the untold number of others.
But why, I wonder, should it be noted that these investigations are being led by Republicans? Isn't it possible that you are unwittingly playing into the tribalism that divides us; that plagues us? Isn't the fact that they are Americans (the children of immigrants) who love and respect the Constitution and the exceptional ideas that define and unite us the only thing that should be noted? That we are one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all? I would suggest that's the one and only thing that should be noted.
9
"... if we get through this, it will be because of people like them." (i.e., your somewhat arbitrarily chosen example, Robert Khuzami)."
Spot on Mr. Brooks. And people like them - contrary to what many believe (and are encouraged to believe) - are widespread in many levels of government. These are people who are in it for the mission, not the fame, the headlines, or the money. Michael Lewis in his recent best seller, "The Fifth Risk", gives further examples of largely unsung, but absolutely critical, people. We owe them so much.
4
My friends on the left are, at this point, grateful for the work of the SDNY and Robert Mueller and his associates. If Mueller's report shows Trump and his people to be morally bankrupt but not necessarily guilty of conspiring with Putin's people, that would be OK by me.
You see I don't want Trump to be impeached. By the time Mueller's final report comes in I expect Trump will be a political corpse and the GOP will be chained to him for a year and a half or so. That should be enough time for the stench of his decay to taint his party for a generation or more.
A GOP tainted near to death should buy the time needed for Democrats and other real Americans to repair our democracy, restore the rule of law and enact the kind of measures needed to make right our tax code, improve our infrastructure, establish real universal health care and mount an effective effort to begin reducing the carbon emissions that threaten our planet.
21
The basic thrust of the story is that the Trump transition team - in particular that portion that was involved in the "inauguration extravaganza" - engaged in acts that have surrounded all such efforts for newly-elected incoming administrations. These prosecutors, I suspect - but of course cannot prove - would turn a blind eye to such alleged abuses if conducted by, say, members of the incoming Obama Administration. No one even thought to investigate that operation.
1
This article seems to be echoed by events in North Carolina. There John Harris, the son of the Republican candidate and a Justice Department lawyer, chose to behave openly and honorably regarding evidence in that case, when he might have simply provided additional cover for sketchy behavior by some in the Mark Harris' campaign. I truly hope candidate Harris is able to see past the personal cost to his standing, be proud of his son's behavior, and maybe be a better person himself for it. After all, in the end even the candidate was forced to agree that a new election is required.
7
One would hope, especially since Mark Harris is a Christian pastor.
It is not only lawyers. It is career public servants who have put their country first, often jeopardizing their careers. These honorable people are in the State Department, the Defense Department, EPS, Interior, FEMA and many federal agencies. They are the true unsung heroes.
16
"These investigations are being led, it should be noted, by Republicans." Why should it be noted? They are Americans with a deep sense of what is America, like Democrats, independents, libertarians and all the other flavors of Americans, people who were born here, emigrated here and were granted citizenship and people who aspire to become citizens. These investigations are about what is legitimate, and not, in America. What we can expect of our American leader or not. Why are these investigations necessarily partisan?
7
Everyone, be careful out there. The Russians and their useful idiots are seeking to divide Americans again, as they did in 2016:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TopMindsOfReddit/comments/abunrb/be_careful_ladies_and_gentlemen_4chan_has/
We are the first line of defense - the lawyers wouldn't have to take on such a harrowing task if not for our collective foolishness. Keep your eyes open wide. Battle the propaganda by persuading your friends and family (especially in swing states!) that Trump must be vanquished, no matter what.
We must stick together and support the Democratic candidate - ANY Democratic candidate - because the republicans have proven themselves to be traitors, unworthy of anything but contempt.
These lawyers are the LAST line of defense. WE are the first line. Remember that. Fight the traitors. Use the political process to force them to their day of reckoning.
9
I would also add that your newspaper has been an unwavering and indefatigable check against the president's relentless attempts to confuse, mislead, and manipulate public opinion in his favor. Thank God for the "failing New York Times", and shame on the once merely conservative media outlets that have cravenly given cover for Trump's lies time and time again.
I still find this article by David From to be one of the most prescient (and, unfortunately, accurate) of our deranged political era:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/03/how-to-build-an-autocracy/513872/
But, I would like to say once again, the NYT has given me and many others great comfort in a time when so many of our system's checks and balances have bent so easily.
16
People all too frequently take the Shakespearean snippet "Let's kill all the lawyers" out of context and turn it into a slur on all attorneys -- which is the exact opposite of what Shakespeare meant.
"The full quote, 'The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers,' was stated by Dick the Butcher in 'Henry VI,' Part II, act IV, Scene II, Line 73. Dick the Butcher was a follower of the rebel Jack Cade, who thought that if he disturbed law and order, he could become king. Shakespeare meant it as a compliment to attorneys and judges who instill justice in society."
https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/17/nyregion/l-kill-the-lawyers-a-line-misinterpreted-599990.html
As noted by Mr. Brooks, there are a still such members of the legal profession today, for which I am thankful.
7
Well it's good to see that David Brooks is finally acknowledging an actual "there, there" with the investigations into Trump, after dismissing this as a whole lot of nothing throughout the first two years of the presidency. Better late than never, I suppose, Mr. Brooks, although your tardiness hardly burnishes your credentials as a hard-hitting journalist with a nose for a good story. But at least maybe you're beginning to recognize that the threat Trump poses to democracy is a more urgent matter than the loss of community or shared sense of culture or whatever it is that you have been clanging the alarm bells about. And who knows? Maybe one of these days, you'll even acknowledge climate change as a pressing issue. But I won't hold my breath...
4
Nothing against them, but it seems premature to evaluate the work product of Messrs. Khuzami and Mueller before that work product becomes more publicly known.
One notable omission from this piece is discussion of Andrew Weissman, who is one of Mueller's lead deputy lawyers. After losing 9-0 at the Supreme Court in the Arthur Anderson case -- too late for Arthur Anderson; going after Mr. Fastow's wife in the Enron case; and commonly pushing the envelope; not everyone thinks of him in glowing terms. https://observer.com/2015/01/in-andrew-weissmann-the-doj-makes-a-stunningly-bad-choice-for-crucial-role/ The Times itself described Weissman as a "legal pit bull," which doesn't exactly indicate balance.
Some other lawyers in the mix are James Comey, Rod Rosenstein, and Lisa Page. Jury's out on their roles at this point, but it doesn't look particularly promising. Likewise in those cases, it might be wise to await the report of U.S. Attorney John Huber.
As in any profession, there's a mix of characters.
2
David’s view of the law as a profession and my view are very very different. From personal experience and general knowledge I see law as practiced in USA as morally relativistic, and ethically compromised. In order of importance: 1) winning, at any cost. Prosecutors will threaten and harass witnesses unmercifully, criminal lawyers same , plus plus .Tort lawyers encourage clients to lie. Did I say encourage, they demand it 2) money: outrageous billing, performing unnecessary work. 3) power: sleazy deals with politicians and each other. In law school they are taught that their aim is not justice but to represent their client. That is, for an American lawyer justice is not the goal.
I believe Mr. Brooks is blinded by his dislike and contempt of Pres Trump ( which I personally share), so he elevated the lawyers as heroes who also hold Trump in contempt.
7
Hear, hear! And can we add to these heroes "courage in the face of intimidation from the powerful" and "commitment to principles of truth, fairness, and justice"? David Brooks, you hit the nail on the head again. Thank you!
1
I am hoping that Trump will be impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate. For that to happen, many Republican senators will have to become less partisan and vote for the good of the country.
I haven't seen the charges that Mueller might bring yet. My belief that Trump should be removed from office stems from his incompetence in foreign policy and his disregard of norms that should govern presidential behavior.
A red line for me is Trump's failure to condemn the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
It is not yet clear whether Trump offered a quid pro quo to Putin for attempting to influence the presidential election. It is clear that Putin would have attempted to alter the election with or without Trump's help. But at the very least, Trump has been played by Putin, who has used unwillingness to criticize him to strengthen his claim of territory in the Ukraine, to undercut NATO, gain power in the Middle East, and pull out of a nonproliferation treaty on nuclear weapons.
These disasters will take a long time to undo. We cannot afford to let Trump finish his term.
Trump's mistakes go beyond the usual partisan issues and undercut America's prestige and security in a world filled with autocrats, who can easily take advantage of a president who is hopelessly naive on foreign policy, and most importantly, doesn't realize the huge gaps in his own knowledge.
12
The legal system may withstand Trump’s onslaught, but it’s not doing so well against the Republican Party’s.
8
What does it say about the Republican party when you have to draw attention to the fact there are a few remaining Republicans that act with integrity and honor?
Its like spotting a rare almost extinct bird.
23
Read this column this morning It sits
well. We will get past this national embarrassment
Whether the GOP survives is a whole
‘nother question
I bet not anywhere close to its’ present form
7
I have no admiration at all for those prosecutors who seek to embellish their resume by getting big fines from banks and corporations, which are actually passed on to customers and shareholders to pay while refusing to prosecute criminally the actual fraudulent executives who committed real, serious crimes which damage society far more than some petty robber or drug dealer. They, at best, lack the guts to bring a real criminal case and prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, and at worst are simply engaged in a self-serving sham to protect these high flying criminals from accountability.
Unless the prison doors clang behind these high flying criminals we are encouraging more and worse crime and telling them that we will protect them with sham prosecutions in return for plum jobs at a later time as a form of legalized bribery. It is a frank admission that we really do have a two tier justice system.
The clear moral is “Never steal anything small. “
6
Mr Brooks, what the R party gives with the left hand, it takes away with the right hand. For example, in Washington State the vast majority of the States said they would refuse to enforce the law enacted recently by public referendum. The subject of the ballot initiative: gun control registration over semiautomatic weapons. Sheriff’s flouting the law and telling the voting public essentially they are above the law. Trump may not have started this “ I am not going to follow the law “ mentality but he’s its leader now. We may have 1 good Republican prosecutor in NYC( and a great one in Washington DC office of special prosecutor) but to paraphrase the Sheriff in the movie Jaws, “I think we’re going to need a bigger boat.”
3
Great, Brooks. Draw attention to Khuzami. What are the odds now that Trump will target him for harassment and dismissal?
All these wonderful prosecutors will unfortunately be up against a lot more "Trump judges" (many labeled "unqualified" by the bar association), who won't give a hoot about the airtight cases they can bring.
7
Functionalism as a sociological theory has been démodé for quite some time. “Institutionalized” usually is not used as a positive modifier.
1
David never fails to spark interest and then shut to door on a hope for real justice. His idol to day a tough hard nosed lawyer willing to do the hard work, chase down the miscreant catch him prosecute, convict them and then I assume because it's White Collar crime let them off easy. Tut tut It's just the way we do it in the Northeast Old Man.
2
My mantra for a while now has been: "Thank God for the deep state."
2
He is from Kirkland & Ellis. He was general counsel to Deutsch Bank, I think Trump is feeling pretty safe. He has it all sewn up. Which lawyers did not break according to David Brooks?
1
Brooks is great when preaching to the choir about, well...nice things. Cooperation, collaboration, and weaving. This column, not so much.
First, let's go to the weird core of the media's romance with the FBI and steely-eyed prosecutors. It's the old Latin phrase (which I will helpfully translate): "Who guards the guardians?" Let's just stipulate, as they say in legal circles, that this has been a problem throughout human history. Just check with Roman emperors whacked by the Praetorian Guard.
Then let's consider the irony of the punditocracy's shock! horror! that Trump likes to goad the mouth-breathers with chants of "lock her up!" Let's also stipulate that it ain't Hillary who faces the real prospect of hearing the cell-door slam.
Let's also stipulate that Trump is an incompetent buffoon (ignoring that he was primarily a product of New York media); but the various "investigations" seem torn from the Putin-Playbook: find some small chunk of illegality (no matter how technical) and then destroy your opponent. If they can't pay their legal bills--tough!
A last stipulation: our lionized guardians will not go quietly into the night when this legal shambles concludes (not that it ever will). Guardians must, at all costs, guard. A prosecutor without a defendant? Unthinkable!
Two years in and the author finally points out Trump and the GOP for transgressions without saying "what about" dems, liberal society, etc., blaming their "loose" morals or whatever else for the failings of the GOP and Trump.
God is that you....I must have died.
4
"a shambolic grabfest in which people with money tried to turn it into power and people who suddenly had power tried to turn it into money."
Mr. Brooks, you wax eloquent...
1
Knowing Brooks, I knew before reading this piece that it was going to extol Republicans in an effort for Brooks to feel better about his bedfellows or himself.
4
TL/DR-
Governments are people, and they work.
It is funny, David Brooks, that institutions that are screwed the most are those elected by American voter, Congress is chief among those. Unelected government officials are actually holding up pretty well. Thank God!
What this suggests is that it is the American voter that is dragging this country to the ditch. Much less political federal administration, that consits of career professionals selected on merits, is pretty much a positive part of our government and keeps the ship afloat. However, give Trump another 4 years and he will replace them with incompetent and loyal puppets.
American conservative voter is at the core of our problems. The outsized influence of right wing propagandists, such as Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin, Coulter, etc, is an important factor in mainaining anger and hatred. Although conservatives have plenty of economic grievances, they vote on ideological lines where abortion, guns and white nationalism is the most important things our country should be build around. If this continues we will be slowly sliding into oblivion, with a serious threat that sometime in the near future, an autocratic president will use nuclear arsenal to preserve global supremacy. Hey, what do we have all these nukes for?
4
I think your judgement is premature. We have yet to see the Mueller report and what it contains. In fact the public may never see the report. We don't even know if, or to what extent, the investigation may already have been sidelined by the Justice Department headed first by Whitiker and now by Barr. All we know comes from the existing indictments. We don't know, we may never know, what indictments Mueller requested and the Justice Department declined to support.
2
Congressional Republicans are not "supine." They are criminal coconspirators.
They all took NRA money that originated in Russia, and the RNC Finance Chairman was...Michael Cohen. He was, among other things, the conduit to Russian oligarchs.
They also made the decision to go in on obstruction of justice thinking there was no way that Democrats could breach their wall erected in the "Great Gerrymander" of 2010.
Now they are stuck. They cannot do the right thing, because standing for American means sending themselves to prison.
21
Though some institutions are more structurally resilient than others, in the end they are only as strong as the men and women who staff them. It is in times of political, social, emotional, and moral stress, that you learn what you and others are really made of.
People in positions of authority with any strength of character can make a meaningful, principled statement by publicly resigning, as Elliott Richardson and William Ruckelshaus did when President Nixon directed them to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. While the Republicans of today, unlike a significant number back then, have no principled existence apart from pleasing the President, such actions would nonetheless have significance to important elements of our society, especially within the business community which, above all, craves stability.
That aside, we should remember the vast majority of the opposition to the Viet Nam War, especially when Nixon was President, did not predicate itself on electoral politics at all or even on appointed officials or the civil service. To the contrary, most of the opposition took place in the streets and was predicated on the belief that not allowing America to conduct business as usual was the only way to create the pressure, including on elected officials, to make needed change.
That opposition did not hit the internet, it hit the pavement. We will see whether today's younger generation is willing to do the same, willing to make personal sacrifices for the common good.
10
I find it amusing that you would point out that the SDNY investigations are being done by Republicans. Mr Brooks should we give these wonderful Republicans a cookie for their exemplary work? Is this what the Republicans have become. A party in desperate need of congratulatory high fives because they are doing the right and lawful thing. What a sad state of affairs your party has become and the need you express to point out such triviality as if it is so honorable.
10
Mueller and SNY District might be contributing to a more lucid Supreme Court during Trump's presidency.
2
i saw a question in Quora that really hit home for me.
Question: "Why do New Yorkers hate Donald Trump so much?"
Answer: "Because they know him better than anyone else."
25
@Southern Hope And perhaps (having lived in Brooklyn for more than a decade) New Yorkers have a moral compass that approx. 40% of the nation's folks do not have.
1
I hope that Brooks is being prescient rather than preemptive. We do not yet know that the legal institutions and rule of law have withstood the kleptocracy and dishonesty of Trump, his family and his team when we see indictments and convictions. So far there are plenty of examples of GOP lawyers including Sessions, Whittaker, and members of the House and Senate who have furthered Trump's aims and covered for him. We have not have an iconic moment like that in the '50s in the Army/McCarthy hearings where Senator Welch asked, "Have you no decency, sir?"
Trump has no decency. Aside from the policies that have dissed allies and sucked up to Putin and other despots, and separated families, we have speeches and tweets voice racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, allowing these to be voiced the open with impunity by his supporters. The Trumps have enriched themselves unethically in government and have no business being there (nepotism). Trump has not divested himself financially as normally required and gotten away with it. He imagines himself a king able to rule by fiat.
Any questioning is labelled a witch hunt.
How much more will he and those close to him get away with? Will the rule of law and the Constitution prevail?
11
I look forward to when the Trump supporters realize they have been hoodwinked, they are a formidable force to be reckoned and will be the heroes of a nation, if not the world.
1
@Diana Jean
None of the fair amount of Trump supporters that I know seem like they will be swayed by any amount of evidence that their man has done wrong. This is America now, with each side an unmovable mountain. It appears that most of us live by the code of denial.
2
That’s only going to happen when the aggrandizing propagandists on Fox break the news to them.
But they’re far more likely to paint this as a deep state conspiracy against a martyr.
1
Where was the "law" when Purdue reaped billions by knowingly hiding the fact its drug (oxycontin) was twice as addictive as morphine? And caused the deaths of thousands of Americans.
Where was the "law" when the Wall Street crooks conspired with the ratings agencies like Moodys and S&P to sell junk derivatives as AAAA rated gold standard investments? And destroyed the economy.
Yes, it is good the "law" showed up (this time) to fight Trump, but if you want to understand why the anger among ordinary Americans spilled over to the extent they voted for Trump as President, just see the first two examples above.
The "law" can't pick and chose which fights it will wage.
Throw wealthy crooks in jail where they belong. Restore justice to this country. Tax the remaining wealthy crooks who don't go to jail. Then we can get on with the job of fixing the mess these criminals have made.
10
What about the Supreme Court, appointed by a President who is already judged by a majority of Americans, and who might eventually be judged in a court of law, as an illegitimate president? Trump, who did not receive a majority of the vote in 2016, has thus far turned the Court to the right by appointing two Justices, whom I submit are illegitimate by the taint of the nature of their appointment. No matter whether prosecutors and lesser judges Brooks is talking about have withstood the rotting influence of a sick and mindless president, unless some extraordinary corrective actions are taken to remove from power these Supreme Court Justices, we as a Nation will not have withstood the corrupting influence is the rotten Administration and supine Senate.
10
david's comments abt borough rivalries and their influence is mostly absurd
2
Mr. Brooks, you may not be a lawyer, but I am glad you like us.
2
"These investigations are being led, it should be noted, by Republicans."
So now, after the Republican party has turned our system into a laughingstock before the world, now that they have morphed into a crime syndicate primarily devoted to the support and protection of the crime family occupying the White House, Mr. Brooks, one of their most stalwart supporters through the years, wants to sing their praises. That's rich!
5
I think Brooks’ comment is fair and a good reminder to many commenters here that tend to paint all Republicans with the same brush. There are far too many in the party leadership who are corrupt or supine, but lots of folks outside of the various capitals who are not. And, I can argue, Republicans could not have elected Trump without the help of many millions of Democrats...
1
“If we get through this [the debacle of the Trump presidency], it will be because of people like him [government employees].
Wait! You mean the federal workers are GOOD?? The GOP railing against the evil government was all just a ploy and a distraction??? Oh, the humanity!!
5
My goodness!!!
A Republican is shocked,shocked to know that good work is being done by GOVERNMENT employees!!!
4
The only reason I ever take the time to read a David Brooks' opinion is to see just how twisted his reasoning has become to support the current Republican establishment. Here he is praising US Attorneys for doing their job. Not for heroic or stellar performances, but for not allowing political influences to slant their investigations. So we ignore that the real problem that the White House, President, President's lawyers, and their ilk, have attempted to influence potential criminal investigations.
No Brooks just works his way down the list of Republicans to find some that are actually doing their job and not breaking the law. Now he can still praise Republican's and not speak ill of the criminal activities of the Republicans above this level.
Brooks just twist the circumstances to a level where he can continue his mantra of Republicans good and right, all others are bad and wrong. Brooks is a broken record with a continuing theme. His "twists" are the only thing interesting about his commentary.
3
These hardworking professionals are derided as the "deep state" by Trump's enablers.
7
The French say "Plus ca change, c'est le meme chose. (The more things change, the more they remain the same.) The same can often (most often) be said about people and especially about op-ed columnists. (Unfortunately op-ed columnists don't have term limits.) The unquenchable thirst to mitigate Republican malfeasance has, perhaps inadvertently, led Mr. Brooks, an old guard Buckleyite, to slip this whopper into an otherwise reasonable op-ed."Many Republicans (in Congress)have been supine while Herr Trump... has shredded the rule of basic democratic behavior. Not most, not the overwhelming majority, just many . Many, an indefinite and somewhat vague expression of magnitude. (Many numbers are less than ten and many are more than ten.) There is always a "on the one hand and on the other hand" approach by Brooks, even when the other " hand" has has hardly won a trick in the game of politics during the last 60 years.
3
Well, at least Mr. Brooks is addressing issues that exist in the real world. I was so excited! I thought this would be an essay about the power of institutional (as opposed to individual) integrity; of how ideals and the institutions that embody them should guide us not the merits (or demerits) of one person (so important in the age of the Trump Cult). Sadly, Mr. Brooks, once again- asserts that it is talented individuals w/moral integrity, not collective action, that will save us from Trump.
Madison envisioned a Legislative Branch would protect and serve the institutions they represent. All too quickly, loyalty to party became the primary motivation instead. Although both parties are guilty I WILL NOT engage in FALSE EQUIVALENCY; The Republican Party has become a radical reactionary party focused only on Republican primacy at the expense of conservative values.
You began by calling out your party (kudos to you) and asking why our institutions are able to stand up to Trump. The answer is not that there are exceptional people in (in this case) the SDNY (though there are), the reason is INSTITUTIONAL LOYALTY. These men and women have sworn to uphold the law. The fact that they are should be expected, not applauded.
You had an opportunity to talk about something lasting and meaningful; about the power of American institutions. Instead, you slid back into the rut you can't seem to get out of: focusing on individuals and avoiding tough truths.
4
This may sound truly inconsequential in light of the very serious events happening on the world stage. But.........
why are Mr. Khuzami's parents described as "bohemian" because they enjoyed ballroom dancing?
I have enjoyed ballroom dancing for 35 years. Ballroom dancing is marvelous physical activity. It sharpens one's mental abilities and it certainly is a social activity. If that makes me "bohemian," I fully embrace the definition. I am 80 years old and going strong.
4
@Clare -- Rush Limbaugh's mother gave an interview about him failing out of Southern Missouri State College where "he failed everything, he even got an F in ballroom dancing."
1
Though some institutions are more structurally resilient than others, in the end they are only as strong as the men and women who staff them. It is in times of political, social, emotional, and moral stress, that you learn what you and others are really made of.
That leads to another possibility we should consider. People in positions of authority with the strength of character to match can make a principled, public resignation, as Elliott Richardson and William Ruckelshaus did when President Nixon directed them to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. While the Republicans of today, unlike a significant number back then, have no principled existence apart from pleasing the President, such actions would nonetheless have significance to important elements of our society, especially within the business community which, above all, craves stability.
The vast majority of the opposition to the Viet Nam War, especially when Nixon was President, did not predicate itself on electoral politics at all or even appointed officials or the civil service. To the contrary, most of the opposition took place in the streets and was predicated on the belief that not allowing America to conduct business as usual was the only way to create the pressure, including on elected officials, to make needed change.
Yes, that opposition did not hit the internet, it hit the pavement. It will be interesting (to put it politely) to see whether today's younger generation is willing to do the same.
3
In bad times it's important to acknowledge what is going right.
I have been impressed with some people who I thoroughly disagree with, but have shown themselves to be people of honesty and integrity. I disagree with most of Jeff Sessions policy, but you couldn't find anyone who stood up to tremendous pressure from his "peers and friends" any better. He believes in rule of law.
Acknowledging what is going right gives encouragement to those who feel they are fighting a losing battle. It emboldens those who are wavering, questioning whether they should go along and prosper or hold firm and suffer.
It has been disheartening to see the Republican Congress cave in on the most fundamental constitutional issues. However, they serve their Republican constituents who overwhelmingly support Trump. Most of the vigorous investigators of Trump wrong doing are Republican, or former Republican appointees.
Thank you David, from a liberal Democrat, for giving credit to the Republicans who are fighting for the continuance of our civil, rule of law society.
3
As Ed, J, and Jay have noted, the quality of the judiciary is key. The most talented of lawyers can only do so much when up against second-rate judges. I say "second-rate" because even those judges who were at the top of their law school classes, and even those clerked for Scalia or Thomas, amount to second-rate when they bring ideologies to the bench and allow their ideologies to pre-determine their decisions. Lest anyone think that it's "all the same," i.e. "liberal" judges rule one way and "conservative" judges rule another, there are still plenty of judges whose decisions give no hint about whether they are enrolled as Republicans, Democrats, or un-enrolled (independents). Alas, the G.O.P. and Trump are working hard to eliminate that lack of bias.
4
The GOP is -- has been -- an invading force attacking America for many decades, and that is if you look at their constant battles they wage against the masses of people in favor of the very few wealthiest people in power.
It is no exaggeration to say they are the party of the corporations, and they work in lock-step with them to colonize the population for their benefit. We all are subjects to their domestic colonization, and these lawyers (or lawyer Khuzami) Brooks lionizes are just acting as PR flacks for the cause on the occasion of needing to do some periodic damage control because sometimes they just push a little to hard and need to pull back every so often...but just a bit.
6
Attorneys living up to their professional responsibilities., We should expect no less.
All too often we see the opposite. A breath of fresh air.
However, would democrats be applauding such conduct if their tribe were under fire?
Ethics are ethics, duty is duty and right is right no matter whose ox is being gored. This may be a lesson still to be learned.
5
There is an exhaustion with the daily barrage of incidences hammering away at our principles caused in large part by this presidency. Thank you for this editorial. It has given me hope and reinforced my personal belief in the rule of law and the institutions dedicated to it.
I confess that reading Mr. Brooks now is disheartening. I have disagreed in the past with him on pretty much all of his conservative views, but felt his passion for justice and for the rightness of his conservative views. They were honorable, though I felt misguided in the application.
I deeply wonder how he can watch the continued and soul-withering descent of the entire Republican party leadership. Not one member of the party has stood up to the President. Not one of them. McConnell and Graham, formerly respected senior Senate members have been shown to be what many progressives long thought they were: short-sighted, venal, self-serving little men who serve at and for the pleasure of the billionaire class.
Can Mr. Brooks take the next step? That would be coming to the realization that a party that only sees tax cuts for the wealthy, erosion of all regulatory mechanisms, and endless military spending as its goals has long ago lost its way.
5
The real tragedy is that while most lawyers and officials may see through the sleaziness and criminality of the Trump administration, they are apathetic and many simply do not care since it benefits them personally. It is also true that the so called "base" has more guns than those who oppose Trump.
Although its conclusion might be premature and a mite too optimistic—I hope it’s not—your essay is a very good one, as far as it goes.
But, David, why do you incessantly seem to gloss core issues regarding Trump and spineless Republicans? Why do you seem so unwilling to address these issues head on, in a full column? To the extent a writer and thinker of your influence might have a modicum of sway over Republican members of Congress, wouldn’t it be prudent for you to address directly “the norm-destroying corruption of King Chaos?” Why not bring your moral and sociological lens to bear on the many Republicans who “have been supine” while “Trump has shriveled congressional authority and shredded the rules of basic democratic behavior”? Why does it seem you only dance around these issues—only occasionally offering passing gibes such as the aforementioned—instead of tackling them in earnest? Indeed, from your own moral perspective, don’t you feel you have an obligation to do so?
6
Odd to see the Kirkland and Ellis connection here-- there is suddenly a lot of K and E going around the Justice department...
1
Congress has failed because Republicans are completely in bed with the Russian government via the NRA and other organizations (and their shared sentiments of racism and homophobia). Any deep investigation into Russian influence will surely yield that numerous representatives and senators are as compromised as Trump, if not more.
7
“[T]he inauguration was a shambolic grabfest in which people with money tried to turn it into power and people who suddenly had power tried to turn it into money.”
Make that “The Trump Administration.”
3
You identified two Republican insiders who might be called upstanding and ethical, a quality sadly missing from most Republican politicians. And there's Mueller, of course. Do you happen to know of others? It might cheer the opposition up a bit to know they actually exist because at the moment the world your people have created looks pretty bleak from my side of the aisle...so to speak.
