The Walter Cronkite Republican notes obstruction and delay are pointless if there is nothing to hide.
6
The truly sad fact is that for most Trump supporters, learning the details of his inept and malicious presidency will not make a bit of difference to them. One of the few true statements Trump ever made was that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose a vote. What does that say about his supporters? John Dean spoke about the cancer on the presidency during the time of Watergate. Donald Trump IS the cancer today.
10
While I’m all for getting to the bottom of Trump’s corruption and possible tax fraud it seems more likely that the only way to get rid of him is to vote him out of office.
What the Democratic Party really needs to do is put up a reasonable candidate with a sensible platform in 2020. They can control that approach. Relying on the courts clearly isn’t working currently.
4
From my perspective, Trump never does anything for anybody unless it benefits Trump.
This tactic of running to the courts whenever he wants to manipulate a rule or law is so typical Trump.
In doing that he effectively wears down merchants waiting to get paid or files bankrupt when he doesn't want to pay a lender.
In this case, especially, he is using the courts so that he can hopefully run out the clock against prosecution because of his financial dealings in NY.
Since he is going to the extreme with such tactics, one can only surmise that whatever is in those records must be a doozie.
Trump himself said the words, 'A sitting president can't be 'criminally prosecuted'.
By using the term 'CRIMINALLY' he is actually admitting to having done something that would bring about criminal charges against him.
I know that even criminals are subject to legal options and defense.
But this is ridiculous.
He is using the courts and our very laws to hide his offenses in plain sight.
How very Al Capone of him.
6
It is hard to argue with success. Trump 2020!
3
There is only way that I see to get Trump out and that is to go after his money, his tax returns, and any backroom deals with foreign dictators his children have made. If it looks like he could end up like Madoff or Manafort, I'll bet he would resign. Money's only allegiance is to money; his base strokes his ego, but really do you think he cares about the lives or future of any American whether their wearing his hats or not?
7
s one commentator put it "the conservativee judges are foot dragging" which enables trump to stay in office.... they should all be censored if this is the case....
4
I understand the political risks of undertaking those Impeachment inquire, but the premise that it’s undertaking is a political blunder ignores the fact that massive lawbreaking and corruption is and has taken place. It’s less important that a decision to undertake that proceeds was taken, but does what Congress was mandated under the constitution to expose and present to the American people. If we as the voters are ignorant enough to ignore the evidence, then we get what we deserve. Let’s hope that common sense and Decency win in the end.
6
Trump’s “overriding goal” is to prevent more public scrutiny into his criminal dealings, putting voters off ahead of his re-election bid in 2020. He can rely on William Barr and - perhaps - the Supreme Court to do what he wants.
His legal strategy may be “succeeding” but it brings him only short-term gains. Even if he – let’s hope not – wins, everything will eventually emerge that is going to tarnish his legacy.
He won’t escape his legal woes. Who knows there might be more whistleblowers coming forward next year with damaging information about his nefarious activities that we still not yet know.
7
Who pays for Trump’s legal fees in all these lawsuits?
3
How much more does anyone need? Fraud at Trump U. Partnership with known mobsters. Extortion and obstruction while in office... Does he actually have to shoot someone on Fifth Ave?
5
When such serious allegations involve a president who is corrupt, unstable, and possibly beholden to a foreign power, the courts MUST find a way to fast-track any cases that result. If Trump runs out the clock and then is "reelected" (air quotes are deliberate), he may use his next term to hobble these same courts.
6
@Sky Pilot: The federal judiciary is already close to 25% state's rights theocrats.
4
The open strategy of the Resistance has been to thwart political actions by abuse of legal process. They don't legislate, they litigate. They have fired their subpoena cannon in an overt strategy to hinder the Executive branch. Hopefully the Judiciary will eventually rule the partisan use of subpoena power to attack political rivals is unconstitutional.
2
Everything about this criminal charlatan must be exposed, quickly, cleanly and efficiently. I believe in the rule of law, but the Trumpists obviously don't and somehow we must find a way to fight fire with fire. I don't care how it's done. Just do it.
3
The most subtle of the President's acts is to simulate blindness for traps that he and his handlers know are set for him. Unfortunately for Donald Trump, we are never so easily deceived as when trying to deceive.
3
Among other prominent institutions and practices needing reform besides campaign finance limits, gerrymandering, limiting lobbying, regulation of Facebook, et al . is urgent reform of the Supreme Court. Also better education/training for Trump's so-called "base." While we are at it: investigation of Murdoch's Fox.
7
Perhaps the only upside to Trump's overall strategy is that it has become evident that news laws need to be enacted which:
1. Limit the power of the Presidency.
2. Negate the DOJ memo which states that a sitting president cannot be indicted and is above the law.
3. Provide a special provision in presidential impeachment law that requires an immediate ruling by the Supreme Court when lawfully issued subpoenas by Congress of witnesses or documents are blocked by the investigated party.
4. Abolish Citizens United.
5. Abolish the Electoral College.
10
The damage that Donald Trump is doing to America will last for generations. In the future, Trump's story will be taught to school children as a cautionary example, similar to his overly ambitious and ultimately traitorous predecessor, Benedict Arnold.
9
The fact that it is difficult to use the court system in a politically expedient way to impede wrongdoing by Trump does not mean it should not be used. Converting Trump and his cronies into a president and administration who spend all their time trying to stay out of jail is a noble cause. The cost of doing nothing is far higher than the cost of a less than timely outcome. Trump has never before come up against an opponent with legal pockets as deep as the Federal Government.
People should worry less about "how to beat Trump in 2020" and simply start doing the right things on income fairness, climate change, health care reform, ending perpetual wars and being nice to people. Justice on these issues is more important than even defeating Trump.
Trump will take care of his own downfall.
3
The coward in chief can run out the clock but that clock stops on election day in 2020, when he loses the election.
Then, multiple fed, state, and local charges will put him in a new time zone ...
Meanwhile, the dems need to support whoever is the nominee.
Most important, work on the state level to stop and expose voter suppression, gerrymandering, and the other tricks of a party which does not represent the majority of Americans.
5
Most people I talk to think Trump is not the most upright of people and think Trump does what is good for Trump. Accepting Trump always take care of Trump first is a given. The same people think The Ukraine Gate is much to do about nothing. I fear the blind hatred of anything Trump is going to comeback to bite us. The smell of impeachment blood is in the air and causing people to go into a frenzy. I wish they could censure the president and impeach him the old fashion way at the ballot box. With months left before the election the impeachment drama is going to be a winner for Trump. I guess it is tough as heck to put the genie back into the bottle. Instead of us building a coalition to beat Trump we are involved in a Bridge Too Far called Impeachment. History will be the judge if doing the righteous thing was the best thing to do. Thinking you are going to get 20 Republican Senators to vote to convict Trump is like believing in the Tooth Fairy.
4
Let’s be honest. Once major institutions like the Justice Department and the Supreme Court are corrupted, we are no longer living in a Democracy but a Trump Regime Oligarchy.
The only way to escape from this Kafkaesque nightmare is with grassroots politics.
BTW it’s not Russia we have to worry about but Artificial Intelligence which is far more dangerous.
Bots powered by AI will becoming increasingly adept at influencing our elections through machine learning by effectively hijacking the voter’s brain.
The solution?
Keep your data safe from FaceBook or Google.
8
If the vast majority of the American people don't know by now that Trump is an existential threat to our morality, as well as our democracy, then we deserve what we get, if he is re-elected. We don't need any more delayed testimony from witnesses held hostage by Trump's personal attorney, Barr (what an appropriate name). The verdict is in: if Trump remains in office after 2020, America will be one of the morally weakest and most despised countries on earth.
11
This is how far the corruption has extended. It is a sinking quagmire and I have doubts that we will survive.
On this holiday of Thanksgiving, I am grateful for my life, my family and my friends. But I have a feeling of despair and all that I have worked for towards a happy retirement has been tainted by the corruption, greed, racism, misogyny and xenophobia that has taken a stronghold on our nation. God help us.
8
This is why it is so important to vote blue on every level in 2020. Give any financial support you can to Amy McGrath and Jaime Harrison among others. Get rid of McConnell. Get rid of Lindsey Graham. Get rid of every Republican in the Senate up for election. We The People must vote this travesty out of existence. We must stand up to this corruption. Not just with peaceful protests but with our power as a nation of citizens. Get youth to vote, get everyone who cares about freedom and democracy to vote. These people want us to think we aren't powerful, that we don't have a voice, but we do. This is our country and we must protect it since it appears no one else can.
5
Week after week, we see readers failing to understand that that there is no parallel between Nixon's situation, and Trump's situation.
In Nixon's case, a clear crime took place - burglars broke into an office at night, and were caught "red handed". Then an investigation was launched to find out who was behind the break-in.
In Trump's situation, no crime has been discovered - other than income tax evasion on the part of people who happened to have some sort of relationship to Trump, or people who were hauled in as part of a gigantic drag net, and were then charged with "lying to the FBI". And yes, some people in Russia - who may or may not even exist, were charged with buying web advertising under an assumed name.
In short, Democrats are trying to discover (or fabricate) a crime, as opposed to solving a crime; a completely different situation from the successful 1974 Nixon coup.
As time passes by, this investigation is starting to develop a really bad odor. Trump calls it a witch hunt. I would call it a pointless sleaze bag exposé; everyone has know for a long time, that Trump is a "world class" sleaze.
In 2020, some Democratic candidate will be running against Trump. Trump will use the failed impeachment attempt as a club to bludgeon his Democratic opponent, and he will then go on to win the election; at that point, it will be impossible to find a single Democrat, who admits to having supported this witless impeachment attempt.
3
The left should be taking aim at the dozens of hypocrites currently in power in the Republican-controlled Senate, rather than challenging the right's most powerful and popular political figure.
3
Then just wait it out. The Dems could have Senate majority in 20.
Also an executive branch majority - called Biden or Warren or... If my some remote chance Trump gets thru the Electoral College with a minority again, impeach him again.
1
If Trump wins in 2020 which , at the moment appears likely, how bad of a candidate do you have to be to lose to an impeached Trump.
Their is no one currently running including Bloomberg that is appealing at the moment to me ,
I would put me in the stay home category rather than vote.
4
@Independent Voter
Sad.
1
In the midst of the Trump waiting game, one can't help but wonder where all the new pieces of legislation have gone. Am I missing something? What about a comprehensive health care bill? Whatever happened to changing the landscape of gun control? Are the Democrats waiting to jump on these issues until the impeachment inquiry is over? In the meantime, the legislative process is frozen to the detriment of millions of Americans.
4
While the media describes Trump as losing in the courts, I discount most of the district and appeals court 'losses' as rulings by eager progressive (read as Obama or Clinton) judges.
Trump has won a significant number of cases, from immigration to the environment, and will continue to win cases emanating from California and other states, as well as those on requiring testimony from trusted advisers.
4
I think it's hard to make the case Trump is in a strong position. It depends on how explosive the things are he's trying so hard to keep secret. His financial records are already before the Supreme Court and McGhan is being fast-tracked. Meanwhile Giuliani and his friends seem to be an increasingly dangerous wildcard. Things could get ugly if Giuliani goes down. And then there's the possibility Roberts could force senior officials to testify during the Senate trial.
7
It was a hard hitting ruling by the judge but did she really need this many months when in real time Trump is shredding the constitution and we are having impeachment hearings? What’s wrong with these judges?
4
I'm not sure Trump's strategy is winning for the mob like it was. When a loyal Fox hack like Tucker Carlson admits that Trump is a total liar, it's a sign that his base is getting wobbly because his mountain of lies is going to collapse and the smarter folks know it.
9
Bottom line: Voters will choose a Democratic Congress and President next election OR they will be choosing a criminal enterprise called Trump and the Republican Party.
Every Trump supporter now talks primarily about the economy and their own pocketbook and job situation. For years they talked law and order and the deficit.
Not a single one talks about law and order or ethics or morality now.
Whether you support Trump or the Republican Party as it is now constituted you choose corruption, lying and immorality.
Any argument in support of Trump is a lie or a delusion or baloney, fake politics, also unChristian and ignorant. We all know this: the Senate, McConnell, Graham,Trump, Barr, Mulvaney et al. and the American Voters. The entire planet knows that Trump is synonymous with lies and lawlessness. Is that the poison the voters will chose to end their democracy?
18
If it takes years to resolve something the court system is broken. Justice delayed is justice denied. Still applies.
10
His long time strategy. We should not be suprised!
3
THE DELAYING NOT PREVAILING WAS ALWAYS THE TRUMP STRATEGY
The "success" of Mr. Trump's intentional and illegal obstruction of Congress was ALWAYS the primary objective. Mr. Trump's prior litigious history is dominated by literally hundreds of lawsuits which were either settled by his paying millions of dollars (e.g. Trump University) or ultimately losing on the merits.
The infamous "law's delay" Mr. Trump's, current and former senior advisors' and staffers' are deliberately using to obstruct a judicially reviewed and affirmed impeachment inquiry should NOT be without significant consequences by virtue of Congress's inherent contempt power to punish the unprecedented contumacious behavior by monetary fines.
5
What Trump did in his private life - challenging, disputing and going to Courts for everything he feels, he is right, is now being continued, in his new life.
After Mr. Trump leaves Office, he may have to be spending a lot of time going to Courts. Because, there could be so many Cases, deferred and pending, waiting to be heard.
5
All of our Congressional leaders are in their +70's.. Old tired people who can't remember where they placed there keys or glasses. Basically, my 83 YO mother is running Congress.. OH well.. your mess... you clean it up.
2
Funny how the plaintiffs in the cases always manage to get their case before a Clinton/Obama appointed judge.
5
Trump has exposed a problem in our system we need to fix. The country cannot wait six months, a year, eighteen months to have basic constitutional questions answered. The present situation is bad enough-- an unfit, unstable president in charge of our nuclear arsenal-- but one can envision even more immediate emergencies. What if he were about to take us to war over the wishes of congress, or imposed martial law the day before an election? Would the courts tell us, hold on, we'll have a decision for you in two years? Legal experts need to step up and propose realistic reforms so we don't find ourselves in this situation, or even worse, in the future.
6
After Trump is no longer President,
via Impeachment and Trial,
losing the 2020 Election
or retirement in 2025,
we will need to revise the Constitution concerning Impeachment
and whether everyone must respond to a
Congressional Subpoenas.
Meanwhile,
why are we not invoking the 25th Amendment ?
8
Trump has a responsibility to protect the office from congressional overreach. The Democrats (but not the Republicans} in Congress have one opinion but it is Trump's responsibility to protect the office.
The Constitution mandates that task to the Judiciary which includes the Supreme Court. Notably the court has stayed decisions when they weren't required to suggesting The Court sees some merit in the office of The President.
This compares with Obama who took Congress's role of passing laws like DACA by overreach of executive orders or FDR trying to increase the size of The Supreme Court
7
Why is nobody shocked by anything that Donald Trump does? Because everything he does just confirms that he's exactly the man we all knew he was in the first place.
6
I suppose there is little hope that the full truth about Trump's malfeasance in office will come out while he remains president. But, if these court cases, which to Trump are simply ways to run out the clock, turn out to limit the ridiculous and unconstitutional coverups that presidents can use to upset the separation of powers our founding fathers intended, then the rule of law will win in the end.
2
Lincoln refused to allow habeas corpus rights to Confederates. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the detainees. Lincoln refused to enforce the ruling. I don’t remember Lincoln being impeached. Regardless of any courts ruling, until Republicans and Democrats agree Trump must go, the election next year will decide who will run this country. Instead of relying on courts, maybe Democrats should devote their resources to convince voters in the next election.
6
Schiff is right to proceed. There is enough evidence to impeach and Trump several times over, with maybe enough left over to impeach Pence as well. In any case, Trump supporters, including almost all the Republican Party, would not change their mind even if the Democrats deposed all the witnesses they would like to and found more evidence of even more outrageous treason. It will be left to journalists and historians to ferret out the whole truth in the aftermath, but in the meantime, it's time to move on before this act closes.
1
@tek1
If there is enough evidence, why not have the vote already and send it to the Senate?
Schiff is cherrypicking which witnesses he wants to actually force to testify because he sees how badly he bungled the public process so far.
The moment the hearings became public, impeachment support should have gone up for independent voters. But the opposite happened.
5
Marge Keller has a great comment. What stopped me in my reading was the comment from Trump that he was fighting for future Presidents and the Office of the President.
Trump has a way of transposing "words, comments, thoughts, whatever, into his own desires. What he is really saying is I am fighting for himself as President. He constantly does this.
His previous attorney, now jailed, told us of his "code language."
Other than the economy, I feel his supporters are supporting not only his code, but are speaking in theirs. No reporters seem to be able to reach deeply into why they are so dedicated to this man. Somehow, it should be possible to draw out more rational reasons why people seem to adore Trump.
The movements to a more autocratic system of governance don't seem to even raise an eyebrow. I
In finding a more focused circumstance to use in an impeachment inquiry is understood. The problem is in understanding Trump requires a cumulative review of his actions, lies, previous behaviors, and his demands of loyalty from those around him.
Trump supporters have views rarely delved into when interviewed: abortion, Supreme Court, Guns, Migration, Climate? I want to know the story behind the story with these people!
3
@Tanis Marsh
Ironically, this is the one thing that Trump is right on.
A huge reason that this is languishing in the courts is because of legal precedents set during the Clinton administration and all administrations since.
The issue of presidential power is not going away. The fact is that for decades, the presidency has been granted more and more latitude, by whichever party happened to be in power.
This was done without one iota of consideration that one day, somebody like Trump could become President. Rolling back that power is hard to undo.
2
Everything The Imposter does is a short-term tactical move, whether personal, professional (business), or political in nature. There is no long-term plan or vision; he is incapable of that, other than the vague, chameleonic goal of “winning.”
The fact that we, as a country, allow him to drag us into the stale miasma and dead air (with just the hint of sulfur) that surrounds him is an indicator of our inattention to his trademark and highly repetitive “fighting” moves. And they come from a playbook written in the middle of the last century by young business executives on the rise. There is nothing new in his head. The only thing that makes him difficult for politicians to deal with is that he thinks like a businessman — but he’s on the wrong field!
How do we avoid his well-marked traps? Simple. He’s not a genius; he’s not even very smart. Just don’t play that.
2
I am sick and tired of the media glorifying Trump for winning with his legal strategy. He is a seasoned criminal and used to defending himself in court. He needs to be called out and held accountable for obstruction of justice.
6
trump was right! It is a coup!
It is trump's coup to take over the federal government, and the Republican held Senate is fully complicit in enabling trump's coup.
And if this goes to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court's vote goes 5 to 4 in favor of the president's claim that:
-- he CAN'T be held accountable to court orders, subpoenas,
-- he CAN claim absolute immunity,
-- he CAN shoot someone on 5th Avenue, then we ALL will be witness to our "democratically elected" coup, supported by THEIR political Supreme Court.
[HANG ON RUTH!!!!!! HANG ON!!!]
Meanwhile, with firings, resignations and forced exits of career leadership exploding, trump is hollowing-out our federal government and back-filling with his political sycophants who don't know or care about the law. They will do anything trump demands, like illegally withhold appropriated foreign aid - or break in to a hotel.