2
David, please tell us why you choose to quote a known right wing conspiracy theorist as Khusami’s only character reference in this piece.
The real conundrum is how Trump will try to counter all evidence and legal threats. He characterizes any criticism as partisan. His ability to repel judgment is a longstanding & deep skill, honed as a boy facing father Fred's contempt. Little Donald was the family loser; his childish defense is calling other people 'loser.' Sent to military school for discipline, he did not improve, he dug in with attacking & showing off in a pathetic desperate struggle to feel less inadequate. He admired his father's ruthless success, imitated Cohn & Stone's dirty tricks, colluded with Russian thug money laundering (as though this was smart business) but still caused multiple bankruptcies and needed Fred's bail outs.
Forged into President, he will treat any good lawyering as personal attacks solely unjustified. He will never cop to his obvious pandering to Putin or maneuvers for his won financial benefit that violate the Constitution and betray the national interest.
If only justice could prevail. At best, Trump might join Agnew in making a blustering retreat to 'protect' his family.
2
Wow. On the eve of the submission of the Mueller report, the NYT seems to have decided that there is no there there as far as the President is concerned. Instead the real issues are, for Mr. Brooks, irregularities in the funding of the inauguration, and, for his NYT colleagues, the President's having "exposed him(self) to accusations" and having used "intimidation, pressure, and humiliation" (behavior unknown in Presidents).
The strangeness of the last two years of "reporting" is pretty obviously not going away any time soon.
2
Quick. turn Hannity on! He'll explain it all so that even you can understand. Of course, President Stable Genius is the victim here, and the evil commie "press" is the real problem honest, hard-working 'Murkans face. Except Sean. And Rush. And Tucker. They are the only heroes left. Because they say so.
Ho, Hum...I think I prefer the "Billions" version to this weird send-up. Somehow, the entire judicial system not even close to imploding due to the vulgarian in the White House. Time for a sanity check, David.
"And if we get through this, it will be because of people like them."
IF???
Is there any reason to doubt we will? If so, there's the story, chief. Just where are we teetering? Are you implying The Donald just might be able to pull off the smarmiest heist of all time in America? Just how deep are we into the dark cave of lies, deception, greed that lead you even to think such a thing could happen, Dave?
Give me the who, what, where, when, how and whys of it.
"Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
We know what Master laid thy keel,
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
In what a forge and what a heat
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!
Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
'Tis of the wave and not the rock;
'Tis but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!
In spite of rock and tempest's roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee.
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee, -are all with thee!
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Say it ain't so, Dave. Say it ain't so!
1
The Trump presidency has been an expose' of how shaky our institutions are. This is the end of innocence when we can expect some level of humanity, decency, and honesty from our elected representatives.
We can no longer expect anything - except a challenge to democracy and any high ideals. Greed is God.
Remove Republicans. Strengthen and update the Constitution. But be rid of Republicans first - and from the Democratic Party, too.
The Swamp is Republicanism.
2
The most interesting thing in this column is the parenthetical statement “you can’t understand the Trump presidency without understanding the resentments and cultural geography of the New York boroughs.” What the heck is that about?
@ElleninCA
It's something made up, which happens a lot in this column.
Well done, David.
I hope people like him have passive supporters behind them who, only if needed, could give him the resources to survive the kind of career-killing attacks the Trump Administration is capable of. Courage benefits from a Plan B.
So who will people like Brooks vote for in the next Presidential election? They know there's a problem.
And it's way, way too early to know if the legal system will survive. The impact of these unqualified and the stolen Supreme Justice are unknown quantities.
2
What goes around, comes around, and eventually history will see and tell the events of the Trump era for what they are, and it will not be pretty.
Trumps staking the court with his shady, right winged buddies will not help the future of the court system. There are still lawyers with great integrity standing up to the onslaught instigated by Trump and his handlers, but in my mind they seem to be mostly democratic, with the exceptional Mueller included in this august category.
So you're saying we should trust an FBI Agent who once worked for the mafia, or a CIA Agent who worked as a mole for the Russians?
General Counsel for Deutsche Bank? Uh... did you happen to open a recent copy of the Wall Street Journal in researching your article on lawyerly integrity?
1
Here is a reminder to all Republicans in Congress that are publicly aligned with Trump: The Nazi's in Germany in the 1930's were just 'doing their jobs' and following orders.' History has not treated them kindly and your places in history are now cast. No job is worth sacrificing your principles. We can therefore conclude that their only principle is to maintain their jobs rather than defend the Constitution and serve their country. The non-elected will not obscure your utter failures.
1
Khuzami is exactly like Andrew Weisman who destroyed Arthur Anderson on spurious, fake charges that cost America 85,000 jobs and destroyed a venerable American institution. These type lawyers wreck America. They gin up laws frequently that don’t apply . Read Sidney Powell’s new book which exposes them.
Hear hear!!!
Mr Brooks is busy turning over any rock he can find to convince himself that Republicans are honorable people.
Khuzami might very well be a decent person. But this article is useless, and doesn't demonstrate anything especially significant (Democratic lawyers have high standards, too, and they SHOULD because that's the job).
This piece is all part of Mr Brooks' failed mourning and inability to accept responsibility for the fact that he was a republican propagandist for years, and knowingly or not, justified a political party apparatus that has been focused on undermining democratic institutions and norms. His writing was and still is there to put an intellectual veneer on bigots like McConnel, King, and the rest of them. Until he renounces this, he's still just a dishonest and intellectually-sloppy writer.
3
So Putin is this Machiavellian, Svengalish, Stalinesque Grand Master? He relied on Donald Trump as a key part of his plan. In the words of that great American philosopher Forrest Gump "Stupid is as stupid does." Who's the bigger fool? A fool or the person who trusts the fool?" So kudos to the stand up guys on our side, but don't underestimate the stupidity of the ones their going up against.
2
Oh David, you’re just a ray of sunshine.
And then, there's the Federalist Society and its capture of the federal judiciary for the next 30 years including the SCOTUS: Whither then, "the rule of law".
5
Nytimes commenters are always so mean to David Brooks. For real.
Yet it doesn't seem to get through to him that false equivalencies and willful ignorances serve only to muddy the waters.
It's doubtful in the extreme that David Brooks is ever actually exposed to the "mean" comments he inevitably evokes.
But hey, he finally identified a Republican with integrity, so he has covered for them once again and earned his pay this week.
1
During the whole course of the Mueller investigation, we've gotten endless references to the "independence of the Justice Department," the "independence of federal prosecutors," etc. But get this--the Constitution says nothing about the "independence of the Justice Department." And a constitutional system that set "federal prosecutors" as a sort of independent fourth branch of government, not subject to any democratically-elected figure, would be an exceptionally bad constitutional system. We should be glad that we don't have it, and stop trying to pretend we do.
A system in which law enforcement authority--including discretionary decisions to prosecute or not to prosecute--is wielded by someone with no democratic accountability or legitimacy whatsoever would be quintessentially authoritarian. The framers recognized this when they made the chief executive responsible for enforcing the laws--the president--subject to elections. We shouldn't jettison that system just because Brooks and his ilk don't like how one election turned out.
Though I have avidly followed politics my whole life, I never thought I would reach a time when I wake at 2am, as I did last night, with a sense of disquiet over the state of our country and the world.
I've learned to trust my gut feelings and these two keep rising to the top: we are in perilous times, or at minimum, entering them; anyone who thinks Trump can't get reelected is fooling themselves. I ask, "Who can win Ohio? Who can win Indiana?"
Hopefully, the good people in positions that matter will pull us through.
4
The integrity of the third branch of our "system" is why democrats and Democrats fought so hard to convince a measly 2 or 3 GOP senators that Kavanaugh was an apparatchik of the Federalist Society cabal, a liar, and apparently a borderline drunk, at least in his younger days. Atop the court system that Khuzami is doing impressive work for sit Clarence Thomas and "Bart", and 3 only slightly less scary conservatives. I hope your right about the damn holding, but I think the House is actually our only hope, if they get some help from reporters.
1
How refreshing to read he didn't go to freakin' Harvard Law. And V from LA-- calm down this was about SDNY not congress and all the nefarious lawyers they think are just swell.
1
Is Brooks filling in for Blow while he is on book leave?
Republicans suck. Including Brooks. They need to quit the party and stop whiewashing the past. Brooks is simply an apologist for a deranged and corrupt party. Quit or shut up Mr. Brooks.
Honesty, competence, and adherence to the rule of law. Basic, nothing fancy.
Are we at a time where such fundamental principals are to be celebrated, rather than assumed? If so, trouble ahead.
554
@Gimme Shelter
For Canada the problem is very different. Our constitution is new and we know who writes the law and we don't necessarily believe in the rule of law. Our courts including our highest courts determine justice and if the law stands in the way of justice it is the law that is determined in error and discarded.
9
@Gimme Shelter 'Assuming' such things is exactly the problem. Every generation must fight for these things as if the fight just begun.
27
@Gimme Shelter I think you have described what Republicans call the "deep state".
9
Most disheartening about Donald Trump isn't arguably Donald Trump. He's been a known quantity since he began lying his way through public life. I heard about him visiting friends in New York in the early 1980s. Their opinion of him was that he was a dangerous joke.
Most disheartening about Donald Trump in equal measure to him are his supporters in and out of Congress. These are men and women who have made a show of moral sincerity and superiority since Richard Nixon. These are people who lay claim to God in the Christian Right, people who, if Donald Trump was a Democrat would have impeached him by how.
They did impeach Bill Clinton, who arguably deserved it, but for far, far less than does Donald Trump. And they condemned and obstructed Barack Obama for 8 years, inventing lies that would have impressed even Machiavelli.
And yet, we have Donald Trump and his over 40% of American support hasn't flagged at all. When he goes up for election in 2020, and he will go up for election, they'll vote for him. If he loses they'll be outraged, and in the face of the 8,000 lies he's documented to have told, they'll layer on many more to tell us in outrage how he and they were cheated.
That's the America we live in now. An America in which over 40% of Americans don't believe that Robert Mueller, who we Vietnam Veterans idolize, has a moral bone in his body, and is out to backstab their president who lied his way out of that war.
And that ladies and gentlemen is depressing.
1237
@John F McBride wow, yes. Thank you so much for these words. I will be passing around this response from you to my entire college classroom tomorrow. Thank you for your service and intellect.
79
@John F McBride
Republicans continuing a fine tradition of smearing actual patriots, as in the swiftboating of John Kerry, while lionizing a fake, proven liar like Trump who says he believes Putin over our own intelligence agencies.
115
@John F McBride
That 40% of Americans don't see him as POTUS. They see him as their Dear White Leader.
And that is a real tragedy.
52
I am glad Khuzami has the strength and integrity to stand strong and to pursue cases wherever the evidence leads. However, I see too many other cases in which the people did NOT stand strong, did NOT have integrity, where they were cowed either by the President's bullying or by his raging crowds. First exhibit: Republicans in the Senate- McConnell chief among them.
Brilliant. Thank you, David, for exposing some bright light in the darkness that is our time, uncovering embers of hope for those of us in near despair.
While the focus of this commentary is our Judicial system, many readers point to the failure of Congress to stand up to Mr. trump. Mr. Brooks' point was not about the elected officials in Congress - yes, the Republican held Senate did not meet it's Constitutional responsibility in approving Obama nominated judges, particularly in never even voting on Garland's appointment to the Supreme Court (thanks to the mendacity of McConnell and complicity of other Senate Republicans). However, while there have been questionable judicial appointments made by Trump, let's not wallow in hyperbole and tribalism and condemn all recent appointments merely because you do not agree with their judicial philosophy. The point here is that our Federal judicial system of courts and prosecutors are serving as a bulwark against the executive tyranny of the Trump administration. While not always successful, we need to recognize their strength in standing up for our Constitution and American principles, even when we may not agree with a particular decision. Regaining control of our democracy will take the vigilance and energy of the People and the time to change the make up of Congress to one that supports the Constitution. There is no place in America for a cult of personality! Our judicial branch is doing what it can to provide the American people the time to make those changes.
"The American legal system, however, seems to be holding up"
I would say the results so far are checkered. While I applaud the lawyers in the SDNY, the jury is still out on Barr, the new AG, and whether he will release the Mueller report. And of course the elephant in the room is the Supreme Court, probably the most overtly political court we have had since the New Deal. We will see their stripes when Trump's "emergency" reaches them. And the lower courts are being reconstituted in the Federalist mode. To be determined.....
1
The police state wins. Not sure if this is good news.
The downward slide of the republican party began decades ago, but it became sickeningly obvious when Obama ran for president.
Remember? :
Trump's 'birther' nonsense.
Tea party's blatantly racist posters of the Obamas.
Coward spits on John Lewis, courageous civil rights veteran.
'You Lie' screamed at a joint session of congress.
Newt Gingrich: 'Foodstamp President'.
What did the republicans do or say?
Nothing. Deadly, cowardly silence.
During the primaries, Trump blatantly disrespected McCain, the Syrian couple, disabled reporter ... brags about abusing women. But he draws huge noisy crowds of angry, mainly white people at his rallies.
What did the republicans do or say?
Again: Nothing. Deadly, cowardly silence.
It's just a matter of time.
1377
@CD
I agree with you but I think the disgusting, downward slide of the GOP actually began with Nixon and has been going downhill ever since.
Of course, Trump has made all of his predecessors look like saints or geniuses by comparison. Sick, sick, sick.
44
@CD
The worms may turn yet.
Money is their sun.
15
@marian
I understand your point, but even Nixon had some good points (hard to find, but they were there.) I always locate the beginning of the downward slide with Reagan who operated as a smiling puppet and allowed the destruction of the New Deal protections in American society to begin. He was the first of the Republican stuffed shirt presidents, brainless actors who deflected the public and distracted the media while the evil doers continued to destroy the country behind the scenes. Reagan, Bush W., and now Trump are one of a kind, brainless poseurs who do the bidding of forces they do not understand and who think they are in charge while in fact others hold all the power.
75
The article could have perhaps even more appropriately been titled, "The Lawyers Who Broke". That could have included much of the GOP's congressional delegation (with a special mention to Lindsey Graham) as well as the large swarm of un- or under-qualified judicial appointees, whose chief credentials seem to be fielty to the Federalist Society or Party Leader himself. I understand and respect Mr. Brook's effort to make lemonade out of lemons here by singling out the few good examples we have of principled, competent leadership. It's just so frustrating to see how far the GOP, and by extension our country, have fallen.
1
@John and by his omission, Brooks is a witting enabler.
2
@Leslie
Brooks seems to be much like most of my close GOP friends. They are simultaneously revolted and repelled by their Party Leader, but also unable to understand that the phenomenon did not occur overnight and this is the logical outcome of the path the GOP has taken - with their support - over the course of the last 2-3 decades. I try to be gentle with these friends, as I'm grateful they've at least achieved some modest level of awareness.
2
Thank you, Mr. Brooks for articulately describing Trump and the era of Trump. It is refreshing to read a Republican voice that does not mince words--we need more Republicans to care more about the Republic than about power and their pockets.
Congress is made up of who we voted for; or maybe not (ref. example, North Carolina's Harris evidence). When gerrymandering and other such political manipulation stops, we will hopefully get a functioning Congress that works well to represent the public interest.
Not yet time to be patting ourselves on the back, Mr. Brooks. The people on the dark side have a lot weapons and an entire political party apparatus at their disposal. Some say they may even have a Supreme Court majority in their corner.
4
From the many who commented, there has to be an acknowledgement that many lawyers on the Republican side have turned a blind eye. Certainly any Republican legislator that is a lawyer seems to have done so.
Therefore, I am so very thankful for 'the teams ... spread anonymously throughout the U.S. government.' Let's hope they outnumber the corrupt ones.
Thank you, David, for finally connecting your ethos driven mosaic of words over the last couple of months with something more directly on people's minds today.
"a shambolic grab-fest in which people with money tried to turn it into power and people who suddenly had power tried to turn it into money."
A perfect summary of the Trump Era.
1
David Brooks adoration of Khuzami would have a bit more credibility if he had even a single example of Khuzami going after someone powerful.
Prosecuting Omar Abdel Rahman - which everyone in power was pleased about -- is hardly the same as prosecuting Republicans.
I'm sorry if it gives me no confidence that the man who was supposed to keep Deutche Bank in line somehow was ignorant of all the money laundering.
6
Thanks David,
A mighty fortress is our law, a bulwark never failing. (With apologies to Martin Luther, and Al Gore. That Bush v Gore, at 5 to 4 -- sounds like betting odds -- was a bit of a blunder.) So, rarely failing, but it will hold. When the Big Boss fired Comey he filled a bunch of fierce, independent and honorable minds with a terrible resolve. Outrage will be the fuel finally ending this misadventure. 'Now does he feel his title hang loose about him, like a giant's robe upon a dwarfish thief.'
3
Who would ever have thought that we would be saying IF we get through this!
1
Maybe there is a behaviorist explanation? Representatives owe their jobs to the voters, and Trump's voters are firmly behind him. Republican law makers may secretly despise him, but they desperately want to keep their jobs. Lawyers on the other hand are generally appointed, so doing the right thing poses less of an existential threat.
2
I'd say the deck is stacked against "right and wrong" with Individual 1 in the WH and Mitch McConnell in the Senate.
2
Borrowing from Mr. Brook's column, it's not only the inauguration.
Trump adminisration (defnition): ".... a racketeering operation — a continuing criminal enterprise, complete with mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and the rest."
1
Well, at least since he worked for Deutsche Bank, he has the inside scoop on money laundering.
5
The paragraphs about the criminal enterprise that was the Trump inaugural are what stand out for me.
What a bunch of preternatural grifter criminals! It's as if any event, any given moment, even going to church, (ever notice he's the one president in memory who never does?) is seen as an occasion to scam and pocket some dough or make a corrupt connection.
"Forgive me father, for I have sinned… pssst… who counts the collection money… are they open to a little "arrangement?"… meet me later."
If I was one of the Democrats running for president I'd consistently refer to him as "Grifter Don" The most corrupt president and administration in American history.
"The most corrupt." Just repeat, repeat.
From his Russian loyalties to his wife cheating to his money grubbing cabinet (it's early in the day, anyone else resign yet?) - a full frontal assault on him - with endless examples. With a touch of wicked humor.
Consistent, merciless, and yes, patriotic.
3
David writes, finally on a matter of substance. Recent attempts at humor and the same old endless and ultimately wasteful naval gazing won't be missed.
If there is merit in this piece, it's that there are facts. Yet the headline is misapplied, when the article concludes, 'if' we make it. If we make it, IS the point and by all accounts the pulse of our institutions is getting weak and thready. It is fallacy to claim the good efforts of a few good people in one place mean the institutions aren't gravely imperiled. David, please, make up your mind, sound the alarm, and stop the equivocation. The patient has stage 4 cancer and you want to talk about what colour socks to wear when going to the oncologist.
1
Brooks conveniently ignores the fact that our legal institutions would not now be sorely tested if he and his fellow members of the professional Republican Commentariat had been good Americans in 2016. Instead of mindlessly bashing Clinton, one of the most qualified candidates ever to run for the office of President, Brooks, Douthat, Fox “News”, and the rest kept up a steady drumbeat of insinuation and outright lies against her, all the while trying to normalize Trump’s crimes, ignorance and crassness. As Party-uber-alles Republicans, he and his comrades continue to pretend that no lasting harm has been done to America as a result of their purely Republican Party first, America last actions. This is not a reassuring column, it is just more right-wing propaganda - a bid to get Americans to “pay no attention to the Party behind the flaming curtain”.
2
Brooks argument is weak if Khuzami is the best hero he can find. Khuzami is a wall street insider who has allowed white collar criminals to get off with a slap on the wrist. He is actually an example of what is wrong with the legal system, not what is right with it. The country is filled with contempt for the way the legal system has turned a blind eye to the most rapacious corporate and banking criminality in generations. This is not the time to lionize a system which has essentially produced no evidence and done nothing to blunt the most corrupt president in American history. Brooks seems to think that because Mueller and the S.D.N.Y. may do something in the future that we should congratulate them today. I prefer to wait until I see bankers and CEO's in jail before I applaud. I prefer to wait until the system actually removes the criminal from the white house before I cheer.
2
One day Trump and his enablers on Fox, and their friends, will come to blows when they no longer serve each others purposes. If Trump gets on the wrong side of the law in a serious way Hannity and company will simply say "Who knew" and move on. If Trump loses in 2020 Fox will blame Trump & move on. If Trump starts his own crazy TV network Fox will be in his way. Anyway you look at it strange bedfellows are going to wake up one day to see each other in a different light.
While praising those in government who have simply carried on with their responsibilities without regard to party, let's not forget the FBI, whose dogged legwork just exposed the domestic terrorist plotting against democratic leaders and the general public. Thanks, investigators, for doing your job well.
2
Once again Mr. Brooks writes an article about one individual and attempts to extrapolate it into a premise without any foundation. Yes, there are still a few moral and ethical lawyers and judges out there, however, the Republican party for years has loaded the courts and justice system with individuals lacking these qualities. I cite Justices Kavanaugh and Thomas as prime examples. Many now see the Supreme court as complicit in destroying American society. The scales of justice tip overwhelmingly to protecting the wealthy and large corporations at the expense of everyone else. Equal justice for all is a fairy tale perpetrated by the traitors in our country.
2
"Many Republicans have been supine while...Trump has shriveled congressional authority and shredded the rules of basic democratic behavior."
No, the GOP is willfully oblivious to Trump's astounding ignorance, lunacy, and crude, rude, juvenile behavior insofar as the party recognized it at all.
The GOP is otherwise catatonic. Nothing matters as long as lobbyists and corporations line GOP pockets and Americans are defrauded into silence.
Trump didn't shrivel congressional authority. The GOP did that themselves, about the only thing they have done.
Trump is one in a long line of GOP dingbats who shredded the rules of basic democratic behavior. There's "You lie!", theft of supreme court seat, incessant attacks on the ACA, on Obama, the Clintons, insults going back to the vaudevillian Gingrich, Delay and Dick Army, Marx brothers quaint now.
It's not only the GOP congress who fares badly. Trump's infamous base, are to blame for the attempted erosion of the rule of law, destruction of norms and values, loss of civility. They revile the FBI, Mueller, the CIA, etc., because Trump tells them to.
That there are republicans still holding the legal system above the Trumpian quicksand is so remarkable that Mr. Brooks devotes a column to it and, yes, lionizes one of them for simply doing his job by the book.
Remarkable.
3
Sometimes it is wiser to say nothing at all.
2
David, you can't do this.
From your column: 'According to a 2013 Times DealBook story, he was born into a bohemian family, with ballroom-dancer parents, a muralist sister and a drummer brother. They joke that Robert is the “white sheep” in the family.
He began college at the State University of New York at Geneseo before transferring to the University of Rochester. He supported himself as a dishwasher, bartender and overnight dockworker. He went to Boston University law school and his career took off.'
From the Dealbook column: 'Mr. Khuzami, a native of Rochester, N.Y., had a bohemian upbringing that hardly hinted at a path to the S.E.C. His parents were ballroom dancers, his sister a muralist and his brother a drummer. They jokingly refer to Mr. Khuzami as “the white sheep” of the family.
He put himself through school by working odd jobs as a dishwasher, bartender and overnight dockworker. He was hired out of law school as a junior lawyer at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in New York.'
1
As Brooks clearly stated, Trump is against all, he is there to damage any body or institution with his presidential power.
This type of malignant character was not even seen in Nixon Administration. Nixon wanted at least CIA and FBI on his side, Trump wants all institutions should be enslaved to his will, boy what a neck breaking fight is going behind the scenes, we will read and learn those once this Clown leaves the WH.
1
It concerns me that David Brooks lionizes Khuzami at the same time making a case for the cogs of democracy actually holding up to the onslaught of corruption. Judging by the comments herein, David has succeeded in distracting everyone while the thieves and malcontents redefine what criminality and justice actually mean. Khuzami has a very tarnished record after the Financial Meltdown with regard to meaningful prosecution. A few paragraphs in that regard will not change his neoliberal strategies to bear on the latest criminal crisis in the White House; let alone Congress and the DOJ itself. Khuzami is on record as recommending the SEC be a “middle man” to Wall Street. For David to "just pick one" tells you something about the intent and the politics behind his understanding.
3
Republicans have not just been "supine," they have buried their heads in the sand. Your language is too subtle in this regard, Mr. Brooks.
2
What Brooks fails to discuss is that it is the political party that he has championed his entire career that is waging a full-scale war against the American legal system. It is not just Trump, but every Republican in Congress is facilitating this assault on the U.S. Constitution. By soft-pedaling this reality, Brooks is abetting in the attempted destruction of American democracy by his Republican Party.
4
A disappointing column. It starts with the hysterical premise that the very election of Trump was an existential crisis for the country. The Trump administration is an existential crisis for Progressives because they suddenly found themselves out of power, but they represent only a small portion of the country. And, as the Progressives love to tell us whenever they do something that the majority doesn't like: get over it -- their having to endure Trump's tenure is no worse than we conservatives having had to endure Obama's.
Then we are told by Mr. Brooks that these brave prosecutors are investigating Trump's inaugural ball. Wow! Even if true, so what: it would at worst constitute run-of-the-mill political corruption, not the end of the Republic. And, if the Kennedy, LBJ, Clinton and Obama administrations had been investigated one-tenth as thoroughly as Trump's, we would have found similar corrupt acts.
No, this is just another example of Progressives wishing upon a star. It may succeed, but don't pretend anyone involved in the hunt is brave.
@Uysses I agree with your fist two sentences. "A disappointing column. It starts with the hysterical premise that the very election of Trump was an existential crisis for the country." I would add the words very real in front of the word hysterical.
Mueller is fading fast, turns out he was just a poof. Serious minds knew this all along. But its not over yet!! There will be more investigations, more disappointments and more embarrassments. 2019 in the Trump era.
I sincerely hope we do not have to eat these words. Nor you.
1
Congratulations, David, on your discovery of what you claim is a class of Republicans who perform competently and professionally. “Man Bites Dog,” indeed!
3
“(you can’t understand the Trump presidency without understanding the resentments and cultural geography of the New York boroughs)”
Oh. Can we have an article on that, please?
It was a stupid comment, given that Khuzami's family moved way upstate (to Rochester) when he was very young. I say this as a (true) Bklyn native.
And people like Mark Harris’ son, another lawyer, another principled man keenly aware of right and wrong.
So evil Republicans who have been tearing down our Democracy forever are not as successful as they could be? Is that your premise?
The mediocrity of America shines brightly in your op-ed's, David. Republicans are the molotov cocktails to Democracy and all you minions gladly carry the water for them.
If history does not write that Republicans were always evil, then history is garbage.
6
Who knew we'd be grateful for the meanest, most single-minded, intractable lawyers on the planet?
1
Fascinating that a GOP shill could address the legal entanglements of his leader without mentioning that it is the GOP waging war on our institutions. Without decades of right wing propaganda, there would be no need to see a prosecutor doing his job as some kind of revelation. Brooks and his ilk deserve blame for disparaging governmental institutions for decades, paving the way for a racist, xenophobic strongman.
7
Well said!
You realize of course that Bannon, Miller, and the rest of the rabble that constitute this administration has a term for the people you praise today?
They call them the “Deep State” and they will stop at nothing to defeat them. Harassment, false accusation, demotion, denial of retirement benefits, public denigration, firing, and it’s only a matter of time...We literally dodged a thousand bullets this week in Maryland from a right wing nutcase that thinks the only thing between him and a Whites-only caliphate is the constitution.
Wake up. Our Republic is under siege.
6
"The U.S. legal system is withstanding the Trump onslaught."
But why should we have to even test the system, Mr. Brooks?
Because your republican party are hacks, liars and crooks. Just like when Nixon was corrupting our government.
Same as it ever was.
Vote (R) for corruption and greed. Vote (D) to keep our country from being controlled by crooks and creeps.
7
Republicans are willing to enforce the law when broken by Republicans.
Where were they when the Clinton Foundation was paying Huma Weiner $150,000 per year while she was a full time employee of the State Department.
Why is it that North Carolina is calling for a new election for a House seat in which the Democrat consultant who was hired by the Republican candidate illegally harvested votes, while there has been no investigation he California votes harvested or the Arizona Senate election that was won by harvested votes.
Oh, that's right. Republicans object to voter fraud no matter who does it. Democrats deny it happens, because they are generally the guilty parties.
Again Brooks nails the situation and offers hope that we can see survive the President we have elected. How could we have elected a blaitant grifter?
2
What are you celebrating ? Is the madman gone ? Have we had indictments that affect his family? Have we even seen his taxes yet? Do we know who is running this awful man. Has a report been released, will the public ever get to see it?
Pat them on the back, the Republicans are starting to be concerned.There are laws you know.
I would think premature is the kindest thing that can be said about this
4
. . . William Shakespeare's character Dick the Butcher (another pretend know-it-all) seeking to overthrow the King and install a pretend cabal said: "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." Henry VI, Part II, Act IV, Scene 2.
In context, Shakespeare recognized lawyers as the guardians of the rule of law. Trump's thuggery today is no different than Dick the Butcher's.
3
Now I understand why one of the first things Trump did as president was get rid of Preet Bhrarara from SDNY. No wonder he’s always so unhinged all the time. And no wonder he wants to hurry up and get the money for that wall disbursed. He wants to squeeze as much payola and kickbacks from that as he can before it all comes crashing down.
2
This is why Shakespeare wrote: "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." Henry VI,'' Part II, act IV, Scene II, Line 73. It was meant as a compliment.
1
"Many Republicans have been supine" is false.
If Brooks can name one Republican in Congress that over the last year has publicly and repeatedly stood up to Trump I would like him to name him or her for I have not see any, not one.
They are all afraid of him and cower like naughty puppies fearing the lash of a presidential nasty tweet.
The only solution is to throw the bums out and replace them with people who are true to their oaths to defend the Constitution.
That will happen in 2020.
2
"Supine" means "laying down"... The opposite of what you seem to think it means!
Actually David, if you are suggesting that republicans in Congress are submissive to Trump, you should use the word "prostrate".( from the Latin: prostratus). In addition, Trump's attacks on Mueller are not just to slander Mueller, the attacks are designed to obstruct the investigation and avoid justice. I wouldn't use the word: "calumny", because it misses the point and is mealy mouthed. Don't forget we are dealing with treason. Also check out the money McConnell, Graham, etc, have in their PACs from ties to oligarchs that support Russia. Also, its not entirely clear that Berman recused himself, the reporting was that "Berman was recused" ( ABC news April 10th, 2018). Isn't Deutsche Bank under investigation for money laundering? Also the "$2.8 billion" was a drop in the bucket compared to what was scammed. And just who went to prison? Perhaps we'll get through this in spite of people like them?
3
Why is it your side that's always testing the limits of our system and jeopardizing it, Brooks? Bush, McConnell, Trump - always your guys? Why don't you just own up and admit that the GOP is as anti-American as it gets?
3
Trump has exposed the corruption of our system.
He is a threat to the system, the deep state, because they have no place to hide.
We have just witnessed an election where the FBI, DOJ and other government agencies attempted to fix and rig the outcome.
First, the deep state actors ensured Hillary was not held to account for her criminality so that she could continue to represent the Democrats.
Next Trump was framed by the Democrats and corrupt government officials during the election as a Russian collaborator using Russian sourced lies.
When Trump actually won, the deep state was in a panic because there was no way to hide what they had just done. Their reaction was to attempt to take Trump out with their lies before the public realized how corrupt they were.
But it didn’t work and the house of cards is imploding.
Sure, there are corrupt co-conspirators in the MSM that still hope to push their FAKE narrative on dupable Democrats, but their last gasp corrupt efforts now just show how foolish they really are.
@Ken Your analysis of the current attempt by Trump and his republican cohorts to bring us into the new dark ages is a true Gordian knot and something to behold.
It is the best example yet that I have ever seen of a case where if the facts don't prove your point just change their meaning.
2
Thank you David, I guess my son did choose the right profession. As I learned from one of his professors, when Shakespeare, in Henry VI, said “''The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers,'' it was by Dick the Butcher who thought that if he disturbed law and order, he could become king.
1
Donald Trump is not concerned with what the attorneys investigating him; he knows he does not have to be. While praising the intelligence of the American electorate, he secretly knows that they can be led around like a bulls with nose rings - only instead of bull rings, he uses their beliefs and prejudices to lead them wherever he wants. He sees his presidency as above the law, and enough people behind him to survive anything the various investigations bring forth.
If DJT doesn't destroy our fragile democracy, he has published the blueprint and playbook for some other demagogue to do it later. If a democracy like America's is going to exist, there will have to be a paradigm shift in human thought throughout the world.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds would see the survival of a particular group of people or a belief as more important than the survival of all. When we understand all this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
1
The problem is that if the Mueller report has no smoking gun, Trump supporters will claim it exonerates him when in reality his actions have disgraced the rule of law and the dignity of the court system. The campaign was knee-deep in Russian influence whether or not the boss was insulated from any direct proof.
It’s hard to believe that seemingly everyday this administration skates through moral and ethical morasses because the bar of acceptable behavior has been lowered to whatever Trump can get away with. Continuous lies and the enabling by GOP office holders are the common denominator now.
4
Let us prey, to mammon.
Is the legal system withstanding?
We have a morally corrupt president who brags about his misogyny and has cheated on his wife with prostitutes. He then tried to cover it up by conspiring with a news organization and his personal lawyer. He was named a co-conspirator in a criminal trial. Michael Cohen was convicted for breaking campaign finance laws.
Why is President Trump not indicted?
How could this happen in a healthy and democratic justice system?
A majority of people know the president is a crook and criminal. He is in fact a convicted fraudster.
He runs the White House in the style of a mafia boss.
His charity is under investigation, his inauguration is under investigation, his White House operations are under investigation.
He is on public record conspiring with Russia, demanding in a speech Russia to release stolen emails of his political opponent.
Still he is on the job.
In a healthy democracy the political-legal system would have long disposed a chief executive with that type of record.
Electing a person like this is proof our system, our values, our norms are corrupted.
3
One has to wonder if they weren't under such a microscope if things would be business as usual like in the Epstein case. Acosta still serves in the administration! White collar criminals are rarely held to account. But a young black guy who sells a bit of weed ends up in jail for years. We are ever corrupt in our values.
For years and years, we in room 7-3 at Royal High School in Simi Valley, Calif., recited the Pledge of Allegiance: "... with liberty and justice for all."
Justice for some. Loopholes and crafty lawyers for others.
1
Well, this was a nice advertisement for Khuzami. How random, how arbitrary. All under the headline "The Lawyers Who Did Not Break." What lawyers? This is just about Khuzami. This is not about other lawyers. Why write this now, how is it relevant this week and not many weeks before or after? Is Khuzamai in some hot water and needs some good PR or is he being positioned for higher office...and needs some good PR. This is the most wasteful use of Mr. Brooks' column inches I've ever read. Something is up, it's probably not much, but this random act of slather is a fabrication for a reason.
3
Thank go the US military intelligence in a back up for or own intelligence. To keep all in line the bought and sold bunch is a embarrassing suition
Really nice piece, David Brooks.
"waves of calumny"
I just learned a new word today... and a fitting one at that.
RICO.
Yessssss!~! Yesss!!
I can't understand why, with all their intrastate and international shadiness, just why the Feds haven't jumped on RICO before regarding the ENTIRE Trump family.
Mr. Khuzami sounds like just the right person to follow wherever the evidence leads him and prosecute accordingly.
Yessssss!!!!
Finally, a David Brooks piece that doesn't say "both sides do it." Does Brooks know something the rest of us haven't heard yet?
1
I don't think that reasonable people can relax yet. I don't think that we can be sure that reason and decency will prevail. We have a hand picked sexual predator on the Supreme Court. We have a proud sexual predator and criminal as our president....still. We have a hand picked Attorney General that will possibly put a lid on the outcome of the Mueller probe.
As long as trump is president, as long as pence is vice president, as long as congressional republicans are covering for the crimes and either benefiting from them or conveniently burying their head in the sand, we are in great peril. If you ask me, Putin is still smiling about his remarkable coup and serviceable puppet.
2
The Republican Party didn’t so much break as just start rapidly decomposing into a gross, smelly, unpleasant mess. Not a conscience, principle, or backbone among them.
And yet their supporters still support them. Gee, I wonder why?
Why don’t you write about that?
1
I believe you are praising what Trump and Fox News refer to as "the Deep State".
1
This is really a defense of the Republican Party, and a claim that not all Republicans are “Sandhills.” But we have Mitch McConnell and his ilk to thank for their dereliction of duty to the republic when they refused to consider Merrill Garland for the Supreme Court seat. And the extremely conservative - one might say, Republican - Citizens United decision that turned the valves to flood elections with corporate money; how can real individual voices be heard when a multibillion-dollar corporation or industry counts as an individual?
I believe that many, many bureaucrats of both parties are committed to doing their jobs out of loyalty to the country. But when the Republican concept of country champions such fundamental, structural perversions of basic rights and duty, I wonder if everyone is seeing those rights and duties in the same way. That has been the point of so many Republican decisions and actions — to change the structure. David Brooks May maintain his view of what is right and what is wrong, but that in no way suggests that others in positions of greater power, and with more direct influence on the investigation, will prevail in the direction he hopes. We may be seeing a crack in the Republican party that widens into a chasm; depending on how the investigation goes and what it reveals (or is allowed to reveal, without suppression) we may be witnessing a cracking of the whip and a further consolidation of power within the GOP.
4
The Trump family crises are analogous to spelunking into a dark dank cave and discovering that there is no bottom. Their cupidity and ignominy knows no bounds. and can be best described mathematically as the "sideways eight"- symbol for infinity. There will always be an additional Trump based scandal in perpetuity. How can anyone ever be astonished by their actions?
4
Thank you, David Brooks. You may not be Walter Cronkite, the one person most Americans once believe over all others, but you are the conservative voice we desperately hope will get the attention of those so obviously failing our nation today.
2
@Sam Young
Yes, he is more reasonable than the like of Fox News or Rush Limbaugh, but then, we are setting our standard too low.
David Brooks is still prone to defending, illogically, all things "conservative" and maybe even "Republican." Otherwise, he would have seen that the GOP and the Republican voters are the iceberg and Trump and his administration and minions are just the tip.
Our time is the culmination of several decades of Republican politics sliding into and normalizing deceit, manipulation and modern feudalism. Having some lawyers remaining upright is not enough to save us from the damaged country we are sliding into because ultimately, the leadership comes from either the top (the politicians/government representatives) or the bottom (the voters), both of which are severely compromised and failing to fulfill its respective functions.
Well, @Doodle, I hope it ain't yet hopeless, and until it clearly is, let's encourage what we can. Best regards.
The vacuum created by the Republican House and Senate as Trump tramples over them benefitted from the State Attorneys General who joined in the lawsuit to preserve the sole Congressional authority to control spending.
Sally Yates and Rod Rosenstein deserve credit for doing the right thing under pressure.
6
Y'know, I might start out by noting this seems like a shallow dive for a journalist with deep resources, but it happens to be Optimism Friday and we are grading David on a curve. Sometimes he genuinely seems to listen to his critics and speak to specific and germane topics instead of vague moral platitudes, and that should be noted and appreciated.
More of this, please. Thanks Mr. Brooks and have a good weekend.
2
However, it has to be chilling to see the direct of FBI and deputy AG fired the way they were, and then Attorney General Jeff Session harassed until he resigned. On the face of it, people like Khuzami were still nonyieldingly doing their jobs, but the fact is, there was news like yesterday where the arrest of a White supremacist Coast Guard was kept hushed. Rachel Maddow asked, "Why?"
I am very glad we have not already fallen into anarchy and Mueller and his team is still investigating. The truth is we do not know what have been brushed under the rug, kept quiet, skimmed over... We just don't know.
It took some brave and selfless whistle blower for something to come to light, such as the severely compromised screening of security clearance at the White House. What are we going to find out some months or years from now.
So Mr. Brook, lets not start being complacent about the danger we are in yet.
7
Brooks rightly points out reasons to hope that our legal system, unlike Republicans in Congress, will withstand the Trump onslaught. It's comforting to read about individuals who are committed to the rule of law, but we still don't know how this is going to end. We shouldn't count our unhatched chickens just yet.
The Mueller investigation isn't done, and, if Mueller ends up charging Trump or his family with wrongdoing, we can't be confident that anything will come of it. Similarly, the SDNY investigation into the Trump inaugural isn't done. Is anyone really confident that the Senate will convict and remove Trump from office, no matter what these investigations find? The fact that we can't be confident that our constitutional system will work is itself a major victory for Trump's attack on the rule of law.
Meanwhile, Trump basically suspended article I of the constitution in order to divert funding from Congressionally appropriated purposes to the construction of his wall, and we can't be confident that our legal system will stand up to him. So far, the conservative Supreme Court majority has been nearly as docile as the Republican majority in the Senate.
One member of that conservative majority just dispensed with decades of unquestioned First Amendment law to endorse Trump's demand that libel law be "opened up." Who is confident that the rest of the Court's conservatives won't join that call?
We have a long way to go before we can declare victory for the rule of law.
5
Lawyers are just people, as vulnerable to vice and avarice as any. But our profession is a guild, with barriers to entry, licensing requirements, internal disciplinary procedures, and judicial oversight. At every stage, an ethical misstep can derail or end a career or even result in criminal contempt. It doesn't take a genius to see how big professional carrots and big disciplinary sticks lead to better ethical behavior. It's not a matter of character. It's a matter of institutions.
4
David, as often is the case, has the 'prudent question':So why aren’t the legal authorities wilting?
One explanation he offers: "institutions and character. The legal institutions instill codes of excellence that are strong enough to take the heat. The people in authority have enough character to live up to those codes."
The revolt of Trump and his acolytes against our institutions and putative leaders flourishes on the process of revolution itself. Our present institutions and leaders seem sufficiently capable of responding to change to withstand mindless attempts to revolt or return to the past.
Nevertheless, institutions and leaders need to support their own continuing transformation to deal with challenges effectively without engendering disruption in the face of strong tendencies to remain the same.
1
Muller supposedly has assembled a team of high quality professionals who specialize in variety of white collar crimes.
If Khuzami was general counsel to Deutsche Bank, would he have not made a terrific addition to Muller team? After all, Deutsche Bank has been allegedly involved in significant number of large deals Trump businesses were associated with. Including some questionable deals with Russia associated oligarchs.
Just wondering ....
4
@Assay
Khuzami was "the man Berman chose to be his deputy". Remember that Berman is Trump's man.
Remember that Khuzami worked for Deutche Bank when the bank was laundering money.
Remember that David Brooks is a rabid Republican.
1
Well done and thank you for your spotlight on the legal institutions and the people who serve within them. Your article creates and shares something needed by all Americans: hope.
5
We will see. During Watergate, we now know that Nixon had his inside man at the justice department (Rachel Maddow); the FBI played both sides by both supporting Nixon's cover up and dirty tricks and blowing the whistle on it via Deep Throat. I don't think that Mark Felt, AKA, the Deep Throat, worked alone. I call this organizational integrity. When a government agency feels threatened, it protects the agency regardless of the mandate to protect the Constitution.
History will decide. If Mueller's report reveals crimes in Trump's inner circle, then Barr will be a good soldier and fight the release until after the election. If Mueller goes the integrity route, the report vindicates Trump and company leaving them for the SNY, after the election. If Mueller won't stand for the shredding of his report and walks up the hill then he is a hero.
We still don't have the equivalent of Nixon's tapes validating Dean's testimony: that's what sunk Nixon.
My bet is on organizational integrity. In the end, the FBI protects itself.
1
Why aren't lawyers wilting in the face of the Trump onslaught? The answer is simpler than Mr. Brooks suggests: True antidotes to Trumpism (however one defines that term) include intellectual proactivity, curiosity and empiricism. Say whatever you want about the legal profession, both those characteristics are good lawyers' stock and trade. Thus, it is only natural that our nation's finest legal institutions are where we find the fiercest and most steadfast resistance to Trump and all that he is and tries to do.
2
Yeah, we'll see. One question to ask about Khuzami's prosecution of Wall Street malfeasance in the wake of the financial crisis is - how many of the architects of that crisis are sitting in jail right now?
The answer, of course, is zero.
The truly powerful are above the law in the USA. It's been thus for a long time.
6
Sometimes the Bigger Rules Wins, sometimes they don't. Societies are held together by Bigger Rules consisting of Norms, Values, and Decency. Bigger Rules Bend but don't Break.
When Bigger Rules Win Social Gratitude can be seen and felt in every meaningful interaction between friends, family, neighbors, and institutions. When big rules lose Negativism not Positivism becomes the norms.
1
It seems to me the ones most likely to “break” are those dependent on Trump for their livelihood and positions of power. For example, his whole staff, elected GOP who depend on trump’s base votes, Fox News and other right wing outlets who can’t afford to alienate trump’s supporters.
The “untouchables” for the most part are the govt lawyers who are rightly upset to have a POTUS whom daily flouts the rule of law and puts our democracy in harm’s way here and abroad. They can actually DO something about it. Thank God and God’s speed.
1
In considering "broken" institutions, the only one that matters now is the Supreme Court. And it is badly broken. Five people who will demonstrate absolute fealty to Trump now control the future of every single American.
Two illegitimate members are on the Court now, who will join the other three conservative members to grant Trump a win under any circumstances.
This Court has already kowtowed to Trump on his Muslim ban, ceding authority for an executive decision based on absolutely no evidence.
It is not at all a stretch, then, to conclude that this toadying court will decide:
(1) that Trump may declare a national emergency for something that exists only in his mind, and in no way reflecting reality.
(2) that Trump has the power to bar the publication of all of Mr. Mueller's report.
(3) that Trump may not be indicted while in office.
As an attorney for the past 40 years, I absolutely believe this is how the Court will rule. Sadly, after Trump's election, I no longer view the Supreme Court as impartial. Five members are sitting where they are now for the sole purpose of permitting a dictator to consolidate power.
Once this court rubber stamps Trump's "national emergency", they will have shown that they will not stand up to him when he declares martial law, suspends our citizens' civil rights, and cancels future elections.
And, given the Court's conduct thus far, anyone who does not believe this can happen here is horrifyingly naive.
13
I am glad to hear that some lawyers have held. But, I am worried that it is not enough to preserve our norms, constitution, and democratic values.
3
When did Brooks become a publicist?
" In the 2011 fiscal year, for example, the S.E.C. brought a record 735 enforcement actions. In the same year, his division collected $2.8 billion in penalties and disgorgement." Brooks sees this as an accomplishment where I see it as letting everyone off with a slap on the wrist.
I am sure he is a fine lawyer and decent fellow but Khuzami seems to like both the money and preys of the private sector and the power and influence of the public sector , seamlessly floating between worlds depending on his mood and need. There doesn't appear to be a deep commitment to anything other than his own advancement which explains why Brooks so admires him.
3
@JL
My friend you cannot execute people in front of the wall, American financial interests are extremely deep symbiotic life form with banks, and world wide power brokers. New York built on this one, take that away US GDP falls 60% if not more.
This is a game riding through bull in a China shop.
Just remember Lehmann brothers demise cost us and the rest of the world what we have lived last 10 years.
Do you think a retiree in Greece or Norway didn't fall misery because of this, then you are not recognizing the people pain.
This world is not all about America, in fact 10 million people lost job and house in this country.
I have a family member/Trump supporter who likes to rail about the derp state that is out of control. Having been a political science major I understand that the deep state is actually more about groups of people who adhere to a common set of ethics and behavioral norms. I am sending him this article. This is the deep state, but the deep state that represents much of what is right about the US system.
4
Yep, some people are doing something. I applaud them! But David seems to be (still?) defending the ‘R’s’ by lumping all of Congress with them. Name the people that have failed as well as those doing fine work.
5
Using the headline 'The Lawyers who did not break' seems a little presumptuous, given Trump still has almost 2 more years to hammer away at the legal system - assuming sanity prevails at the next election.
I was impressed to read Khuzami's background - but had an 'uh-oh' moment when finding out he was the general counsel for Deutsch Bank.
The same Deutsch bank that seems to be up to its neck in iffy Trump loans.
12
Let's not kid ourselves, the third branch of government Judicial, is also under assault. The number of unqualified and partisan Trump appointees to the lower courts is multiplying, not to mention the most recent partisan appointee to the highest court. Not to undermine the very valid point by Mr. Brooks, but the damage being inflicted on our democracy will take decades to repair.
9
"And if we get through this, it will be because of people like them."
That's it. Nothing to do with the rest of us. "Just people like them." Maybe. But if we want to get through the suffocating life deadening oppressive repressive world that David loves so dearly it will really be all of us who David sweeps aside here who will hopefully make that happen.
10
Given that there appears to be deep ties between Deutsche Bank and the Trump Organization, it seems that Khuzami, as the former General Counsel for Deutsche Bank, will have to or already has recused himself from that portion of the investigation.
8
" spoke in favor of the Patriot Act"
Khuzami is just another government stooge. Nobody who takes the rights of Americans seriously would speak highly of the Patriot Act.
5
". . . general counsel for Deutsche Bank . . ." Deutsche Bank? Is that not Trump's favorite--and only remaining--'legitimate' lender?
4
@Cody McCall
True and it is world giant financial operator of German state. Do you think USA can take down Deutsche Bank.
The author should not have mentioned the Deutsche Bank, one of Trumps' most important lenders.....
2
David, thanks for reminding us that there are still some goods guys around who are trying to keep us from drowning in the cesspool Donald Trump is making of the presidency.
1
Trump is the worst president in American history and that includes a fair number of rascals. He accuses our free press of being "the enemy of the people" as if he never read the First Amendment. Maybe he hasn't?
Trump is unpatriotic when he impugns the Department of Justice. It started when Trump ridiculed AG Sessions for correctly recusing himself from the Russian investigation whereas Trump wanted Sessions to run it (and end it).
Trump appears obviously guilty. 15 campaign associates have colluded with Russians, lied about meeting with Russians or simply lied under oath. Trump has surrounded himself with "tremendous people" who are themselves indicted and/or plead guilty to criminal behavior. That speaks volumes.
If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then Trump is a duck guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.
We The People will not stand by and let AG Barr and GOP Congressional representatives severely edit or hide Mueller's report.
If Republicans continue to shield Trump from the arm of the law, then a Blue Tsunami in 2020 will sweep Mitch and his GOP cronies from the Senate and Democrats will easily win the White House.
Considering the election fraud in North Carolina by Mark Harris, it's becoming all too common that Republicans gerrymander and use other heinous electioneering to win seats in government. Case in point, Trump trusts Putin more than American intelligence agencies.
8
@Question Everything I voted for Trump. He has been an architect of change and exposed the total corruption of our institutions while being corrupt himself. Even Brooks is starting to question himself. This is a transitional time and hopefully positive changes will emerge. Democrats just as corrupt and self serving as Republicans.
David, David. The Federalist Society has 4% membership of lawyers in the country. However they comprise 70% of the nominations and appointments to the bench.
We all know where this is headed. Yes there are some lawyers of course who are concerned wth the public good. Barack Obama for instance.
6
So, someone who did not put anyone in jail for the Great Recession, and then worked for Deutsche Bank (Trump's main money launderer) is the right person? Wirklich? I am not impressed.
5
I hope you are right.
2
The fact that he was counsel for Deutsche Bank, the only outfit still willing to do business with Trump, and known launderers of Russian money, doesn't worry you at all? No sir! No uneasiness there!
5
Mr. Brooks, what you have described is what Trump worshipers call The Deep State.
4
@MH
Look in all nations has deep state , I do not find this world absurd or offending. It is exist not in the form of what Trump base thinks , most likely they are imagining deep state is a thing also you can find on documents. no not like that.
For example : In 1983. There is Train station bomb attack in Bologna Italy. Today we know 100% sure this bombing plotted and executed by deep state of Italy.
Most likely JFK assassination was done by deep state too.
If you want to catch some people about this things you will only get a coupe of pathetic murderers.
In the same way financial crimes , you will only get small crooks.
Deep state is not a body or formed group, it is more like human brain id-ego type structure.
America is at a tipping point. We can’t take 6 more years of the havoc this President is wreaking, aided by his feckless and amoral GOP enablers. Hopefully, brave, able and selfless prosecutors and legislators like Khuzami, Mueller and his team, Schiff and others will continue to provide the counter weight needed to save our ship of state. Our children’s future and America’s future hangs in the balance. It’s that serious!
3
Excellent. Compare this diligent, honorable, hardworking public servant to the Trumps. Or anyone voluntarily serving his regime.
The tide WILL turn. This hellish reality TV “ President “ WILL be gone, in one way or another. Oh, happy day.
1
Why must our democracy and judicial system be tested by the likes of Trump who operates like a crime boss who has brought his crime family into the White House . His campaign populated by indicted and convicted felons while Trump is busy siding with Putin over his intel folks, Trump should have the decency to resign to spare our country the outrage of his cult following, The GOP sold out the country to get tax cuts for its donor class and bans on abortion and gays. Was Trump's chaotic rule worth it as MSB is soon to get NUKES from Jared sure to cash in big time as planned by this pack of grifters.
2
Where was all this legal enthusiasm when HRC was running roughshod through the State Department?
1
Except she wasn't. It was all a fantasy from Faux News. Republicans project on to others what they themselves are guilty of.
1
It isn't just teams of elite lawyers who are attempting to cling to right and wrong in the face of the relentless onslaught of Donald Trump, his minions, and virtually his entire Republican Party. There are committed and honorable federal employees throughout the government, clinging to life rafts in a hurricane with no help in sight from any quarter.
Republicans in D.C. and the state capitals are more than happy to see them destroyed, to liberate corrupt corporations and bigots throughout the land.
Please write your next column about the federal employees struggling to survive Trump and still protect our national parks, safeguard our military personnel from unscrupulous payday lenders, and keep black teenagers from getting shot.
3
So, the rich, well-connected, revolving-door pillars of the establishment are going to save us? From who? From themselves? From Deutschebank? Get real, David. TG
"... Will the legal, political and social institutions of American life be able to withstand the norm-destroying corruption ..."
Bravo to that portion of America's legal institutions symbolized by such as Mr Berman and F AG Sessions who understand and acted upon the need for recusal. Bravo as well to Mr Khuzami whom I assume Mr Brooks rightly cites as exemplifying fearless and correct enforcement of traditional values of legal institutions. To say nothing of the kudos due Mr Mueller and other effectors of the same values whom - ominously - PT has not hesitated to impugn, directly and indirectly.
"Ominously" is what I take Mr Brooks to understand when he asks "Will our institutions hold" and when he concludes the piece with " ... if we get through this, it will be because of people like [Mr Khuzami, who make up] teams ... spread anonymously throughout the U.S. government."
The point and the frightening problem are that the legal institutions are totally informed by and dependent on " ... the political and social institutions of American life ... " and that according to virtually all polling, support for PT - since inauguration - has rarely been less than 40%; and at this very moment is 42.3% (FiveThirtyEight.com).
Respectfully, that's way too close for way too long, for this native-born observer well into his eighth decade. And there's no way that legal institutions can stem the apparent political and social tides, much less can they carry the day.
1
Lawyers make up 40% of the 116th Congress. Consider that.
1
@Socrates:
Wait, wait, I thought Trump was a shoo-in for the Nobel Peace Prize. He wouldn’t lie about such a thing, would he?
Let's not overstate those who did not break from those who did, because out here in the west the simple fact is, Robert Barr is calling the shots---precisely as he did for Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh's Iran-Contra investigation into George Bush Sr.'s extraordinary illogical ignorance.
Barr like then will now clean up and effectively block the Independent Counsel---how? Pardons worked wonders then and apparently still do.
2
With little else left of Republicanism to defend, it is nice to see Mr. Brooks uncovered something to believe in.
Let's not forget this is the same profession that thirty years ago put the suffering of children second to the appearance of the Catholic church. In multiple jurisdictions they adjudicated it the same way by protecting the pedophiles I am not sure I see a link between the rule of law and moral decency anymore.
I'm hard pressed to understand Mr. Brooks argument in this column. How has Khuzmani stood the test of time, integrity and honor? No case is made to substantiate the column title.
Bush v. Gore. That was it. The rest is just watching a train wreck in slo-mo.
2
Brooks cites Andrew McCarthy in an article that Brooks hails law enforcement for holding Trump accountable. This appears to be extremely ignorant. Does Brooks not know that Andrew McCarthy of The National Review is one of the biggest opponents of Robert Mueller and the Russia investigation? He must. Notice Brooks focuses praise on SDNY and leaves out Mueller and all the great work they are doing.
McCarthy bashes Mueller and the FBI daily. Here's a video of him on Fox where he regularly does his bashing:
'Andy McCarthy: Mueller investigation has become a clown show'
https://video.foxnews.com/v/5972656915001/#sp=show-clips
This apology is tragically ridiculous commentary, suggesting that even though Rome is burning, we shouldn’d despair because there are some dedicated artisans around who, in the long run may rebuild it. David: you should write about the big picture, the damage already done, what additional damage will be done, while the United States and the world twist in the wind as the infection spreads. We need the most powerful antibiotic to rid us of this viscous beast and you’re prescribing a baby aspirin.
1
The situation here has analogies to the great financial crisis of 2008, translated into what has become close to a fraudulent takeover of America, in an attempt to turn it into a personality-cult "authoritarian" (read neo-fascist ) kakistocracy.