Welcome to the Reign of the Republican Party.
10
That’s a scary thought too. Sadly too many can’t see that either.
2
This is not that difficult. If Trump's legal strategy effectively forecloses meaningful review of his actions in Congress before the election, then pillory him on that basis alone. Make the issue not that he did all those horrible things, but that he refuses a third party determination whether he did them. And vote him out.
What? No, I don't think that'll work either. Democrats have yet adequately to counter him; they better hope things change over the next year.
2
Its the one thing I was worried about in Pelosi's strategy. I felt that because of just this particular tactic by Trump that it would preclude a lot of very important information that is contained in the Mueller report from being followed up in hearings. I think now I would just keep the hearings going up to and through the election. There's no real need to impeach until then because as things stand, the Senate will not convict. Maybe better to use the time to get the legal issues through the Supreme Court re testimony of witnesses and the production of documents the White House is stone walling.
4
"Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. " Lord Acton .
Power and money are intertwined and the few people who have mega wealth and mega power want to keep it that way. They own large chunks of the media, can hire the best lawyers and accountants, and can spin any story to their benefit.
What is surprising is that people like Steyer and Bloomberg are so similar to Republicans. They don't really support Democrats or democracy, they just support themselves. They don't reach into their vault for Dems, they only spend for themselves. Selfishness is a step child of fear, fear of losing power and wealth.
The Dem leadership has been slow over the last decade. Sleepy, weak on PR, and focused on social issues.
Climate change should be a Dem issue, with love of the land/ America, ecology, and good health. But the Dems haven't promoted ecology or care for the Earth. They have promoted social issues as "my way or the highway" issues.
McConnell has helped pack the federal bench with ultra conservative judges. The Dems have been polite...and weak.
History, Nature, and people love winners. Not nice losers. The Dems need to press the courts hard. The American need leaders who have passion and clarity of purpose, something beyond power as their compass.
8
I read and watch every day - its horrifying. In the end, for those not specifically tasked with doing all they can to end this madness, whether by witness or prosecution, it is UP TO EVERY CITIZEN TO VOTE.
1
As if that's going to matter. If there's one thing we've learned.... #GerrymanderMuch?
3
So people should just not vote? Gerrymandering is a huge issue but does not affect Presidential or senate elections. Let’s still vote and then fix the structural issues.
3
@Jose Franco; You suggest liberals close their eyes. Trump supporters must have their eyes and ears closed 24/7/365. How else can you explain support for someone who never stops lying about everything, has cheated in every personal, business and political situation he has been in for his entire life and who, by the way, has no clue as to how to behave appropriately and with dignity in any public situation. Whether it is with international leaders, the hero dog or the turkey pardon, he always knows the absolute wrong things to do and say. But, as a member of the cult, I am certain none of that bothers you.
7
History’s clock ticks forever. Trump is the most corrupt president in US history. Can’t hide that..ever.
4
Watch the Asheville Jung Institute webinar entitled: Narcissism in the Era of Donald Trump. It explains everything. It's on their website.
3
As a retired big firm trial lawyer, Trump is and has always been instantly recognizable to anyone who has has had experience dealing with white collar criminals. He has all of the attributes of most white collar criminals from the egotistic narcissism to his ability to lie whenever it fits his self interest and self centered world view. A failure as a businessman, he is doing to the US what he did in his own private businesses in which major banks and corporations refused to do business with Trump because he could not be trusted to keep his word, tell the truth or pay his debts.
9
I think his supporters know that. They just don’t care.
1
C'mon, let's be honest for a moment. Trump is losing legal rounds at lower level courts where partisan Obama appointed judges on the bench. He expects to win when his cases finally get to courts where the judges were appointed by him. Neither scenario is good. The fact that our judicial system is so politically partisan makes a sham of justice. And this means that ANY verdict, at ANY level has little to do with what is right or wrong.
6
At some point Chief Justice Roberts will have to decide what side of history he wants to be on - an honest judge or a political supplicant to a corrupt party.
3
I find this article contributes to the very problem it is exposing. By likening this unprecedented attack on our democracy to a football match, it distracts from the gravity of the "game" trump is playing.
Maybe Trump & (sleazy) Co. think of this as a football match, but it behooves the author to present this in the larger context of a national emergency and present us with some legal thinkers' ideas of a way out: expedited Supreme Court cases à la Nixon, for example. As it stands, the article creates a sense of fait accompli that can only create ennui and frustration with Washington in the American public, just when we need people to be awake and outraged. In the depressing potential outcome that T's legal strategy does work, our only recourse is the election. and for that we need an awakened and mobilized electorate. Articles like this, which reduce this national emergency to a football game, probably already lost, will have the opposite effect.
4
There is a concept in law that says a negative inference may be drawn from a defendant who will not let anyone exonerate him.
Schiff was right to stop waiting for the courts to act and simply including an article of impeachment for obstructing Congress, as was levied against Nixon.
Democrats also need to set up a rapid response team to, essentially, mock Trump's claims that he did nothing wrong. Every time he comes out with an excuse it is, seemingly, rebutted by someone or something the next day.
Now we learn there is no White House call log, or any other document, to back up Sondland's sworn testimony that he spoke to Trump on Sept 9 and when asking Trump what he wants from Ukraine, Trump replied "I want nothing at all; no quid pro quo."
Trump whines about due process but refuses to testify on his own behalf or allow exculpatory witnesses from doing so for him.
2
@BearBoy St. Paul MN
How is this funny? You delight in the criminality of this man? Trump is destroying America, he’s raiding taxpayer dollars to play golf, his criminality makes Nixon look like a saint. His entire life has been one big grift. He has refused to pay countless contractors who employ average joe blue collar workers. His life is one lawsuit after another attacking the little guys. How is anything about Trump and what he’s done to people — and now The United States of America — a laughing matter?
7
Why does the NYTimes parrot one of Trump’s key words of his campaign? There is nothing “winning” about Trump. There is only deceit, bribery, and narcissism.
5
@Lee Mag
A major job of MSM is to make Trump's actions seem like the new normal and therefore he is "winning."
This is a conscious effort on the part of the media.
4
He's always been a loser. Fines of 25M Trump Univ., Trump Foundation 2M, just while in office, and a serial bankruptcy professional, with 1Billion in write offs of other peoples losses.
Now he has the full force of the Justice Dept, and the GOP Senate, in his grip.
Mueller never came off of his mountain top; Justice Robert's may have a more personal historical perspective, for his Court.
HEADLINE: Trump Keeps Losing in COURT But His Legal Strategy Is Winning.
TRANSLATION: Judicial rulings prove that Trump claims are lies, but they still get polite designations as "legal strategies".
1
Trump continues to run circles around desperate buffoning Democrats who try to corral him.
He is like the Roadrunner and Schiff is Wile E. Coyote. Very funny and very entertaining.
4
Is it really a winning strategy to delay the inevitable unfavorable court judgments and the damaging revelations until well into the campaign season? If he's playing a delay game, why should House leaders put his impeachment on hold? For some notion of civic sportsmanship???
The news cycle doesn't end. Reporters won't stop digging. The revelations will keep coming. The Senate may not convict or remove him, but he's no victim here. In the end, it may yet be up to us -- the voting public -- to decide whether to keep giving him a pass on his self-dealing, on his financial entanglements, on his nepotism, on his uncivil words, on his hair-trigger decision-making, on his lack of interest or depth for the work of governing.
And when we make that choice, it will reflect entirely on us and who we are as a principled nation -- not on him.
5
Being under investigation does not help Trump, especially as details continue to drip out that are constantly undermining Trump’s arguments.
Whoever wins the Democratic nomination just needs to point to Trump and say, “Do you really want 4 more years of that?”
4
Why does this legal mumbo-jumbo hav3e to take so much time? Clearly, all of these issues can be resolved by the Supreme Court, and likely will be. Obviously, the court process takes time but the Supreme Court is not a simple court, it is also a co-equal branch of government. All of Trump's obstruction tactics -- or defense of executive privilege if you want to believe in fantasies -- lead to one place -- the Supreme Court. Pick one and expedite it. They didn't wait six months to rule on the Gore-Bush election recount. There is nothing, except moral cowardice, that prevents the court from stepping up and saying it will resolve the issue of executive privilege by hearing arguments in the McGhan case immediately. Related cases would remain, but the precedent would be clear. This would serve the country whether the SCOTUS acts in accordance with prior rulings or decides to break new ground in defense of Trump. Either way, the country deserves an answer. The Constitution may not directly tell the court how to do its business but the Founders were very clear in one regard -- no one should be able to profit from cheating. If Trump is trying the cheat, call him on it. If not, let's move on to digest what is already on the table.
3
Because that’s the way the Founders designed it. It is a safe guard to prevent those that are innocent from being jailed for a crime they did not commit. And I don’t mean Trump. He’s as guilty as a baby caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
2
It doesn’t matter how much Fake News the whiney Liberal set can conjure between now and Nov 2020.
Donald J. Trump is the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln and there isn’t a thing the whiney snowflakes can do about his landslide victory in 2020.
5
@Reality Check
Presumably in the real news Trump is getting all sorts of great stuff done. Do tell.
5
@ reality check - the liberals are your fellow citizens. Let hatred not blind you. As much as America should be great again, splitting the country into two halves won’t yield results. If economics is the basis of analysis, look at gdp per capital by state. Many of top ten are blue. If you believe DJT is the solution, rather than be smug and dismissive, you can afford to be reasonable and communicate your rationale. Especially as he is winning - why be a sore winner? Think about it.
4
this sounds like it's from the Russians
7
If, God willing, and I'm not a religious man, Democrats keep the House and win the Senate - there needs to be a wholesale change in laws that spell out the limitations and requirements to constrain future presidents. The here need not be Constitutional crises when the executive acts contrary to our interests. After all, we the people are the government and have the constitutional right, nay mandate, to determine our form of government. We need clear and concise laws requiring the release of tax returns in exchange for a ballot listing. Clear and concise laws mandating the release of any executive branch documents not clearly and unequivocally related to national security (documents that would jeopardize American interests). Clear and concise laws mandating appearance before any Congressional committee for any purpose (let the partisan politics play out for all to see and let the voters respond). Clear and concise laws mandating disclosure of financial contributions to anyone running for a public office. This is just the start of what our representatives must do to preserve out Democracy.
4
No matter the outcome, Democrats must steadily pursue the truth. This isn't a game. Turning a blind eye now would be tantamount to a police officer ignoring a serial killer.
4
Trump is using the same stalling tactics that made him successful as a sleazy businessman. In the past he could outlast his opponents because he had more financial resources than they did. Small businesses, contractors, employees, abused women, none of them could afford to mount a sound challenge, and often eventually settled out of court for much than they really deserved. This, of course, included the signing of a non-disclosure agreement.
Just as in the case of Trump U, he delayed acting on the case, which would have taken place in Nov. 2016, right before the elections, where it could have been a major distraction, until he became president, at which point he settled out of court at a fraction of the cost. At this point, some of the plaintiffs in the case has already passed away, while the survivors were so beaten down they were willing to sign on the dotted line.
Contrary to his claim, Trump will never willingly testify. His lawyers will never allow it because they know he will be a disaster on the stand. He will self-incriminate. He will commit perjury. He does not really want to face a judge and jury anyway and has avoided in doing so thus far, also part of his strategy.
9
When folks talk about Supreme Court decisions they tell you that it's not about right and wrong. It's about who appointed you. And yet, when they address the whole thing, they wax eloquent about why their opinions are right. The folks who comment here reserve the high ground for themselves. Who's kidding who? I'd take the whole comment section and I'd recycle it. And in its place I'd offer an equal number of honest comments, all of which say "I'm going with my gut."
2
Roy Cohn in the age of cyber platforms. It’s dispiriting but no surprise it’s perfected practice after a lifetime of abuse of the system. Keep it coming NY Times, though you’re killing me with the truth.
2
When US courts allow this kind of cynical, corrupt and lawless defiance of the Constitution and our system of laws to go on indefinitely, a purposeful stall tactic founded on totally bogus legal arguments, it shows the failings of our democracy system writ large. Trump does this kind of thing as standard practice in his lifelong warping of the legal loopholes. But the fact that the Justice Dept is advancing his cause with such patently absurd, legally vacant arguments is a disgrace. Of course, this is what we could expect from a department led by Trump's Roy Cohn, the totally corrupt and traitorous AG Barr.
If the Supreme Court had any integrity, it would signal its intention to deny taking any of the cases that have already received clear and blistering rulings against Trump and the DOJ. The only decent rationale for taking on one of the lower court rulings is to establish a precedent that would prevent frivolous and politically motivated cases from advancing in the legal system in the future. But the result is to delay urgent cases that need to be settled in order to compel Trump to hand over the documents, witnesses or other material demanded by Congress or other entities seeking critical evidence.
7
Compare the time it took for Bush v. Gore...3 days.
5
All this reminds me of the WWII documentary we just watched, Hitler was marching on seemingly invincible! Until...until he attacked the Soviets; until America joined the Brits fighting for the Continent and freedom against Hitler’s brutal domination!
Trumpers shouldn’t make any bets, read history good always overcomes evil.
4
But is his strategy winning the minds, if perhaps not the hearts, of independents? Those of the electorate who are not locked into any party straight jacket. A group i contend which has a higher % of their group paying much more attention to the issues than do the groups perched on either side of the dividing line. Trump may win the legal fight over exposing any wrongdoing he may have done but is he winning independent voters, losing independent voters, or is it a draw there?
If the latest poll i saw, 50% to impeach and remove, i've gotta believe he's losing many more independents than he's gaining, unless someone can show me different. Trump may claim he's fighting to strengthen the institution of the presidency but as long as he continues to disrespect the office in favor of himself his actions will continue to weaken it and show a need to guard against another trumplike creature in the future. Maybe go for a poll of independents using that criterion as one among others to be answered.
2
What's Trump doing when he's not clogging up the courts with frivolous law suits? He's fine tuning the loveliest so many Americans have with him. Trump knows all too well if you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you really make them think, they'll hate you.
2
Nope...Time is definitely NOT on his side. Eventually, time is going to catch up with him and when that happens he will pay dearly for his crimes.
7
The continuing efforts to get rid of Trump and his confounding strategies reminds me of a Super Bowl game. A weak team that is supposed to lose, uses timeouts and out of bounds runs in the final minutes of the game to stop the clock. By using the rules they score a touchdown and win by a point. Many people including the experts are upset. “We had better players. We had more first downs. We gained more yards. They had more penalties. They weren’t supposed to beat us. But they stole it from us at the last minute. It isn’t fair. We hate them”. The experts then spend a lot of time complaining about a result that made them look foolish. Were the refs paid off? Was the ball properly inflated? Was the favorite team put at a disadvantage?
2
@John Bowman
I'll give you another football analogy. It's like an inferior team adopts a strategy of committing penalty infractions --offsides, holding, pass interference, facemasks--on every play. The officials would quickly realize they can't call a penalty on every down. They'd be afraid to be seen as partisan and would try to even out the penalty calls on each team. The league and TV officials would get jittery and let the officials know that 50 million TV viewers won't stay tuned to a game where so many plays are called back. The inferior team would in effect break the system and gain an advantage. That's what Trump is doing-- he' overloaded the system with penalty infractions and is getting called for only a few of them. The system was not designed to deal with this level of rule-breaking and corruption; the only way out is to call the game (impeach).
1
There is one "time factor" that was not mentioned in this article by Charlie Savage:
The Statute of Limitations.
It's five years.
It will not have expired, when Trump finally leaves office.
Florence Colorado, is full of people who thought that they could cheat justice.
3
“Mr. Trump’s legal team is looking to run out the clock, putting forth aggressive legal theories often backed by scant precedent.”
Like the SFA Lumberjack’s, maybe the Democrats will have enough skill and luck to pull off a win for The Constitution and the Rule of Law!
5
Let the process work Itself to the solution
This is the most serious test of the Constitution in 200 years.
We stressed tested our banks after 2008.
We are now stress testing our democracy at it's core. Pray for the vision of our founding fathers. Pray their wisdom prevails and Patriots still exist.
6
@Andrew Ress. Banks were not at risk of breaking from the stress tests. The same cannot be said of democracy.
I have a feeling that in 2021, a lot of people will say ohmygosh, I wouldn't have voted for him if I knew he really didn't pay his taxes and played around with all those women. And lied about almost everything. Shock and awe. But right now, stalling is a great strategy. Then comes executive privilege.
1
Not just winning legally, politically as well. It's amazing; the more stuff the Dems, media, and never Trumpers throw at this guy the stronger he seems to grow. I've never seen anything like it. What an epic life.
5
Wait for it....
2
No —Trump loses in District courts staffed by Obama—eventually wins upstream, when someone who passed the bar, reviews the case.
5
It’s not so much that Trump is winning as much as his adversaries are losers. Think about it.
6
@Economist I did, and you're wrong.
If his adversaries are not Nazis, in favor of social justice, mindful of a woman's privates, defenders of the nation's immigrant foundations, and willing to go to the mat for the Constitution against someone who is an inveterate liar, possible traitor, and tax cheat: then Trump is bound to lose.
When Mr. Goldsmith, formerly a Bush Jr. presidential lawyer, says that “really aggressive assertions of executive power often end up creating bad executive power precedents”, of course he means very good executive power precedents that hamstring future presidents from rogue actions like those of Nixon, Reagan, Bush Jr., and Trump, and tend to restore power to Congress or the people that recent presidents of both parties have been allowed to seize.
3
As I have repeatedly been posting Trump is invulnerable.
3
@Yuri Pelham He is not a King. He is vulnerable, if the American public remembers that they are citizens, not subjects.
1
Yes, they can't touch him.
1
It is unethical to file frivolous lawsuits. It is illegal to abuse judicial proceedings to obstruct justice. Congress does not have to resort to the courts when a president defies Congressional authority. It has the power to impeach a president for merely saying that he and his administration will not honor any Congressional subpoena. Which Trump has already said and done. Obstruction of a Congressional committee investigation is a felony, even for presidents. It becomes a crime when the first defiant action is taken, whether the action be a public statement or a private instruction.
17
@Bob ,
Yes the blatant obstruction of justice for this investigation, and the obstruction detailed in the
Mueller report should be more than sufficient (of course
it won't be, for actual removal).
2
Adding a shorter comment, and with sincere apologies to the great Muhammed Ali: Trump is the 'rope-a-dope' president.
And why 'his people' can't or won't or worst, don't care that his is a THIEF, plain and simple, and stealing from them in his duplicitous double-dealings and backroom channels is at once both majorly disheartening and supremely dangerous.
9
Trump’s overall strategy is to cause chaos and deflect and he has an entire political party I.e. republicans who are his accomplices- disgusting how they will gladly flush our country down Putin’s sewer. Traitors all!
11
Bin laden stated, use the court system, and Trump will win!
The Supreme Court doddles to make a court decision, about our President. Most of us can’t afford the cash to go to the supreme court. And Donald, I guess we taxpayers will pay for all of this ...
3
This is why you don't vote on Impeachment until a month before the election. Every reason to slow walk this.
1
Trump's entire presidency has mirrored his experience as a private sector businessman: Gaming the system in the total absence of accountability. Democrats will try to hold him accountable through impeachment but he enjoys the protection of a hypocritical Republican controlled Senate that would have removed Obama for the same offenses.
17
Father Time vs. Lady Justice - the Fight of the Trump tainted Century
4
"In the history of American democracy, we have had undisciplined presidents. We have had incurious presidents. We have had inexperienced presidents. We have had amoral presidents. Rarely if ever before have we had them all at once."
- Anonymous, "A Warning" Grand Central Publishing.
14
This state of affairs is just not right – in fact it is monstrous. As a result of this dissembling, backstabbing POTUS, we are all suffering from collective repetitive whiplash injury. I fail to comprehend how his ‘base’, especially the religious right, continues to defend and justify this overtly mercurial man; how do they square his words and actions with their ‘Christian’ tenets and beliefs? When will they realize that it has always been about him – his glorification, his deification, his personal bottom line? Could someone please give me concrete evidence of a single generous act of his? Even his ‘charity’ was sucked dry by him and his family and he was fined $2 million for doing so. This bully cares not a whit about anyone else. If his adherents would only pay heed to his pronouncements they would come to that realization, and, as we are witnessing over and over again, his loyalty is a one way street.
8
This is classic Trump: war of litigious attrition. Unfortunately, our tax money and civil servants are being expended.
7
Bring back the Stormy Daniels inquiry. At least it is interesting.
2
Can’t wait to vote pure blue in 2020!!!!!!!
5
So STOP letting him get away with it! You don’t let a toddler throw an endless temper tantrum. Enough is enough. The man is a criminal of the highest order.
6
@Misplaced Modifier,
Hey Misplaced, your location is hilarious. Well done.
1
No doubt! The impeachment process will contribute to Trump's reelection. It will not be confirmed in the Senate, the president will win, his voters will be pleased, and the transformations of the age of social networks will prevail. How can Democrats dive into this adventure?
4
@Ribeiro Souto
Gotta wonder if Bloomberg is jumping in because he foresees a drawn-out Senate trial which will keep no less than six Democratic primary contenders (Sanders, Warren, Harris, Klobuchar, Booker & Bennett) confined to Washington DC for the duration, while the first primaries arrive and Super Tuesday looms. Joe Biden
is going to be out of the running when more details emerge during said trial, which leaves us with Bloomberg and Buttigieg. Hardly seems fair to the
rest of the candidates !
1
Justice delayed is justice denied. America is constructed to disparage a felon at the helm.
1
It is yet to be seen whether "he is reducing the prospect that voters learn new damaging facts about him before the 2020 election", or if he may simply be adjusting the timing of when everything comes out at once, and it is too late before the election for R's to choose another candidate.
No doubt! The impeachment process will contribute to Trump's reelection. It will not be confirmed in the Senate, the president will win, his voters will be pleased, and the transformations of the age of social networks will prevail. How can Democrats dive into this adventure?
3
It's the 21st century and the courts, particularly the Supreme Court, behave as though it were 1801. No hurry, they take their own time and too bad for those who pay them.
Congress should reform the judiciary to make things move much more swiftly. Justice delayed is Justice denied and delay is the tactic used by many who know they're in the wrong.
4
I haven't seen it discussed, but does Trump think this all goes away if they are able to delay until the election? If the House keeps a Democrat majority and Trump gets reelected, he may become the first president to be impeached twice. Ouch.
3
Yes, the court is slow, but Democrats could also use it to drag out the impeachment process even until right before the general election.
2
Floridians, he's all yours.
11
The longer Trump can delay "new damaging facts about him" by stonewalling Congress and challenging everything in court, he "reduces the prospect that voters will" find out about him.
I see his bait and switch tactics are in rare form and his hopes of duping the voting public is stronger than ever.
Geez, the guy has no shame and is willing to do and say anything to stay in power and office. What part of that is good for this country, in the short run or even the long run?
What's so odd about Trump's proclamation that he is "fighting for future Presidents and the Office of the President,” is that other than Richard Nixon, there has NEVER been a president other than Trump who has abused his power for personal enhancements.
That quote is very, very scary because if he is not shut down and voted out in 2020, his first term as president will resemble a "warm up act" compared to what he may have in store for the country AND himself in his second term.
155
@Marge Keller Your assessment of this situation is accurate, but the people who believe this pathological liar and life-long con man are the willingly duped. They are the real shame of our democracy--people who are ill-informed, bigoted, obstinate in their warped opinions, and reactionary about any facts that undermine their view of Trump as the great champion of the marginalized and victimized. Trump is the opposite of what these people believe, yet they persist in seeing in him something that is demonstrably false except for his rhetoric demonizing immigrants that fits with the sentiments of those who are most bigoted and mean-spirited in his so-called base.
42
@TRJ
Exceptional point.
Trump would not be where he is today if he had not been elected by those millions of "ill-informed, bigoted, obstinate in their warped opinions" voters.
23
@Marge Keller: It is difficult to take most commenters seriously because of what ABH considers to be an intellectual lassitude, making generalizations without substance. If u r against Kate's Law, say so and explain why. If u have proof that our vox populi has violated any law, or you oppose revision of NAFTA, or immigration based on merit, on 1's educational background and ability to be self sufficient,our booming economy, state ur reasons. But generalities motivated by ur feelings, dislike of Trump personally just doesn't make it for me, and cannot the basis for a meaningful exchange of ideas.I taught disadvantaged high school students in a ":zone school"in UWS who knew the difference between ambiguity and clarity in terms of ideas, but this distinction seems lost, unimportant for the majority of commenters.
2
Look at the facts of Judge Jackson's decision - 120 Pages of judicial nonsense. Either the White House can block congressional subpoenas or it can't. You don't need 120 pages to decide yes or no!
If Trump has proven anything it's that the court system in this country is out of sync with how the world works.
4
Yes, Trump has way too much experience being sued and conducting criminal activity without getting caught. The Democrats experience in illegal activity fades in comparison.
2
I am mystified. What has happened to Alan Dershowitz’s brain? I turned to Fox news and lo and behold there was Dershowitz (who must be auditioning for a seat on the Supreme Court) excoriating Judge Jackson’s opinion holding that McGahn must testify. Some of what Dershowitz said made sense however it was totally unrelated to the administration’s assertions and the holding of the court. The administration asserted “absolute immunity” and Dershowitz was holding forth on “executive privilege”. The former does not exist, the latter does. Too bad Dershowitz didn’t address the actual issue before the court; but, then again, I’m not surprised.
There was a time when Dershowitz, as legal scholar, commanded some respect. Too bad has sold out and become an apologist for Trump.
9
@Marvin ,
Trump may have some Epstein related kompromat on Dershowitz (and many others), or they may all share many of the same secrets, so they are sticking together for now.
2
They all act as though they’ve been infected by a parasite that’s taken over their brains and made them lizard-brained malignant sociopaths, right?
The saying, "You can't win for losing" has evidently just been revised. The Democrats have been winning in the courts and should not stop because they are in a rush to complete the impeachment process before the primary season. After this week's powerful ruling against Trump's former White House Counsel Don McGahn by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in the D.C. District Court, the Democrats should reconsider issuing a subpoena to former National Security Adviser John Bolton in order to obtain his vital testimony that he will only provide if directed by the court. Bolton, as many have speculated, may be the John Dean whose testimony may break the current stonewall by Senate Republicans. The Democrats need to realize that "You can only win by winning in the courts."
It is not Trump's legal strategy. It is his accomplices. What Trump knows from experience is that his mouth and seemingly untouchable status is keeping him free from jail. But, it won't last. At some point his time and this jig will be up. I hope I live to see the day. It is scandalous that in a so-called democracy an individual of Trump's egregious behavior, know and care nothing about American history or legality of anything he does 1) became President; 2) still is the President and 3) could potentially be elected President again. It says that standards of "democracy" as we know it in the US constitution and in our courts is over. And people still wonder how Hitler came to power?
7
Nothing says innocence like fighting subpoenas.
16
If this reasoning were true and truly felt it would mean that Trump could lock up all Muslims in 'relocation camps' as FDR did to Americans of Japanese ancestry.
Claiming actions are done with a view to its future presidential holders of the office. It is a specious argument meant to delay and rationalize a total closed door policy. Trump has the right to send to the hearings his cabinet members who have knowledge of the facts.
1
Justice delayed is justice denied.
2
Just to be clear on this: the Justice Department, which is supposed to represent the American people and uphold the Constitution, is instead aiding Donald Trump’s effort to ensure voters in 2020 won’t learn the facts about his corrupt practices, before and during his first term in office — which term is itself tainted by Russian interference in the 2016 election process, hush money paid to ‘porn stars’ and Republican voter suppression tactics in key liberal-leaning districts.
Sure, that’s how the nation that calls itself ‘the leader of the free world’ conducts its government’s business. That puts us on the moral high ground.
Not a problem. Consider it “Your Tax Dollars At Work.”
3
One thing seems clear - the law has become too complicated. It should not take 3 months to decide a matter like that. There should not be a need for a 120-page motivation.
Now, corporations have used this technique for a long time, this strategy simply disagree, dilute, appeal and stall.
The white house are now full of experts on that strategy and the Republicans will use it gladly. If Trump wins 2020, the lawsuits he is involved in, and there are quite a few, will drag on until he is over 80 years old, until Mitch McConnel is 85.
I feel sorry for the law students of today. They will have to read an enormous amount of mumbo jumbo and later write just as much.
I fear that the House will simply have to accept that it stands no chance against the bureaucracy of today.
@Truthseeker ,
Wait I thought Lich McConnell was 217.
What's stopping us from envisioning and enabling non-debate on America's biggest problems, which many people think are hurtling toward America at an alarming rate. Instead of the Romney 2020 t-shirts envision a yoga class that promote a gathering convened by two people who disagree politically but are willing to mutually acknowledge that the other side may see some real threats more clearly than does one's own side. The goal will be to bring attention to the things we don’t think we’re bad at and help individuals work through the unconscious resistance. We can be impactful and collectively, make this a scalable model that can decide the direction we wish to follow instead of folding to externalities.
1
Like John Gotti, the Teflon Don in the White House will eventually face the music. Sooner or later, we'll see the perp walk and mugshot that are long overdue.
7
If I remember correctly, Eric Holder refused to supply documents on Fast and Furious to congress Congress overwhelmingly voted he was in contempt of congress, with over a hundred Democrats, led by Pelosi exiting without voting. The Justice Department refused to prosecute Holder, under the the belief that the documents were protected under Executive Privilege. When a Democrat claimed he didn’t have to produce evidence, it never even got to court. Why can’t the Justice Depart end these conflicts? Could it be Democrats don’t trust the procedure if Republicans are in office? Impeachment is a political process. Courts should stay out of it. If voters don’t like what their representatives are doing, vote them out. That is the political solution. Appointed judges in the Judicial Branch should not be part of gathering evidence for or against an impeachment. It is not a criminal prosecution, but a political solution to remove a person from office.
4
Of course! The problem is the Democrats! What else could it be?
3
They r still shouting lock her up. The grandma hiking in the woods, because she sent emails from her home. Also because she operated a sex ring out of basement of a pizza parlor. Not to forget Ben Gaziii
1
Being of a cynical man, I suspect the conservatives on the Supreme Court have already decided to squash the tax release demand. They are just trying to bend the law without breaking it to justify their decision and allow enough time for this to fade from the public mind so it is easier to sell as "principled and well thought out."
4
“principled and well thought out”, and for a full four quarters, just like the scholars of old.
1
The Trump mess and his use of Court delays demonstrates the need for an accelerated judicial process in those extraordinary circumstances when Congress is investigating the Executive Branch for possible wrong doing.
For intelligence matters in which time matters, a special court composed of experienced Federal Judges selected by the Chief Justice allows for speedy decisions. When this crisis is passed, Congress needs legislative to create a similar arrangement to decide matters similar to those now being reviewed by the Courts. Speed matters. And it can be achieved without a sacrifice to fairness and thoroughness.
2
This is how Courts are really failing us. Too much due process bureaucracy leads to no process at all.
5
The pace of this litigation is ridiculous. The courts are failing the country.
Leon Jaworski subpoenaed Nixon's tapes in April, 1974. The White House challenged the request in court. In one month's time, the parties argued the case and District Judge John Sirica issued an order requiring that Nixon turn over the tapes. He refused.
The Supreme Court agreed to take up the case directly. It set an expedited briefing schedule and heard oral arguments on July 8, 1974.
In a little over two weeks, the Court issued its unanimous decision. Nixon then turn over the tapes. He did so, they revealed the "smoking gun", and he resigned two weeks after the high court had ruled.
The entire process, subpoena to Supreme Court ruling, took three months.
There is no excuse for the federal courts' glacial pace concerning these critical decisions. They need to prioritize these cases--hire extra law clerks if they need to, fast track briefing schedules, get the matters on the calendar and issue their decisions.
A 120-page decision is ridiculous. How many weeks did that take to write? The courts' priority isn't to create stirring prose; it's to make these decisions in a timely manner so that these issues--critical to the ability to hold government officials, especially the president, accountable--are resolved.
Because the writer of this piece is correct: given the undo delays from the courts, Trump is winning while he loses.
6
Executive power must be curbed, once and for all. Unspoken rules of decent conduct and mutual respect apparently no longer apply. Broad and arbitrary executive power is creepy and unnecessary. If there ever were a crisis that needed a more empowered President, Congress could meet - online if necessary - and vote to give him/her the power needed at the time -and nothing more. For the present, overarching, unsupervised Presidential authority seems more dangerous than useful.
2
"Trump is reducing the prospect that voters learn new damaging facts about him before the 2020 election."
How does it matter if voters learn the facts? The election is rigged anyway.
You proclaimed that. Pelosi claimed that too. So did Hillary.
Or are you now saying the election may not be rigged?
Make up your mind and let us know once you decide.
3
@Bhaskar ,
Do you think Russia did NOT interfere in the election?
Let us know.
2
So you don’t play offense and defense at same time? One trick pony are we?
1
This report clearly shows our system of government is unraveling. Modern technology for negative or false communications has added to these accumulated fault lines : deepening corruption, gerrymandering, filibustering, entrenched partisanship preventing the culture of compromise, declining morality, widespread chipping away of the foundations of the Constitution, growing income inequalities, Citizens United’s push towards oligarchy, dangerous overspending by government, humongous national debts, growing scepticism of professionalism, the monopoly of public discourse by lawyers, no national consensus about serious responses to the problems of climate change or crumbling infrastructures. Our brilliant people are sidelined and the self-seekers are holding center stage. In short, our politics is toxic.
1
Welcome to the American epidemic of lies and deception starring Donald Trump and his band of malevolent clowns . The Trump era will be known as the age of dishonesty, and the only way to alleviate this disaster will be for heroic civil servants to continue step up to the plate and right the wrong .
29
Trump will win because he cheats and his Republican supporters and Russian masters have rigged the system.
This is what it looks like when chickens come home to roost to a country stolen by manifest destiny. We have A LOT to atone for!
Historical Karma!
11
Legal stonewalling is the Democrats’ tactic of choice.
For example, they file outrageous immigration-related lawsuits in sympathetic venues like the 5th Circuit. They know that the initial favorable ruling will eventually and rightly be overturned by the Supreme Court, but they don’t care. Their only goal is to run out the clock for four years.
In a similar vein, they are filing ridiculous requests for information in favorable venues. They know that they will eventually lose, correctly so, at the Supreme Court. Once again, they don’t care. Their primary goal is simply to maintain a public narrative against Trump.
And, yes, Republicans used similar strategies versus Obama.
Both side are willing and adept at using the courts to thwart the ballot box.
43
@John What about this? What about that? Benghazi!
120
@John Since when did the ballot box excuse criminal behavior? When that behavior suits your political leanings?
111
@John But "both sides" didn't invite Russian election interference, attempt to cover that up with lies and conspiracy theories and attempt to use Ukrainian bribery with taxpayers money to "thwart the ballot box."
163
Those lower court decisions have no effect on trump. He takes it to the SCOTUS where it is delayed........
2
It’s about time for the Speaker of the House to reach out to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to publicly ask for expedited consideration of any cases arising from the impeachment inquiry.
5
Our Democratic representatives: "Well gee... maybe Trump has nothing to do with Giuliani after all. In fact, maybe 2+2+5. I don't think we should make a decision on this. Let's wait for the next election cycle and let the voters decide".
When no one will rigidly stand by reality, things fall apart. Welcome to the new America.
Is this not the same way Trump has survived and profited his entire life? Hire contractors and then refuse to pay them. Either take them to court or threatened that, knowing that means the contractor will have legal bills and will have to continue to wait for the money they are owed. I believe in our justice system, but folks like Trump are able to use it as a weapon. Now he isn't only bludgeoning an ex-mistress, a sexual assault victim, a Trump U. student....he is using the justice system to deeply erode our entire democracy.
4
He's a swindler, plain and simple.
It's infuriating, and clearly, the legal system is broken ... the rich and/or well-connected can play these legal games until they're dead or perhaps, even past law enforcement capabilities, no matter the findings.
Then don't even get me started on the 'Trump way' of inflating has corporate property values for banks, and realizing huge cash windfalls while at same time devaluing them for tax purposes and stiffing the IRS and yes, all the rest of the, the 'regular Jane & Joe' taxpayer.
Yes, the banks should be wary of this con man and do more and better due diligence, and good god, the IRS should put him front and center as the tax fraud he is, and throw the book at him. In public.
I want to see him take a well-deserved perp walk for something, and soon.
That Trump continues to get away with this, that this is acceptable, even desirable to his base ... is appalling, confounding and disgusting.
Much like the man himself.
6
The question is: Even if the Supreme Court issued expedited rulings, and all of the rulings upheld the claims of the Democrats, would that change the end result in the Senate Impeachment vote? Alas, probably not. The Supreme Court has to make rulings by the end of its term. But that will be a particularly inconvenient time for Trump, as documents and tax records are liable to be released during the height of the Election campaign. There was a plenty to Impeach Trump on-- The Democrats should Impeach him again in the Springtime, when an array of damning revelations are made public.
2
Keep on attacking Trump anyway. Expose his wrongdoings to the public. And above all, go after his ties to Putin and Russia. Expose his conversations with Putin publicly. Show that this president is a traitor and corrupt. Keep hitting that to weaken him. The Democrats have the media, they have the lower courts, and they have the whole US government bureaucracy to back them. Don't tell me they can't make hay with that for 2020.
2
I wish the Times would not run articles like this, basically encouraging him to continue stonewalling!
2
Delay. Delay. Delay. Delay. Delay. Delay. Delay.
Prison eventually!
4
I'm not sure having everything come to light during the election is a winning strategy for either side. but, it is the cards that were dealt.
I think what the article meant to say is that the Dems keep shopping favorable rulings from like minded judges that are then inevitably overturned by a higher court.
4
Trump may be the president but he is one of the 330 million Americans. What matters for Trump is the court of public opinion and the ballot box. Trump has not done anything illegal that a court can find a reason to force him to resign and that is why he is winning anyway. So to those who want to desperately want to remove DJT from office, the only way you can is by beating him in November 2020. Try it. Only person who has any chance to dare to beat Trump is Billionaire Bloomberg who has 10 times the billions. Any other partisan attempts like impeachment will fail and will be a historical waste of time.