In that financial crisis nobody was held responsible for enormous frauds. In this one a bunch of small scamsters around the president have been exposed and charged, but the core of it remains untouched.
Trump backers who claim "none of the charges are collusion" ("collusion" not being a chargeable crime, "conspiracy" is) sort-of have a point ... for now.
But "individual 1" is an unindicted co-conspirator and individual perpetrator of multiple felony violations of FECA, tax fraud and money laundering. And anyone aware of what is public sees the obvious; the voluminous gagging smoke of what can only be the ugliest of dumpster fires that remains unexposed.
The question is will the Trump mafia manage to "pull a Christie" and escape like all the banksters, while only little chumps go to jail?
1
This article gives me hope.
Feinstein says it all in this floor speech. Barr is there to protect Trump and it looks like he believes that Trump has ultimate power over any DOJ case, including his own and he is able to shut down any investigations that is under the DOJ, even if it is an investigation into his own illegal actions.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bTF4xil8_q8
1
I think it's too early to tally. The longer the toad is the office, the more damage will be done to our institutions. There is daily assault on our institutions and even if they withstand, they may not be the same any more. It's people like Mitch McConnell that are pernicious traitors to this country, hijacking Senate to build up their own power. This viper with the toad, make a very destructive combination, and I wonder in what country our children will be growing up.
1
'The American legal system...seems to be holding up pretty well. Even under the intense Trumpian pressure'
Never in America's wildest dreams did we think we'd have to defend our legal system and other democratic institutions against our president! He's not a leader, he's the enemy. We elected and put an enemy of American in the office of the president!
1
Thank you David Brooks. After reading this I (really!) feel better regarding the US condition! (plus the 'white sheep' joke was really funny)
1
Fingers crossed.
1
What WAS broken this century was the Department of Justice.
Going back to the days of L. Patrick Gray, whichever party was out of power has pretty much constantly accused the DoJ of being the Dept. of ''Injustice.''
But Barack Obama went to the lengths that NO other American present has dared try: he actually set up a cabal of his true believers in the DoJ and FBI to carry out a behind-the-scenes campaign against candidate Trump and then as a coup d'etat against the new President-elect.
These angry D.C. insiders - including both genders and, as if it mattered, voting registrations in both major parties - were directed to hide every significant charge against Hillary while accusing Trump of anything that could be thought up.
There was NO way these efforts, up to and including repeated lying to FISA court judges, could not have come together without Mr. Obama's active participation and permission.
But then again, Obama spent dozens of meeting just getting civil-disobedience crowds prepare with Bob Kreamer. No wonder his golfing was reduced in late 2016.
1
It's good that prosecutors are standing up to Pres. Lil Hands. When he's gone, his judicial appointments -- for the most part dictated by the Federalist Society -- will remain, and will redirect our legal efforts for decades to come.
2
First, it was about stealing the election.
Then it was about building hotels in Russia.
In this article, it's about the inauguration.
Pundits are already talking up the idea that the Mueller investigation is only Part 1, to be followed by as many parts as necessary until Trump is impeached. This is because they are worried that the Mueller report will, unexpectedly, not provide a smoking gun.
The left simply cannot get over the fact that Hillary Clinton lost, according to the rules defined in election law, to someone completely unsuitable for office.
But that does not make Trump a criminal.
That's very inconvenient for progressives, but it's accurate nonetheless.
45
Trump has already been implicated as a co-conspirator in a felony violation of campaign finance law. He has lied repeatedly about his business dealings with Russia. How many indictments and guilty pleas has the Mueller investigation turned up? And all perjury on trump’s dealings with Russia?
Where there’s smoke, there is fire!
135
There’s nothing to get over. No one’s wringing their hands or shaking their fists.
It’s condescending to portray anyone who recognizes Trump’s mendacity and corruption as a crybaby.
It’s not as though Mueller discovered nothing, so red-faced (Republican) liberal prosecutors are turning to the inauguration. The Russia investigation continues. Mueller has indicted 32 and convicted 8. Meanwhile, as it does, another investigation into the inauguration opens because that’s another corrupt operation.
It all proceeds from the emoluments clause. Trump refused not just to disclose his tax returns, but to divest himself of his businesses. He assumed apparently that he’d be able to skirt the law and thwart investigation, but in fact that decision left him “below suspicion”, you might say, and a ripe target for endless investigation.
177
@G He is a liar, a racist, and might very well be deranged, megalomaniacal. The criminality that you toss off as nothing may in fact be the least of our worries. Psychologists have described Trump as the kind of personality that sees losing control as a kind of death. As he experiences increasing lack of control, he will become more impulsive and dangerously aggressive. This guy is already trading our nuclear secrets to Saudi Arabia..He seems to have no boundaries at all. I truly dread what is to come.
130
This article seems premature until we fully know the Deutsche Bank / Trump / Khuzami relationship.
2
Before we get all excited about the honorable legal system, we have to recall Bush vs Gore, Citizens United, and stacking the Supreme Court, among others.
There are some hero’s, thank goodness, but it’s not time for general accolades.
And we can’t lay all the problems on Trump and pretend when he departs the sun will shine again. The Mercers, the Uihleins, the Kochs, the Spencers, the DeVos, the Wilks, the Adelsons have a very firm grip on the GOP and 4 or 5 Supreme Court Justices. Not to mention they run an unparalleled brainwashing apparatus that keeps a disoriented dotard Trump with an 89% following among Republican voters. Enough lemmings to overwhelm elections.
6
So breathless, I suppose you love Law and Order. God help us if we are looking to federal prosecutors as our paragons of good character. In litigating hundreds of cases against them over 20 years, the thing that stands out is that their self-righteousness and career ambition tend to breed a special sort of dishonesty (and, by the way, lack of mercy or compassion), which is too often rewarded, and almost never — and never proportionally — punished. But it is nice that some of that can be directed at Trump and his cronies, because people of color should not be its exclusive beneficiaries.
2
If our legal system kowtowed to Trump the way the GOP congress has, it would be well-near inevitable that the United States would devolve into an autocracy. Our nation cannot endure a president who treats the Constitution as a mat on which to wipe his feet.
3
The GOP, especially Senator McConnell, on the other hand are doing everything thing they can to help break it.
7
The lawyers nay have survived but the American political system is very broken.
3
The ultimate corruption of the U.S. legal system is the refusal of the Republican Senators to let anyone who is not of their party to become a Supreme Court justice. And that (bizarrely) is a lifelong appointment. So Trump's legacy will live long after hie passes.
5
There may be many federal prosecutors that have the ability to put their politics to the side and work for their employer-we the people.
However, there are those prosecutors who have a firm belief in party politics and policies that come forth from "King Chaos" which makes those people nothing more than Trump toadies which puts them more in a master-servant relationship (Sessions, Whittaker and now Barr come to mind).
As long as Trump demands loyalty from his appointees we will see a continuing failure of our institutions and those attorneys who are able to withstand the onslaught of Trump's inane and insane policies and loyalty tests will find themselves on the outside looking in.
2
Strange, that a market-worshipper like Brooks is gushing about institutional "right and wrong". Almost as odd as trying to sell, week after week, volunteerism as a substitute for taxation and public services.
It ought to be hilarious, that a neo-liberal "free market" right-wing conservative is the first to objection to "materialism"... explaining motives, including his own, with a simple reference to greed.
So forget my revolving door. All the civilizing institutions I want to disarm and drown in the bathtub are doing a great job despite my best efforts. Just don't expect me to send any rich person to jail. I mean, like, free markets!
Another example is pastor Mark Harris's son (a US attorney, who refuted his own father's testimony of not knowing about about a unscrupulous political operative, hired to harvest absentee ballots in contravention of election laws.
1
Republicans have not been passive in this onslaught against our institutions and our democratic republic. They have played an active role in passing rules that smooth the way for his Supreme Court appointees; they have voted with him on almost every piece of legislation, and only the occasional small group of Republican Senators have split off one or two times to stop the st of Trump's recent attacks.
Suggesting that the Republicans are simply lying around letting Trump run all over them is typical of Mr. Brooks' continuing inability to write with true candor about Republican party's active participation in the dismantling of our rule of law.
The Republicans are not lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. Their votes, their statements, their change of position after every visit to the White House are all evidence of an active role in what has been going on in DC.
Everyone is making choices. Those choices lead to behavior. To say the Republicans are passive is at the least inaccurate, and at the worst willfully ignorant.
3
"These investigations are being led, it should be noted, by Republicans."
When will anti-Trumpers ever understand that some of those who most hate Trump are themselves Republicans? Many of them supported other candidates who Trump ridiculed during the primaries, or predicted he would lose to Hillary, or have been attacked personally by Trump (see Romney).
They cannot tolerate the fact that he is still President, and is likely to continue as President through the balance of his term - maybe beyond. They will despair when Mueller reports he couldn't find collusion (even though his language will suggest otherwise), and take solace both in Adam Schiff's upcoming investigation and in the SDNY's crusade to kick Trump out of office. They will fight Trump in 2020 as savagely as any Democrat - in newspaper columns and as participants on cable news panels.
So please David Brooks and others making the same argument, stop referring to anti-Trump Republicans as support for your own hatred of Trump.
1
Does this make David feel better for tirelessly championing the destruction of everything decent and smart in our country for the sake of the Republican party?
2
The Con Man in Chief will be indicted.
"They are clinging tenaciously to the old standards of right and wrong, to the Constitution and the rule of law. And if we get through this, it will be because of people like them."
The DOJ’s mission as articulated on its website is “to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.” There’s only one way to do that given where we are politically today and that is by taking this matter away from politicians and allow the independent judiciary to handle it. Anything less would be saying Trump, for all practical purposes, is above the law.
https://www.justice.gov/about
Our Mission Statement
To enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.
1
An important role in this national drama has been played by the previous law firm of Mr Robert Muller, WilmerHale.
It cannot be easy to leave the comforts and perks of a high status private practice. It would be so easy to say “I’ve done my time, let the system do its work.” Robert Mueller, Jeannie Rhee, James Quarles, and Aaron Zebley, WilmerHale partners, decided at some personal sacrifice to themselves and their families to answer the call. The fact that they all have answered that call says something good about WilmerHale.
Thank you, WilmerHale.
So often in the last 24 months I have wondered “Where are the lawyers? How can they tolerate this? Is not the search for truth and its revelation essential?" Truth is just about everything. Thank you, WilmerHale, for doing a significant part in this task.
And finally, I notice that on your web page "Commitment to Public Service” shares equal billing with excellence in service to your clients. That is admirable. Without truth and law, the wolves make merry. Without men and women of character acting to uphold truth and our laws, the laws and truth devolve into a sad joke. It is men and women of character that make the difference. It is firms like WilmerHale that do the essential work of selecting the next generation of Persons of Character, and instilling in them our highest values and obligations.
Thank you, WilmerHale.
1
Almost laughable, citing someones background points to them as beyond reproach. Working for Duetsche Bank he wouldn't necessarily know that it was the biggest fraudulent bank in history.
David Brooks is again engaging in some fantasy:
"legal institutions instill codes of excellence"... really?
If you talk with anyone who has had to weather through the legal system, they will tell you that they learned very quickly that "excellence" is nowhere to be seen in our courts.
Every lawyer I have interviewed or hired has told me that lawyers lie.
They (including judges) are not looking for "excellence".
The ongoing investigations will not find or reveal or prosecute trump and his vast corrupt minions for their full crimes.
I believe we will see that trump will be brought down for something as "minor" as "tax evasion" - and nothing more - when he has committed many more gravely serious crimes. That will be a travesty that our legal system is so incapable of establishing the truth about this person. His corrupt lawyers, his newly minted AG, and his countless "legal beagles" will obfuscate the issues to defend him -- not quite the search of "excellence" Brooks claims.
"Donald Trump has shriveled congressional authority and shredded the rules of basic democratic behavior."
Actually, it's Mitch McConnell who has done that, with the support of most other Republicans in the Senate. Trump would be nowhere if they actually upheld their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution, instead of confirming unqualified, corrupt ideologues to cabinet positions and the federal bench.
One can look for hope in the people of integrity who are left, but one also has to worry about whether they will soon be outnumbered if McConnell isn't held to account in the next election.
3
It is a known political technique to label an opponents simplistically in a 2-3 word name in hope of branding the opponent in a negative image. It goes to man’s short attention spans. Sometimes appropriate, other time not so. Here are some examples: tricky Dick, crooked Hillary and now god hope it sticks King Chaos. The latter so good, it does not even require the last name. And what else is so good in this article, its that there will be so many investigators on so many fronts just maybe King Chaos’s limited vocabulary can’t tag them all. Bring on the Judiciary. I hope it’s true speculation that, Muller’s probe is a door opener in the Legislature and Judiciary investigations.
I’m not terribly interested in a Republican cheerfully telling me that the system is surviving despite onslaught by his fellow Republicans. People like Mr. Brooks are responsible for the rise of Trump and his enablers in Congress. It is not his place to calm the nerves of those on the right side of history by telling us his allies are ineffective.
1
The only institution that has failed us is the one that brought on all of our troubles, the legislature. Congress is the tainted well that breeds the disease that confounds the nation and the dreadful Trump is merely a symptom of that malaise. Trump is the first warning sign to the American people that as long as Congress is broken, the future is bleak. Instead of outrage for our sickly primary institution, the nation focuses on the other institutions that only treat the symptoms.
230
@dudley thompson it's tricky. My sense is, and Brooks's article implies that the institutions are only as resilient as their current stewards. Khuzami and Mueller may be rocks the "waves of calumny", but McConnell is a sandhill. He has the power to defend the Institution we call the Senate, but so far has let Trump call the shots. New leadership can revive Congress.
I would add, however that the Electoral College, with the anonymity of its guardians being a feature of its nature, may be dead as an institution. It has failed twice this century alone.
16
@dudley thompson
I agree with you that the legislature is diseased (there's a reason it's called the 'Broken Branch') but I would argue that people are outraged about the legislature, and have given more power to the judiciary and executive branches out of frustration.
I would say that Obama's abuse of the executive order power were the first warning signs, and that Trump has shown quite well why abusing the executive powers, even for a good cause, is a bad thing.
That's my biggest problem with Obama, he abused his powers to the extent that he was often accused of ruling by executive fiat. Now that Trump is president, he's doing the exact same thing, but with "conservative" goals.
Now its the democrats screaming about abuse of power, and the republicans loudly claiming that Trump has every right to do what he wants. 2008-2016, Republicans were screaming to the heavens about how Obama is a dictator, while the Democrats shout that he has every legal right to do what he wants.
In other words, the president is too powerful, the judiciary is used like a weapon by whoever has a majority, and the congressmen/women pose like peacocks and scream like banshees, while being more two faced than Janus
3
@dudley thompson Agree. What gets me is how so much focus is on symptoms rather than root causes. Our political system and its leaders (Congress and the Senate) have been rotten and corrupt for years. Many Trump supporters know this and revile Washington D.C. Yes, Trump is a symptom.
2
*These investigations are being led, it should be noted, by Republicans.*
Doesnt is say something when Mr Brooks needs to point out that there are Republicans involved, whether they are *leading* the investigations or not?
It is even more to the point that there are plenty of Republicans in Congress (in leadership positions as well as rank-and-file lemmings) who are going out of their way to aid and abet what Mr Trump is doing to our Republic.
Thankfully there are citizens, of whatever political party, who see the need to put back the check in check and balance of our system of government.
Kudos to te Lawyers in the article and Kudos to Mr. Brooks. This is his strongest statement in years. Perhaps he is moving past the Dnial Stage regarding the path that the conservative movement has followed.
1
There are plenty of examples in history where a profoundly corrupt political system with an authoritarian bent infests a formerly distinguished legal system and eventually subverts it to the will of the state. Muller notwithstanding we are creeping in that direction.
6
If ever you wondered about whether or not the Senate held any potential Republican leaders to replace DJT, we now know the answer - no.
The opportunities to display genuine leadership qualities have abounded during the reign of DJT, and each Republican senator has devolved into a conciliatory position unimpeded by the thought process.
My next entrepreneurial venture will be to set up a shop outside the Capitol Building selling spines - Messrs. McConnell and Graham would be my first customers.
7
Just make sure you don’t install those spines upside down.
After two years of watching this Republican Senate, Congress, and members of Mr. Trump's aquiescent administration fold and break, it's nothing less than a miracle that there's anyone left willing to stand up against him.
If anything, we were reminded of this when Democrats regained the House in the midterm elections and have since then shown what it really takes to make America great again--it's called "checks and balances".
But as far as the Southern District Court of New York in concerned, the case against Trump's "shambolic grabfest" may not differ from an investigation started by then-New York Attorney General Eric Schniederman, who not only started to examine the Trump Foundation in 2016, but found it politically biased and without proper license to solicit donations as a charity.
It's also not hard to imagine that Mr. Trump shed no tears when for different reasons, both Mr. Scneiderman and Preet Bharara managed to leave their posts at the S.D.N.Y. , which is why it is a relief that someone like Robert Khuzami takes up the reins.
Because someone has to abide by the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law when there is a president who fails to.
4
Decades ago I had the opportunity to serve as a special assisstant U.S. attorney, and I know from that experience how representing the United States of America embues those who do with an awesome sense of honor and country, of responsibility far bigger than one’s self. So it is hardly surprising to read of the patriotism and integrity of the career prosecutors of the S.D.N.Y.
But generalizing from such honorable professionals that the “U.S. legal system is withstanding the Trump onslaught” is a bridge too far. Our legal system consists of more than the prosecutors who lead the charge against those who break our laws. It is also made up judges who preside over the administration of justice and it is supported by the confidence of the American public such justice is indeed blind. And with every Senate confirmation we see more blatant partisanship in our judiciary and a weakening of public faith in our legal system. And with every passing day we see the President of the United States fanning eroding public trust into full scale loss of confidence, not just in the system but in the rule of law itself. To his telling “Obama judges” are not to be confused with “honest” ones, a “Deep State” is actively working to subvert justice for political ends and the rule of law is meaningless.
I wish the test of the strength of our legal system were indeed the honor of our prosecutors. But ultimately it rests in the eyes of the public. And I am far from sure their vision will hold.
11
Amen...it should be noted that our national and local governmental agencies are filled with employees who each day come to work, often at low pay, to serve our country and locality where they work. It has been discouraging over the last decade to watch our political class, particularly the GOP, characterize the people who work in our governmental bureaucracies as somewhat substandard employees who couldn't get a job in the private sector--as if public service is a make-work governmental handout.
6
Before we lionize prosecutors, recognize that they too exist along a spectrum, with some deserving of praise, and others deserving of censure or worse (see U.S. vs. former Senator Stevens).
Prosecutors are afforded unique and overwhelming power in our justice system. Subpoenas and indictments produced by them are often confused with the guilt of the target -- they are not. They are just what a one-sided (i.e., grand jury) process can produce.
So, let's await judgement on SDNY to see what they can actually make stick against the targets of their current investigations.
Mueller has proven that some Republicans are trustworthy, have integrity and take their jobs seriously and do the most Professionally. Here is hoping David Brooks is correct about Khuzami.
6
And if we get through this it will also be because everyday Americans rallied to restore a proper leader to the highest office as well as proper politicians throughout the land.
9
"Some legal experts believe the inauguration is being aggressively probed as a racketeering operation — a continuing criminal enterprise, complete with mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and the rest."
This is the first I've heard of it. I'd like to know more, but instead Brooks veers off and starts focusing on the personality of the prosecutor. I don't really care about that.
4
Mr. Brooks speaks too soon. Some institutions have not held up, including those containing many lawyers. The State Department, the EPA, the Consumer Protection Agency, the Interior Department, Treasury, Commerce and government agencies devoted to scientific research have all been gutted or corrupted. Republican senators have been incredibly spineless in failing to assert their authority and rein in an increasingly autocratic Trump. Mueller and the SDNY may be holding firm but the Justice Department as a whole is still a question mark, as is Barr and perhaps Wray. Comey and McCabe were railroaded because they were investigating Trump, without anyone in Congress or DOJ standing up for them. In all, more than two dozen other top FBI and DOJ officials have been fired, demoted or forced to resign because they were looking too closely, or knew too much, about Trump, his business dealings or his ties to Russia.
7
David, I truly wish I could share your enthusiasm for him, but I don’t! Maybe I’ll be proved wrong over the next few months, and I would love that. Time will tell.
5
God bless Khuzami and everyone like him. We are literally, at their mercy. We are left without a country if the Republicans in Congress give their authority over to Trump to please their donors and gain more wealth, and if our legal system didn't hold others accountable to the law. Thank God for the Khuzami-like prosecutors, judges and Supremes, who will not allow this King of Chaos and Clan to turn our beloved country that our family members fought and died to preserve into the swamp, cess pool of corruption at every level, for their own benefit. We will take our country back! "Righteousness exalteth a nation, sin is a reproach to any people" God can bless us when we are on the side of justice and righteousness. Justice will be served. The day of reckoning is at hand.
1
"The U.S. Congress has not fared well."
No, the Republicans in Congress have not fared well. The new Democratic House, with Speaker Pelosi, is operating as an independent branch of government. The change is obvious, and the party behind the change even more so. Come on, David.
4
Ok David, nice to read the professionalism of Mr. Khuzami and his long courageous battle with corruption. Courage that is certainly lacking in the representatives elected to congress, especially those to the GOP congress.
Lets cut to the chase David and start to really get to the heart of this threat to democracy. Call out the ones responsible for their "supine (failure to act or protest as a result of moral weakness or indolence) attitude to the man who "shrivels their congressional authority and shredded the rules of basic democratic behavior".
From whichever party. Guess is you'll be quite busy on the GOP side. Hint, a good start would be with one having the initials M M.
7
Dare I say, God bless the founders and their followers for crafting a Constitution that, though shaken, still stands.
We are not impervious to inept leadership, but our ship of state still floats forward on its course.
It's a tragic error to assume that it's only the so-called Captain and a crew of lawyers and their oaths that helps us hold a steady course. There are also, below the decks, the legislative crew who pull the oars, taking turns with one side pulling and the other side pushing.
This is far more than a legal problem, folks....no matter what the Captain yells.
2
Thank you for this article. I would also say hats off to Sally Yates.
11
Bravo Mr. Brooks for an excellent column. We need more people to praise our government employees. Thank you.
5
I went to law school during the Watergate era. It was obvious then that lawyers had a higher duty in government than the duty to "follow orders".
We Watergate era graduates are now aging out of the system. I think it is notable that one of my Watergate era classmates was Elizabeth Warren, whereas, three years later, the same school graduated non-Watergate era Bob Menendez.
6
While I agree that there a a multitude of rock-solid ethical lawyers, any reason to overlook that a good part of pro-Trump Congress are lawyers too?
4
@pedestrian
Ah... you're referring to the rock-solid unethical lawyers.
1
Not so fast, Mr. Brooks.
We all saw how all the Republican lawyers in Congress responded when Trump fired Attorney General Sessions and appointed Matthew Whitaker to take his place.
Remember the outrage, the courage from the Republican leaders/lawyers, Mr. Brooks?
Oh, that's right.
Crickets.
There wasn't any courage.
Let's see what Attorney General William Barr does with the Mueller report.
Let's see what happens to acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and whether he lied under oath to Congress.
Let's see how the former US attorney for the Southern District of New York, Rudy Giuliani, comports himself when the Mueller report comes out. So far Giuliani has been shameful, an embarrassment, a liar, a toady.
Let's see whether Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh recuses himself when he should, a Supreme Court Justice thanks to lawyer Mitch McConnell's corruption, and a Supreme Court Justice thanks to his own wildly, partisan outburst at his confirmation hearing, aided and abetted by lawyer Lindsey Graham's inappropriate hysterics at that same hearing.
Republicans have been infected by the Trump disease.
The jury is still out on how certain Republican lawyers will act.
1015
@V
Precisely. Great post. I agree with you. The jury is indeed still out.
47
@V
How the GOP let a hot tub salesperson become "Acting" AG is reprehensible.
Mitch and the GOP have failed to be the needed check to Trump for more than 2 years. They failed to protect Mueller investigation which would have been an easy vote on the floor of Congress but Ryan and McConnell blocked that discussion and vote. They worked for the good of the party over the best interests of America, the Constitution and We The People.
So Brooks wants to applaud the GOP now? That's a big stretch there David. Too big.
60
@V You completely miss the point. This praise is for unelected "bureaucrats", not for elected officeholders, of both parties by the way, who spend so much of their time heaping criticism on the bureaucracy. As for Rudy, he's just a blabbermouth reaching feebly for one last swan song in the limelight. You're comparing Khusami to him?
27
Deep, deep respect for Robert Mueller, who in spite of all the relentless heat has run an incredibly tight ship, and extremely productive investigations.
"They are clinging tenaciously to the old standards of right and wrong, to the Constitution and the rule of law. And if we get through this, it will be because of people like them."
So very true. I have the privilege of knowing one, a good friend who works for the DOJ. She's not involved in Trump-related cases, but I can vouch that her personal politics are always secondary to what is right. She is doggedly dedicated to serving the best interest of the county according to our laws and constitutional principles.
Most of the feds I've met over the few decades I've lived in DC have the same interest in service and level of dedication. It deeply saddens me that Republicans (aided by Fox & the like) are attacking the very glue that has kept America stable.
589
@Barbara
Robert Mueller has yet to show us whether he believes Americans can handle the truth. I am a Socratic but I don't know whether America can handle the truth. There is no easy answer and I suspect that Mueller does not rest easy. I believe Comey and McCabe were faced with the same dilemma. I loved what was America and even as I believe it is to late to close the barn door it is still a dilemma.
5
@Barbara
What is even sadder for our country, in my opinion, is the number of dedicated federal employees who have been so demoralized by this administration that they are leaving their jobs for retirement or the private sector. The damage done by this corrupt, chaotic, and corrosive administration to our country will take decades to undo.
22
A few exceptional lawyers do not, unfortunately, make up for the extent to which Trump and McConnell have been packing the courts with incompetents and ideologues, a factor that Mr. Brooks completely ignores. Given that Trump and McConnell will probably have at least two more years to continue this destructive process, it is far too early for optimism about the survival of an independent judiciary. Let us see how things look in November 2020.
606
@J Johnson Trump is the symptom, McConnell and the Republican Party is the disease!! I don’t know what we are going to do about all those incompetent judges.
5
@J Johnson You may be correct, but I'm a little more optimistic. I believe that once on the bench, and after Trump is gone, and, hopefully, the Republican party comes to its senses and reforms itself, the Trump appointees will consider their legacies as more important than being seen as lemmings. Even Eisenhower's appointment of Earl Warren (who turned out to be much more "liberal" than Ike believed him to be) elicited Ike's comment: “the biggest damn fool thing I ever did.”
2
@J Johnson. Absolutely on target. Even if we escape and don’t have to deal with Trump for another 4 years, the damage he has done to our functioning legislation through the destruction of Cabinet agencies is colossal and the destruction that McConnell has done through his personally ignoring Constitutional order and rushing to appoint right wing judges nationwide is the under belly of the next demagogue. Great nations and empires don’t die in a flash, they die over long periods of time aided by bad and/or selfish judgment in many areas.
14
I'm not reassured. Corruption always starts with the elected officials and then spreads to the appointed. Right now the courts and agencies are still filled with responsible people who were appointed by prior presidents and senates. But as our corrupted president and senate appoint their own people, the courts and agencies will come to be filled by the corrupt as well. Just give it time.
15
It's precisely because the current judiciary is independent that Trump repeatedly attacks it and Republicans have been on a campaign to fill vacant judicial seats with judges who they believe will be sympathetic to the policies their sponsors support or who would be outright beholden to their sponsors. Recall Trump's nomination of Matthew Spencer Petersen, who had literally no litigation experience or knowledge, for a position on the US District Court for Washington D.C. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty and an independent judiciary.
509
This column is notable for what it does not talk about. Senate Republicans denied President Obama his Supreme Court pick and his picks for many open judgeships. Trump and the Senate Republicans have filled those slots with a collection of hacks and radical right wing ideologues. Will the legal system survive that onslaught? Mr. Brooks avoids that topic.
1891
@Ed in Seattle
Thank you!
As I read Brook’s piece, all I could think was how feverishly Republicans in the Senate have been working to fill every vacancy in the justice system with a succession of grade c bumpkins with family legacy law degrees. Brooks, in his joyful reverie, manages to neglect this one relevant fact.
It seems the only qualification required, from the lowest appointment all the way to the Supreme Court, is a willingness to dismiss the legal personhood of grown women and maintain a level of superior personhood for corporations and fetuses. Last in your class? No problem.
Although a high tolerance for corruption certainly can’t hurt.
277
@Ed in Seattle Over time, yes. In the short run, it will be tough for proponents of certain views. I support abortion rights and would not care to face the court system going forward. It will get ugly. But the system as a whole will endure.