9
@girish “trump has not done anything illegal” have you been watching the news?
3
@Shyamela NY Have I missed fake news. Was Trump convicted of something illegal?.
4
If they’ll hold a trial they’ll know.
1
Trump’s behavior here is entirely consistent with his behavior as head of the Trump Organization, which is infamous for the “four Ds”: Deny, Distract, Delay, Destroy.” His repeated and well documented tactic is to block regulators and bankrupt opponents — small businesses, independent contractors — who simply can’t afford the time or costs of being tied up indefinitely in protracted litigation.
Trump and the Trump Organization have been party to over 4,000 lawsuits. Over 4,000! What legitimate business or person is a litigant in over 4,000 lawsuits?
8
At the very least, he will certainly be impeached. Maybe not convicted, but the history books will record the violations of law that caused the House to impeach.
4
Trump's "legal" strategy is nothing more than lie, deny, delay, and lie some more. It is a 'winning' strategy only because the courts move slowly. Bet if it were a Democratic president Republicans would be howling for faster action... Hypocrisy - it's what they do.
4
The very survival of our nation is at stake.
We are up against a man who would gladly burn the entire country and all it's institutions to the ground, rather than admit fault, wrongdoing, or get busted.
I hope we survive, and I hope his monstrous behavior does not become a precedent for future POTUS's.
7
@Equilibrium
"The very survival of our nation is at stake.."
The very survival of conventional world order, you mean.
Trump doesn't just do political misconduct, he teaches the rest of the world how to do it too. Some very bad hombres are watching Trump's conduct as an exemplar for their own. Not just despots like Bolsonaro and Assad, but proto-despots like Duterte, Orban and Boris Johnson.
Disruptive politics is a contagious disease. Which the world is gradually catching.
3
@nolongeradoc
I agree he is a threat to the entire world as you say, and he has always been fascinated with strongmen.
Largely because he sees their power as unquestioned and unchallenged.
Attractive to someone like Trump who has an enormous and fragile ego, and is so needy for adulation and praise.
His need is so great he praises himself constantly.
2
Glad I'm 81 years old so I won't have too long before I can kiss this country goodbye. It's been a great ride but from my perspective it looks like it is rushing to an end. At least my generation and the generations before me will give you something to look back on with loving nostalgia rather that the total corruption about to wash over you with Trump. If it's not worth it to you all to act to save your nation and the ideals it has stood for then all I can say is "goodbye and good luck."
12
Yes! Trump's legal strategy is winning and yet the Democrats -- both the House and Senate and the primary contenders - have found no plausible way to expose this con man and hammer this message to the American people on a nightly basis, let alone expose Trump's sham to his ever beloved base! Absolutely bewildering!
This non-practicing Catholic is praying for an act of God to straighten this all out!
4
The Kangaroo Court Circus is not about Trump's Strategy/ it just goes to show how Red Taped and full of Legalities our over Broad minded archaic system has become ....and Don't
Blame the Lawyers on this one....Blame the Voters and their loyalty to Incumbents that are Influenced by Re Elections that are a Sweetheart deal with the Big Donors that lead to Golden Parachutes Criminal book deals and paid speaking events!
2
Trump's antics has shifted the American political paradigm so much certain situations that before would've be deemed impossible by liberals, would be welcomed if it meant no more Donald Trump. How so? Close your eyes if your a liberal & ask yourself if you want things to stay as they are or instead be part of an event at a yoga mixer in Park Slope Brooklyn where all in attendance have to wear Mitt Romney 2020 t-shirts?
13
@José Franco I would take Romney over Trump any day.
8
@Jennifer A thing doesn't cease to be true because it's not accepted by many. I'm of the opinion free of thought is more important than freedom of speech. Trump and his handlers are well aware smart liberals can be defeated. Trump constantly tweets because as time goes by, we continually seek out new stories to help form images of what the future can be. Many of us are looking for substantive reporting. This is true in appearance, but not in fact, for the future may still be hideous since individuals have a tendency of being able to remedy their problems only by aggravating them, so that each day is much more tolerable before the solution is found to the difficulties of the moment. Most of us spend our time trying to rationalize our behavior as a result of our lack of self awareness.
2
@Jennifer
Heck, I'd take Nixon over Trump if that were even an option. At least I always believed that Nixon loved America, conversely, even if he did approve the DNC headquarters break-in and his secretary erased 17 minutes on that one tape.
8
“I am fighting for future Presidents and the Office of the President,” Mr. Trump said. “Other than that, I would actually like people to testify.”
There are lies. And then, there are LIES.
Non-partisan fact check organizations should have a method for dealing with SUPER-LIES, like the ones quoted at the top of this comment.
Mr. President:
What about all the records requested by the three house committees conducting investigstions?
What about your tax returns and other financial records?
What about records of your communications with Vladimir Putin?
What about...
Mr. Trump, the term “pathological liar, doesn’t come close to accurately describing the depth of deceit into which you’ve sunk. Shame on you! And shame on your accomplices.
I pity any American citizen, at this point in time, who believes a single statement that comes from your mouth!
10
Both the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals wrote authoritative and consistent opinions trashing the same theories advanced by Trump. There is nothing the Supreme Courts needs to review in either case and they should have summarily affirmed at least the DC Circuit, which ruled on the House subpoena, and allowed those documents to be released.
Granting the temporary stay was a historic mistake. Assuming Trump is acquitted in the Senate, the Court will be seen as having been complicit.
There are various theories for how this happened. Trying to figure out what the Justices do in their weekly private conferences is a fool's game, but whatever the reasons, this was a very bad result.
Let's not blame it all on the Court, though. I have no idea what Cyrus Vance was thinking when he agreed not to enforce his subpoena, which was upheld by the Second Circuit, until the case was heard by the Supreme Court. The kinds of advantages that litigators give away to each other in the name of "courtesy" is becoming increasingly grotesque.
5
After this guy is booted from the W.H., either through a successful impeachment or after the 2020 elections - I have my fingers crossed on a successful impeachment - the next Congress needs to toughen up their enforcement authority and give themselves the right to pursue prosecute executive-branch officials and erstwhile executive-branch officials without relying on the DOJ to perform that function. And if there is a possibility of a Congressionally-driven prosecution could somehow, someway bump up against the Constitution's prohibition of issuing Writs of Attainder, then that may require a change to the Constitution. But it would be worth it in order to stop this nonsense.
4
@Tom Our system is going to be stronger. Trump is testing boundaries. He is shameless to a point that some find charming. He puts the C in Chutzpah. We have good laws already, we just can't administer good laws badly.
Why exactly do judiciary ruling take SO MUCH TIME? Can't they be expedited? Clear the docket for each of these cases. The third co-equal branch of the government needs to step up their game.
6
The American public, Trump and the Republican party need to understand that this impeachment process is not a partisan action. It is a democratic (lower case d) action prescribed by the Constitution. It is not about either party. It is about the American people. the people who our politicians are supposed to answer to. After all, the people are their bosses.
The purpose of this impeachment is to maintain "a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity."
If you don't understand what that means or where it is from, and I suspect that this just went right over Trumps head, then you fall short of your responsibility as an American. And responsibility to the Constitution is something that Trump and the majority of Republicans are sorely lacking.
14
@Larry: I expect no blessings of liberty from people who want to exile all the liberals.
1
He has generations of dealing in housing court in NYC. A common slumlord strategy is to extend the clock until tenants can't pay their lawyers, something my family faced with my mother's rent controlled apartment. We were behind the eight ball with two losing propositions, use rent money to pay lawyers and after 8 - 12 months in court, slumlord agrees to make fixes if owed rent is paid. Once you've paid the lawyer, you won't have money to pay back rent and get evicted. If you keep the money in escrow, you won't have adequate legal representation and have to defend yourself in court. He knows exactly what he's doing. All the philosophy in the world won't get you out of this undesirable situation. I don't wish this on anyone, but this too will pass!
6
Republicans need to think long and hard before they give Trump everything he wants.
Eventually, there will be a Democratic president, or an Independent or someone from a party that doesn't even exist yet.
The GOP really needs to ask themselves how they would react if Obama or Clinton were doing the things Trump does.
Because that president will do everything Trump has been allowed to get away with. And Republicans, if there are any left, won't be able to stop it.
6
GOP knows dem base doesn’t support strongman tactics. Dem leaders can never play dirty as base will turn on them. GOP operates with this impunity
Similar strategy as those used by health insurance companies who don't want to pay what they owe. Deny, stall, bully, and repeat.
6
Mr. Trump has litigated and manipulated his way through courts his entire adult life and one must grudgingly admit that, despite the deeply nefarious aspects of his maneuvering, he has succeeded in slowing down legal processes, from local courts to the SCOTUS, to a snails pace. He does so by stonewalling and setting moral and legal precedents like no other politician has before him, almost as if it's a game. If there wasn't so much bottomless self interest and desperate power grabbing behind all his manipulating, one could say that he has almost done us a favor by literally dismissing all precedent and established rules, including the Constitution of this country. Legal minds must be having a field day(?) analyzing his strategies and the expected counter strategies by his opponents, and trying to figure out whether we need new amendments to the Constitution to prevent similar dictatorial tactics in the future.
4
So President Trump keeps losing in various courts. He only has to win in one court, the Supreme Court.
5
What’s the Democrats most likely and worthy endgame? Impeachment, removal, public weakening of Trump’s re-election, judicial precedent setting for Trump 2 and future presidents, win majority in both Congressional Houses, major demonstrations and civil disobedience, inspiring leadership, media breakthrough to the other side, global warming catastrophe, or hope for a common cause that joins all sides like a Martian invasion.
There is no all-of-the-above choice, which is just the old familiar spaghetti-thrown-against-the-wall hope-and-change cri de cœur.
Eventually, Democrats, you’ve got to fight for your convictions, not just express disbelief with feckless handwringing.
3
Remember when the GOP resented the idea of using frivolous lawsuits to delay justice?
8
Judge Jackson says Trump is not a king, yet she persists in treating him like one. If any ordinary American sued in Federal Court with arguments as flimsy as those the Trump administration's, their case would be thrown out of court. That's exactly what should have happened with the administration's lawsuit. McGahn doesn't even work for the administration anymore. Many prior precedents have upheld congressional oversight powers. So why does it take six months to rule on nonsense? Justice delayed is justice denied.
4
I think it is naive to think that the outcome of these court cases will have any bearing on the election at all. In terms of Mr Trump's behavior, he has amply demonstrated his propensity for racist, sexist and corrupt behavior. So voters have already decided whether they think it is acceptable or not. Even swinging voters - who, by their very stance, have already signaled that such behaviors are not deal-breakers - will be deciding their vote on other issues.
4
Isn't there something in the Constitution reegarding 'obstruction of justice' as a reason for Impeachment?
IMO, we havevb experienced obstruction by this President many times.
3
The US got stuck in mud the moment Trump was sworn in, and the car has only churned deeper into the mud since.
5
Come on judges, you need to pick up the pace. He is losing in every court judgement so why such a slow speed to judgement?
1
Trump has a team of lawyers paid for by the GOP. They will push it until they get a Republican judge to shut it down. Impeachment is the only option next will be beating him in 2020.
3
If the GOP wins the presidency again in 2020, Putin will be our actual president. Why this is ok with approximately 30% of our population, I cannot fathom.
9
The art of the deal.... revolves around lawsuits, court filings, delay tactics, denial, ..... Right?
This is a national disgrace. How is it that the court system in the UK can consider and decide within one month a momentous and historic constitutional issue (the recent prorogation of parliament), while our courts stumble along for years deciding what are at heart really just discovery motions. What is wrong with us? Shame !
5
Remember the joke making the rounds in 2018 about how winning the House was such a big deal because Dems would then have ... wait for it ... subpoena power!
6
The current Trump administration's legal strategy, as described so well by Mr. Savage, is the same one used constantly by the Trumpster in his dealings with others (business and otherwise) for the past FIFTY YEARS). He is the ultimate con man, hiding in plain sight, an unapologetic liar, egocentric to an extreme, , all well documented ad nauseam in clear, intelligent language, on the air in print, everywhere, in terms which nearly everyone can understand. He is obviously incompetent and grossly unqualified to be president of the United States of America.
So, why is he? That question is for each of us to answer,
Do we really want our freedoms under the Constitution or chaos, and worse, in a dictatorship??? I personally would not even have thought of asking that question of my fellow Americans twenty years ago. But I saw pictures of NAZI concentration camps in my youth and was totally appalled, really devastated at seeing the lows to which human beings can sink. I'm not Jewish, but I remember the death and devastation that essentially one man caused fo millions. For the first time ever, I fear for the future of this country.
7
Justice delayed is justice denied.
This is the high stakes version of what ordinary citizens face all the time. It's even worse for those who come from disadvantaged circumstances. Those with deep pockets can drag out legal proceedings ad absurdum and force their opponents to give up or face potential financial ruin if they keep pursuing through the courts.
Hardly seem "fair," does it?
15
@Morals Matter: The body that vets US judicial appointees bears no logical connection to equity. The US Senate is a randomly gerrymandered system of extreme inequality.
5
the silver lining here is regardless of his constant and never ending appeals that get pushed to the Supreme Court, if we can elect the DEM as POTUS a year from now, we not only get The Donny out of the Oval Office, we hand him to the NYState AG on a plate ...and he, and his lawyers, know it ....
4
But if everything is sped up, the Senate will vote “not guilty” and that is the end of it. What would Fox/Ailes/Rove do? Attack. Attack. Attack. Plant new doubt each week. While everybody talks about the old news, plan an attack as the talk dies down. Force Fox to defend. Stir. Stir in something new. Stir right up to the 2020 election.
3
Can someone tell me how a 74 year old “successfully” runs out the clock on anything? That’s an age where you don’t buy green bananas. Congrats on dying before being prosecuted...I guess?
2
It seems that time is on Trump’s side. So are destructive, ruinously-partisan Congressional Republicans and his hypnotized “base.”
However the forces arrayed against the corrupt liar in the Oval Office more than counterbalance what Donald’s got going for him. Truth, fact, the law, justice, reason, democracy, the U.S. Constitution, the Democratic party, history and the welfare of the American people are opposed to the Orange Scoudrel’s continued mismanagement and corruption.
So many lies. So many erratic, hate-driven decisions.
So many incidents reflecting no judgement, no ethics, no knowledge, no concern for anyone but himself.
There MUST be some way to remove our Would-Be-King from office before the 2020 general elections.
Projecting the harm and the damage Trump has wrought in three years to an eight year Trump presidency is horrifying. This must, at any cost, be avoided.
Our nation cannot bear eight years of Trumpian chaos, crime and stupidity!
8
If the Democrats win the House or the Senate but lose the presidential race the lawmakers should continue with the court cases. The issues involved can be resolved eventually, even into a next term. If American democracy is to remain strong the role of congressional oversight is vital and must be more clearly defined in law for the future
3
@Phil CAN
American Democracy has one foot in the grave and the other foot on a banana peel.
Trump and the Republicans have so eroded the foundations that are democracy has been built on, one has the right to feel it may never be strong again.
Trump has shown the way for future wannabe demigods and Putins.
The only way to make the much needed changes that you hope for is to amend the Constitution. Get rid if the Electoral College, redefine the role of the president and the branches of government. To accomplish this requires bipartisan support and as we can clearly see, those days are gone, gone, gone.
Remain strong? Trump and his Republican cohorts have already reduced us to a third world cesspool of corruption.
2
@Phil CAN: The United States Constitution has been copied many times in the organization of corporations. It is the grandparent of them all born at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.
I have about as little faith in the American justice system as I do in the American health care system. Litigation is so costly and time consuming it only serves special interest groups, not justice. All these cases should be expedited limiting what information is being reviewed.
Trump made a living as a business person tying people up in court. The American justice system needs to be reformed as does the health care system, neither serve the American public.
4
@Joseph B: Class action lawsuits leave practically all the money to the lawyers because it is too much bother for a member of the class to apply for the modest benefit
1
There is a greater perspective to look at these developments, and the conclusion may not be the same. That perspective would be on the future viability of the Republican Party. the longer this drags out, the stronger all current sitting Republicans become lashed to Trump's personal fortunes. From the clearly selfish perspective of Trump, that is no downside at all, he probably could care less what happens to the party once he is gone, one way or the other. But the Republican Party as a whole gets into deeper jeopardy every day this drags out. If the logjam finally breaks next spring or summer and a torrent of damaging info ensues, it's too late to find another nominee (impeachment might even be a relief then?) If he is reelected, their (and the country's) luck HAS to eventually run out, we are going to have some major crisis happens, and the President and even the rank and file are going to be inadequate to the occasion, that could stain them for a generation.
1
@MadManMark Respectfully, when in modern times has the Republican party paid a political price for its multiple transgressions against the constitution and/or (un)common decency? Ford getting the boot after pardoning Nixon? OK, there's one. Since then?
1
We need to add some sort of restriction to appeals, the system as it exists now is clearly too exploitable.
1
Maybe the Democrats best strategy would be to wait out the court decisions and build a case for impeachment so strong that if Trump is re-elected, he can be impeached after the start of his next term q(ditto in case he loses and refuses to leave). By January 2021 they should have his tax returns, plus the results of investigations by SDNY and other jurisdictions.
2
@Trakker and then we have President Pence for nearly 4 years?
2
The House needs to use the power of the purse to speed up the dockets of SCOTUS and the Federal Courts. If the GOP controlled the House they would have already slashed the federal judiciary budgets to get the judiciary to hear these cases on an expediated docket. No financial manipulations seem to adversely affect the GOP at the polls and the Democrats need to learn from them how to play hardball.
2
We need to reform our judicial system urgently. Disputes between the executive and the legislative branches should be disposed of promptly. Compare the stonewalling of Trump with a recent event in the United Kingdom, a nation with which we share the common law tradition.
On August 28, on the advice of the prime minister, the queen gave her consent to prorogue parliament for 5 weeks effective September 9, a move that was condemned by the opposition as designed to prevent parliament from voting on Brexit. Lawsuits to block the prorogation were filed both in Scotland and in England. Because of the time sensitivity of the questions raised in the lawsuits, the cases were taken up by the courts promptly. By September 24, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the prorogation was unlawful, null and void. The suits worked their way through the courts of first instance, to the appellate courts and disposed of by the Supreme Court in under one month.
1
@David: As Churchill noted about the USA, it does everything else first before doing the right thing.
1
What if... Adam Schiff (and other House Democrats) announce that they found clear support for impeachment, but that they can no longer be subjected to the disrespect and disregard for the law that Donald Trump continues to engage in, and given the Republican partisanship in the Senate, have decided not to continue the impeachment process. Without the support of the Republican party in putting an end to the corrupt behavior of Donald Trump, it will continue. It will definitely put the legitimacy of the 2000 Presidential election in jeopardy. Democrats need to go ahead and put this out to the American people. Then let the Trumpers gloat, or name-call, or consult the latest troll farm updates. Let the Wall Streeters think whatever they think, if they think of anything other than keeping their billions. The rest of America can make their choices at the polls; or quite honestly, stay home, until we can be a decent country again. Stop this game of whose tactics are winning. It's ugly, and not for the reasons that Trump says it is.
2
Today I consider him the sleaziest man on the face of the earth. With apologies to Lou Gehrig.