19
@Ed in Seattle - you are so right!
Brooks is a Republican. Maybe he cannot muster up the courage to really call out the truth of the matter, that the Republican administration (Senators, Representatives, Cabinet officials) has been DERELICT of duty, COMPLICIT by ignorance, allowing TRUMP and his cronies to power grab and pillage our system as they see fit. Like reprehensible Scott Pruitt who overtly wasted taxpayer dollars on his vanity and paranoia. Like the devious Betsy DeVos who took to squelching funds for public schools and showering the spoils on charter schools. The list goes on. Too many to list here.
Never in my life would I have imagined corruption would dominate US politics to levels like this. Yes, this is the most profound test of the US legal system's defense mechanism. May we see it react with legal anti-bodies to purge us of these corrupt people and send a message to those remaining that the GAME IS OVER.
134
This week president Trump singled out the New York Times as a “true enemy of the people.” Most conservatives shrugged. Conservatives do that a lot these days. Today Mr. Brooks is encouraged by the legal professionals in government who have not been corrupted by the demands of the party in power. However commendable that is, the inescapable additional point is that professional integrity in government is now no longer expected, at least by those who previously supported strict allegiance to the constitution and considered themselves patriots. That’s just one more thing to shrug off.
12
Ever read "For Whom The Bell Tolls"?
Early on, there's a scene where Robert Jordan (American professor fighting for the loyalists in the Spanish civil war) is checking up on some sentries.
He is behind enemy lines. Staying in a small camp of partisans up in the mountains. Snow is falling. Bitter cold.
One of those sentries is an old man, Anselmo. "Why should I stay here?" he asks himself. "What good is it if I freeze to death?"
But he stays anyway.
"Hombre!" exclaims a relieved Robert Jordan on finding him. "It means so much in this country--to find a man standing there, doing his duty where I left him."
Boy, Mr. Brooks--I thought of Anselmo reading your article. The guys that stand fast. The guys that do their duty. The patriots. BUT--
--where's everyone else?
How about the U.S. Senate?
What a hoot!
Under Mr. Mitch McConnell, the GOP Senators have been so many doormats. Upon which a contemptuous Donald J. Trump has wiped his muddy feet.
"O homines ad servitutem paratos," exclaimed the Emperor Tiberius. Weary of the abject servility he encountered in the Senate of his own day. "Oh those men! Ready to be slaves!"
Does Mr. Trump (deep down) feel the same way?
But is that all? No one else standing up to an out-of-control President--
--except our judicial system?
Well, Mr. Brooks--
--there's always you and me--
--and the people of America.
Thanks. Good article.
10
The acid test for the health of legal institutions will ultimately hinge on accountability.
Will Trump eventually be held legally accountable for the crimes he has committed, openly obstructing justice including multiple acts of witness intimidation?
If Trump is able to use the power of the Presidency and a complicit congressional members to avoid prosecution, run out the clock on statute of limitations, suppress all or part of the Mueller report, destroy the reputation of federal level law enforcement, dangle pardons to corrupt, intimidate witnesses, then we'll have our answer: That a profoundly corrupt President with assistance from a corrupt GOP is above the law despite the efforts of our legal institutions to it's job.
12
Onslaught?
Successfully defending oneself is an onslaught?
Nobody had laid a glove on Trump. Given his awesome power to run the country, often making irreversible decisions, there is zero chance prosecutors are sitting on any actionable evidence against him.
Keeping the hoax going has become passe. Americans on both sides are done with it.
1
@rex reese Your optimism may be short-lived.
Second, that "awesome power" is mostly fiction that is spread through his many pants-on-fire tweets.
Sadly, you have succumbed to those tweets.
1
I lived and worked in New York 1991-2000. Donald Trump was a publicity seeker and regular appearance in the local press and news. Subjects were his personal life and financial problems with banks due to real estate and construction projects. A public joke about him then was: "the banks can not afford to let him go bankrupt!" Everyone wondered how he could stay afloat. This will now eventually be revealed. The pattern seem emerging. That it has come to this that the majority of republicans have been duped and hoodwinked, including party leaders as Mitch O'Connell and Lindsey Graham, is astonishing. The threat to American Democracy and world leadership is real for as long these Trump enablers with Trump are in power. How the mess will unravel is still a major concern. I trust that USA has sufficient political leadership, institutions and is resilient enough to recover from the Trump mess.
12
Chris—Sadly, McConnell and Graham are not duped. They are complicit. That’s a big difference, and one that is tragic for our nation.
2
"Many Republicans have been supine while Donald Trump has shriveled congressional authority and shredded the rules of basic democratic behavior." No, David. ALL Republicans, especially GOP Senators, have totally ignored their sworn oaths to the American people to be a check on the Presidency. And for what? For the sake of securing the Trump base in order to win their next GOP primaries.
17
Khuzami and Mueller and their ilk are of course the "deep state" that Trump simultaneously ridicules, threatens, and fears.
People like these are accumulated over years of thoughtful governance, my fear is that though we may have enough to weather this awful Trump era his hollowing out of the deep state will leave us weakened and vulnerable.
2
Is Mr. Brooks providing us with an insight into the obvious?Some people are professionals--- they attend schools, study, pass exams, they are lawyers and those who become judges, prosecutors, etc. , they pass stringent bar exams, and there are professional standards and ethics committees that are prepared to mete out punishments to those who are unethical.
Our politicians can be any citizen of a certain age who is not found guilty of moral turpitude or public intoxication. Likewise, we have a increasingly enlarging cross section of American citizens who vote for blatant frauds and unethical, unprincipled fools. Nothing surprising or insightful going on here--like our earth's ecosystem, our political air is becoming highly toxic... and most importantly who knows just how Trump's angry legions will respond when the truth is made known by those in our judicial system who are carrying our their sworn duty to defend and uphold the Constitution.
11
So David Brooks is saying that the only thing standing between us and dictatorial rule is a bunch of lawyers. Why don't I feel better?
6
I hope the purview of the SDNY includes further investigation of Trump and Russian money laundering.
Given that his obstruction of justice seems almost a daily occurrence , it is probably seen as too banal to register as impeachable by the enabling GOP. Given the amount of Russian money flowing to the inauguration, and to the GOP through the NRA, having our government for sale is also probably not seen as enough to impeach by those who have been bought.
Actual money laundering seems to me the most likely thing to take him down...baring the discovery of some smoking gun that I can no longer bring myself to hope for.
Cheers for the wheels of justice and the men who grind them.
Faster please.
7
@Ben Bryant - The men - and the women - who grind them. Please, don't omit the existence and role of women in the name of extreme necessity. We either do this together or we all fail. I don't want a world that verbally and mentally excludes women or edits them in as an after thought.
And no - the word "men" does not include women. It is appalling that this still has to be pointed out and argued.
4
The only solace I've found in this whole dark, ugly nightmare of an amoral president and an utterly spineless Republican Congress which he's managed to manipulate from day one, is Robert Mueller. Whatever Rosenstein has been, good or bad, handing the investigation to Mr. Mueller was a blessing. Just knowing he's been in there quietly, methodically, doing his job, ignoring the sordidness this presidency--has been a comfort. And a ray of hope.
11
all this is really window dressing.
Trump is still supported by 90% of the GOP voters. Oblivious to his antics right in front of them, to the convictions of Trump's cronies, to the destruction of American values ("enemy of the people" -- who says that outside of a dictatorship?) they will support him to the end and beyond.
Even if there were tapes of Putin and Trump conspiring the shouting heads on Fox would say it is more "fake news" and the base would believe it.
Trump has won. There is literally nothing that will convince the 40% of US voters who back Trump of the truth. Even if/when he is convicted, that will just be evidence of the "Deep State" in action. Just ask Putin...
4
Until high-ranking Wall Street Banksters or corrupt financial regulators are put behind cages where they belong, for crimes we all know about, all the talk about courageous and principled lawyers and Justice Department personnel just rings hollow. Show me, don't tell me.
3
We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, ought to vote EVERY Republican out of office, especially those in the Senate who helped craven political hack Mitch McConnell steal a Supreme Court seat and who voted to put lying drunken frat boy Kavanaugh on the Court.
The House Judiciary Committee ought to investigate whether or not Kavanaugh lied under oath. If he did lie, he ought to resign immediately or do his job from jail.
Each of US have a duty to protect and defend our Constitution from the likes of Trump, McConnell, and their toadies. We have to vote them out of office so future politicians will know that there are limits to what We the People of the United States will tolerate
6
Perhaps Mr.Trumps trashing of our societal/political norms will strengthen us. There could be a happy ending to this barrage of garbage thinking and speaking that seem to have over written common standards prior to Trump. Maybe name calling, marital cheating, sexual abuse, and financial fraud will all become litmus tests for winnowing out candidates for public office. Perhaps past racist/sexist statements and behavior will again disqualify a person from becoming an admired public persona. I hope that all of this is true, and we will rise above Trump. I hope.
5
Rob Khuzami may be some of the other things said here, but he was not General Counsel at Deutsche Bank. He served under Richard Walker who was GC during those years. Neither Rob nor Dick were able to put a muzzle on DB's traders, and the firm is paying the price today. Hopefully he will be more successful at DoJ.
2
What a crock. This ridiculous lionization of prosecutors is sickening. Prosecutors tend to be the biggest thugs in the country, using tactics that would shame the mob. They bully and overcharge defendants, using the resources of the government to overwhelm them, break them financially, and make them take deals because they can't afford to defend themselves. They threaten to prosecute wives, children, parents, siblings if the defendants don't cave. And how about the arrest of Roger Stone by that supposed straight-shooter, great guy Robert Mueller -- dozens of federal agents descending upon his home at 6 am, when they could have just asked him to come in? Intimidation, pure and simple. Prosecutors have way too much power and no surprise, they abuse it.
1
I can see it now... “Hello Mr. Stone? We are going to come over and take you to jail in a little while. Can you please not delete anything from your computer, don’t shred anything or hide evidence. Thank you sir, we trust you and we wouldn’t want to embarrass you just for being a trader to our country, sir. See you in 2 hours.”
On the other hand...
Trump and company have provided so much to investigate that not looking into the outrageousness would itself be borderline criminal. Trump was attacking the FBI and the intelligence community before he was even sworn in. He has invited a thunderhead of investigations with his loose mouth and, early on, his desire to do sit down interviews. He spilled the beans on himself.
As for the inaugural explosion of what appears to be blatant corruption, why do we have corporations paying for that party in the first place? That is a scandal within the scandal. Isn't there enough corruption through campaign donations and the open floodgates of outside influence money to rot the core of our democracy without a corporate invasion every four years? This is one of the many out-in-the-open scandals that fall under the heading, "the way business has always been done". It needs to be stopped.
And this, too: however much one might want to be encouraged by the steadfastness of laws and the Constitution in the face of hourly threats from Trump and Trumpsters, the legal system failed us all during his long career. It failed to investigate his ramshackle, reckless ways of doing business, his phony me-first foundation and his and his family's apparent tax scams. Prosecutors were most likely afraid to take him on because they knew a platoon of lawyers would be firing back with all barrels. We wouldn't be in this mess now if they had acted more aggressively.
5
I hate to break it to you Dave, but do you think any president’s inaugural funding is any different? The SDNY investigation of the Trump inaugural shows the corruption of our legal system by rabid anti-Trumpers bent on their soft coup. Just like the Comey/McCabe FBI. They are the ones that need to be prosecuted, not Trump.
1
I'm not a rocket scientist or a legal eagle but I have been around the block more than a few times and for me, the moment Paul Manafort was heard asking a Derapaska associate, " How can we use this ( Trump Campaign Chair) to make me whole?", I knew there was a whole boatload of trouble coming around the corner. I hate being right.
4
The legal system is withstanding Trump because district attorneys and federal investigators recognize a crook when they see one.
3
In the next 3 weeks we will have the opportunity to see the true nature of the GOP with the Trump's declaration of emergency.If Trump could get away with these billions of $ appropriation to his wall, the system is broken!Trump will do worse than this steal...It is Trump vs America; there is no compromise here.Best of luck and pray for an American win.
3
Yes, Mr. Brooks there are some good lawyers and some of them happen to be registered Republicans. However, there are not enough of them to hold back an organization that wants a lawless small government society. I will never vote Republican again.
6
Give it some time. The Republicans are pushing through at record pace inept and corrupt Trump judges, who will not hesitate to accept and further the undemocratic Trump agenda.
4
I hope you are right Mr. Brooks because the Republicans on the Hill still have their head buried in the sand. They remain silent on all the misdeeds, corruption and degradation committed by this administration every day like a scorched earth policy. Their silence is like an apology. As a result, it is for journalists like you and attorneys like Mr. Khuzami to hold the torch and lead the way to unravelling this error of history that the past two years have been until we can finally vote to restore our institutions to what they are supposed to be.
Was it Shakespeare who said "First, praise all the lawyers."?
The trump era is definitely a surprise a day when we look to attorneys as our caped heroes.
@Zeke I wish it were so, but the line from Henry VI Part 2 Act 4, is “The first thing we do, we kill all the lawyers”, spoken in the context of removing barriers to usurpation of legitimate government power.
@Zeke27 - Actually, it was Dick the Butcher in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2, Act 4, Scene 2 and what he said actually was:
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."
He must have been wearing a MEGA hat.
Maybe it was really Rudy Giuliani.
David Brooks wraps up with the song lyrics "...just be thankful for what you got." Be thankful for Trump and whoever or whatever is trying to stop him? Two sides of the coin I'd rather not have.
"The U.S. Congress has not fared well. Many Republicans have been supine while Donald Trump has shriveled congressional authority and shredded the rules of basic democratic behavior."
Without doubt, this is the understatement of the century......
One must hope that Brooks finally acknowledges that his party has failed to honor its commitments to the rule of law and continues to fail their sworn task of serving every voting American.
3
The courts showed early in the Trump debacle that they were the strong, responsible leg of our government. The GOP Congress has been an embarrassment. The Presidency is a joke.
5
Forgive me your gushing about Republican Wall Street types running the Southern District mostly because Trump is still breaking everything in sight. Trump fooled that office for decades and will likely enjoy a GOP edge now.
3
I’m not an investigator, but here’s my guess. Investigating lawyers like Khuzami and Mueller have a nose for Trump type criminality. When they get a whiff of it, they follow the scent. The felonious patterns are familiar; these dogs have been on similar trails many times before.
Trump might be a run of the mill crook, a type these guys know very well. Like dogs on the hunt, they really have no option other than engage in a coverup themselves.
Except for the conservatives packing the federal bench, which is corrupt, and Obama not getting to pick Garland, which is corrupt. Any political appointee to the court is corrupt. The Supreme Court has almost lost its legitimacy. Or maybe it already has. The conservatives on it vote lies and speak lies. See the latest vote about abortion in which kavanaugh lies by telling doctors to try harder to get hospital privileges, which was proven impossible in documents he read and ignored; that’s not a legal opinion so much as a corrupt one. The legal system is not well.
4
"The U.S. legal system is withstanding the Trump onslaught."
No. No, it isn't.
Mr. Brooks, did you miss the elevation of now-Justice Kavanaugh?
Has the rapid confirmation of numerous Federal judges (lifetime appointments) chosen for their embedded right-wing biases escaped your notice?
Our judicial system is in the midst of being corrupted for at least a generation.
Your party, your president, Mr. Brooks.
12
I am glad you are showcasing one of the unsung heros of the legal system that will hopefully get us back on a solid footing of American values.
On another note, I am struck by the statement:
"one gets the impression that the inauguration was a shambolic grabfest in which people with money tried to turn it into power and people who suddenly had power tried to turn it into money."
This describes an oligarchy and is exactly what we should expec when an unskilled, inept, crooked billionaire becomes President. How can anyone expect an outcome different from the rich getting richer at the expense of the rest of us?
6
I don't know why Mr. Brooks is so surprised. In our legal system, lawyers are advocates. (In French, the word for lawyer is "avocat"). Lawyers do not only represent the righteous. Every criminal defendant is entitled to legal representation and to be convicted only by evidence which is beyond a reasonable doubt. Judges do not search for the truth; they make decisions. Prosecutors stand in a slightly different position. They are given discretion whether or not to prosecute in the interests of justice, though I grant you prosecutorial discretion is not often administered. Yes, lawyers are human and subject to the same sins and vices as everyone else. But in the end, they are professionals, subject to rules of ethics that often tie their hands behind their backs, and professional discipline. It's easy to mock and despise lawyers until you realize that litigation, expensive, messy and exhausting as it is, is the second worst way to settle a dispute. The worst, of course being when two people beat each other with clubs until one is dead and the other is 'right'. And the latter is the system of civil and criminal justice that prevails when a nation is no longer under the rule of law.
Besides “institutions” and “character”, these federal prosecutors require a third necessary element to withstand the unrestrained lies, insults, and contempt irresponsibly hurled their way by the Fake President and his cabal, namely a “cast iron stomach “. Trump and Co. are no match for these highly dedicated, smart, savvy, and principled public servants, in or out of the courtroom. If there has been criminality, they will find, expose, and prosecute it. That is a certainty.
1
"So why aren’t the legal authorities wilting? One explanation: institutions and character. "
Another explanation is that republican members of 'the legal authorities' - unlike republican politicians - aren't beholden to a mass of agitated voters who've been sequentially brainwashed, first by the Kochs and their 'network', and then by trump himself.
2
Wish I could share your optimism but I have totally despaired. I am heart sick at the total lack of honor, courage and patriotism displayed by the House and Senate Republicans. They value their political careers ahead of their Country. They stand silently by, while the mad man in the W.H. shreds the Constitution and shames us around the world.
And BTW, where is Mitt Romney? He had plenty to say before he was sworn in as a Senator. Briefly, I hoped he would be a moral beacon for the GOP but it seems he has joined the ranks of the spineless.
How much, I wonder, does a soul go for these days, assuming of course that any of them had souls, or for that matter, honor, to start with.
9
"He supported himself as a dishwasher, bartender and overnight dockworker." Anyone who has had previous "bartending" experience, in my opinion, is probably going to be an effective public servant.
I appreciate your optimism. I do not share it.
1
David, you are presenting Khuzami as a source of hope for us citizens, Khuzami as an informed and experienced person who can be relied on to help us.
This now, this is today, this is the modern world. I would be happier if you had told me you talked with him, that you had a personal sense of him, and a could recommend him to us on that basis.
Journalists know, don't they, that personal contact and what ten people told you are very very different sources.
In a sentence: David Brooks, what's the source of your view of Khuzami? (P.S. I pray he's as good and insightful as you suggest he is.)
2
How gossamer. There's a solid judge. Strike up the band!
But the scrum of far right wing lifetime appointments Trump has handed out is a menace.
The relationship these nominations have to the interests of right wing donors is also menacing.
Judicial appointments always reflect the views of the president and his party, but this slashing and burning is far, far, beyond our norms. As in everything, 21st century Republicans grab power recklessly, ruthlessly, avariciously, selfishly.
Their sole interest is preserving their careers and furthering the interests of their donors, not the health of our nation.
This month Sen. Mazie Hirono criticized the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee. 80% of their nominees are members of the Federalist Society, compared to 4% of lawyers nationwide.
Their politics presumably reflect those of 4% of Americans, as well.
Yes, you might be cheerful about our institutions, if you like theocratic activists, unqualified hacks, and climate deniers, with huge and cynical political agendas.
One thing for sure, the glow of happy dust and good vibes isn't going to cut it, but you be you.
5
Why should I respect those who serve a while, then go wet their beaks in private money, then go serve some more, then go cash out again? It seems to me there is a clear and popular playbook on how to use time I government to hit huge paydays in the private sector. Comey and Mueller have done this. It hasn't earned them my respect. It just shows me how insiders play the game. Is it illegal? I suppose not. Is it admirable? No. I am also not at all comforted by knowing that such integrity as characterized by Brooks is spread out and clinging. I would think that we would need that to be commonplace, deep, and culture-defining.
5
With every major media outlet running regular anti-Trump rhetoric I doubt these "hero lawyers" felt a lack of support. The Trump "onslaught" is nothing compared to the well of support they could tap into at any point. To try to frame them as disadvantaged is disingenuous.
1
Kavanaugh elevated to the Garland seat on the Supreme Court after lists of lawyers objected to his selection leaves me with zero faith in Rule of Law. Women are not withstanding the GOP onslaught.
Add to that the Epstein trafficking of under aged girls case with Acosta leading the way and Trump praising Epstein's similar taste in women.
Oh, and about the environmental destruction. Tell that to the butterflies in Texas done in by Eminent Domain for a useless wall and the Army Corps of Engineers.
6
I am suspicious of Brooks whenever he speaks of character, but this is an exceptionally thoughtful essay. Guess I am just tired of the well-off preaching about how to get along when we all know it is about class and money.
1
Isn't Deutsche Bank implicated in the Trump Russia collusion scandal? General counsel for Deutsche Bank makes him too close for comfort.
2
Even if Trump walks at the “federal” level, politically or legally, my feeling is New York state is ready and willing to pick up prosecutorial gauntlet and finish the job.
And Trump appointed his boss?
Could this have been intentional?
Or an unknowing act based upon some unknown's advice?
Now, here , waiting for the tremors to start...
1
The Deutsche Bank connection worries me....a lot. And he may well have penalised banks and other financial institutions for the financial crisis, but we have no way of knowing how deep the crimes were, and if the penalties were possibly only "show" penalties...
4
Time will tell.
We can still lose this war for our country. Just ask Ukraine how difficult it was to get rid of the Manafort-Putin stooge, Yanukovych.
Truth is, the poor are getting poorer, and the very rich are getting much richer, and the lawyers are helping that happen every step of the way, lawyers who spend far, far more time finding loopholes for the big banks than for those on food stamps. Income inequality is the creature of the legal system, and I sure don't see that changing any time soon.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
3
The legal system is holding so far. But the impact of the unqualified and ultra rightwing judges the Senate has been confirming at historic rates will be felt eventually.
3
‘The point of this is not to lionize Khuzami.’
Hmm- sure doesn’t sound like that. I bet if we could hard enough, we could find honorable, smart, hard-working lawyers who’ve never served on the boards of banks that money-laundered for murderous drug dealers and Russian oligarchs.
3
With Kavanaugh... the Supreme Court is loyal to Trump, and that makes all the rest of the US legal system irrelevant, only adding time and cost/money until Trump always win in the end anyway!
2
@Gandalfdenvite
The Supreme Court is important, but they only decide about 120 cases a year. The Circuit courts and district courts do the bulk of the work. Law and facts still matter.
1
@Michael And how many Justices did McConnell refuse to put up for hearings during Obama's administration vs Trump's? Have "facts" mattered during their vetting of the last two years, or only the approval of the Federalist Society?
Why is David Brooks painting a target on the backs of Mr. Berman and particularly Mr. Khuzami for the White House and newly appointed Attorney General? It's an unnecessary provocation and the named prosecutors are getting along very nicely doing the peoples business without the spotlight.
It’s hard for me to read columns like this, where David Brooks is addressing Donald Trump’s corrosion of American society, because so many of his other columns seem to be about the failures of liberalism and how these failures made people feel like Trump would be a more preferred option. It’s like the hurricane is here and he’s celebrating the weather man for getting the forecast right.
5
David, you ask whether, when faced with the “norm destroying corruption of King Chaos,” our “institutions (will) hold,” and you say that our “legal system seems to be holding up pretty well” and we are “clinging tenaciously to the old standards of right and wrong.” Wow, you are so optimistic.
What you do not address is the corrosive effect, short term and long term, of the “norm destroying corruption of King Chaos,” who I take it you mean our King and Tyrant Donald Trump, on America’s institutions, whether they be our Congress, our judicial system, or America’s sense of having a moral compass, to say nothing of acting based on a sense of fairness, humanity, and moral integrity.
There is a set of norms that King Chaos Trump has crossed and re-crossed. There are legal and leadership and just basic presidential norms that King Chaos Trump has stomped on, and these norms have been cracked. Like with much in life, there is no going back. There is no going home again. Once corroded and once cracked, and once the bar of decency and leadership is lowered, demeaned, or thrashed, those norms are shattered. Like with General Colin Powell’s warning in the run up to the 2004 Iraq invasion, “if we break the cookie jar, we own it.”
The norms we, or most Americans treasured, were broken, cracked, and corroded by and through the “stable genius” of King Chaos Trump and his GOP minions like Senators McConnell and Graham. The bar has been lowered. There is no going home again.
2
After working within to defend Deutsche Bank, at the very least a part-time criminal enterprise, Khuzami has a lot to prove in his current role at the SDNY. Maybe he should recuse himself since his former employer figures into the current investigations and was the only bank, a known money-launderer, who continued to do business with trump when no other bank would. Berman’s choice of Khuzami for deputy might warm Mr. Brooks’ heart but it is cold comfort to anyone who has been paying attention to the network of questionable ties within the trump circle of deflection. As for Brooks’ aside about understanding trump through the difference between New York boroughs, one might ask, What on earth is he talking about?
3
Wait until you see what impact the trump judicial appointees have on the system before you draw conclusions like this. This is a "mission accomplished" opinion. We do not know what kind of poison pills the trump administration has injected into the system or what kind of rot they will cause.
2
the republicans have been far more than supine-they have been loading the Federal bench with unqualified judges who will be in place for decades and sway the law in ways that are likely to be anti-American, at least for most Americans.
2
I hope you're right but two of the most shameful words in the annals of US law come to mind for me -- Brett Kavanaugh...
3
Sorry, DB, but I just see the downward momentum of our government as unstoppable. This president, his crime family and his inept administration are fueled by greed, self-dealing and the destruction of this country’s most basic ideals, if they even know them. And their non-stop, criminal behavior is being done in broad daylight, with the power of the government behind them. Yet they remain in place and their actions un-checked. It’s the perfect storm for their thieving. It’s unbelievable. We’re shell-shocked. And the far-too few members of the resistance aren’t going to halt it. We’re roadkill. When the most money can be made for dishonest people by going downhill, that’s where we’re headed.
3
@Michael C
The most important goal to avoid further destruction is to make certain that a Democrat is elected President in 2020. Democrat majority in the U.S. Senate would be nice too. All else is secondary.
2018 election results were hopeful and Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania came back to support Democrats. Stay tuned and hopeful.
1
What an odd example of "Profiles in Republican Courage" to invoke. Khuzami is a noted revolving door player, having been one of Deutsche Bank's senior legal officers from 2002-2009. His tenure at Deutsche coincided with some of that organization's most infamous behavior: mortgage securities fraud, Libor manipulation scandal, corporate espionage and enemies list, violation of US sanctions. Given that Deutsche may figure prominently in an upcoming SDNY prosecution of the Trump Organization and its principals for laundering Russian money, I view Khuzami's selection to be deputy as highly alarming. Think of it: Whenever Berman recuses, Deutsche Bank's former general counsel steps in as acting US attorney for SDNY. The Swamp grows ever swampier.
4
The Trump Calamity Show must really be reaching a climax if David Brooks has joined the gang on the front lines trying to find a new normal in America
(we can only hope). The lawyer he exalts sounds like the perfect person to join the legal fight.
"If we get through this,[Trump] it will be because of people like them.
With respect to Mr. Khuzami and team, anyone with eyes can see institutions are already irrevocably and permanently diminished. In the 1970s Republicans stood up to the criminality of Richard Nixon.Today Congressional Republicans are complicit. Our 75 year old NATO alliance is in tatters, as reported this week in The Times. The State Department is helpless to sustain overseas relationships after constant assault by the Trump oligarchy.
Angela Merkel's denunciation of U.S. policy is a stunning rebuke by a group of nations who no longer believe this country is trustworthy or dependable. Seven decades of trust building ravaged in two years. Democracies watch in horror as we wink at Saudis who decapitate critics and Russians who interfere in our own elections in exchange for Moscow building permits. They are aghast as we peremptorily abandon military commitments we urged them to make in Syria and Afghanistan.
Senate Republicans conspired to steal a president's right to appoint a Supreme Court justice and succeeded. Now they stand idly by our Dear Leader misappropriates appropriations to build a wall the majority of Americans and Congress have said they do not want. This sleazy con man has packed lower courts and SCOTUS with nominees who refuse to acknowledge precedents and prior rulings.
If we get through this? We haven't gotten through it. We are degraded. Wake up and smell the coffee.
1
There are plenty of crooked lawyers and, unfortunately, they are sometimes successful lawyers. Most of them, however, do not go into government practice, because government practice pays poorly when compared to the many millions you can make working for a large law firms.
Government practice has its benefits. You are not dealing with law firm politics, in which there are only a few winners, despite the illusion of the team. You are not forced to bill hours or meet annual bottom lines. If you are not at trial or in a critical investigation, you have some control over your time and some personal life.