4
Reminder: If Zelensky had done the CNN interview promoting the fake investigation...if Trump had not been caught...it would have rocked the world. The US is already targeted.
We have every reason to thank the women and men,
especially including the WB that prevented this world stage disaster. A very well intentioned whistleblower prevented WWIII.
WB - Thank You for Giving US the way out before the worst happened. Thank You.
3
An aside: isn't it amazing that Gordon Sondland fingers all of the major suspects, including Trump, yet he flies back to Brussels and continues his high life in the Ambassador's residence that is being refurbished by us taxpayers to the tune of half a million dollars and he suffers no vindictive repercussions?
Does he have an "insurance policy" like Rudy does?
2
Observe that Elizabeth Holmes selected a board of politicians for no-show jobs as directors to pull off the Theranos scam.
Only in America!
1
The judges are to blame. Do they really need to spend months crafting rulings? Is there such a thing as an expedited schedule that is actually expedited? They are a farce.
3
The fact that a sitting president can refuse to cooperate with any kind of oversight, to refuse to release any documents or allow any witnesses to testify cannot stand! The Executive is but one branch of government, the president is not omnipotent. Those that support the president's intransigence must want to be ruled by a king or a dictator. Be careful what you wish for.
251
@SM: Trump doesn't even agree to be governed.
5
@SM Trump is the test our democracy every so often needs. We are all to blame for this. Trump's presidency is equivalent to letting your 5 and 7 year old go food shopping for the family for four years. We voted for him, that's why he parades fast foods and our metaphysical refrigerators are loaded with the junk he's been feeding all of us. This too will pass.
17
@SM if the branches are co-equal - does this then mean the executive branch can order the Congress around as well?
3
I'm thinking this was the same strategy he used in the business world to keep from paying bills.
Only this time the taxpayers are paying his attorneys. That is not right.
6
Hate it say it but, its looking like we no longer deserve a democratic republic. One of the hard rules of the universe seems to be, what should happen, does happen. Please fight hard to prove me wrong, in this case anyway.
4
I wonder what the ratio of litigation to non-litigation time an adult (haha) Donald has lived? NY Times should do a fact based article on this. The data would be interesting broken down into personal, Trump Corp. (or what ever his failing businesses have been called), and his presidency. The amount of time for each case could be documented, as well as wins and losses.
2
With a national election at stake. One would think the stonewalling would be plowed under, and a fast track to address his con jobs put in place.
This IS our country. We ARE in danger. The culprit is dragging things out that could be addressed in emergency sessions.
Wake Up !
2
Looks like we have several tiers of "justice" systems in the USA.
If you're poor or a political prisoner, you're less likely to get bail, you're immediately jailed for contempt of court for even the slightest non-compliance, you can rot in jail for years waiting for a hearing or ruling.
Like Chelsea Manning. She's sitting in jail because she refuses to lie about Assange to a bogus grand jury, and being fined thousands of dollars a month.
But Trump and his gang, along with other white-collar criminals, defy subpoenas, break bail conditions, and sneer at investigators, judges and laws, and they're all still walking around free.
And if you're a war criminal, you can hope for a Trump pardon!
3
Donald Trump is, at best, incompetent.
But none the less, he is President Trump, not Mr. Trump.
3
Not to me he isn’t!
2
Yes, and the article refers to him the first time as “President Trump” and thereafter as “Mr. Trump.” That has been the standard editorial practice for as long as I can remember, no matter who is president.
6
@Bruce
True. He is the president.
However, his behavior and complete lack of character are such, even the title “Mister” conveys more respect than Trump deserves to be shown.
5
Horror of horrors he is re-elected and these cases eventually unwind and his executive privilege is flushed along with his freedom and wealth.
1
Every US State is a silo of local precedents and interpretations. The US is a Byzantine judicial rabbit hole.
3
@Steve Bolger ... and with partisan politicians masquerading as judges!
2
With this strategy, he's winning only if voters let him get away with it. Unfortunately, there is a good chance they will. I guess that's the genius of Trump: he understood perhaps better than anyone just how gullible voters are. After all, he's been selling them snake oil and cheating them all his life.
7
Well - perhaps this is not about getting Trump out of office. Hardly anyone would believe that now. With the already damning evidence that was revealed and the nearly stationary public polls in response to those revelations it seems the marginal return on further investment would be minimal.
The main purpose of an impeachment trial for me is to get GOP senators officially on record that they condone the evident criminal MO of this president when faced with the obvious.
Although investigative tools and full blown investigation will subside after the conclusion of a senate trial it would be naive to assume this is the last we hear about corrupt and criminal acts by Trump -- more and more and more will come out -- this is how Trump has operated his whole life, he is not willing to change, and people like to tell stories.
There is no plausible excuse for GOP senators now anymore that they did not know Trump was this corrupt and that they could not anticipate future wrong-doings or further damning details of past uncovered ones.
There will also be a day when Trump is gone and these folks may want to try to continue their political careers.
Good luck with that.
7
The Democrats, Official Party of trial lawyers everywhere, suddenly has a problem with plaintiffs. How sweet it is.
4
@John D
The good folks at Kirkland Ellis might beg to disagree.
@GG at the very least I expect them to send a nice tin of Holiday cookies to the DNC.
1
We the people. A cry echoing; from the Minutemen on the commons of Concord 1775 to the bloody battle of Gettysburg 1863, to US marines in the battle for Fallujah 2004. We the people, free men, who believe they, not kings, can self govern.
So what is this impeachment of Donald Trump about? I believe we are at a crossroads in the history of our Republic. One path; to be a people governed under law as equals or the other path. A path where treated as children by a strongman he decides all; not a Republic of three equal branches but one man deciding it all? The appeal of a strong man is seductive; but our strongman’s character is cruel, he is crude, and displaces endless rapacity. But his base rock solid in their faith don’t care about his character only will he provide the bread and circus required. The answer is, of course, he deserves to be impeachment that is obvious to all but he won’t be found guilty in the Senate, tribal loyalty will see to this. The gladiator in the arena shout out “Are you not entertained?”, well Citizens of the Republic are we the simple fools in the stands watching the entertainment or are we something else?
2
Be very, very careful what you wish for.
Imagine if Clinton had engaged in such complete and uncompromising stonewalling. Imagine then if he even ignored a Supreme Court ruling because as Andrew Jackson noted-- the Supreme Court does not have an enforcement arm.
Imagine that power in the hands of a Democratic President using emergency powers to push through green energy and Medicare for all with no possible check. The Republicans need to think this one through carefully.
3
@MitchL I don't see anyone in this whole corporation-addled playpen who understand the US Federal Government to be a chartered corporation with coercive powers delegated by the people, each of whom constitutes one shareholder, who elect a Congress to act as a board of directors and a president to act as CEO. The CEO must answer to the board for decisions and behavior, and is subject to firing at will, just like most of you reading this.
If the Republicans get their way, there will never be another Democratic President. That’s what they are counting on.
5
@Mitch Respectfully, they don't. A Democratic president who behaved like that would be punished at the polls.
Trump's legal strategy is to stonewall, lie, and sue.
It has worked for over 70 years. And the GOP have made
this strategy even more successful for Trump as President.
4
Trump may very well win by appealing every lost decision, and running out the clock before the election. His lawyers are going for the long game. So maybe we the American people should be looking at an even longer game - when Trump is out of office. Whatever immunity he's claiming now while President disappears once he becomes a private citizen. He could be held criminally liable for everything from obstruction of justice, bribery, tax evasion, campaign finance violations, even money laundering. Let's vote him out of office in 2020, and let the district attorneys go after him in 2021.
11
“ . . . our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
“Now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.”
It is trite, perhaps, to quote Lincoln. I pray that the Trump administration will think about Lincoln and drop its win-at-any-cost philosophy and think more about whether this nation can long endure in these present circumstances. The iconoclastic rampage this president is on only serves the enemies of American freedom and damages the very foundation of America democracy. The cost of win-at-any-price will be palpable, deep, and very, very real.
2
It's obvious that neither the threat of impeachment nor the legal process is much of a check on a president who wants to break the rules on a wholesale basis. Trump may be the worst but he won't be the last.
So what else can be done? Somebody needs to think about that. Ways for Congress to deny the president funding in a way that targets his agenda? An independent review body to examine questionable behavior on an ongoing basis?
2
It is entirely possible that Trump will win re-election in 2020, while the Dems flip the Senate. In that event, the Senate would likely vote to remove the President rather quickly. Instead of rope-a-doping, Trump's team should be pushing for a quick conclusion of the impeachment inquiry while he still has a friendly Senate.
No, that’s very unlikely. People who vote for a Democratic senator aren’t likely to vote for Trump, and in order to flip the senate you’d need a majority of states voting blue.
2
@KMJ
You would have to flip the Senate to a super-majority. Not gonna happen.
1
This is going to play out the same way it did with Nixon. The supporters will simply ignore everything and vote for him again.
And the second term will be taken up with his collapse and departure.
Even when he is out of office the wheels will keep turning.
1
I think the courts take one view towards political fishing expeditions meant to "embarrass" (tax returns from the past nobody cared about til Trump became President and an inability to name the thing being sought in those returns); they would likely take another view towards testimony from somebody like Bolton who was heard by various people referring to that "drug deal" in relation to an ongoing impeachment inquiry, which has uncovered specific grounds for impeachment, while Bolton seems more than happy to sing to paying audiences and anybody willing to fork out money for the book he is working on.
1
...and, yet, Bush v Gore was adjudicated with great haste due to a Constitutional deadline, but no real precedent set.
After the 2016 unforced loss, I worry that the Democrats are wanting in strategic planning. Do they even have a Plan A, let alone a Plan B?
4
The House Democrats should just stop all the court cases and move on to the obstruction of Congress & obstruction of justice. All the called witnesses who claim to have immunity should be listed in an addendum to the Articles of Impeachment. Don't let trump play this out until after Nov. 2020. Close it now & get the "Impeached" by his name in the history books even if not removed by the Senate.
1
Trump will be impeached by the House before the end of this year. If you think the oversight investigations will stop, you have another think coming.
Maybe, just maybe, the silver lining for Trump opponents is that the judicial process is completed, and the Trumpsters are brought into public hearings, where they either plead the 5th or spill the beans just before the 2020 elections.
1
I believe the courts will be amenable to a fast track hearing and adjudication
This article is unnecessarily alarmist ...
Once a senate trial begins there won’t be stalling. To believe otherwise means to believe we already have given our country to a minority party ....
1
This is a tremendous opportunity for the US Supreme Court and especially the Chief Justice and the four conservative justices to make an affirmative statement about the separation of powers as enshrined in the US Constitution and court precedence.
Surly stare decisis points to Trump losing his court challenges to the authority of the Congress exercise oversight of the executive branch and the office of POTUS.
SCOTUS must step up and make an affirmative statement to preserve the Republic.
2
trump’s basic strategy of obstruct, obstruct and cover-up now includes appeal, appeal and wait them out. At this rate we might actual get his tax returns and hear from his mob family when his presidential library is built.
2
OKay. It's a race.
If the miscreant is again elected but the courts come up with damaging news a few times, including his taxes and other financials, plus a Mueller or two - then what?
2
American courts are too slow. Justice delayed is justice denied, and American courts tolerate and abet astonishing delays. All. The. Time. It plays into the hands of wealthy / powerful perpetrators and it needs to stop. Did Trump violate the emoluments clause? Can we see his tax records? Are suppression tactics threatening the integrity of our elections legal, punishable? He's been in office for years already. Courts, judges, I understand the need for care and deliberation. But move it along!!
9
I don't really see the downside of dragging things out a little. It'll just be a longer stream of bad news for Trump.
4
A small, miserable and petty man, who heads a diminishing political party. All we can do right now is play the legal hands we have, the best way way we can.
However, the following apply:
(1) history will not look kindly on Trump, nor his Republican enablers, a fact that will haunt them, and have significant, lasting consequences,
(2) at some point certain, there will come a day when Trump no longer resides in the WH, and is no longer president, and
(3) the day Trump leaves the WH is the day he will be charged in multiple indictments with multiple criminal charges for all the multiple crimes he has committed.
Watch for the post-election overseas trip, which he will call "routine", and will be the day he flees to Turkey, or Russia, asks for asylum, and lives out his days comfortably in a Trump property somewhere, all the while complaining how unfairly he is being treated, when anyone else would just be perp-walked away in handcuffs to the closest jail cell.
8
Fine; let the clock run; wait out the subpoena decisions; keep each one in the news. Do not rush to impeach. Let the drumbeat roll through the year.
4
How can you say he is losing when SCOTUS seems to side with him - on the Wall, on DACA, on his taxes and a host of other issues.
Thats our system - lower judges think they can get away with a legal whipsaw but SCOTUS is there to stabilize.
And let's face it - the majority of his "losses" - actually, all are at the hands of Obama judges or Democrat appointed judges.
Democrats have politicized judiciary.
With our POTUS now having appointed one fourth of federal judges and more in the next 6 years - Democrats are going to reap what they showed - as justice Kavanaugh memorably said.
And if our POTUS gets to appoint 2 more to SCOTUS in next 6 years - well, Democrats will have to wait for a favorable ruling till - say, 2040 at the earliest.
Finally, this Obama appointee never called Obama a king when he defied Congress over Fast and Furious or for that matter DACA.
Even Obama marveled that he could get away with DACA - legally that is.
4
@Neil
“Democrats have politicized (the) judiciary.”
I hope that sentence was not meant to stand alone.
The Democrats have been forced to counter Republican-initiated attempts to pack the federal courts with partisan right-wing judges and justices. The Democrats were pulled into this business, they did not create this vile threat to democracy — radical Republican conservatives did.
3
So the Supreme Court gets to damage our country just by sitting on its.... hands. Instead of doing it with its opinions. That IS an improvement.
4
The courts work way too slowly. We need to speed them by a factor of at least ten. McGahn’s case should have taken one month, period. This is ridiculous.
3
I was sued by a psychotic neighbor over access to a neighborhood beach because my house was built after it was acquired. It is over a decade in litigation and a court of competent jurisdiction has yet to consider a motion to dismiss filed immediately upon receipt to the complaint. A judge clung to the case for a decade before finally agreeing that her court has no jurisdiction of the matter, which only bounced it to another court. Even justice is an illusion in this ridiculous country.
2
Counting rulings against him which are later reversed is a joke.
2
The judge in question is an Obama appointee and a young black woman. If she HAD ruled in Trump's favor the sky would have fallen (smile).
We no longer have to ask what the constitution says or what the law is. We just ask, "and who is deciding?"
Every judge has a label and the label tells us all we need to know. The idea that there is an actual constitution and that the judges rule according to it, has long been dead, ever since Bork was borked.
Of course the judge may well be right. But is there anything left to the word "right"? If the Supreme Court rules against her, Democrats will mutter, "right wing court."
Perhaps we should also have two Gods, a right wing God and a left wing God and they rule the universe on alternate days!
5
@Ludwig
If God came down and told Fox News that they were lying and the Evangelicals that they were not following the Bible, they would say God is wrong and Trump s right.
6
The criminal in the White House, Donald Trump has exposed a lethal flaw in our political system of government. When an immoral, racist, con man, pathological liar, enabled by an immoral mendacious Republican party, promoted and protected by a 24/7 mendacious foghorn of propaganda, Fox News, and supported by roughly 34% of the electorate, who willfully follow the lying con man, and refuse to see or acknowledge obvious condemning truths and facts, then this once great democracy, and country ceases to properly function, and begins taken on the characteristics of a doomed stage four cancer patient. That's where we are at the present.
2
This is nothing new. Politicians are mostly lawyers. They have worked the gray area of law to their benefit over and over again.
Trump is surrounded by criminals just like him who want the big money but want it at the expense of lower and middle class Americans by lying and cheating.
Cheney was the last major dirty politician who pushed the boundaries of the power of the Oval Office.
4
If Trump wins re-election, the very validity of the judiciary (and everything else) will be under attack. His enablers will continue their asymmetrical assault on our country and it’s institutions. It would be cool if judges would acknowledge this and increase the tempo on these rulings.
315
@Dudesworth
The US federal court system is rapidly becoming the last barrier to a totally unrestricted Presidency. If the Supreme Court takes a narrow view of the limitations on Trump's powers, we are in for a profound change in our democratic system that will eventually lead to a reckoning that none of us may be prepared for.
17
@Dudesworth: IO think everything done after James Comey's stupid stunt with Anthony Weiner's computer should be reversed, especially judicial appointments.
10
@Dudesworth And what will happen at that point? Will we just let Democracy slide through our hands and let the bullies replace it with something else? Our representatives need to stop being so polite.
5
Same old story! Justice for the rich who can tie you up in court for a long time with lawyers. DT has done this all his adult life. Not paying folks agreed amounts or at all! Very depressing for those of us who work and pay our taxes to fund these liars and crooks.
490
@EJ He should be barred from filing any kind of court suit, yes they can barr habitual abusers of the system from ever taking part in it again, the people must demand it and in a number greater than 60%
26
@DG: It is unnatural for anyone to be chronically involved in litigation. I think the US needs an ombudsman system to inform all the fools and fakes what the law covering their issue says about it before a lawsuit will be accepted by a court.
7
@EJ To add insult to injury, we taxpayers are footing the bill.
19
"Justice delayed is justice denied."
That's attributed to Gladstone, who died in 1894.
Apparently, it's not an easy problem to solve.
Trump has relied on the inability of others to get justice through the Courts for his entire career.
I assume that, if he loses in the Supreme Court, he will find a pretext for another round of suits and force another interminably wait.
Mr. Savage is absolutely correct that Trump is winning the legal battle even while losing individual decisions. The cheering among Democratic TV stars was unwarranted.
Trump is winning. That will change only if there is a plausible path to conviction in the Senate. I don't see one in the offing. The evidence has already placed a smoking gun in Trump's hand, but his supporters refuse to see it.
5
@RickP
Dickens knew something about this as well.
Read "Bleak House" and the case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce.
1
don't read too much into SCOTUS last order - it set a briefing schedule ONLY and per normal maintained status quo ante pending judicial review of those submissions. Not a merits ruling nor any indication thereof. my belief is that the courts are mindful of not allowing one side (or the other) to game the system/run the clock. the issue, ultimately, is one of rule of law and due process, and whether subpoena power requires appearance and giving of testimony and production of records. the answer is clear there, constitutionally, AND otherwise. the Justices -- ALL of them -- know this.
3
This is an all-important, extreme example of the well-understood fact that there are really two justice systems in the United States. One is for the very powerful and very wealthy, and the other is for everyone else. One permits the attainment of wrongdoing, or at least the mitigation of the remedy or punishment. The other often results in innocent people being run over. Is it a case of "it is what it is" or can something be done about it?
5
@Art It's not "white collar crime", it's "red tie" crime.
Two systems, but BOTH paid for by all U.S. taxpayers (of which the "president" is NOT).
It is Leona Helmsley vs. the "little people".
2
The Constitution guarantees a right to speedy trial, but not to speedy appeals. Even allowing for court backlogs, appeals can take years, favoring the rich and powerful and those who prefer delay. This is odd, because appeals are supposed to be mostly about the process of the primary trial, not about retrying the case. New evidence is only allowed in rare cases. The presumption is that the lower court got it right.
Even constitutional questions should be straightforward, with existing case law presumed to be precedent. Instead the delayers present piles of briefs and motions, doing whatever they can to bog down the proceedings. These attorneys are officers of the court, and should be held liable for frivolous delays just as plaintiffs can be for bringing frivolous suits. In this set of cases re: impeachment the courts should demand and the people should expect real prioritization. Courts dragging it out may help POTUS but it impedes Congress, which has its own duties and priorities.
Should top current and former officials be required to testify or does blanket Executive Privilege apply? How can such a basic question require a year to decide? It has been raised repeatedly since 1973.? Nixon, Clinton. Iran-Contra, Iraq invasion decisions and torture, the same question! Courts must make a call ASAP so Congress and the nation can move on.
5
Gaming the bureaucracy of the system to buy time. Finding and exploiting the right loopholes to make any relevant moral judgements arbitrary.
Professions from lawyers to hedge funders to landlords to urban planners to basket weavers have been doing this for years.
2
I'm not suprised he keeps "winning". Cable news has been breathlessly telling us now for 2+ years since the Mueller investigation that the "walls are closing in". Nothing happened. He was correct, it was a big nothing burger.
I'm not feeling any better about this impeachment. He will get off and the message will be confirmed, if you're wealthy and powerful you are free to act as you please.
8
There is a whole class of people whose aim in life seems to be to obstruct and delay legal proceedings. They are very good at it! We should pay a lot more attention to “justice delayed”.
4
This is very close to how real estate works in New York City... where developers use dubious legal maneuvers to create delay and ultimately get the outcome that they want in their competition with other developers... its sleazy but its the way the game is played in New York...
3
The main problem with the washington politicians-on both sides-is that they only talk to others who think exactly as they do. Like the States before the Civil war-when local politics muscled out the idea of a union of states, and local news papes-the only real media available then- and the union was falling apart because no one talked with anyone else and if they did-considered anyone who didn't agree with them, insane or acting in bad faith.
The real offences that are the most outrageous are the refusal of the executive branch to , at least, admit it is a part of the government-and must act with the Congress and the Courts, and not as a single, royal-dictatorship able to make and enforce its own rules.
So unable are both sides to agree to common principles -the GOP thinks it is independent and that the Congress is usurping it's authority-while Congress simply have no idea that today's GOP and most red state voters do not understand the rules of representative government and assume all voters will clearly see what the issues are, when even during the Nixon impeachment-few Americans and no foreigners cared or understood the laws the US labors under.
The Senate will spit in the face of COngress and Trump will throw parties for his side the night he is found not guilty. No one cares on the right, what the left or middle think.
Trump is not inexperienced with legal actions against him. He understands that the longer that the process is delayed, the less likely that litigation will result in him losing as much as would a speedy trial.
3
With or without those who refuse to comply with polite "requests" or subpoenas, Congress could continue to expose and explain not only what has "showcased" to date (the Ukraine affair(s) but also: (1) Trump's use of government and Trump's staff use of government for private, non-governmental purposes, to enrich their private interests, to "feather their nests"---"classic" corruption under federal law; (2) that classic corruption includes issues about emoluments as set forth in the Constitution; (3) obstruction of Congress and, as a result, obstruction of justice; (4) Trump's failure to comply with the laws and enacted by Congress.
Finally, Congress has the authority to accept for the record Trump's many lies, even if he has not testified under oath or provided some type of affidavit. Nothing in the Constitution or in federal law prohibits Congress from using Trump's own words.
Trump's lies need to be emphasized at every turn to remind the voters, who need to remind their senators, that Trump: (1) has not kept most of his promises; and (2) cannot be trusted, does not have the integrity to be president.
3
During Watergate, the Supreme Court made expeditious rulings because of the gravity and urgency of the Constitutional issues at stake. What Trump has done, and continues to do, is far, far more serious than Nixon's obstruction and abuses of power.
So, can Congress immediately appeal directly to the Supreme Court for a quick ruling -- like George W. Bush did after the 2000 election? We absolutely have a right to know if our President is a crook (to coin a phrase) and what financial entanglements he has with hostile foreign regimes before we vote in the 2020 election. We can't afford to wait any longer.
336
@jim emerson
Your point is well taken. We had quick decisions in re Bush v. Gore and Senate v. Nixon. But this Court? Expect a decision in 2021, if then...
Not to decide is to decide, and justice delayed is justice denied. That’s the goal.
46
@jim emerson
as you know he already rigged the Supreme Court. So, don't hold your breath!
23
@David Derbes The question is not whether he is a crook but HOW much of a crook he is. Given that Ukraine DID get its money and that (unreported by the NYT) Ukraine and Russia are talking peace, perhaps there was not that much damage to Trump's call to Zelensky. Nowhere comparable to LBJ's lie about Vietnamese tugboats attacking a US destroyer.
The other point is that Biden is NOT the nominee of the Democrats and to say that Trump was trying to harm a political opponent is a stretch. Also, in a six page transcript of that phone call, the part about Biden occupied six lines.
Basically the Democrats are trying to put someone in prison for going 61 miles in a 60 miles per hour zone. Maybe you will succeed, but I doubt it.
2
Let's cut through the distractions and get to the point: Trump has violated a trust so sacred the Founding Fathers put it directly into the constitution as a reason for impeachment. It was bribery, and it was followed up with legislation, notably Title 52 United States Code Section 30121.
The holding back of needed defense weapons for a sham investigation announcement is extortion. Extortion is bribery at the point of a gun... or Javelin missile.
Trump has no defense.
3
Agree. Barr has helped Trump to create the "permanent injunction" -- a series of stays that never end, until the problem is no longer justiciable.
Meanwhile, Barr gripes about "nationwide injunctions".
Our Constitution has already changed to accommodate the Trump Revolution, and will probably never again be the same. It might take a Caligula generation to arise (Ivanka's grand-kids?) for America to come to grips with the fact that we have overthrown our form of government.
2
First the crime, then denial, then obstruction. This is right out of the Nixon playbook and we know how this played out in United States v. Nixon. Resignation one day later.
1
Hopefully this farce will end in a Senate trail of the President where the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will decide on who is required to show up and testify.
Trump complains there are no "first hand" witness to his alleged misconduct yet he and his enablers have perpetuated this legal train wreck of an argument about "absolute immunity" allowing those very same witness who the President fears will expose him to remain silent.
Will Bolton and the "three amigo's" defy an order of the Chief Justice to testify at a Senate Impeachment hearing?
If so, then we will actually have the Constitutional crisis everyone has been postulating about.
2
The House has the power of the purse. It's time to cancel all appropriations for salary and expenses of White House staffers who refuse to testify.
6
The obvious obstruction itself, outrageously termed by Trump as "sham," is just another example of how very important it is to rid ourselves of this man--removing him from any and all public offices--by all lawful means, a.s.a.p. He publicly broadcasts his hideousness, as he has had a knack for thriving on notoriety, especially given his network of crony enablers. Being a crooked deal-maker (merely "business") in the private sector has been bad enough. We mustn't tolerate it now in the public sector for any length of time longer than absolutely necessary by rule of law. Then, we must vote in immense numbers to overwhelm Republican voter suppression to put into office all non-Republicans with genuine plans for the common good. Please!
4
I just visited the Veterans Memorial Museum in Columbus, Ohio; a very emotional experience. As I passed the Sen. John McCain exhibit, I looked around at all the other exhibits of men and women who served their country and the many who sacrificed their lives and wondered how we ever ended up with this coward as president, and also how veterans voted for him. I wasn’t particularly happy with Clinton, but please, they are so morally apart. As President said, “Democracy is only one generation from extinction.”
8
Typo. It was President Reagan I quoted. Thank you.
Long, long ago the SC actually made important decisions, but no more. Now they behave as cowards, sloughing real decisions to the states and locals for their ‘superior wisdom.’ The affirmative consist of unctuous drivel, and the dissents mere singing to the choir. All of them need to re-apply for the jobs, or resign.
3
A national strike is in order, and marching in the streets. When will the citizenry become outraged?
5
I would like to believe "We the People" are smart enough to recognize his strategy, his character, etc; to make a sound decision on his suitability to fill the most important job in America. Do we need an impeachment decision? Not from that partison, gutless crew.
1
Trump wins
USA loses.
When is enough enough?
5
Time is on the president's side for the time being. But if the Supreme Court rules against him in June, won't that create a "summer surprise" flurry of negative news cycles for him, including potentially damning testimony, suspicious financial disclosures, and so on? June is still four months from election day, and those months are when the wider electorate (and in particular, the persuadable middle) really starts to tune in to the race. Thus the "delay, delay, delay" strategy could actually create a worst-case scenario for the president: a cluster of big-ticket, troubling revelations coming out in the run-up to election day.
2
Trump is a traitor. Why are we still dancing around this? He is a traitor and we all know it. Republicans who support him or remain cowardly silent in the face of his treasons are also traitors. There is no way around this, truth is self-evident. We have a traitor for president and a Republican Senate that is nothing more than a cabal of traitors. Treason is a crime. We all know what the punishment is. What are we waiting for?
5
No matter what is found out about Trump his base is going to stay with him. The problem is what is Trump creating for the next presidents after the courts actually define a presidents powers.When all cases are settled Trump's actions will define presidential powers. There will be no more gray area.
9
The legal system has always served Trump's ambitions well. Prior to his presidency Trump routinely sued those he was in active negotiations, or had completed negotiations with. A search for the number of lawsuits Trump and his companies filed are amazing, equally amazing is the small number of successes that they had in those cases. But the point wasn't winning or losing, just the pressure applied by the process.
Since his presidency, Trump has been on the receiving end of a large number of lawsuits. But he has also been successful in these cases - simply delay by appealing. Trump's strategy to drag things out has been successful, as the delays by the process allow him to escape unscathed. Trump may not be the master of the deal, but he is accomplished as the master of red tape, judicial obfuscation, and delay.
4
This has been Trump's tactic throughout his business life. This is how he got away with not paying contractors who worked on his buildings..."so sue me" and he will appeal and appeal until the contractor or person trying to recoup what he is owed eventually gives up or runs out of money to keep trying. Lessons from Roy Cohn....
1. Never settle, never surrender. 2. Counter-attack, counter-sue immediately. 3. No matter what happens, no matter how deeply into the muck you get, claim victory and never admit defeat.” ---Marie Brenner, Vanity Fair
This was Trump in business, this is Trump as President...he does not consider himself to ever be accountable to anyone, not Congress, not the people, not the law.
13
Trump would pay if the person owed would do something dirty for him.
Trump will go down in the history books as the very worst US President. His legal enablers will descend into the same pit.
13
These people have melted down all the illusions about liberty to enslave falsely marketed as democracy.
1
@Steve Bolger ...It will be called "the congress of criminals."
Trump isn't stupid -- even though he does VERY dumb things. He knows, as we should, that the Supreme Court will approve anything and everything he wants to do or not do. The Supreme Court is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican National Committee
7
It is more than a 50/50 possibilty that we will actually live to see the same occupant of the White House impeached in his first term, and then impeached again in his second term, and he will likely skate through a Senate trial in both cases. Glorious times . . . -C
5
November 27, 2019
A Trump government by, for and of the lawyers. Win or lose the legal card is all that is of interest regardless of the messy and substandard of precedent in all.
3
US Courts are complete waste of time and money, populated by judges who terrify all who come before them.
The courts function as an extortion racket for people like Trump. And Trumpists wonder why manufacturing departed and will not return to the US.
1
"Mr. Trump suggested he instead had a more principled motive than running out the clock on Tuesday, claiming in a series of tweets that he would be happy to let his current and former aides tell Congress what they know, and insisting that he is only blocking them from talking to ensure that “future Presidents should in no way be compromised.”
“I am fighting for future Presidents and the Office of the President,” Mr. Trump said. “Other than that, I would actually like people to testify.”
...Sounds like a dictator and a dictatorship to me! And that is not what our Constitution states, instead of a separation of equivalent powers!
3
Once again, I will quote Trey Gowdy; who once asked, "If (Trump) is innocent, she is he acting like he's guilty?"
5
Was this not foreseeable? How can it be news now? I guess if it was news back when impeachment was contemplated or the inquiry was launched we might have avoided these proceedings altogether! But don't count on the media to use foresight rather than hindsight. There's no money in that.
1
It appears that it is going to be individuals with integrity within the DOJ and the Federal and State Court Systems that will save our democratic Republic. That won’t be Attorney General Barr or any of Trump’s other enablers. Some of us have some hope left, but it is dwindling fast.
6
I honestly don’t know which of the following would be worse: Trump’s re-election or Trump’s loss/conviction and almost certain refusal to leave office. We are in a fine mess.
4
@Lynn in DC
It would be great theater if he refused to leave office.
One can only imagine the scenario.
WOW! Maybe the Marines would have to come in.
3
@MH Sounds right.
2
Look at Trump without preconceptions. He does not make decisions that respect reasonable considerations. He goes for the highest rewards according to his preferences regardless of the likelihood of success. In addition, he never considers contingencies until he sees that the perils are certain. He just is unable to take reasonable advice until he’s close to going down. He has always been this reckless and thoughtless and only those who are prone to psychological distractions from rational decision making are willing to deal with him.
117
@Casual Observer
And he could always buy himself out in backroom or crooked deals. Now he has the scrutiny of everyone in the world
1
By using the DOJ as his personal law firm, trump doesn’t even have to pay legal bills for this obstruction. And his constant legal fights transmit a very negative message: if you are rich and white, you can find lawyers who will fight every angle to protect you. What does that say to poor people who can’t afford lawyers and who suffer the vagaries of prosecutors’ and judges’ prejudices in courts around the country? Is there a rule of law for everyone? Not anymore. There is a system to avoid the law for the rich, and a system to be penalized without a fair hearing for everyone else.
5
Yet another advantage the rich and powerful enjoy, tying it up in court and never having to answer for anything.
The sad part is I have never heard or thought of anyway on which this could be corrected. The one branch of government that is suppose to be the purist is the most corrupt by design. That's not a swipe at anyone working in the system. It's just built that way.
1
The pace of the courts and especially the SC is creating serious problems for governance. The courts need to recognize this by giving priority to political cases, and by stemming the practice of endless appeals. The SC could refuse to hear all but the most serious cases. That might get the attention of those who use slow courts as a strategy for obstructing decisions.
In the present context, the Constitution also recognizes a solution by indicating Congress has the power of the purse and perhaps the legislative branch might investigate how it might use that power.
3
So the statute of limitation can be circumvented by your lawyer by just doing the endless run around dance. There ought to be a law. This favors the wealthy and powerful. I thought Lady Justice was blind. Has she been thrown out of the Supreme Court of the United States? When did that happen?
4
You know..... when someone is innocent.. they don't try to delay.. instead they try to make the process move more smoothly and effectively and get everything cleared so they can move on. This is true, regardless if someone feels "falsely accused"... in fact it is a more energized approach for an innocent person.
Conclusion... Trump is more guilty of more things then the public and even Congress knows at this point in time.
Trump thinks by obfuscating and obstructing.. he is helping his personal cause... but in reality I don't think he is helping himself with his non-core base at all.. and in fact making things worse by keeping the who inquiry front and center in each and every news cycle.
3
Pelosi and House Democrats can prove Mr Savage wrong, it’s in their hands. Savage says from a “realist” POV Trump’s winning despite losing, but doesn’t cite Schiff’s counterpoint, which is “we can draw adverse inferences” from obstruction. If House impeached Trump within 2019, they’ve done their duty and from a realistic political perspective they’ve probably won. What Mitch does with the hot potato of the trial is on him.
2
"The realistic window for Congress to consider impeaching him is closing."
There's no window. If the Democrats have the goods, do it. Don't go on a 10-day holiday for Thanksgiving. Don't go on a 20+ day Christmas holiday. If this is as important as Schiff and others claim then they need to be in session.
Otherwise, it's just wasting time and theatrics. No better or worse than Trump's legal strategy.
4
Is there anything that can be done to revise these procedures and rules to avoid such gaming of the system by future presidential administrations?
1
Ardent GOP trump supporters including most GOP senators seem to think the Mueller investigation is no longer relevant. Mueller said on nation-wide TV that his report did not exonerate trump and that ONCE OUT OF OFFICE he was definitely liable to indictment for criminal deeds most pointedly the deliberate obstruction of justice described in considerable detail in the report! The extensive evidence in the report is geared to support this eventuality. The 2020 election itself is the vehicle for bringing this trump criminal travesty to a just end.
1
This article fails to note that Trump’s claim the his closest advisors cannot he forced to testify before Congress was used by the Obama Administration as well.
5
So if rulings are delayed to after the election, and if Trump wins, and then if highly damaging information is then discovered, maybe we will have impeachment #2, which may stand a better chance of succeeding.
1
Tactics appropriate to differences in policy should not apply to fundamental Constitutional questions. Separation of powers go to heart of our democracy. SCOTUS needs to step in and delineate the boundaries of ‘Executive Privilege’ during an impeachment process. Trump’s ‘rope-a-dope’ litigating tactic is making a joke of this Constitutional process.
Given that Senate Republicans have already said how they will vote on impeachment there can be no fair trial. Perhaps drawing from the Federal Jury Pool would better serve the country’s interests. The Constitution never envisioned such a partisan government.
2
@Indy1
Indy, I think you need to read the law on "impeachment." It is a "Political Process" not a "Criminal Trial." There is nothing in the Constitution stating that Congress can gather a panel from the Federal Jury Pool to hold a criminal trial of Donald Trump or any other sitting president.
I suggest you read the Constitution.
@Rozie
"Perhaps drawing from the Federal Jury Pool would better serve the country’s interests."
Right. Because we'll get a much better decision from a jury of drunken postal workers
The most damaging FACT about Donald Trump is that he steals from charity.
Let me repeat that, he steals from charity, and was fined $2 million.
Personally, I'm at a loss at how anyone ignore that behavior from a president.
The news media, if they are doing their job, should ask Trump and his enables to defend THAT every opportunity they get.
4
@Mike Schwarcz
So do charities steal from their own funds, and his whole family used the Trump Foundation like it was a personal trust fund!
In the end, it doesn't really matter. He will not be removed from office by the Republican Senate anyway. We can only hope that moderate swing voters will have had enough of this toxic person and vote him out of office in November 2020.
2
@Robert kennedy
If the Democrats put up a "decent" candidate they should be able to beat Trump (even easily). However, from my perspective the candidates that are running now are too progressive (Leftists) and I truly don't think the Country is ready for a "socialist" president.
If someone like Michelle Obama ran she would clobber Trump. But Elizabeth Warren: No chance.
If the courts choose to flout both common sense and the Constitution in favor of corrupt autocracy, perhaps Congress should recall they have the power of the purse.
Defund the federal court system if they are not capable of enforcing the Constitution and function solely as partisan hacks for the Putin, Billionaires and Petrochem party.
We have maybe a decade to turn our CO2 and CH4 releases around before a significant part of the country becomes unlivable by the end of the century. Our Supreme Court seems to want the worst-case outcome as soon as possible. Apparently, none of them like their children and grandchildren.