Most importantly, you are not working for bad guys. You are not representing corporate America, including tobacco companies, pharmaceutical companies, and investment banks. Your clients –the plaintiffs –are “the people.”
Whether in government or private practice, plaintiffs’ lawyers make less than big law partners. But they clear consciences. They are also practicing in the setting in which ethical behavior and following the law is a religion. In corporate private practice, the law is often something to be avoided, on behalf of the client, who is almost always no angel.
Going back-and-forth between private practice and government is common for top level US attorneys. They compromise between what they think is right and what they need to do to take care of their families. Basically, the Wall Street practice finances the practice that brings Wall Street into line.
2
If the lawyers were Democrats, Fox News and their Republican political followers would be screaming that the investigations are rigged.
1
“Shenanigans? During his tenure DB settled with the SEC by paying a $7.8 billion penalty for participating in the mortgage backed security ponzi scheme. DB also settled with the DOJ for $2.7b for civil penalties related to the same activity. In addition, from 2007 - 2017 a whistle blower from Danske Bank initiated an investigation into more than $200b in money laundering from Russian principals that were washed through DB. This investigation is on going.
To suggest, blithely, that it’s “plausible” to privilege suspicion of this lawyer as a savior of liberal democratic order is to gloss over credible reasons to doubt he is one of our better legal guardian angels. To the contrary, DB may have been the financial wheel house for the Trump organization and, as such, could be central to the calamity of this administration.
As DB’s chief counsel he could have checked activities that contributed to fiduciary corruption and censure. Perhaps he could have put a hurdle in front of Trump. The precedent financial culture of DB attracted Trump and potentially hundreds of billions of laundered money from Russia. The legal guard rails are maintained by chief counsel.
This is a moment requiring scrupulous questioning and probing for faults in our systems of governance. The editorial page should position the facts, history and investigations front and center and call into question the background of principals in the SD office and not so causally yield the benefit of doubt.
3
You better hope your institutions can hold America. From where I'm sitting - it's pretty much the only credibility you guys have left in the age of Trumpism.
You better watch out.
2
Fellow NYT Readers.....yes there is more than enough wrong with the Trump administration, with many members of Congress, and with the notably shameful, self-serving lawyers willing to prostate themselves on the Trump altar. Yet it is important to recognize in these difficult and discouraging times, the few who are standing against the wind in their efforts to prevent a complete collapse of our democrate system of government. Mr. Brooks, in several of his Opinion articles, has been critical of various elements within our political system, as well he should, but while there still exists a group, or person, willing to fight the good fight, I want to know about them. You do too, don't you?
1
I can't help but wonder if there is a coincidence between the recent perjurious testimony of Whitaker, Barr's being confirmed as AG, and one week later, the Mueller investigation reportedly coming to a close.
1
The Trump presidency has absolutely nothing whatever to do with the resentments between NYC Boroughs.
There are no resentments.
People born in the various Boroughs of NYC, as David Brooks
was not, do not resent each other. They could care less.
Nobody is for or against Trump because he was born in Queens
rather than Brooklyn.
David Brooks, in saying that you can't understand the Trump presidency unless you understand the resentments between boroughs, is saying something without any substance or truth of any kind. It would be the very height of irrationality to resent someone because of his Borough, and we do not resent each other.
This is purely a figment of David's imagination.
People have real problems with Trump, and this has nothing to do with Trump having been born in Queens.
David is trivializing real problems that people have with Trump.
Not constructive.
Please!!!.
3
Brooks is still pretending everything will turn out okay for America and is still singing the praises of the handful of generally law abiding Republicans (who apparently can be found only in the DOJ and not in any other corner of our government.) while ignoring the total moral bankruptcy & criminality of everyone else who remains in the GOP.
Like every other dangerously blind Republican, Brooks still can't see that the Trump disaster was entirely caused by him. One day, historians will write that a Trump not only could have been predicted, but was inevitable -- when you have a political party that has gone from "conservative" to all-out fascist.
David, the GOP is the biggest threat to humanity ever seen in the history of Earth because no nation has ever been more militarily and economically powerful and no U.S. party has ever been so corrupt to the point of being an existential threat. You have...no willingness to hold in check a President who is loyal only to Russia and Saudi Arabia (and any/every other country willing to dangle bribes in front of him as trade for destroying our national security and our democracy), no willingness to prosecute corporate/billionaire crime, always trying to destroy ethics oversight in government, stealing elections with voting machine rigging and voter suppression, appointing corrupt plutocrat-puppets to the courts, running up massive economy destabilizing deficits.
But we the people won't let you bring our country to total ruin.
4
David,
I get it. The former General Counsel of Deutsche Bank, long before, and, during, the financial crisis....
is a legal hero, the guy standing in front of the Tsunamai of criminality offered by the Trump organization in collusion with the Russians.
sure. makes a lot of sense. sure does. yep. I get it.
1
The biggest check on Presidential abuse of power is the Congress, not the Justice Department. Next up are the voters.
David Brooks needs to decide if he is one of the shipworms boring into and weakening the Constitutional ship or, having seen the vast and ugly destruction wrought by his erstwhile "mates" and pals in the Republican and Conservative wings of US politics, he would rather be remembered as one who forsook the taste for destruction, coming up for the cleaner air above the wine dark seas & joining the good people of the nation. Instead of constantly justifying and cheering on the ruination of all that GOP,(members of the former racist Democrats of the South), candidates and politicians did, simply because they were once his kind of people: wealthy, apart from the nation and willing to break laws and people to obtain their desires and privileges.
I hope there is still enough time for Brooks to do more than say "It's been a terrific ride, I just wish I had used by better judgment sooner, rather then waiting until it' s too late."
I know many once strictly Republican Americans who, after the absolute disaster of the Trump like G. Bush years actually refused to vote for any Repubican and came out in favor of what they felt was the best of a bad lot: Obama-Executive seat warmer of the Democratic middle. At least they showed a willingness to gamble and a feeling of responsibility for this nation that regular Republicans at any cost, seem unable to understand.
1
Laurence Tribe is suing trump regarding the Wall.
The Constitution will win.
1
Brooks makes no mention that this is the very same Berman Trump told Whitaker to put on his cases, even though Berman had already recused himself? And that Whitaker lied about it in his hearing? Oh, maybe he reached his word count limit.
The “if” in “if we get through this”, looms larger each day. Of course, the “we” should probably be defined. If the “we” is defined as the upper 1% and the McConnellites, well then, the “we” will get through this just fine! If the “we” is defined as the greater populace of a progressive democratic nation, well then, it doesn’t look so good. (Note: The Republican Ryan/McConnell tax law should kind of be a clue Mr. Brooks. Of course, Mr. Brooks may have supported Reagan and The Reaganomic Trickle Down Innovative Con.)
2
I do completely agree that IF we get through this, it will be with the enormous help of people like the dogged prosecutors of the SDNY, but let's not give short shrift to the millions of ordinary voters who have mobilized, organized and voted against Trump and his enablers, and the thousands of journalists who have kept the story of the Trump crime syndicate front and center. We have all been mocked, vilified and threatened by those in power. But we must prevail. Unfortunately, the man in question does not stand alone - he has almost the entire Republican Party behind him. It will have to go down with him, I think, as a consequence of the naked corruption and deceit the party has endorsed by its passivity.
2
"Some legal experts believe the inauguration is being aggressively probed as a racketeering operation — a continuing criminal enterprise, complete with mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and the rest."
I think you can say the same thing about the entire Administration. The Inauguration merely triggered what is likely the most corrupt presidential behavior in US history.
One look at Mr. Trump's cabinet pretty much says it all. Conflicts of interest, quid pro quos, and a president who views foreign policy in financial terms, always thinking of his own potential to "do business" with international players and increase his bottom line.
Look at how many have been forced to resign because of financial self-dealing and other improprieties.
To my mind, an awful lot of Bibles have been sullied in service to an administration that's just plain crooked.
9
It all comes down to our belief that justice will prevail. There are good men and women fighting for this.
We just don;'t see any of it in the GOP. They have become the party of power grabs and attack the constitution and the rule of law consistently as a strategy to hold on to power.
5
My crystal ball wants to know the penalty for bribing a federal prosecutor, or any prosecutor, should that arise, of course.
It also asks, in a country where corporate donors are people and the distribution of lobbying money is legit, what constitutes a bribe?
My crystal ball is confused.
3
Republicans won’t stand up to Trump because they are afraid they’ll lose their seats—and because they, too, require donations from those who support Trump, to keep their seats. Federal judges have lifetime seats. The SDNY isn’t afraid voters will unseat them. Still, with the rash of unqualified judges being approved helper-shelter by Trump’s Republican Congress, we’ll see how well, and for how long, the legal system holds up.
5
I retired this month from public service after a nearly 40 year professional career, much of it spent investigating and prosecuting everything from street crimes to sophisticated financial crimes. I also had a stint starting and running a small agency that enforced and administered ethics laws and a few periods in the private sector. I have been on both sides of myriad lunches and dinners honoring colleagues leaving public service. When I have had the opportunity to speak at such events one thing I have noted is that non-elected public servants are unsung heroes who, as much as elected leaders about whom biographies and histories tend to be written, truly make history and define our country simply by doing their jobs with integrity and great skill. It’s good to see David Brooks and the Times recognizing that as well.
7
I am sure these guys are everything you say and more Mr. Brooks. And I have always been comforted by, and proud of, the talented people from New York who took on the mobsters and prevailed. But...
"They are clinging tenaciously to the old standards of right and wrong, to the Constitution and the rule of law. And if we get through this, it will be because of people like them."
It is the Constitution Mr. Brooks, that fragile, outdated, moth-eaten document that has been kept on life support for far too long.
It's the second amendment. Of course.
Law enforcement in this country, including New York, will have to deal with guns in the hands of people who have no legitimate business owning weapons that have no legitimate purpose. Assault weapons. High capacity magazines, silencers. Military grade equipment.
To me the rule of law looks like no school shootings, no mall shootings, no militias hiding in the woods and conducting what amounts to war games to train for the eventuality that someone, the deep state, will come to take away their guns.
Not their legitimate hunting rifles but the guns that can kill dozens of people in a matter of minutes.
Talk about chaos.
When the king of chaos in the White House is gone and the discussion really begins regarding guns we will need to confront a norm that has gone on for far too long. Americans killing other Americans with guns protected under the Constitution. .
Donald Trump, as bad as he is, will seem like a stroll in the park.
3
This is one of the best sentences I’ve read in a very long time: “From the hints dropped by the subpoenas, one gets the impression that the inauguration was a shambolic grabfest in which people with money tried to turn it into power and people who suddenly had power tried to turn it into money.” So well said! It sums up the entire last 3 years of this nightmare.
11
Boy the US has to rely on the lawyers to save it from itself. I agree that the GOP will definitely not do it. They have turned out to be a party to which morals & ethics are merely disposable campaign slogans, not deeply held beliefs. The Democrats whilst in the ascendancy at the moment, will no doubt find a way to shoot themselves in the foot through their tendency to look for absolutely purity (which has many definitions within the party) and hence will fight a very destructive internecine war. The press is trying but the day that one of the Trump supporters will try to kill a reporter is coming ever nearer, which will have a chilling effect. The Trump administration, by way of Sarah Sanders, will once again reference God's plan and will not condemn such an action. I suspect that they will probably blame the victim. So you are right, all you are left with is the lawyers, what a sad place the US has become.
10
@Jacques
I could not agree more with your words “The Democrats *** will no doubt find a way to shoot themselves in the foot.” Whatever the reason, Democrats will do that, and even create a circle of them with figurative guns to shoot each other in the heart. Republicans are counting on such naïveté, or is it egocentrism.
Well in the words of another man whom New Yorkers can relate to...."It ain't over til it's over". I think the real question is how far the legal system is willing to let this go. Will we become a country run by a mob boss or will this all be checked by the legal system? What makes it most frightening is the fact that until Nov 2018, there was no check from the legislative branch. Now there is, albeit partially. And I honestly think that Chief Judge Roberts understands the consequences of reinforcing Trump and what that would mean for our country and Democracy. This is very much like the arrest of the Coast Guard lieutenant in Maryland. The prosecutors may have to find a creative way to lock the guy up for life. For letting this guy go because you don't have a literal smoking gun would be a huge mistake. By the time we are watching the after affects of mass murder or an autocrat who destroys American democracy, it will be too late. Stopping this now is the best option. Even if some of the T's aren't totally crossed. For Trump is not interested in settling scores with individual political adversaries. He is actively attempting to punish millions of people for opposing him. And that is some very scary stuff.
15
"Did they break the law? Was it their intent to break the law?"
Those who would trade in clichéd arguments that all Wall Streeters are criminals who always skate by and never go to prison no matter what they do will not get my sympathy. It is the genius of the American economy to figure out innovative ways to finance growth that essentially allows investors to build the dream then pay for it out of the profits. Indeed, it was that now-liberal touchstone, Alexander Hamilton, who initiated this powerful engine of the American economy. But it certainly requires regulation and enforcement. So to hear of people like Mr. Khuzami, their role in critical moments like the Great Recession and now Trump, gives me hope. It is a time for exquisite judgment, courage and a deep knowledge of the law and the ways it SHOULD be applied.
The next few weeks and months will hear bloodthirsty calls for political revenge and great rumbles of umbrage across the land. What we do not need are opportunists who think this is their shot at glory and turn up the heat under the boiling pot of the zeitgeist for reasons of personal ambition. What we do need are stalwarts like Khuzami and his crew to do the jobs they trained for, and who hold in the hearts and heads a vision of evenhanded justice.
15
America will soon see the legal/justice system in action when the Mueller report is completed. The only precedent for what likely lies ahead is the swirl of Watergate. Those who distinguished them selves were lawyers or politicians with strong legal backgrounds: Leon Jarowski, Sam Dash, Fred Thompson, Barbara Jordan, Sam Erwin, Howard Baker and one legendary federal judge, John Sirica.
The fabric of our government was tested. The resilience of the press was challenged. The character of those in power was attacked. America won. The vision and trust embodied in the Constitution by the Founding Fathers prevailed.
Can our ship of state can withstand a crisis like no other since the Civil War?
12
@Doc
What is needed are "politicians (particularly Republicans) who stood for principle over electability..." Who are these? Name some names in the Trump era? I can't think of any names to name.
13
@Doc I think far too many people are convinced the Mueller report will put an end to the nightmare. But there is another scenario.....sweeping the whole thing under the carpet by Trump allies and only finding out what really happened much further down the road. Think Jeffrey Epstein in Florida. He had an in in the prosecutor's office... and surprise, surprise that guy, Alex Acosta, winds up in Trump's cabinet. Now years later the prosecutors were criminal in how they handled it. Low and behold the victims were left out. Imagine that, a lawyer doing the wrong thing. Why would a rich, corrupt president want to hire a corrupt lawyer for his administration? So hopefully Mr. Mueller and other lawyers like Mr. Khuzami will hold their oath high enough to come up with creative ways to prevent the corrupt brooms from getting a hold of their work. For now, I am sure, after a slap on the wrist, Epstein is saying: "Look at that, I should have gone to jail for decades. The state should have found better lawyers". As he walks aboard his yacht.
@tom boyd
McCain, Jeff Flake in part, Susan Collins in part, Lisa Murkowski, Ryan in part, McConnell in small part.
When all of this is said and done, some years in the future, the nation will need to recognize those who risked their image and careers to impose the rule of law over Trump's shenanigans (a charitable description). Names I can think of right now include Rosenstein, Mueller, the SDNY team, member of Congress and other politicians (particularly Republicans) who stood for principle over electability, Mattis, and a host of others. We should start to compile this list now. In the end, these men and women will deserve the profound thanks of the nation.
19
@doug
"politicians (particularly Republicans) who stood for principle over electability.."
I would like to know which Republicans who "stood for principle over electability." I can't think of a one. The ones who recoiled at Trump's awfulness were not going to run for re-election. Correct me if I'm wrong and name some of them who don't stand with Trump yet will have to face a Republican primary election.
16
@tom boyd
I had in mind members of Congress who spoke out strongly against Trump's excesses (like McCain and Flake) and governors who have done the same (Hogan). This is not an all-inclusive list - just an illustrative one.
5
@tom boyd Why do you not count those who chose not to run for re-election? Resigning seems like the ultimate sacrifice in electability.
3
I see these lawyers as soldiers, patriotic soldiers, fighting this ‘civil’ war against our democracy by doing what they do best and doing it fairly, legally, efficiently and effectively. Their enemy is corruption, ineptness, deceit and, yes, sedition created with our most formidable sworn enemy and designed to destroy our country.
These lawyers are our heroes every bit as much as our military, our police, firefighters and all of our civil servants are, serving as a bulwark against tyranny and of freedom so that the law remains the law and the truth remains the truth.
Thanks, David Brooks, for reminding of us of this so that we never take it for granted.
13
The thesis of this essay reminds me of RBG and how she was inspired by the integrity of some brave lawyers who stood up for the Constitution in the face of the red scare. Even as the party of Trump and McConnell packs the judiciary with right-wing ideologues, we still do have a strong core of public servants with character who will keep up the good fight. It may take a lot of time, or things could turn around quickly, but they will win in the end.
10
What is not written in this piece is that, at its core, political leanings should never determine how someone does their job, especially when it comes to enforcing the law.
Well done America, we continue to learn from you.
19
@Godfrey: Don't thank us quite yet. We're not out of the woods here.
2
I've been counting all along on the legal profession to keep us on an even keel, from the liberal lawyers bringing lawsuits against Trump's many excesses to the conservatives he and Mitch McConnell are managing to place on the federal bench. My experience as a lawyer tells me that for the most part, with notable exceptions, lawyers adhere to the rule of law. Not so sanguine about Supreme Court appointees, but that predates Trump.
P.S. According to this piece, Khuzami was born in Brooklyn, but raised and educated upstate and in Boston. So what's with the reference to understanding cultural differences and resentments among New York City's five boroughs as a necessary prerequisite for understanding the Trump presidency? While they may be of interest in a discussion of local topics such as congestion pricing, they're hardly a Rorscach test for understanding Trump.
5
@Nancy Lederman I think Brooks meant something sociological, something like people from Manhattan (Wall Street, Park Plaza etc.) looking down on people from the less sophisticated Queens. I've seen this aspect mentioned in a number of stories about Trump. I'm not quite sure where Brooklyn would fit into that story, but I suppose that here it is being grouped with Queens.
3
I thought Brooks's comment was bizarre. He wasn't talking about Manhattan elitism, or Trump's origins in Queens, he was talking about five boroughs. All very different, as any New Yorker could tell you in detail. Brooklyn is not a surrogate for Queens, and what do the Bronx and Staten Island have to do with it? Bizarre.
Thank you. We're sorely in need of people to admire and inspire.
9
Thank you, Mr. Brooks. The three institutions that have been tested most severely during the Trump presidency are the legal profession, the press and Congress. Two have withstood the test; one has not. For every Michael Cohen, it seems there are a host of principled Republican lawyers like Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, and Robert Khuzami. There are many Democratic lawyers who have also told truth to power, but it is the bi-partisan commitment to the rule of law that has enabled this institution to withstand the intense pressure on it. Ditto the press. For every Sean Hannity, there are a host of principled Republican journalists like Kathleen Parker, George Will and, yes, you, Mr. Books, who, along with their Democratic colleagues, have placed journalistic integrity above ratings and access to power. How, then, to explain the abject failures of the Republican Congress? Perhaps it is simply that the lust for power coupled with the cynical calculation that the end justifies the means corrupts all but the strongest politicians and drives those legislators who would serve democracy best to seek more honorable lines of work. From an historical standpoint, the Trump presidency is a case study in how strong independent institutions like the press. the legal profession and even the business community can rescue a government intent on destroying itself.
12
@pbk3rd
The government is not intent on destroying itself. The guy in the White House and his minions are intent on destroying our democracy as we know it.
Their goals will not be met. The government consists of mostly of ethical, honest, and dedicated employees. Unlike the Republicans in Congress, most in the government are true patriots, unscathed by those attempting to weaken our Country.
1
Somebody should introduce Robert Khuzami to Mitch McConnell so the GOP Senate can be inspired to serve the people they represent. And, while in DC also introduce him to Justice Thomas. Maybe they can have a conversation about the First Amendment.
20
Some times the Good Guys are really the Good Guys. For most of my life The Republican Party has professed to the champion of everything good. People may have forgot but many people of color voted for Eisenhower. Just a few years ago under Obama The Right condemned Obama for thinking he was a King. Now the same stalwarts are carrying Trumps water. If Senator Graham thinks he has top lower himself to the subterranean level that he has to get re elected maybe he should chose another line of work. Graham loves to drop the fact that he was a lawyer before he chose to be a Trump lackey. If Graham wants to see real lawyers he should visit The Southern District of New York.
20
IT IS INDEED HEARTENING To learn that the attorneys leading investigations into Trump's alleged wrongdoing are up to the task. Trump treats appointees like used Kleenex when he's frustrated with them for pointing out the reality of laws and limits. First he covers them with snot, the throws them into the trash. If Trump is going to be held to account, it will most likely be due to the hard work of the leaders of the attorneys of the East District of New York. Luckily for them, Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has flipped on him and is cooperating with investigators. I find it heartening that with Trump's madness expanding daily, there are dedicated professionals who stay the course. It is passingly strange, but hardly unexpected, that Trump should have used the inaugural ball as an opportunity to mount one of his swindle-a-thons. One strategy held by the investigators in New York is that they are focused on bringing complaints against Trump, et, al. under New York law as well as federal laws, since he is prohibited from pardoning himself or anyone else under New York statutes. What remains now is for the investigators to come to their conclusions and prepare to make public that which may legally be disclosed. It seems logical that any investigations under the authority of New York law may be made public, as they do not fall under the control of Trump and his band of hooligans. Still, I wonder if our democracy will be able to survive the onslaughts of Trump.
5
It will.
"... people with money tried to turn it into power and people who suddenly had power tried to turn it into money."
This is the definition of our current politics. We need campaign finance reform NOW.
22
while brooks thought are fine it still depends "decent" men. I think the us is much more danger with unchecked presidential powers which needs immediate fixing. we are just stone throw away from a banana republic with unchecked presidential and corporate powers an politicized court to boot.
3
Time and time again, in country after country, lawyers and journalists have been at the forefront of active opposition to tyranny and corruption in society, sometimes at great personal cost. I just never thought their services would be needed so much and so urgently for this purpose in the United States, of all places! But then, I never thought that the Republicans in Congress would be so craven as to sacrifice honour and country for short term political and personal gain. So, I salute these men and women who continue to fight for democracy and the rule of law and I salute the institutions that taught them so well. If you ever needed an example of why education is the bulwark of democracy, here it is, in these people. The electorate can help by punishing the Republican party heavily in the next election!
20
Brooks should have mentioned Preet Bharara, former United States Attorney for the Southern District and leader of the office featured in this article. He was fired by Trump when he refused to promise Trump personal loyalty. Many of the lawyers in that office were hired and trained by Bharara.
43
@Norwester
US Attorneys work at the pleasure of the President. He can hire or fire them at any time for any reason. Preet Bharara somehow feels he was entitled to his old position.
He could not be more wrong.
2
Both are excellent; hadn’t heard of Khazami until this piece. Glad DB wrote about him.
One word that makes so much of a difference to lawyers who might be tempted to step over the line: disbarment.
10
An article that manages to see much hope where little should exist. We have an ongoing sprint between the Trump administration installing acolytes in the judiciary and a group of "Old Justice" stalwarts who are pressing all the right buttons assuming that right and wrong have inevitable destinies. The winner has not clearly emerged so far.
We forget that governments led by people who were born to be bus drivers have a proven record of performance now. "New Justice" is being born while we watch. It looks as if people like Giuliani, McConnell and Nunes are setting the goals for justice in our country which may still prevail at the end of the day.
Even what's written in stone can be obliterated. The jury is out on this one, more so than we could ever have believed possible before Mr Trump came to be the apple of his followers' eye.
24
@Zalman Sandon
Once on the Federal Bench with a lifetime job some judges develop a very impartial and strong sense of the justice system. Earl Warren is a prime example.
Further most ordinary cases do not contain a right vs. left political dimension. A contract dispute or most patent cases for example do not turn on political factors. Criminal cases tend to be very fact oriented.
Immigration cases are now 40% of the Federal Appellate court dockets. While Trump has tried to make them political, they are usually fact based decisions that require good lawyering in the immigration court to win on appeal.
Once again, just as I despair that David Brooks is an apologist and rationalist for misguided conservatism, he shows the spark of conscience that first drew me to him.
"Robert Mueller is a solid rock in the face of waves of calumny...(and) the Southern District of New York seem to be picking up the pace. These investigations are being led, it should be noted, by Republicans."
Said character shouldn't be a partisan matter. Despite assaults on constitutional principles and protections by the president and Congress' apparent willingness to look the other way, this offers some hope that the US will survive Trump.
However, we must all be faster and more vigilant to step up in the future, knowing how close those "institutions and character" have come to being undermined.
17
@SMKNC
Mitch McConnell bears a lot of the responsibility for the sad state of the Senate. He is the ultimate partisan who puts party ahead of country. Think how differently the business of the Senate would have been conducted with a true patriot who valued his nation and himself as worthwhile.
17
McConnell’s cynicism is of an epic scale. Looking forward to the day he, like trump, is gone from the national political scene.
How is a prosecutor who charges people with nonsense crimes, and has failed to prove any of the central things he set out to, part of the "rule of law?” This is not about justice, but about the political establishment trying desperately to reassert its power. And, by and large, failing.
2
@Mike Livingston
Although the Special Counsel has yet to "prove" any of the numerous crimes it has identified, that's simply because none of those who have been charged have been tried yet. The Order authorizing the investigation charged the prosecutors to examine, "any links and/or coordination between the RussIan government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump". To date, the following"individuals associated with the campaign" have been indicted - or piles guilty to charges - for criminal offenses related to their "links" with the Russian government: Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, and George Papadopoulos. A dozen, Russian government, intelligence agents have likewise been indicted for Trump Campaigb-related activities during the election period. Thirteen other Russian nationals and three companies were similarly determined by a Grand Jury to have committed related illegal acts. Finally, Richard Pinedo, although not directly working for the Trump Campaign, has pled guilty to helping those same Russian conspirators launder money, purchase Facebook ads and pay for supplies. To say the Special Prosecutor has failed to establish the "central things" is, at best, a sign of ignorance of the facts and law, or, at worst, a flat out lie.
5
Close to 50 people have been indicted, including the CEO of Trump’s campaign, his personal lawyer and half-a-dozen members of Russian military intelligence. Collusion between Stone, Trump’s long-time pal, and the Russian government is proven. Where have you been?
2
Nonsense crimes?!
Put aside, for a moment, hard to prove "political" transgressions like collusion. But fraud, misuse of public funds, violations of the Emoluments clause, obstruction of justice, and possibly even treason - how are these lawyers prosecuting somehow wasting their time on penny ante crimes?
If you're not a lawyer, you might need one.
1
Mr. Brooks is ill-informed on this one. The legal process is not about personalities but laws, doctrines, and judges.
Most of the many legal issues resulting from Trumpism has yet to reach the Supreme Court dominated by an ideological majority who believe in the radical notion of a unitary presidency.
Besides, it is doubtful that the Court or the Republican majority in the Senate would find Triump's eventual use of pardons constitutes obstruction of justice.
11
This too shall pass, as I said during the Reagan and Bush years, to quote George Harrison.
It's very hard and we always need brave people who will speak out.
Let it roll!
Trump cannot survive this storm. I know it. Our wonderful, fantastic media knows it.
Let's see what happens.
9
@Pat
The quote is from Lincoln, who, BTW had a checkered history as a lawyer before he became president.
The ill effects from Nixon on have had a cumulative effect and this administration takes the cake. Buckley v. Valeo has ensured that the party gets to hire the prosecutors. Mueller, Comey, McCabe et al are all Republicans.Let's wait to see what happens. I'm sure the prosecutors are doing an effective job, but the spoils system has corrupted the process.
1
Keep these stories coming. There are more out there about people who value doing the right thing above all else, a lesson in an American approach to survival that matters. This is news to wake up to and help you sleep at night. Thanks.
15
Tremendous credit should be given to Robert Mueller’s team and the Southern District of New York’s team. They did their work, refrained from responding to Trump’s daily verbal and Tweet assaults, and had no leaks! Also credit to Rob Rosenstein and the career men and women of the Department of Justice and the FBI. Thank you all!
These men and women showed they are true professionals and true patriots!
56
I missed the paragraph noting that the independent judiciary and legal system here praised is under flagrant and concerted attack by Republicans to turn it into a non-independent judiciary functioning as a permanently appointed legislative branch of the Republican senate caucus.
This began with McConnell's bad faith filibustering ad continued with his refusal to allow a Democratic president to appoint judges and a Supreme Court justice. It continues as ideological and unfit shills are appointed to the bench and a demonstrably unfit Justice is appointed to the Supreme Court in a mockery of the fairness that is the putative goal of the legal system.
77
Thank you for this reminder to appreciate good news and good people, wherever we find them.
17
David, I will agree that some members of the bar have acquitted themselves well. On the other hand you have Rudy Giuliani, who has besmirched the practice of law for decades to come.
These are the people who hold together the bricks of democracy. If they fail, we die, because the Trump party long ago decided to sell us out to the highest bidder.
I hope those with honor prevail. For if they don't millions will die in the Second Civil War that looms before us.
34
Say it sister, or brother! Yes, with our Eyes on the Prize, let's celebrate our "exceptional" heros, our Constitution, our legal system. As a young 20 year-old visiting Chile under the reign of Pinochet, I came to appreciate the legal system in the United States of America where police cannot knock on the door and take one away in the dark of the night, never to be seen again...
8
@Anne Marie Amen! I lived in Chile during the last years of the Pinochet regime. It was a terrible place where I most likely would have ended up in prison if I hadn't had a diplomatic "salvo conducto." But I must also say that, against all odds, Chileans retained faith in democratic institutions and looked forward to a more hopeful future. I never doubted Chile would be okay, and, although far from perfect, it’s now ranked above the US in the Economist's Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index. I think we too will be okay if we don't lose faith in our institutions.
7
The US legal system, awash with class actions, medical malpractice suits, accident/injury, real estate, corporate and financial actions, and, last but not least, criminal law, would ever likely be resilient to Trump’s affronts and bluffoonery. To a sharp lawyer, he’s just another mark regardless of the office he holds. Michael Avenatti knew that before his own world crashed. But, like legal mechanisms, Trump sets new precedents that future presidents may flatter with partial imitation, stopping just short of the Trumpian abyss. That’s where the danger lies. The US legal system may be chastened by being forced to chasten future would be kings.
7
@Marcus Brant There are two aspects that Brooks holds about those holding the line vs. Trump an his minions. 1) Lawyers and law and 2) Character. Legal systems devoid of character can be abusive and unjust.
The point of your article, Mr. Brooks, was to attempt to lionize those few remaining shreds of Republican ethics and decency. History will not judge the party kindly and no amount of lauding cherry picked heroes will cover-up the party's great moral failings in the era of Trump. Susan Collins will not be returning to Congress.
157
I sincerely hope you are correct in your assessment that Susan Collins won’t be returning. How she has the nerve to show her face .... anywhere, is truly indicative of her crass ignorance and indifference to how those who once upon a time supported her. Her legacy is carved in stone - one name - Kavanaugh.
2
Susan Collins is one of the worst because she has crafted a fake reputation as a "moderate" (which, in Republistan, means her allegiances and intentions are hidden better than most in her party). She brings shame to Maine with her go-along-to-get-along silence in the face of her party's assault on the Constitution, law and basic civic decency, exemplified by her daily subservience to Mitch McConnell, her acquiescence to the Garland-Gorsuch travesty, and her most egregious, grandstanding, pandering performance in enabling the Kavanaugh debacle.
There are several varieties of public corruption -- Collins is one of the most insidious in her mild-seeming-yet-cynical role in the Republican attempt at the destruction of goverment.
Maine will indeed reject her at the next opportunity *and* purge the remaining Republicans from New England.
1
Also, never forget the thousands of volunteer attorneys that showed up at the nation’s airports to stand up for the Constitution and against President Trump’s Muslim Ban. The public perception of lawyers has long been either the ethics-less ambulance chaser or the flirtatious TV drama, but the Trump presidency has shown reinvigorated a movement of lawyers to fight for a more perfect union.
I’ll never forget running across Terminal 4 at JFK to provide CBP with the Federal injunction suspending the ban to keep them from deporting an innocent student; escorting the mother of two to her car following 24 hours in detention; comforting a soldier who was trying to bring his mother from Iraq; and working with Sen. Schumer’s office to contact General Kelly, who had to fly back from an RNC event in Philly, and demand the release of unlawfully detained persons.
In those first 48 hours, we found our voice and it was heartening to see my law school classmates doing the same in DC, Houston, LA, Chicago, etc.
127
@Stephen
Thank you!
2
Your cautious optimism is appreciated, but...
Senators Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham are just two of the GOP congresspeople who are attorneys. None is acting, at least in public, as if there's anything wrong with a president bypassing their own branch of government to shift appropriations where he wants.
VP Pence is an attorney, who does not appear to have given the role of law in the administration much thought, or pondered his duty under the constitution to consider invoking the 25th.
Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen is an attorney.
Kris Kobach of Mr. Trump's star-crossed voter commission and former EPA harvester Pruitt are attorneys.
Paul Manafort is now a debarred attorney.
66
By now, Trump probably doesn't have a very functional White House, for lack of staff and infighting among those who remain. Some Cabinet agencies may be reasonably functional, though State has suffered severely, Defense is between secretaries (or doomed to endless acting ones), and the intelligence agencies are ignored or worse.
This does not make for a resilient Executive Branch, and perhaps not even adequate responses to the inevitable stream of queries from Congress and the Department of Justice.
8
The new US AG and his new deputy were also formerly of Kirkland & Ellis, so that is weirdly monolithic, but in of itself, not a reason to question integrities. However, look at our slippery, lawyered-up autocrat with his 50 to 60 million cult followers, Mr Brooks. Question everything!
Maybe these lawyers bring somd kind of Insiders' Code of Decorum that works, but at the end of each day - Were The People served?
Maybe a Kirkland Teamster is someone that Lindsey Graham thinks twice about attacking, ok great, but - When do we see the Mueller Report? When?
3
Though some institutions are more structurally resilient than others, in the end they are only as strong as the men and women who staff them. It is in times of political, social, emotional, and moral stress, that you learn what you and others are really made of.
That leads to another possibility we should consider. People in positions of authority with the strength of character to match can make a principled, public resignation, as Elliott Richardson and William Ruckelshaus did when President Nixon directed them to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. While the Republicans of today, unlike a significant number back then, have no principled existence apart from pleasing the President, such actions would nonetheless have significance to important elements of our society, especially within the business community which, above all, craves stability.
The vast majority of the opposition to the Viet Nam War, especially when Nixon was President, did not predicate itself on electoral politics at all or even appointed officials or the civil service. To the contrary, most of the opposition took place in the streets and was predicated on the belief that not allowing America to conduct business as usual was the only way to create the pressure, including on elected officials, to make needed change.
Yes, that opposition did not hit the internet, it hit the pavement. It will be interesting (to put it politely) to see whether today's younger generation is willing to do the same.
16
The president has escaped accountability for decades by overwhelming those challenging him with lawyers and experts that he has had the money to pay for and also believing he is above the law because of his wealth and lack of respect for due process of the law.
But being the president brings with it another level of much greater scrutiny, observation, and examination. Trump's attack on the rule of law and the Constitution do make it critical that our justice system show Trump just how wrong he is and what the limits are on his executive power. Thanks to David Brooks for writing this opinion piece.
28
So far, Senate Republicans have stacked the courts as far to the right as they could after denying President Obama's court selections. They even took it to the point of blocking a Supreme Court nominee from even having a hearing. It is delusional to say or claim the legal system has stood up to Trump.
27
@TimToomey
The lopsided number of seats previously stonewalled, and more recently filled, by the GOP would make an odd metric for the functional integrity of the legal system. You may have a point in the long run, but the crux of the article, and the facts upon which it rests, is that current outcomes indicate that we're not there yet, not by a long shot, despite the fervent hopes of the Trumpist cabal.
12
Another highly intelligent historic opinion among thousands. I will say this for Trump - he like no one else in my lifetime - has created such a caustic environment that we are being enriched daily by brave people in opposition. People who have mustered every known word in the English language and in their own native languages to explain how perilous these times are and what we must do about it. We've heard searing statements and warnings from the late John McCain, Andrew McCabe, Rex Tillerson, Jill Wine-Banks, Steve Schmidt, President Vicente Fox, Chancellor Angela Merkel, even George W. Bush made a commercial supporting a free and independent press. All of these notable people and many more have already spoken out in grave fear for our nation's safety and our free press. The press has written a trillion words in opposition. The number of historic statements against his presidency sets new records every day he is in office and is unprecedented in history. However, we are sadly dealing with a low information base who does not know and does not care who David Brooks is. If it is not on Fox News they do not see it. That is why it is important that we all speak out. Do not leave the job of speaking out to Congress or to the press & lawyers. We must all speak out every day until he is gone from our lives. Please be more vocal in your beliefs and daily try to talk to one person in your life about what is happening to our nation under Trump. The word will spread if we speak out.
55
The difference between prosecutors and Republican members of Congress is simpler than all this: In the case of Republican Senators and House members, their salary depends on getting elected, and getting elected as a Republican these days means not getting primaried by the extreme right-wing Trump MAGA devotees.
Prosecutors in the Justice Dept are under threat that Trump could try to force them out, but this is not as likely as a Republican Senator or House member losing their seat, and therefore their job, by losing the primary to some Republican seen as more loyal to Trump. In fact for Republican members of Congress, crossing Trump at all means that such an outcome is almost certain.
It's all massively corrupt beyond description of course, but it's a pretty simple equation: show unfailing loyalty to Donald Trump, praise him and demonize his enemies, and you just might keep your seat in Congress. Why do you think Lindsey Graham has turned 180 degrees from calling Trump a con man to debasing himself by licking his boots?
In the Justice Department, showing loyalty to Trump by refusing to prosecute him or by going easy on him doesn't carry the same assurance; if your job where threatened, acting like Lindsey Graham wouldn't help you keep it.
18
One gets the feeling that Lindsey Graham made his 180° turn for for more specific reasons. Somebody’s got the goods and somebody can release them if Graham stops groveling.
Assuming we survive Trump, I believe it is important for our children to see that (a) just because you can get away with it does not make it right and (b) if you try to get away with stuff long enough, on a large enough scale, the hammer will finally come down. Even if we are not motivated by goodness, let fear of punishment carry the day. Either way works.
26
For how much longer? It’s impossible not worry about this. I think McConnell is the one to watch. He is the one in charge now, not trump.
28
I think one reason the judiciary survives is because it’s diffuse. Federal judges don’t have to convene in Washington several times a year, nor are they accountable to people in a specific geographic area.
9
Robert Khuzami and Robert Mueller are heroes during this national nightmare of presidential corruption and the relentless attacks by Donald Trump on our Constitution and the rule of law.
Robert Barr, our new Attorney General, appears to be a dissembling enabler of Donald Trump, determined to have Trump emerge unscathed from his disloyalty to America regarding the Russians.
Attorney General Barr also gives every indication of intending to allow Trump to weaken the American tradition of liberal democracy in favor of authoritarian rule.
All three Roberts are Republicans, but only Khuzami and Mueller place principle above partisanship.
25
@sdw I am willing to believe what you say, but point me to the evidence so I can believe it too. Thanks!
1
@sdw
See Maddow's show tonight. The GOP has a history and then some.
Everyone has a lot of blind faith in Mueller as if he's going to "save" our Republic. Maybe he will, maybe not. He's done a lot so far and we'll see. But Trump's presidency isn't done yet and he can still do a lot of damage both to our political system, our social fabric as a nation, our standing in the world, the shape of the world and its alliances and our governmental institutions. While all the distraction and deflection by Trump has been ongoing, the dismantling of our governmental institutions, and protections for our people, our environment and our economy are being eroded at an un-precedented pace. Yet, we have to be almost grateful to Donald Trump. He has crystalized and brought into plain and painful view the issues of our time and people need to make a choice. Do we continue degradation of the environment, of women, of working people, of people of color all to the benefit of the extremely wealthy despite the populist mantle Trump claims to have assumed. At the end of the day he is just another elitist albeit as loud, unsophisticated, gross and infantile he seems to be. Brooks seems to be correct (for once), as the rank and file of the Justice Department, the E.P.A., the Dept. of Defense and the intelligence agencies seem to be trying to do their jobs despite the attrition taking place at the top of these agencies. Let's hope they can continue to do so and ameliorate the damage caused by these people.
49
Thanks for this thoughtful and honest article. It is refreshing to hear from an ethical Republican without the usual false equivalences.
27
A personal favorite:
Preet Bharara ...
37
While the SDNY has produced a few highly ethical and competent people like Mary Joe White, it also has seen more than its share of inflated egos and creeps. Giuliani and Spitzer come to mind. One can only hope Robert Khuzami and other SDNY attorneys conduct themselves in ways that contribute to the positive side of the ledger for the greater good.
15
@BE
Spitzer was a good legal eagle. Not at all parallel with Giuliani. His sex and ego got in the way, but it wasn't about his qualifications.
29
@Susan Anderson
I would argue that a person’s character is what differentiates ‘the real thing’ from a self aggrandizing poseur. Those given the privilege of serving the SDNY are not only tasked to enforce the law, they must also accept an expectation of sound ethics and honorable personal conduct. In that respect, Elliot Spitzer isn’t qualified to carry James Comey’s file folders.
2
I would argue that Spitzer was tough, smart, had a profound understanding of the law and legal process. I think he had big aspirations and that he loved his city and genuinely saw his job as an opportunity to do important work.
He let us down tremendously —though arguably his actions were problematic bc of our laws and prissy attitudes about sex work. He paid his bills, he didn’t abuse anyone and the women were adults.
Comey is no hero - his actions with respect to HRC had a great impact on the election and helped trump win. I like him and I think he’s a has a sense of decency - but his decision leading up to the election were egregious and should not be brushed aside bc he speaks well on his book tour.
11
I seem to recall that one of the indictees and two or three yet-unindicted co-conspirators are lawyers. To the eternal shame of my university, one of the members of its Law School faculty helped torture people; you can't get much less upstanding than that. The tobacco companies have lawyers.
There are good, bad, and (mainly) so-so people in every profession. I'm not being snooty; I put myself in the so-so category. But none of this may turn out to matter, since Trump has the power to pardon people.
In the end, like other shaky countries, our fate may turn out to hinge on the character of our soldiers. That's pretty scary whichever way it turns out.
12
Public servants doing their... job?!!?
Amazing.
Standing ovation.
19
David, I wish I could share your optimism. Too many conservatives went along with this chicanery for decades, while many of the richest and most powerful co-opted our government, and other governments as well.
I hold out some hope, but I fear it may be too late to stop what Bill Maher calls a "slow-moving coup."
The sad thing is that climate change might ultimately be what stops this train-wreck in progress, and with far worse consequences for human life.
43
Khuzami may be all you say he is, and there may be many more like him. But I'm still not convinced.
The omens are not promising; our federal courts, all the way to the top, are being packed by nominees backed not by the legal profession but by the far from disinterested Federalist Society. They are in a position to undermine all the good work done in the justice system as a whole. It doesn't need all that many of them to be corruptible to undermine trust in the legal system. To turn your conclusion on its head: if we get through this, it will be in spite of people like them.
As a footnote, I want to add that I heard a disturbing report about the Justice Department on Chris Hayes' program this evening. Yesterday, we learned about the arrest a Coast Guard office who planned to murder several politicians and people in the media. Yet the arrest took place last week, and only came to widespread public notice thanks to the vigilance of an academic. Normally, the justice system is not reticent about frustrating terrorism before it occurs, so this is a bit of an oddity. Could it be that our present justice department has some bias towards not highlighting domestic, White Nationalist, terrorism?
86
@mancuroc
I heard that the US Senateconfirmed 144 new federal judges last week, largely with Federalist Society pedigrees.
3
@mancuroc
Don’t try to confuse Brooks with details.
1
It's wonderful there is such great and earnest talent in the SDNY.
The flip side is they pursing someone who is oblivious to the law, and so leaves an evidence trail far and wide.
10
Brooks writes, "The point of this is not to lionize Khuzami." Could have fooled me? One, even great lawyer does not an institution make. Even if Khuzami is that great, we need many more like him not just in the SDNY but in the Supreme Court to stand up and be counted.
18
@Ijaz Jamall We certainly didn't need Beer Kavanaugh
Institutions are only as strong as the men and women who staff them. It is in times of political, social, emotional, and moral stress, that you learn what you and others are really made of. So I would say again, institutions are only as strong as the men and women who staff them, though clearly some institutions are more structurally resilient than others.
And that leads to other alternatives we should consider. The first is for people in positions of authority to make a principled resignation, as Elliott Richardson and William Ruckelshaus did when President Nixon directed them to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. While the Republicans of today, unlike many back then, have no principled existence apart from pleasing the President, such actions would nonetheless have significance to important elements, especially within the business community which, above all, craves stability.
The second point I would make is that the vast majority of the opposition to the Viet Nam war, especially when Nixon was President, did not predicate itself on electoral politics at all, hoping a savior would appear. To the contrary, most of the opposition took place in the streets predicated on the belief that not allowing America to conduct business as usual was the only way to create the pressure, including on elected officials, to make needed change.
17
I wish I was as optimistic as you. I doubt much of the Mueller report will be made available to anyone but the new attorney general. I guess he’s just doing the job Trump assigned him.
16
@Lisa
If you understand the enforced disinterest of the coastal progressive Hate-Trump media this month regarding Mueller's Disappointed Democrat Donors crew, you already know that because Mueller has nothing to say against this American President, he will probably not produce a public report and the sketchiest of reports to the Atttorney General as required.
The war against the President is now evolving into hate crimes like Jussie Smollet's latest effort for the party.
If those who wield real power on the Supreme Court and in the Senate are unwilling to take a stand, it will not matter what conscientious lawyers, journalists, and other citizens do. They will be all swept away in the storm. For fifty years the GOP has been wildly successful putting power over principle. Why would they change now?
48
@Victor James
Power over principles? I didn’t notice they had any principles except lining their own pockets.
6
Mr. Brooks as the ever optimistic conservative seems disconnected from the fact that the wealthy and powerful tend to lookout for one another. Particularly the Republican's big donor driven political machine. If he goes down, Trump will take the whole party with him. Thus, making it more than likely that Trump may ultimately slip the proverbial net of consequence. One should never underestimate the power of money over morality where politics is concerned.
63
Mr Brooks has the luxury of being optimistic. He has faith that the “decent” men in positions of power will restore order and he can return to the comfort of his perch and continue to extol the virtues of conservatism.
Which are to conserve the money and power they have accumulated on the backs of the less fortunate.
8
“These investigations are being led, it should be noted, by Republicans.”
Brooks should have noted that the GOP died long ago before they all converted to Trumpism. When they were silent about ten years ago when Trump launched his brother crusade against President Obama, republicans forfeited any right to govern.
60
As obviously as the Republican party has failed every conceivable test of ethics, patriotism, ability to govern, it does appear, as you say, that the legal system is holding somewhat fast.
So far, that's only an appearance. Yes, the process is playing out, in some instances aggressively. Yes, a few attorneys seem to have stuck to their legal guns. But they're not the totality of the system. We have newly and deeply corrupted and partisan courts, not least our hopelessly political/ideological Supreme Court.
We suffer a surfeit of old school, 'good form' attorneys and investigators who seem paralyzed by the prospect of actually doing something (indicting, say) to a sitting President.
All this dropped-hanky, fainting couch hoo-hah about going after a blatantly criminal President is upsetting and, honestly, offensive.
The dichotomy we are presented is a false one: either one can indict a sitting President or not.
The real choice is this: either one can indict a sitting President or he/she is an absolute monarch beyond the reach of the law, able to do anything with impunity and without consequence.
It gives the lie to every last thing we've been given to believe about our country, its an invitation to chaos, it is license for any kind of criminal activity because we are not a nation of laws and there is no legitimate judicial or enforcement mechanism in sight.
Of concern is the fragility of the Justice Department and their confusion about what their duty actually is.
90
The history books will rightfully treat Robert Mueller as one of the greatest American patriots of all time, a man who quietly, methodically worked through a giant wretched pile of Trump Trash in order to protect the sanctity of the republic from one of the worst Americans of all time.
The contrasts between the two men are stunning.
Mueller is quiet, hard-working, professional, knowledgeable, disciplined and was a decorated American soldier; Trump is loud, obnoxious, undisciplined, incoherent and a draft-dodging, law-breaking bag of hot air.
Mueller waited a year for his knee injury could heal before joining officer training in the US Marine Corps in 1968 at the very same time Trump was waiting five minutes to get a fake doctor's note from his his daddy's friend for a fake injury.
For his Vietnam War service, Mueller's awards included the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V", Purple Heart Medal, two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals with Combat "V", Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, and Vietnam Service Medal with four service stars.
Trump's only medal will be the Kremlin's Hero of the Russian Federation award.
Mueller deserves a spot on Mount Rushmore for his heroic, noble and patriotic stand against one of the worst people to befall the nation and the Presidency, the fake, phony, fraudulent, carnival-barking Donald Trump, a 3rd-rate TV personality and professional snake oiler who was happy to flush his country down his own personal black hole.
745
@Socrates
I doubt Putin is dumb enough to give Trump a "hero" award.
15
@Susan Anderson it was meant figuratively. And was bang on.
32
@Socrates Pretty masterful use of language, logic, and heart. Thank you.
36
The real test of our legal and governmental systems will occur in the coming weeks and months.
Stay tuned.
56
@Richard
Agreed.
@Richard
Leftists are going to go berserk when Mueller says he detests Trump but Trump hasn't broken any laws or committed any impeachable offenses.
Hope "does spring eternal" and it is because of men like Khuzami and Geoffrey Berman and the like. Most of us Americans, not educated in the law but educated in many other areas, recognize that this country's laws are what keep it afloat and from sinking into the abyss. And were it not for those lawyers who care about this country, justice and the history of the "rule of law" we would likely be not much more than a large banana republic.
27
Excellent analysis. Khuzami’s career is an ideal preparation for the job he now has. The Trump Mob should very afraid.
22
Nice column. Although your initial observation - that the cultures of law enforcement and congress are different and that the former has not bent bent while the latter has begs the question as to why this is so. Congress is supine because it is accountable to voters, while law enforcement is not. As our country has become more small 'd' democratic over the last 200 years, we have become more vulnerable to demagogues, and accountability to the voting public has in some cases become a liability to liberalism.
9
@Eric
The Republican Congress is supine because they're terrified of the president. That he will have them 'primaryed' and run a tea party candidate against them. I've never seen the level of political corruption as the last two years with the entire government under the control of the executive. That's exactly how to lose a democracy. And all they achieved was a 1.4 T tax cut for the wealthy and two appointments to the S.C, that is all they cared about.
43
@Eric N After McGovern's defeat in 1972, the Democratic Party changed its primary rules to nominally become more open. Followed in the wake of Watergate, by the Republicans.
The paradox is that because of the 2 stage selection process (primary and general elections), this innovation actually turned over the process even more to the Donor Class. Now, able through media buys and astroturf grassroots organizing (and now heavily assisted by Citizens United), the Donor Class had more power than ever before -- especially on the right.
Sure, you can say, that the establishment couldn't stop Trump, but look at the results: Pence, a Koch product, in place as a backup to President Autopen.
What we need is mandatory voting, so that this primary extremism just stops.
14
@Eric N
Not quite accurate; Chiefs of Police are subject to constant public opinion, good and bad. In many locales, sheriffs run for office. And, those responsible for law enforcement appointees are public elected officials. The political connections are constant.
2
“Many Republicans have not fared well...” That should get the award for the understatement of the year. They have not only not fared well, but they selling out our country, shirking their constitutional obligations and endangering the world by ignoring Russia’s cyberattacks on our and dozens of other national elections.
This is a nice article, recognizing the outstanding work being done across the legal system, but it’s time for bolder statements about the behavior of the GOP. Brooks’ should read Adam Schiff’s op ed in the WaPo and then he needs to write one like that himself. McConnell, Graham and the rest of Trump’s enablers are complicit in Trump’s treason.
164
@Sherry
The irony of Brooks citing Andrew McCarthy to support his assertions when all Andy has been doing since Trump was elected is defend him by attacking law enforcement.
Here's his tweet today bashing Adam Schiff and promoting his fellow Trump cheerleader Kimberly Strassel:
"Conspiracy theorist Adam Schiff is looking for something new, anticipating a Mueller letdown, writes @KimStrassel www.wsj.com/articles/sc…
4 hours ago · Twitter"
It is hopeful that the rule of law will be able to withstand "the norm-destroying corruption of King Chaos." Donald Trump has managed to skirt the law for over thirty years. He and his businesses have been involved in 3,500 legal cases in U.S. federal courts and state court. Of the 3,500 suits, Trump or one of his companies were plaintiffs in 1,900; defendants in 1,450. Trump was named in at least 169 suits in federal court. In about 500 cases, judges dismissed plaintiffs' claims against Trump. Where there was a clear resolution, Trump won 451 times, and lost 38.
Teflon Don has a pretty great track record of slithering around the law. Either he is incredibly lucky or unbelievably sly and cunning. Will his long run of winning finally catch up on him? One can only hope. Three decades of getting around the law are too long and two more years even longer.
26
@HMP
It is not an accident that Teflon Don has managed to slither around the law for a generation. It is a fundamental failure of the legal system that anyone can go to court 3500 times without someone's inquiring what is going on and stopping any abuse of the legal system. Our legal system's inability or unwillingness to defend itself against this and other sorts of abuse is a major and almost fatal defect.
The legal system fails in these ways because this failure benefits certain sorts of people and businesses and they in turn keep it from being fixed (and even push talk of what is wrong with it and fixing it out of the area of acceptable conversations).
23
Institutions are only as strong as the men and women who staff them. It is in times of political, social, emotional, and moral stress, that you learn what you and others are really made of. So I would say again, institutions are only as strong as the men and women who staff them.
8
@Steve Fankuchen
While this is true, it is also true that the men and women who staff institutions can only be as strong as the institution allows. Congress is in the hands of voters and, in non-competitive seats, almost entirely in the hands of primary voters, who tend to be more radical on the right and the left. So in the majority of cases, those in congress who buck the party get primary'd. So the institution really doesn't allow most people to stand up and think independently (John McCain was an exception, but most people do not carry folk hero status - and even he became increasingly vulnerable over the years)
6
@Eric N
Eric, thanks for engaging on this subject. While your analysis is fundamentally correct, there are alternatives we both should consider. The first is for people in positions of authority to make a principled resignation, as Elliott Richardson and William Ruckelshaus did when President Nixon directed them to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox.
The second point I would make is that the vast majority of the opposition to the Viet Nam war, especially when Nixon was President, did not predicate itself on electoral politics, hoping a savior would appear. To the contrary, most of the opposition took place in the streets predicated on the belief that not allowing America to conduct their business as usual was the only way to create the pressure, including on elected officials, to make a change.
5
Agree entirely. But what about the press, specifically the Wall Street Journal? How can the editorial page of that venerable newspaper of Wall Street continue to malign the very professionals you describe? Would it have been possible prior to the ownership of Rupert Murdoch? As an alumnus of the WSJ, please provide your views.
38
@CWD Wall Street = Money. That is all they care about. Watch "Wall Street" 1&2 and the "Wolf of Wall Street" (20s and 00s versions.)
Deutsche Bank and Trump were locked in litigation while Khuzami was DB's General Counsel. That litigation settled when tbe private banking arm refinanced the real estate arm's loans to Trump, which may have been done with Russian oligarch (laundered?) money. What was Khuzami's role in all that, and how does it relate to any current investigation of (or choice not to investigate) Trump and his businesses?
23
@Robert E. Malchman:
Great points. Deutsche Bank was one of the key protagonists of the financial tsunami of 2007. In fact, there is a famous story of how the Deutsche bankers were triggering the meltdown over pizza meeting
6
Khuazami has 2 big strikes against him in my book- things that Brooks brushes aside way to easily. His relatively long tenure at Deutch, and his unwillingness or inability to hold the top Wall Street guys feet to the fire in the 2008 meltdown.
I am not holding my breath that he will be a honest broker when dealing with the WH crew.
31
@david s
Yes indeed.
Lady Justice must be blindfolded regarding the people sent before her. She must keep her scales in balance— no tilting for one side.
But we also portray her as carrying a sword—which we know she can and will use.
11
One of the legal things here that I find most interesting is how many criminal people around Trump are being hauled into court- people who would never have to face justice if they did not happen to be associated with the President of the United States. It makes me wonder how many more people are out there who should have to face similar scrutiny but never will.
53
Early in the 2016 presidential campaign, several commentators pondered why wealthy people weren’t rallying around DJT as one of their own. I thought then, and firmly believe now, that they feared his antics would paint then unfavorably and the forthcoming digging into his finances, business relationships and contacts would expose their routine usurping of the legal system and tax code.
21
@From Where I Sit
That seems about right. I live in a Florida county with a wealthy crust along the beach. Romney made an urgent fund-raising trip to a local club at the height of his campaign and was well rewarded. Trump hasn't visited, though George W. Bush did come by last year.