But the president is as pure as the driven snow. Why would he delay things? It's not his fault that the courts take forever. He just wants the truth out, like about how the Ukrainians interfered in the 2016 election in support of Clinton and how the Never-Trumpers and the Deep State and the Angry Democrats are out to bring him down and overturn the election. So many enemies! So many bad people! You know, the truth.
The truth is, Mr. Trump, that a lot of people are out to bring you down. They are the American people, and a strong majority of them want you out of office at the earliest possible opportunity. If you must, think of it as a vast conspiracy of the factually grounded, all working together to ensure your defeat.
Impeachment or crushing defeat at the polls, it's coming, and your dilatory tactics will not succeed.
Long litigation is not exactly winning since the process can’t expire the charges. The fact is that per Chairman Schiff, enough evidence has been gathered to impeach Trump. Eventually, it will all come to a head, perhaps once he’s out of office which would be more dangerous for Trump, unless Pence succeeds him. Otherwise, he’ll end up wearing orange, and not just in his face.
2
This is trump's signature strategy--abuse the US legal system. In private business--keep appealing and prolonging a final decision until his legal opponent can't continue paying a lawyer. In his role as President, he knows that he can refuse to abide by the law by using any trash legal argument his lawyers can come up with and essentially "win" by using the legal system to delay to the point that the moment has passed. It's totally disgusting and not in the spirit of the law. Our legal system wasn't designed to help people avoid responsibility but rather to give legitimate people a chance to defend themselves. This is major problem that deserves more attention--both as it relates to trump and how he is destroying our democracy and for the American people and their ability to get a fair shot with our legal system.
2
It's time for the Supreme Court to step up and put a stop to this mockery of our constitution. If they agree to to his position that he is above the law, watch out because next is his dismissal of a Supreme Court order because he doesn't like it.
3
Look at that vacant expression in the photograph. I seriously wonder how he is going to be able to campaign. Apparently he can be propped up in front of his base and they don't seem to object to his incoherent ramblings but how far can this take him in a real run for re-election? By the time the final legal rulings come he will be declared incompetent and unable to stand trial. . . (and then pardoned?) Not the outcome that provides justice.
1
This is not an exercise in futility, for it will lay out in full and excruciating detail how the Executive Branch, particularly the Justice Department can be manipulated for nefarious purposes. Going forward after we have cleansed the trump stench from our system, Congress can reinforce our constitution by putting in place the laws and statutes to keep such a debacle from ever happening again. Meanwhile, there should be no abatement of activities to hold trump and his minions to account, even if it must extend to election day itself.
While Trump may be "winning" in terms of delaying the inevitable testimony, his chosen tactic will fool only those intellectually lazy people who are already card-carrying members of his base. To anyone capable of critical thought, his tactics are corrupt and simply indicate that he can't afford the truth to come out.
The one thing Trump can't delay is his appointment at the ballot box on Tuesday, November 3, 2020.
This is why voting matters.
Our legal system is many things. ‘Expeditious’ is not one of those things, and the highest court in the land has been deliberately violated by Mitch McConnell, who was able to somehow sell the narrative that a ‘lame duck session’ had a meaning never before applied in our history.
The GOP was playing the long game, and they succeeded in reshaping the federal judiciary in a way which will be felt for decades to come.
@ubique on the other hand a Democratic sweep in the Senate could allow impeachments of Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. Don’t think it couldn’t happen.
This is exactly what the clown has been doing his whole life. Armies of lawyers paid for by his inherited fortune have been able to tie in knots, legally any entity that has dared to challenge him. Just ask anyone who has any dealings with him, be it private investors or large banks. Litigation takes money, a lot of it, most if not all of his adversaries eventually walked away and threw in the towel, it was going to be an endless battle. Now he's got the federal government picking up the tab, does anyone honestly think he's going to change the tactics that has served him so well all of these years. I think not. We are in the midst of a huge mess. Sometimes I think justice really means just is....
4
Isn't there a word 'Tyranny'?
..."asserting that Congress lacks legitimate legislative authority to conduct oversight of whether government officials are engaged in wrongdoing, even though lawmakers have done so for generations; that impeachment investigators cannot gain access to grand-jury evidence, even though an appeals court permitted just that during Watergate; and that senior presidential aides are immune from subpoenas, even though a judge rejected that theory in 2008."...
Trump is exploiting every single weakness in the Constitution and the U.S. system of government. If the executive branch can brazenly flout lawful subpoenas even in an impeachment inquiry (leave alone legitimate legislative oversight), then what is the point of having the option of impeachment at all? Trump and his minions shamelessly keep throwing out the "no firsthand knowledge" defense (despite the testimony of Sondland), while at the same time refusing to allow those with firsthand knowledge to provide testimony. People like Barr advocate unlimited executive power (their position seems to be that the President is truly above the law) and argue that impeachment is the only remedy to constrain the President. However, in that case, people cannot be permitted to ignore lawful subpoenas in an impeachment inquiry. Otherwise, impeachment itself is worthless as a remedy because one can never be allowed to build a strong enough case.
2
"But, Mr. Goldsmith warned, if an aggressive president pushes an extreme theory all the way to the Supreme Court, it can risk a definitive ruling tying future presidents’ hands."
You say it like it's a bad thing.
The President's power has been steadily advancing far beyond the limits that the Founding Fathers thought proper when they authored the Constitution. If the state of affairs with this present administration doesn't tell you that, you must be ready to accept a dictorship; and this president is eager to oblige you.
2
The Democrats should push the envelope by sending Sergeant at Arms to corral Trumps lackies into a cell. Allow them to appeal their contempt of Congress via confinement. Tyrants like Trump and the Republicans enabling criminal, unconstitutional behavior deserve the most sense of measures. The very existence of our democracy depends upon it.
10
A solution would be to offer DJT a secret face-saving "deal:" if he resigns, impeachment charges would be dropped.
1
@Caroline, if he's no longer President, he can't be impeached. There is no need for a deal.
@Caroline
I think it is the only way to get him gone. I suspect Trump would claim a Democratic electoral victory “rigged” and refuse to leave the White House.
A brute by all definitions, Trump learned how to manipulate the legal system from cumulative years of trial and error of organized crime. It will take a very well organized prosecution to dislodge this man from our Government. God speed.
2
Simple question....is this the type of legal strategy that supposedly innocent people take?
3
"But his legal strategy is winning..." In the end, Donald J. Trump, the President of the United States of America, will triumph. Thank you.
2
@Southern Boy
It ain't over till it's over.
@Getreal,
I agree.
1
This brazen ignoring of congressional subpoenas by this administration is very disturbing.
It smacks of anarchy gone terribly awry. Why aren’t these people in jail? Nixon tried it but was discouraged off that idea pretty quickly when congress threatened to start jailing people.
4
The next time I see prominent Republicans wrap themselves up in the American flag, I'll know why.
They're hiding.
2
The House ought to start arresting members of the Administration who refuse to show up when subpoenaed— they would be well within their rights. I think if the Secretary of State and Vice President were thrown in the hoosegow, we’d start seeing some expedited legal review.
3
I'm pretty sure that a check of various lawsuits that Trump has been up against follow the same pattern. The gig is up. Deny vociferously while impugning the integrity of all who are against him. Lose round one. Appeal. About to lose round two on the appeals "canvas"...settle, with strict non-disclosure agreements. Unfortunately for America, this has worked well for him. His strength is in knowing the weaknesses of the system and exploiting them for personal gain, and minimizing personal damage. If he is a genius as some claim, it is in exploitation off all that is, and who are, exploitable. The good in us has us giving people the benefit of the doubt. This is where Trump aims his daggers, the weakness of liberal thinkers in believing people are basically good. Thinking this thought, the Exploiter-in-chief looks in the mirror and laughs hysterically. I'll be laughing when he's staring that that stainless open-air toilet positioned a few feet from his iron headboard. Oh, will I laugh.
1
Whatever happened to Allen Weisselberg, the CFO of the Trump Organization who knows where the financial skeletons are kept? He was granted immunity during the Mueller investigation, and could cough up all sorts of information on Russian mob money laundering etc. I wish the Dems would bring him in, THAT would shake up Trump! Resist to the last breath.
1
"Justice delayed is justice denied" a statement very similar to texts from the Pirkei Avot 5:7 (Jewish texts (?)) from around the 1st Century CE.
And yes it is the graft and corruption of the legal profession to be paid large sums of money to keep legal haggling go on forever, never to deliver justice but to be paid well for it.
For most of us if we ever get caught up in a legal process we have already lost. Trump has exploited that fact for his whole career, trained well by Fred Trump's lawyer and fixer Roy Cohn.
1
Folks, he is not winning. He will be impeached, and by not getting all the analysis of his wrongs on record before he is voted out, he leaves himself open to prison, without a man in the Whitehouse who will pardon him! His corruption trials post 2020 will serve as an essential healing of a truly corrupt partisan government that has only one avenue to save these United States... by putting forth new and stronger measures against politicians like him.
Lock he and his cronies up and let us be a government by the people, for the people .... serving to protect the COMMON good. Let us fight against the tragedy of the commons!!
2
@Jan Shellman
"...by not getting all the analysis of his wrongs on record before he is voted out he leaves himself open to prison..."
That makes no sense at all. If anything, the opposite is true.
They don’t need to invite Trump. Nunes is already there.
Courts are a problem. But do they really matter with a senator like Graham and the rest of the Republican cabal? No.
When impeachment trial fails due to Republican failure to live up to their oath- VOTE!
2
The Whitewater investigation was about Clinton's personal finances before he was president.
We spent $100 Million in today's dollars.
I'd go for that for Trump.
And we already know he lied about sex with Stormy Daniels.
1
@Independent
Yes, he never had sex with that woman.
Never paid her off.
1
Gosh , if you're rich in America you can buy your way through anything. Just keep paying those lawyers donald. And poor uneducated Americans, keep voting for Trump especially if you're happy making your 5 bucks an hour with no benefits.
3
The time that it takes for courts to decide cases illustrates a larger issue than just Democrats vs. Republicans. Judges "fast track" high profile cases and give those cases special care because they know they are under a microscope. But for the overwhelming number of the remaining cases involving everyday people, these delays incentivize litigants to drag out cases when they don't have a good case on the merits. The problem is even worse in state courts where there is even less transparency. We need the courts to update their procedures from an archaic model of adjudication to one that works for modern times.
If a rich person can run the clock out .. by stretching the process - then either we have weak rules or we have a stupid judges..
Justice delayed is justice denied; and here sentence delayed is - sentenced imposed on rest of us..
4
I trust that the President is paying all of his legal expenses out of his own pocket either directly or by reimbursing the Treasury for time and expenses which were charged to the Federal Budget. I seriously doubt that there is any appropriation for defense from impeachment.
3
Is there a point where the attorneys working on behalf of trump and his administration would be subject for disbarment or at least, review by the bar association? It seems as though they are repeatedly disregarding the rule of law and the very system that provides the structure for their profession/occupation. For attorneys to repeatedly advise a standing president to push the boundaries of the law or even refuse to participate in a constitutionally supported impeachment seems like it would be dangerous for individual attorneys and their occupation as a whole.
Where does the Bar Association stand on government employees that are refusing to participate in a manner consistent with their legal, professional and ethical obligations?
4
The main difference between TrumpGate and Watergate is that now the Supreme Court, the Dept of Justice, and the entire GOP are happy to sacrifice their honor for the sake of Trump (who was a crook before he became president, and remains one to this day).
18
No, those groups hate all of those who oppose Trump’s behaviors because they consider them to be their enemies. We are divided more profoundly than any think with respect to governance and politics. Once it moves down into our personal relations, it will really become open civil disorder.
Living in an alternate reality, Trump NEVER loses.
In reality , he is a pitiful loser, ALWAYS blaming someone else for his loses caused by his "unmatched wisdom'. His next big disclaimer will be 'he never directed Rudy Giuliani to seek dirt on Biden'; in fact he may probably say,Ii really do not know Giuliani well, as he has done with every person who has dared to criticize him...
In view of such bizarre behavior, he still has the unquestioning, servile support of an overwhelming number of Republican congressman, like Lindsey Graham...
3
Our President is a solid gold mobster. Same legal stalling, fall guys, firing instead of execution, swearing loyalty oaths, and some go to jail for the mob boss and some don't. Trump is the Mobfather despite the gold trimmings and trophy wives and "girlfriends" he's a two bit chiseler from a bad noir novel. It doesn't get any lower and we thought it might. Time was "Little Caesar" Rico thought he had time as well.
4
Cynicism wins...again.
1
The con artist, gaming the system every way he can,
again and again while his gullibles applaud this traitor.
A mobster, 'Not' in any way presidential material.
Dangerous, unfit, unqualified..
An electoral college appointment to the oval office instead of Mrs Clinton, whom We The People voted to represent us, and who actually won by 3,000,000 ballots.
2
White privilege. Nothing else.
3
@Wiley Cousins
Not so,..You forgot the silver spoons.
"he is reducing the prospect that voters learn new damaging facts about him before the 2020 election."
Unless these "voters" were living in caves for past 50 years or so, what's not already known about him?
The 60+ mil who voted for him knows exactly what kind charlatan he is. There are no mysterious unknown about him. Regrettably all evidence shows they are voting for him again. Even if he goes to Times Square and announce he is a paid Russian agent.
I will repeat it again: it's all about preserving White ethnicity privileges. They firmly believe he is their savior from non-white invasion.
If the three military officers convicted of war crimes where Blacks, Asians, or Latinos, does anyone believe Trump would have intervene to save them?
If you do, I own a big Brooklyn Bridge to sell you.
12
Unfortunately, after a long wait, I think we will find that, despite Justice Roberts' protestations to the contrary, there indeed are "Trump Judges."
10
This has always, always, always been the Republican strategy.
Play for time.
Make big promises, never deliver. (Except to the wealthy and very wealthy. Those you deliver to immediately.)
Stretch it out as long as you can until something else comes up, or you make something else happen to make people forget about what they were waiting for in the first place and push it into the background.
Trump, as a first order con man, knows how to play the game.
Can the Democrats outsmart him in some way?
4
@Joe
Still waiting for Reagan’s tax cuts for the rich to trickle down...
1
From what I've read, and the legal scholars I've heard, the opinion written by Judge Jackson was rock solid plus, in every regard.
Wouldn't it have been nice if they'd simply agreed, instead of issuing the predictable "stay". That this president has an Attorney General in his pocket is bad enough. For the Supreme Court to even give the appearance of partiality, is telling of just how much trouble this old democracy is in.
8
Please help us understand why this tactic works. For very high profile cases for which one side has no basis for its claims, why can't justice be served much more promptly? Justice delayed is justice denied.
4
@JB The traitor counts on that. Every day.
3
A wholly weaponized court system, supported by Leona Helmsley's "little people," priced out of reach of all but the super rich who use it as a bludgeon against accountability of any kind, and McConnell has devoted his waning years to complete compromise of impartiality.
The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution:
"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed,"
What can this situation spawn if not vigilanteism.
2
Amazingly, many of his supporters believe he has been an incredibly successful businessman, tells the truth; doesn’t defraud students or steal from charities; think the markets are the economy; and has the nation’s interests at heart as opposed to his own.
2
And yet he continues to win rulings at the Supreme Court. It is easy for his opponents to judge shop at the lower courts. Too often these judges allow their own animus or political leanings to influence their decisions. These decisions, done with a wink and a nod, are known to be nothing more than delaying or obstructing tactics. The very actions of the Dems and those aligned with the Resist Movement, have actually caused more damage to their own cause as Independent voters, those that cost HRC the election, are going to once again vote against the Dems.
3
@Mike Maybe we no longer have an independent SCOTUS...
@Mike
Please. You must know in your heart that none of that is true, just as 10,000 Trump statements aren’t true.
What I don't understand is why is the Justice Department filing all these appeals on Trump's behalf, when Trump's private lawyers should be doing that. We know AG Barr is a sell out, but are the rest of the Justice Department lawyers too ? Does anyone have any fidelity left for the Constitution and the Country ?
@Shailendra Vaidya The DOJ people follow the directives of the traitorous AG, Barr. They follow their internal directives.
1
I don't see a particular urgency by the courts, especially the supreme court, to get a timely resolution into one of the most vexing historic issues, the determination of guilt or innocence on the part of the US president. This is especially annoying since the White House's strategy lies not in resolving the issue of presidential privilege or obstruction, but rather adopts the strategy of stalling, an approach that must be plainly visible to all courts. I hope that the Supreme Court reaches some of the decisions before the Courts term ending in June 2020. Of course this point would be mute if the Senate's Impeachment trial had reached a verdict before a decision by the court. However, a decisions regarding Trump's Tax filings in favor of the House Ways and Means committee (or for that matter that filed by the Manhattan AG can still be favorably scrutinized before the November elections.
2
Trump's attorney's are truly skilled at "Motion Practice". He's used that as a tactic his entire life. In the private sector against small contractors the choice was for them go bankrupt or take what Trump offered. It's an out and out war of attrition in the courts. It should be called out and the attorneys sanctioned by the Judge but since this is the "President", they're going to be very cautious and let it go. Trump will eventually win - by losing over and over and over again.
2
Think about how many federal judges he’s appointed. Not to mention the SC. He’s playing the long game.
3
The oligarchs are the kings and queens, he is just their pawn.
1
@JOSEPH
His actions will have long term effects, but he’s far to ignorant to be playing the long game. The Federalist Society is directing a long game with Trump as their stooge.
Gaming the legal system is why Trump was not already in prison and at liberty to run for president in 2016.
He's desperate for his financial records to remain secret because 1) money laundering for Putin's friends and 2) he's not nearly as rich as he wants people to think. Actual, the second reveal is probably what he fears most.
11
The general moral malaise should come as no surprise for a country that glories in free-market capitalism. This is the logical outcome of the “me first at any cost” ethos that America has made famous. Capitalism has no inherent morality so in a country that celebrates capitalism, the triumph of selfishness should be no surprise. If a corporation is a person and money is free speech, it is natural that money talks and ethics and honour only get in the way of “losers”.
What is playing out before our eyes is a good old medieval morality play. Who will triumph - Trump et al or people who care about such out-dated niceties as kindness and generosity? Stark and binary, yes, but so very twenty-first century.
6
@MJM Time for another Great Awakening in America, I guess.
A better headline for this piece should have been "America is Losing in spite of Trump's winning." Since "He took Over America," Donald Trump has acted as if WE serve him, when he is supposed to serve US.
3
Prediction - the Supreme Court will rule against Trump (in all pending cases) on the last day of the term, June 30, 2020. The information from the accountants, etc., will all be produced during the election season. And it will, in then end, affect the result (probably not favorably for the GOP).
2
@John Graybeard I hope you are right
No surprise. Trump's mentor was Roy Cohn, and his strategy was all about doubling down and exhaustive litigation.
6
--8 Signs of Narcissistic Rage
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/communication-success/201807/8-signs-narcissistic-rage
1. The narcissist doesn’t get his or her way, even when it’s unreasonable.
2. The narcissist is criticized in some way, even when the critique is made diplomatically, reasonably, and constructively.
3. The narcissist isn’t treated as the center of attention, even when there are other priorities.
4. The narcissist is caught breaking rules, violating social norms, or disregarding boundaries.
“How dare you talk to me this way in front of my son!” —Angry customer being called out for blatantly cutting in line
5. The narcissist is asked to be accountable for his or her actions.
6. The narcissist suffers a blow to his or her idealized, egotistical self-image (such as when being told he will not be given “exception to the rule”, or be granted “special treatment”).