2
@From Where I Sit
Or is it because they know he is not, in fact, one of them at all, but a poseur who can’t get credit with any American bank and affiliation with him risks association with his shady business deals.
As much as I respect the federal attorneys and their professionalism, I think it's a mistake to assume this is due to their super character. Instead, I'd suggest the key difference between them and the spineless members of Congress is that the former are career professionals and the latter are elected officials. While the legal oversight of these federal prosecutors makes me breathe a sigh of relief, it also makes me very uncomfortable. I'd vastly prefer that we, as voters, demand integrity of our elected officials by rewarding adherence to democratic principles and the separation of powers.
34
@J
completely agree with you, but I cannot put my faith in an uneducated citizenry, who is so easily manipulated by a snake oil salesman
1
Similar to the U.K., though insufficiently so. The British are led at present largely by a collection of fools and charlatans, bringing them to grief. However, they have the advantage of an enduring civil service that provides a degree of stability and integrity. Our government is riddled with lobbyists and hacks, leaving the actual work of legislation and regulation largely on the hands of nomadic twenty-somethings in the offices of Capitol Hill.
1
And yet we don't.
1
Institutions survive in adverse times because of the heroic efforts of individuals within them: Is that a fair summary?
Sounds a lot like a recycled version of the Great Man Theory of History. And while maybe that feeds into Mr. Brooks' moralistic hyper-individualized view of the current darkness, it also draws our attention away - almost as though through sleight of hand - from real and thorny structural and broader social problems that Trump and the Trumpists have unleashed, or at least unmasked: The assault on truth and a free press by scorched-earth, everything's-rigged rhetoric. The glorification of greed through the propagation of the notion that deregulation is all-good, and government's job is simply to get out of the way so that markets can run free - under the auspices of those already in positions of great power and wealth. Sound familiar? It should. It's the structural underpinning this piece distracts us away from in touting good guys in the judiciary like Khuzami. "Didn't come to lionize him," eh? Maybe, maybe not. But I for one am not having any, thanks. If, after the current darkness is past, our institutions survive, we may well have those individuals with stiff backbones and intact moral compasses to thank. And we will also have those to thank who kept their eye on the ball, who worked for lasting structural change, and who were not distracted by any Great (Little) Man Theories of History - however deftly those were crafted.
30
@DWolf
Re your introductory comments regarding a dependence on individuals: Bar associations have ethics rules. Knowing them is part of the bar exam. They are enforced, and people are disbarred and even jailed for violations.
The ethics demanded of senators and representatives is not so high.
1
The major Khuzami quality, not mentioned in this article, is his ethics.
I have wondered - from afar - whether the American democracy has the strength to be self correcting. This alone will be the measure that will confirm or deny the American system's validity.
The jury is still out!
17
My hope is that we as a country will not only hold strong against the corrosive force of Trump (and Trumpism), but that we will be better for having hit our near-bottom, and pulled back from the monster that we as a nation almost became under his influence. I hope that we will pick ourselves (and each other) up, dust ourselves off, have a good cry, then a good hug, and get on with becoming our better selves. That in spite of the Trump era taking us close to the cliff's edge, we will come out of this more affirmed in our resolve that, as our Founders so rightly claimed, "united we stand, divided we fall."
32
@Not All Docs Play Golf:
It has to restart with education. When you have a significant percentage of the electorate as under educated, unable to distil beyond 160 characters and go after the deeper thought processes, degeneration and denigration is where Trump finds his sweet spot.
17
@Not All Docs Play Golf
A lovely comment— and from the land of Pence.
1
@aboutface
The literacy rate in England is 99%. The literacy rate in France is 99%. The literacy rate in Germany is 99%. The literacy rate in Spain is 98%. The literacy rate in Holland is 99%.
The literacy rate in the United States of America is…around 55%.
As the dictator said, “I love the poorly educated.”
1
Like peace and overall prosperity, the rule of law can be so pervasive and familiar that it becomes invisible. If there is a silver lining to the narcissistic onslaught of the Trump presidency, it is to make visible this most essential social and moral glue. Be grateful for it now that is is being noticed. It is a great gift.
18
@Cal Prof
Yes indeed. A gift that came a bit late and damage to the internal organs of US society will take a decade to repair.
Between McConnell and Trump, we forget that there are Americans that actually care about the rule of law. They are not interested in partisan work that appeals to a “base.” They care about doing their job. I hope the international community knows that these lawyers are the ones that represent the best of America. Trump does not represent us.
50
If we get through this it will because enough people maintained a sense of decency, kept their moral compass, and had the ability to be horrified by the absolutely amoral/unmoral behavior of an entire party and administration.
57
"The proof of the pudding is in the eating". We shall see how formidable Mr. Mueller, the SDNY and Mr. Khuzami are when the indictments that matter are announced, or not.
I agree with Mr. Brooks that those professionals are conducting their investigations with all apparent integrity.
It is more important that the product produces appropriate results.
6
It's sad to learn that when professionals are doing their job as they have taken their oath, it is commendable. However, maybe in this dark time, those people who are doing their job seem to shine.
4
There is a lot to agree with here. But it seems grotesquely one-sided.
Take what may prove to be one of the most shocking assaults on the rule of law in the Republic's history. I refer of course to the the FBI's investigation of supposed Russian collusion both before and after the last Presidential election -- based on little more than dirt dug up by agents of the Clinton campaign.
That and an outgrowth of that -- FBI officials and others at the highest levels conferring on actions bordering on a coup d'etat against a newly elected President.
They were lawyers. What were they thinking? -- or were they thinking at all?
If Mueller's investigation fails to turn up convincing evidence of collusion, do we need a fresh investigation to get to the bottom of this collusion by the "deep state" and a political campaign?
We are no longer a democracy if the FBI, acting on "higher authority", can take it into its own hands to save voters from themselves.
2
@Ian Maitland
The investigations have already turned up more than enough evidence of collusion to justify themselves.
As Congressional testimony has made clear, it is simply false to say that the investigation into Trump’s entanglements with the Kremlin was in response to the Wray dossier. Your repeating this false partisan talking point doesn’t make it true.
Furthermore, even if the Wray dossier had been the impetus (and, to be clear, it was established by GOP led Congressional inquiries that it was not), what if it? It is a fact of life that information-whether “raw intelligence” (as gossip and heresay is called in the spy world) or criminal evidence and leads-almost always comes from rivals, opponents, personal enemies, and other with an axe to grind. That is how criminal investigations work, and presidential candidates should not be above the laws we all live with or beyond the accountability tools we all face.
19
@Cormac
Wray? Or Steele?
I agree that most leaks and tips are interested. But all the more reason for the FBI to require a higher standard of proof than the minimal one.
While we are on the subject, your standard of proof is even lower than the FBI's.
2
@Ian Maitland
I'd hardly call lawful exercise of the 25th amendment a 'coup'. Is advocating for a lawful act somehow unlawful or immoral? Do we need a criminal investigation into McConnell for denying Merrick Garland a confirmation vote?
2
I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it is good that there are checks on Trump. But on the other hand, the fact that these checks take the form of unelected and unaccountable government prosecutors is problematic.
Everyone knew that Trump was corrupt and that Putin was pulling for him in 2016, yet Trump was still elected, because many voters believed his promise to drain the swamp outweighed those things. The fact that government prosecutors are jailing Trump's associates and trying to build a case to impeach Trump does give the feeling that the swamp is a deep state trying to undermine the results of a legitimate election where the winning candidate campaigned in part on reining in said deep state.
I don't like Trump, but these investigations set a worrying precedent, as it seems that any future president who campaigns on reigning in the unaccountable federal bureaucracy could face this kind of prosecutorial retaliation. Trump will be gone in 2 or 6 years, but the deep state is eternal.
The real checks against Trump come from outside government, in the form of a reinvigorated civil society, and we should promote that instead.
1
@Aoy Yes, let's get everyone voting. The game theory changes when both parties and candidates know that most everyone will vote.
1
There is no deep state. Only corporate money. And Trump is swimming in it.
1
Mr. Brooks should self-identify as a Never-Trumper, as his column continues to be a source of on-going relentless negativity about President Trump, with nary a positive word.
Mr. Brooks' praise of Robert Khuzami is based on a mixed record.
Being the head of the S.E.C. enforcement unit (which collected fines but sent no one of significance to jail) is not exactly the cornerstone of a sterling reputation - particularly in view of what had transpired in the lead-up to the 2008 fiscal implosion. If no one from Wall Street goes to jail in those circumstances, then no one from Wall Street is ever going to jail - and "enforcement" becomes a truly hollow word.
The fines (praised by Mr. Brooks) collected by the S.E.C. "Enforcement" Division under Mr Khuzami became low-cost license fees - the license consisting of the fleecing of the public on a massive scale that far exceeded the fines.
22
@Maurice Gatien Do you wonder if people like Mr. Brooks hate on President Trump because he is bringing about the needed Change that others before him promised, but were unable to deliver? Do you think it pains this columnist, and so many others, to learn that their ways of life indeed are changing too, and the comfortable security they enjoy/ed under the status quo is coming to an end under the Trump administration? How can this president -- who has started no wars, who is not formally sponsoring programs that pit one identity group against another, who is saving us money by concentrating on needs at home first --- be so vilified when both Bush the boy ruler, and Obama the junior senator turned cool prez, sat back content to let others hold the reins for what must have been a comfortable ride for Brooks and so many others? It's irrational. Change is positive.
1
Once again, I wish I could be as hopeful as David Brooks as he, if not 'lionizes', at least asks us to trust in the ability of those with the awesome, almost unchecked, power of federal prosecutors to know 'right from wrong.'
Let me just point out that Rudy Giuliani was not just any federal prosecutor but was the US Attorney for the Southern District of NY. And need I further point out the compromised Justices who are actually now sitting on the highest court of the land?
I'm sorry but at least by the time of Bush v. Gore, we should have awakened from our mass hypnotic trance that those we elevate to our most esteemed positions, be it prosecutor, judge, ny times pundit or, yes, even president of the united states, are all too human and too easily compromised by tribal loyalties and their own particular fears and wants.
Perhaps there were wise 'philosopher-kings' in Plato's idealized Republic but not here, not by a long shot.
49
Excellent column, Mr Brooks. I've felt the same gratitude toward the federal judges who have shot down Trump's illegal edicts.
I do wonder, though, about the Deutsche Bank overlap with Khuzami, Justice Kennedy's son and Trump banking with Deutsche Bank, when it was the only bank willing to lend to him outside of Russia. Nothing about this administration has been coincidence yet.
34
"Khuzami is a tested professional. He’s proved his skill at the highest levels. He’s a Wall Street and legal insider. He’s seen national security, Wall Street and white-collar corruption from all angles. And he’s a patriot. He’s given up lucrative jobs to serve."
The best attorneys take great pride in being professionals of high integrity. And because the Trump operation reeks of both the gutter and rank amateurism, no attorney of any merit will have any qualms or reservations about challenging it rigorously. Team Trump is in way over its head. Insiders within the New York/Washington legal community understand this and are confident how this tawdry melodrama will turn out.
So much for the easy part. The hard part is the aftermath. The East Coast legal elite has close ties to both Wall Street and the national security bureaucracy, with top practitioners moving, as noted by Brooks, comfortably from major law firms to Wall Street to the Justice Department, FBI, CIA and other federal agencies. While overt political agendas may be muted, they do exist. The dominant agenda includes political conservatism, economic neo-liberalism and a modestly imperial globalism.
One hopes that the best and brightest can take down Trump and his cronies purely as an act of public service, that is, without attempting to convert their success into political advantage. A critical debate over the role of the national security state has been merely deferred by the Trump saga, not resolved by it.
7
I was a Federal manager. A few decades ago, a high level political appointee did not like how a work result made the administration look, and he told us in a management conference to get them more favorable results. We careerists said our adjudicators were following the law and the regulations, and if the administration wanted the adjudicators to come up with different results, they need to change the law and/or pass new regulations. We would not simply direct employees to come up with different results. Change the law and regs, we will follow them.
The employees knew that the administration did not like the results, and were waiting for a shoe to drop. Well, no new regulations were forthcoming, the best they could come up with was to have supervisors review and countersign decisions up to a certain level, and for managers to review and countersign above that level.
When I held the meeting about the new policy, employees were already riled up expecting the new administration instructions were for them to ignore regulations. I told them about the countersigning and that if they brought properly supported decisions to me, I would sign them. “We are disinterested adjudicators of this set of laws and regulations. I don’t care which way your decision goes, as long as it is the proper decision based on the facts, and supported by the evidence.”
Some administrations don’t like this attitude among careerists. I think it is what makes democracies work.
59
@Bob
As an attorney at an Executive branch agency (not DOJ) I experienced something similar. Federal government professionals are the best, working for a combination of patriotism and the opportunity to work on issues that do not arise in the private sector. I was from the federal government, I was there to help (sometimes to the astonishment of US businesses), and I did. There are letters in my personnel file from US companies (employers) expressing thanks for our efforts on their behalf to rectify these problems. Reagan could not have been more wrong.
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@Bob and @Lawyermom:
Thank you both for your service. I feel so sorry for your colleagues currently serving. If they continue to be abused like they have in the recent past, soon no such honorable people will want to be part of our government. It's a terrible tragedy.
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@David Bosak
You are absolutely correct. The current law and grad students of my acquaintance are not even thinking about federal jobs at the very time when many senior employees are eligible for retirement. And I know some GOP folks who would normally be short-listed and eager for appointments at the Assistant Secretary level. None of them wants anything to do with the present administration for obvious reasons.
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.... "So why aren’t the legal authorities wilting? One explanation: institutions and character."
Yes and Trump is trying to attack the institution of rule of law in anyway he can. The people, the laws, and the institution.
He is like a bad drug, believe him and you need more.
Get more of him, you have to believe his is good.
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@Just Me
You used those words so well! My hat's off to your paragraph "He's like a bad drug". The whole thing: takingk believing, becoming dependent on that mistaken belief. You got it!
"And he's a patriot. He's given up lucrative jobs to serve." Khuzami probably is all that. But historians will write about an age when evil men with ill intentions were so astonishingly wealthy that they could buy the allegiance--or at least compliance--of almost anyone.
After the way they've abandoned any pretense of principle, can there be any doubt that dozens of Republican lawmakers have been bought off by Putin? Why do these pols continue to humiliate themselves and grovel at the feet of Trump when they can make 5 times as much money in the private sector--and maintain their dignity to boot? Answer: because they can't make more money in the private sector. $20 million dollars in a Swiss bank account buys a lot of kowtowing. Who's doing the buying? Why, the richest man in the world, of course. No, not Jeff Bezos. It's Vladimir Putin. At this point, isn't it obvious?
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If you listen to Senator Feinstein’s short video about the hearing and Barr’s memo, bottom line is that Barr is there to protect Trump and give him powers that are unlimited, even to the extent of firing the entire prosecuting team of NY attorneys and closing every case against Trump’s organization and campaign inauguration.
Trump looks like he will get away with everything according to the reading of Barr’s memo and his testimony.
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@Debbie
Well Mr. Barr will have the wrath of the public in his face ,Old white men GOP and at the White House if he allows himself to utter the words he will not release the report.
Mr. Barr will have the honor of protecting Traitor Trump and his administration , he will go down in history as a traitor himself . Barr should be worried about what history will say about him because it won’t be good. History will tell the truth about his entire conservative legal history and how he didn’t support the constitution or Democracy.
The American people are meeting and mobilizing ready to act when the moment arrives. Social media will be used for good. Democracy won’t die on our Watch.
Trump better be careful about calling other people traitors because it will come right back on him and his beloved family. Great watching Roger Stone eating crow with the judge today saying “I made a mistake “
Well life is no video game and the trumps will find it out sooner than later.
Yes Mr. Brooks real Americans have integrity unlike the old white GOP , Facebook and the rest of corporations who could care less about our laws or democracy. It’s a new day and American law matters,
@Debbie It's my understanding that SDNY has jurisdiction over Trump's businesses and political entities in the SDNY. These entities are not eligible for executive privilege. He could certainly dodge a bullet from Mueller and be hit by a cannon ball re SDNY. There are rumors afoot that SDNY may go full guerrilla on Trump once Mueller has wrapped up his piece of business.
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Mr Brooks, there is a more basic issue -- we as Americans are divided like never before (at least in the last 150 years).
On this side of the divide, we talk of laws of the land, checks and balances, fair law enforcement and carefully administered justice. All well and good except on the other side of the divide they talk of the same in terms of erosion of constitutional rights (specially to bear arms), the swamp, deep state, fake news and socialism. A good 40% of America talk this way. Unless we (us and them) figure out a way to realize that all of us have some albeit shrinking common basis and that our differences need not be fundamental, America is in trouble not necessarily as a country but as a culture.
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@JJ I believe that is more like 30% solid and 10-15% Republicans and influencers who just want to win no matter what.
We need to get back to being able to talk to each other. That consists of neighborhoods. My friends and I saved our beach from private takeover and development, and we are totally opposed politically. But we know each other and therefore respect each other.
2
What JJ said. I’m scared. Find common ground or there will be none to stand on.
1
Deutsche bank has been one of Trump's lenders of last resort, and willing to turn a blind eye to his shady Russian connections. Trump aside, they are the poster child for bank fraud and been fined billions. As an alumni, how will Khuzami address any wrongdoing there? I know, more fines and a deferred prosecution agreement, the usual white collar get-out-of-jail-free card. Let's recall that it was simmering resentment over Obama and Holder's failure to jail a single person for the crash of 2008 that helped give us Trump to begin with.
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Good piece, and thank God for these stalwarts.
I don’t believe that the fact that they’re lawyers serves as much of an explanation for their virtue. After all, most members of the Senate are trained as... you guessed it... lawyers.
12
There is a group of lawyers who have NOT withstood the Trump onslaught, who have been just as "supine" as Congressional Republicans. I am referring to the Federalist Society, an organization of conservative an libertarian attorneys whose founding principles include "that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution." I agree with this and other principles they espouse. This is the moment for them to demonstrate their integrity and value to the legal profession and our country. We should be hearing from them. Why are they silent?
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@Rose Cedars
They are traitors looking for an escape hatch.
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You left out one critical motivation: ambition. These prosecutors stand to gain significantly if they are successful. I very much hope that they are.
5
Nothing to do with "US legal system withstanding Trump onslaught" (Twitter, seriously?).
Quite simply, at its base, this was a war by the deep-swamp--FBI, Justice, Congress, gov'ment bureaucrats--against the constitution. Didn't like the results of the election -- wanted their choice, Queen of Open Borders Hillary in the White House.
So what to do -- Mueller's munchkins to the rescue.
4
@Alice's Restaurantonly if you willfully ignore the mountain of evidence the election was tainted by Russian interference, Comey's unprecedented meddling and the Trump campaign's collusion with a hostile foreign government.
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@Alice's Restaurant .
I'm also from PB, 908 Archer St to be exact.
Have your read about the indictments (and/or guilty pleas) of Flynn, Manafort, the 13 Russkies? Did you read the Steele Dossier. none of which (to my knowledge) has been disproven?
Trump has been a crook since he showed up on anyone's radar screen, and his election (if you can call it that..with Russian help..) is merely testimony to the bad state of electoral politics in the US today.
For the GOP, voter suppression and gerrymandering by (incl. Harris today), hiding Trump's extramarital affairs, Don Jr's meeting with Russian lawyer and other Russians, more than 100 times that Team Trump had to 'amend their statements of 'Russian Contacts"...on and on...
Hilary NEVER wanted open borders (which is a false Trumpian narrative)..and the Swamp is swampier now then it ever was during BHO's presidency....look at the staff turnover, the ethics violations, the self-dealing, nepotism...?
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@Alice's Restaurant
It wasn't Hillary Clinton who was playing footsies with the Russians in secret meetings trying to get a hotel built in Moscow. Trump IS the swamp.
Try again.
3
It is hard sometimes to realize, when all the headlines everyday are grabbed by Trump and his team of sleaze bags, that silent hard working honorable men and women are working hard behind the scenes, all day long, to bring this abomination of a President to justice.
Their time is coming. And it is their work which will have the final say on the Presidency of Donald Trump.
One thing is sadly certain, that regardless of the air tight case these patriots bring forward, the morons of the South and Midwest who attend Trump rallies will stick with the man who sold this country out to the Russians.
May Trump end his career, a broken man, just like Manafort and Stone have. It maybe too much to hope for, but I would like to see Trump wearing a jump suit that matches his hair.
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@Babel - Babel I completely share your your hopes yet I've one nit to pick. The cretins who attend trump rallies are not exclusive to the south and midwest. You might note that many of his brainwashed cult who comment here are from all over - quite a lot of them from the northeast. My husband (we're separated because of this) is one of his staunchest supporters. He grew up in Queens, NY.
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@Babel
Its always about bringing this abomination of a president to justice in the future. Well we are entering the third year of the crime spree and what has been done? How long should we wait for the hero's to act? Justice delayed is justice denied. Trump committed enough crimes in his first week to be removed from office, where have all these honorable men and women been?
@Deb
These crazy's are everywhere. We even have them in PA. The only silver lining in all this is that it has enabled people to cull the previously hidden fascists from their friends list.
1
"King chaos". Correct. LOL.
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You are not serious are you? With two Supreme Court judges sidled in to enable Republican train wreck agenda. Wake up!
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@rajn
Once SCOTUS justices are seated, they are there for the duration, and thus no longer beholden to the president who nominated them. Previous presidents have been unpleasantly surprised by their appointees' stances. Further, the justices will have to confront the reality that any rulings that loosen the constraints on Trump will similarly give free reign to any future Democratic president. That should give them pause.
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Prosecutors have always scared the heck out of me...
Not that anything in any of my comments should catch or keep your eye, folks...
But Kafka spoiled it for you, the way Orwell spoiled it for British PMs...
Once you’ve set a course – you revel in the bloodlust of the hunt and kill...
Which is why I like Robert Mueller – and his complement, John Roberts – so much...
They seem to be able to understand that the message is the medium...
Here’s why:
For a government to be stable, it needs – beyond executive, judicial, legislative, and op-ed branches – a secret police...
But for a government to endure – the secret police need to work against the country’s leader, not for it...
Harder than it seems...
Anyone can swear a personal loyalty oath to a leader...
Swearing one against a leader a more delicate balance – bad form to do it when the big guy’s within earshot...
The notion of “impartial independence” is smoke/mirrors...
Even Dubya grokked this, as in “You’re either for us, or you’re against us”...
News media similarly and viscerally gorge on this, though Hannity is the exception that proves the rule...
You’d like me to believe, NYT, that your editorial board meetings are like the Fed’s...
Half of you thinking Trump’s doing a fine job – other half thinking some incremental correction needed...
Yeah, right – back at you...
If you’d let me put a headline on this comment, it’d read:
“The NYT Op-ed Columnists Who Did Not Break”
Nothing but the truth – I swearz...
2
Participants and supporters of coup d'etats need to remember the old adage...
"Don't lose !"
McCabe & Co. bungled their attempt. The questions are now who and how many are going to go down with him.
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" The law is an ass" from " Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens
Both black African enslavement and separate and unequal black African Jim Crow were both legal. Law is not fair nor just nor moral nor objective. Law is gender, color aka, ethnicity, faith, national origin, socioeconomics, politics, education and history plus arithmetic.
Donald Trump has assembled among the most incompetent unethical and unprofessional team of lawyers ever gathered. Which is unfortunate for the American legal system at this historic moment.
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@Blackmamba Who would you expect Trump to assemble? It's all he knows.
Seeing is believing
3
you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows
Bob Dylan, Nobel Peace Prize
6
"You can keep your healthcare plan if you like it."
Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize
@Billie Lawless
Literature, not peace.
1
Just to remind us that Sheik Rahman wanted to blow up the UN, but also inspired the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 2017.
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Thank you David Brooks. Please continue so "We the people" can continue to sleep at night. (Another great article from the New York Times, aka "Enemy of the People".)
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"The American legal system, however, seems to be holding up pretty well."
Really! Is that what you call elevating an accused rapist on the highest court in the land? Holding up pretty well?
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That was Congress.
“These investigations are being led, it should be noted, by Republicans.”
Republican Institutionalists, it should be noted, are nothing like the current breed of Republican which has come to inhabit the Party. Nice try, though.
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Wow, a current event op-ed! Very good.
Wonder what Rep. Jim Jordan, the Freedom Caucus scold who wants Hillary skewered, will have to say? Likely some racist/xenophobic trope characteristic of the FC.
All the prosecutors are doing professional work, unlike Mr. Whittaker the Sessions temp and former con artist. What America and the world wants to see if AG Barre will do. Will he give the Mueller report to Congress? Will he give it to the NYTIMES? If not, will the McCabe loyalists provide more details? Will the Republican Senate do a McConnell?
Let’s hear what David Brooks has to say about Trump and Kushner and friends passing Nuclear secrets and equipment to Saudi Arabia, the real source of worldwide terror a la Al Qaeda (in Yemen) and ISIS, for a profit? That instead of punishing MBS for having Khashoggi murdered. Or maybe the NYTIMES story on Trump’s 1100 attacks on the Mueller investigation, or Trump’s making money on his office. Please.
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... if we get through this, it will be because of people like them.
----------
Don't look now, Mr. Brooks, but your pant leg is creasing...
The critics have a very valid point here re Deutsche Bank, please don't lose sight of this in your admiration. (What good is all the work and character if no lasting change comes of it and you cash your paychecks contributing to the conformity of the system, just another cog in the machine grinding away at others? Didn't you learn from the Obama administration?)
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Mr. Brooks, you now sound like the patriot Andy McCabe. I guess you saw the same interviews that I did.
Whatever you may say today, do not ever forget that you wrote numerous pieces over the years that supported the kind of behavior we are witnessing in our government today.
A day late and a dollar short, Mr. Brooks. Go home.
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David Brooks - I respect your efforts to maintain a degree of intellectual honesty. But you have a seat with grave responsibility. Your editorial efforts over the years have helped embed the Republican Congress which has abjectly abdicated its role in American democracy, save being “supine” (your word), to Trump. You recognize the sin. Sorry sir, but you are a sinner. Man up. Sincerely, Mike
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To Tim B: You wrote: "I had a good look at his character in a YouTube video prior to the election, where at a World Wrestling Federation slug fest, Trump sucker punched a man and once the man was down, Trump can be seen continuing to beat down on the man."
Please share that video clip[ with us.
Andy
3
Yes please share. It would be very comical to watch the unhinged left falling all over themselves to defend the honesty of a professional wrestling match.
You do know that those matches are fake, right ?
Give me a break, Brooks. The deep-swamp armed with Mueller's crew of FBI munchkins and lawyers backed by both DNC-RNC Politburos (along with a Sovietized mass-media) have been waging war against Trump from day one. Hardly heroes.
More swamp ooze than anything else--beginning with Comey-Lynch--"the matter"--and followed with incompetence of Strzok-Page-McCabe. A fraud and farce by any measure.
4
You don't see a cadre of attorneys committed to the ethical ideals of their profession and the values of the U.S. Constitution, defending the country's legal institutions and the rule of law against Trump, as heroes? Is it that you dislike lawyers, or that you choose to overlook Trump's corruption?
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@Alice's Restaurant . Trump brought all this on himself..."Russia, if you're listening, please find Hilary's EMails"....no meeting notes, no translators at meeting with KJU or VP, Russian spies in Oval office alone with DJT....
@Dubious
Thought your first sentence was satire, but then the forced option proved otherwise. But to answer your question: It's deep-swamp kabuki theater and a Comey-Mueller-McCabe sideshow and snipe hunt. Nothing being "defended" but the animus of the DNC-RNC Politburos for Trump and those who voted for him.
I have hope- but at the highest level- will only Chief Justice Roberts be the one with any real backbone. Thomas is a sellout for sure and the rest of the right seems as gleeful as their spineless congressional counterparts.
We are indeed withstanding, this far, the Trump disaster but at what cost?
David, early on in the election process you should have called Trump out for what he was and is- a man- baby tyrant want to be. Deplorable.
But I still listen to your weekly dialogue with Mark Shields - and that also keeps me sane. Thanks.
13
Thank you for this reassuring article. There is still hope. Mitch McConnell, the other Trump enablers in Congress and The Deplorables who cheer him on should be deeply ashamed for allowing Dangerous Donald to put the entire country, if not all of humanity, at tremendous risk. History, if we survive Mafia Don’s reign as a species, is not going to be kind to any of them.
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The machinery of justice is functioning rather well under extreme conditions notwithstanding attacks from Trump and congressional Republicans. The only problem is the ridiculous rule that a sitting president cannot be indicted. In this case indictment is necessary because of Trump's ability to intimidate cooperating witnesses and pardon those who don’t flip and the possibility, however remote, that he could be re elected.
6