10
@Pray for Help Since 2016 I have been amazed that people are not more concerned than they seem to be about Trump's skewed perception of reality, his instability, his constant anger, and his inability to learn or care about details of big important issues like economics, immigration, and foreign policy. Surely I am not the only person disturbed by Trump's infamous staff meeting where each person had to say how wonderful Trump was. He is too insecure and needy to be a reliable president, and in fact he is not really doing the job at all.
1
"The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump"
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-time-cure/201709/the-dangerous-case-donald-trump
John Gartner, Ph.D. is the founder of Duty to Warn, an organization intent on warning our country that we are in dire trouble due to our president’s mental instability. More than 60,000 mental health professionals have signed John’s petition, which states:
“We, the undersigned mental health professionals, believe in our professional judgment that Donald Trump manifests a serious mental illness that renders him psychologically incapable of competently discharging the duties of President of the United States. And we respectfully request he be removed from office, according to article 4 of the 25th amendment to the Constitution, which states that the president will be replaced if he is ‘unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
11
Al Capone took over the Chicago Mafia as Boss in 1926. He never was charged with all the murders and mayhem that he orchestrated. Capone was at the top of the F.B.I.’s “Most Wanted” list by 1930, but he avoided long stints in jail until 1931 by bribing city officials, intimidating witnesses and maintaining various hideouts. Capone was finally convicted of tax evasion in 1931, for which he served 8 years.
Trump is our current Teflon Don. His time will come. Be patient.
11
@Joe Miksis
The "Teflon Don" was John Gotti, not Al Capone.
1
Why ?
trump is a demagogue corrupt man and his lawyers and cabinet members arr eqally corrupt.
His reckoning days are coming.
13
Lots of voices have bemoaned the normalizing of criminal behavior by trump and his elected republican supporters. Here's a game that we can all play to reset the process:
Complete this sentence--"Given the chance to (fill in the presidential action), Donald Trump instead (fill in his action.)
Lay in a lot of printing paper.
Someone once said - I forget who - that the most precious asset required for a thriving community is trust. At the national level, we are witnessing what happens when trust is systematically violated and broken down.
2
@Michael Curtis
"This world of ours... must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Trump's lawyers keep presenting arguments that appear to be completely lacking in legal merit. The judge in the McGahn subpoena case called the DOJ's arguments "baseless." Why aren't courts imposing sanctions on these lawyers? The courts need to send a message that these baseless stalling tactics will not be tolerated.
5
@Carl Pop why?
Republican appointments is why.
The SCOTUS does not want to establish precedents that Democrats might use, so they will string everything out until the election.
Constitutional lawyer question: would it be possible in the Senate impeachment trial to call witnesses to testify who previously refused their congressional subpoenas? Mulvaney, Pompeo, etc? If so, can they still claim executive privelege?
1
The Dems need to change their strategy to adjust to this slow walking through the courts and stonewalling witnesses. They should call more witnesses in the Impeachment Inquiry and keep dominating the media with stories of more Trump wrongdoing and tease out more lame Republican excuses.
At the same time, they should pass a few bills that have a chance to get support in the Senate, like Prescription Medicine and Election Security funding. Republicans need to show they are doing something too.
Democrats should also pass a bill in the House that makes what Trump did to the Ukraine clearly against the law from now on. This puts the GOP in a box. If they bury it, they will pay dearly in November.
Then they should impeach Trump and try the big oaf in the Senate. Use the Chief Justice to call Pence, Pompeo, Mulvaney and others, until the case is airtight and his VP, cabinet, and White House staff are thoroughly discredited and shamed.
If the Senate acquits, great! That's an opportunity to get a big win than turns everything over to the Dems for a few years. In that time, undo gerrymandering, redistrict fairly, reform voting laws, and govern wisely so that the Republican party that rebuilds itself is more moderate and not so whiplashed by primaries.
We do need two parties, one dominant for a time, one rebuilding and finding new ways to appeal to voters. A Republican party that owes its allegiance to the Constitution and not to a king should have stopped Trump long ago.
1
I simply cannot believe that more could be learned about Trump, at this stage, that would change one more mind about his true nature. I mean what more does one need? If, after having mocked cripples, explicitly said on tape that his fame allowed him to get any woman he wanted, married or not, pulled children away from their parents and so on and so forth - if what he's shown so far hasn't changed any minds then nothing will. No, it's simply a war of attrition at this point between the Democrats and the Republicans and hoping that enough people who foolhardily voted for him in 2016 have repented. There's TOO MUCH ALREADY to convince any decent person of Trump's criminality. If it hasn't gotten through by now then those voters are lost souls. We simply have to hope that enough have already turned to save us from disaster but only time will tell, ladies and gentlemen, because nothing should be taken for granted in today's world where lies are accepted as truth.
7
There needs to be a drumbeat of the costs to the taxpayer to maintain the cone of silence that envelops this deception - maybe something along the line of the national debt counter -or a tag team of presidential candidates with charts that will show citizens what each of us pay on April 15 to secure the lies and protect the den of thieves as a trillion dollar deficit looms for our children .
1
When career criminals ply their trade most of the time they get away with it, even if they are caught they may be able to bribe their way out of it for some time but eventually they will come up against someone who will bring them down. For many years now, both before and after he became POTUS, the corrupt Trump has got away it but eventually he will have to face the consequences of his actions.
abusing the courts by appealing failed appeals as a method of blocking oversight is an impeachable abuse of power and of the law.
this is like sticking jumpers into a power meter to steal electricity.
Trump has connived to short out the circuitry of democracy at every turn.
Why can’t the courts move faster. This is an emergency !
Remember Susan McDougall, who went to jail for 18 months when she didn't respond to her subpoena? Why isn't anything like this happening to half the White House staff right now?
22
None of this matters. There are no facts that matter that could be revealed. The salient facts are clear and known by all: Trump solicited a bribe and subverted the entire apparatus of the nation’s foreign diplomacy to do it.
They can fight this in court and win, stall, loose... it doesn’t matter. One third of Americans DONT CARE. As long as “their guy” is doing it, they are OK with bribery and corruption. No new revelations are going to change this. Morality for evangelicals, Trump supporters, and mendacious Republican politicians is a relative thing. A cudgel to use when it suits them, an irrelevance to ignore when it doesn’t.
10
I re-watched in horrific silence some of the old debate tapes between Hillary and Trump on YouTube. It is clear that the Trump brand has power in a time of social media, Hillary (whom I continue to admire) came across as weak and unprepared. It is metaphoric; Trump still has currency, and democrats are weak and unprepared.
First off, the audience is disinterested in evidence, truth, data. Banging on it does not convert anyone. Trump is clear, he says it: you are wrong, you should be in jail, I am right, everyone loves me.
Over and over.
And that is what the audience comes to believe. Denying the existence of evidence by offering a more compelling, more emotionally appealing alternative is the coin of this realm.
As long as Trump convinces people he is hurting China, blacks, browns, immigrants, women - he will remain heroic. Democrats have no coins in this realm; their playbook about truth and justice, free this and that - is from the pre-social media age.
4
Is it as simple as: we had a President of color, and therefore liberal America needs to pay?
After visiting Fox News comments regularly over the past year, I am pained to come to that conclusion.
The Civil War never ended.
11
While Mr. Savage clearly spearheads the usual New York Times perspective in this analysis, what he leaves out, similarly to his many peers, is that all the lower court ruled was that Mr. McGahn must show up to honor the subpoena. The judge did not rule that he must disclose any information which he, Mr. McGahn, might find intrusive to his privileged position to the President. What is also left out of this analysis, is that for three years one crazy initiative after another has been indulged by the President and the public. Investigation after investigation, very much including the exhaustive Mueller investigation, all of which was run by people just like Mr. Savage — who cannot seem to accept that the public put Mr. Donald J. Trump in office because they love his ideas and patriotism and they are sick and tired of the liberal media complex compromising our government and way of life.
2
His office is legitimate. His crimes are not.
@Len Democrats didn’t alert the country that this president was acting illegally, American citizens did, and Democrats didn’t instigate the Mueller investigations, American citizens did. And thrusting the blame for the number of investigations this president has incited on Democrats is like accusing Elliott Ness of exhausting poor Al Capone.
2
The rich and powerful use the law for their own convenience. The poor end up in jail.
Trump is used to having a huge team of expensive lawyers get him out of trouble, and to intimidate his victims and enemies. Just like a mob boss. Nothing’s changed here.
12
Our third branch of government, the Supreme Court, needs to shift gears—
And devote itself full time and expeditiously to the crisis at hand—the constitutional crisis of a rogue president of the United States.
4
It was pretty much over when Rudy Giuliani said on national television the entire effort to get Ukraine to investigate The Bidens was done for Mr. Trump's own personal benefit.
What's Rudy?
1. A first hand witness.
2. A co-conspirator.
1
The American people knowingly succeeded in installing a real estate magnate/ failed casino operator/ necktie and bottled-water salesman/ founder of a fake university and reality TV clown in the highest office in the land -- where today in broad daylight he is colluding with Russia, managing several undeclared wars, appointing Supreme Court and federal judges by the score, building an Imaginary wall, issuing tweets by the hour, driving the country into bankruptcy, renting out rooms in his hotels to foreign governments, predicting the weather and guiding our economy, all without batting an eyelash, squeezing a brain cell, reading a book or an intelligence report, or missing a day on the links.
He hasn't been guilty of much in the way of cover-ups.
The people who voted for him in 2016 and will vote for him in 2020 have no one to blame but themselves.
12
Every time Trump opens his mouth he reveals new, damaging facts about himself. Yesterday he asked why we didn't celebrate the centennial of women's right to vote earlier, seemingly unaware of what the word centennial means. He repeats himself, he slurs his words, he is incoherent, he can't finish sentences or answer questions. We don't need the courts to show us something is wrong with the president. He shows us everyday.
14
Congress needs to immediately issue arrest warrants and contempt citations for the no shows.
23
Trump may delay justice but he cannot deny justice.
2
“I am fighting for future Presidents and the Office of the President,” Mr. Trump said. “Other than that, I would actually like people to testify."
Of all Trump lies, this is among the most absurd. Trump is all about Trump. Future Presidents mean nothing to Trump unless, may the fates forbid it, he is one of them.
13
In order to save freedom and democracy those in possession of the truth will need to tell a more compelling story than those committed to spinning with lies and deception.
"All roads lead to Putin." Everything Trump had done or is doing are to the benefit of Putin's strategy to weaken the western democracies, lesson U.S. global influence and generally weaken America. This is accomplished more easily because the Republicans, who largely work for oil oligarchs like the Koch enterprise, are keen to work with Russia as the Tillerson and other appointments obviously indicate.
Trump has mastered the art of legalized corruption, deception, distraction and employed fascists tactics more effectively than any mobster. He is backed by internal enemies of freedom and democracy among old oligarchic billionaire interests and their connections in the Roman Catholic church via the Federalist Society's Leonard Leo and their totally sold out theocrat, who believes the presidency is a monarchy, William Barr, and the head of the criminal division of the DOJ, a former attorney for a very large Putin connected bank.
Putin, through his proxy Trump has corrupted much of the top tiers of our most vaunted institutions.
Freedom and democracy remain under attack. When you want to understand the truth, it is useful to listen to what those most guilty most strongly deny. Nunes complains that some call Trump a Russian Agent. Yes, its more complex, but effectively true.
15
As Trump's "strategy" keeps winning, even while losing in court, America is the biggest loser of all. All those who thought Trump would make America great again will find out just how badly Trump has dragged America down in more ways than they could ever have imagined.
4
I'm concerned about the running costs of the Executive Branch appeals for members of Trump's White House team. Even though the Justice Department is part of the Executive Branch, there surely be some independent accounting of legal costs. I would also like to know if the Executive Branch is paying for the Trump lawyer(s) that are appealing the shielding of Trump's financial records?
4
It seems clear that America has been living a double existence. One reflects the America that it thinks it is: democratic, optimistic, and liberal enough to give its population equal chances to succeed. The other reflects a darker reality, America as it actually is, embodied by the likes of Trump, where, for many, democracy, optimism, and opportunity are faint hopes.
While the former delusion has been nurtured by Republicans and Democrats alike for their particular purposes, the pervasiveness of the second has poleaxed the population into an outright rejection of politics as normal. As a result, Trump, far from being normal, is perceived as the great,orange, hope for the future. No one wants to hear of his failures when he represents a singular hope for change. In fact, rumours of his decline perversely only make him stronger.
Law and political etiquette demand that Trump be impeached, but it's a risky path when ordinary voters, deprived for so long of America's vaunted greatness, see him as a sacrificial lamb regardless of the inanity of their perception.
If Trump's ascent has been a cautionary tale to democracy, whoever succeeds him will have to govern for the good of the country, not for elites or special interests. The American Dream must be converted from vision to actuality beginning with universal healthcare which has the golden potential of transforming America into something truly great by instilling social compassion where it has been previously lacking.
2
I dislike this as much as others do, dragging out the court cases to run out the clock. But I take some solace knowing, that the next game Trump will be playing is, against SDNY.
3
If the GOP supreme court lets him, he will run out the clock. If they do, and he happens to lose anyway, will they condone Martial Law? They might if the election shows the Dems would hold both Houses and the presidency.
Having thereby demonstrated that this court is nothing but a partisan arm of the GOP/Russia consortium, the Dems will have no choice but to pack the court, change representation ratios to what they were when they were capped a century ago, and put out Amendments to prevent what the GOP has done to date.
4
Slow rolling a case is often employed by those who know they will lose. They seek to wear out the opposition.
It’s working for the Trump regime. The only solution are expedited appeals. But the courts may not want that.
My cynical guess is right wing judges will eventually rule against the radical Trump regime positions so they can apply the findings to the next Democratic president, and let Trump off Scott free.
3
34 years ago, a KGB defector chillingly predicted modern America [BigThink]
https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/34-years-ago-a-kgb-defector-described-america-today
--In 1984, Bezmenov gave an interview to G. Edward Griffin from which much can be learned today. His most chilling point was that there's a long-term plan put in play by Russia to defeat America through psychological warfare and "demoralization". It's a long game that takes decades to achieve but it may already be bearing fruit.
The whole process follows 4-steps:
1. Demoralize a nation (15-20 years):Expose your ideology to your nation’s “soft heads”. At the higher stage, the citizens of that country start brainwashing their own countrymen. (The Tea Party and the Trump Supporters) Trump has been discussing the presidency since 1988.
2. Destabilization (2-5 years): does not care about your patterns. Essentials are attacked – Defense, Economy and Polity. (Trump,GOP,Kochs and Russians are attacking the US)
3. Crisis (6 weeks): bring a country to crisis in such a way that violent change happens, which is followed by the next stage. (The Faux Southern Border crisis, North Korea Nukes, Trump followers creating civil war if Trump impeached)
4. Normalization (infinite period): This is “tongue-in-cheek” and cynical. Because Normalization means adherence of the enemy country to your own ideology. The people who were instrumental in bringing the enemy country to this stage are “lined up against the wall and shot dead”.
2
Legal precedent. Offered to help you determine the correct legal conclusion. Not identical. Analogous.
Times reporter James Risen published classified information in violation of law. In his defense a major argument was reporters’ privilege, which does not exist. The Obama administration took the matter to court. He lost and lost until, finally the Supreme Court rejected all his arguments. The futile legal struggle against Obama took seven years. The Times backed Risen all the way. In the end, after the final loss, Holder, the AG, just gave up. The unfounded legal strategy succeeded in large part because of the delay and posturing.
1
And you thought his real estate experience wasn't relevant!
2
I reread Article II. not a thing about presidential privilege. All a fiction Nixon dreamed up.
2
@S maltophilia
There's nothing in there about attorney-client privilege, or the right to counsel, or abortion, either. So what's your point?
this is Trump's M.O. - he uses the courts to bog everyone down, muddy the waters and ultimately get off the hook. he has been crime adjacent his entire life and managed to stay out of prison.
4
@Nikki Desjardins He hires a team of lawyers to find every loophole and to strategize his every criminal move. I want to know where the money is coming from to pay the lawyers. Surely it can't be the tax payers because that would be like the American people paying to defend his moves against the American people. Are the billionaires funding his legal team in order to keep Trump free to continue making them more money?
Yes, his strategy is working. Watching those minions at his rally last night made me sick. What is wrong with these people. I know someone personally who said he loves Trump, because he talks like me...He may talk like him, but his thinking is that of a criminal, narcissistic, egotistic, evil person who only cares about himself and the almighty dollar. But, people love TV personalities, and that he is. He needs to be impeached and removed from office!
4
Imagine the Republican response if Obama had put a toady in charge of Justice and stonewalled Congress regarding Hillary.
3
Two things:
1—The Republican’s objection about the sordid affair that is Ukraine is not that Trump did not do anything criminal (as everyone in the loop from Trump to Giuliani to Sondland to even Nuñes admits that Trump committed a crime) but that Trump got caught. Thus the refrain: who is this whistleblower who reported the crime? Not: why would the whistleblower do such a thing when there is no crime.
2—As of this morning, Trump has thrown his fellow philanderer and serial liar Rudy “I married my first cousin” Giuliani under the bus. This is going to be very beautiful as his “insurance” about a RICO act is not about Biden at all but about Trump.
1
Instead of all this verbiage we can admit the fact that our constitution is archaic and needs to be replaced.
There is a shadow theater being played for everyone to see but somehow not comprehend.
The fact that the President can get away with his so called "strategy" (banditry is now called strategy by the paper of record, sad), despite the Judges unanimously slamming him shows me beyond doubt that something is stinking to high heaven in the United States of America. Let us please cut the rhetoric which has already poisoned generations and dump this piece of garbage we call the constitution, and replace it with a living document written not by slave owners of the 18th Century.
4
The only people obeying the rule of law are those outside of the Trump organization and all the Republicans waddling after Trump like lost baby ducks. Trump is winning because he’s outside of and breaking the law which puts him at an advantage over those who obey the law. This cannot continue. This sends a clear signal to everyone that it’s to your advantage to break the law in order to achieve success and everyone who follows the law are losers. Putin must be beside himself in total bliss watching us eat our own.
4
A risky strategy.
In doing this there is the distinct possibility of one or more "bombshells" happening at inopportune moments...like weeks or days before election day.
Hopefully congress will not let up and keep pushing all of the requests and subpoenas for witnesses, evidence and the Mueller's grand jury records. A precedent of a president so brazenly defying congress's constitutionally mandated legal oversight on the part of congress must be prevented.
The GOP perpetrated a smear campaign for decades convincing the country Hillary Clinton is evil incarnate, which she is not.
The democrats have a year to convince voters Donald Trump is an evil to this country, which he is.
We can only pray the drip, drip, drip of damning new revelations about this president will have taken it's toll by November of next year.
3
It's exactly what he did as a businessman as well. Only years later does he have to pay fines for Trump University, his charity, etc.
The truth will come out for him eventually, possibly after his presidency. Tax returns, payoffs to porn stars, etc.
I just hope he's alive to witness his ultimate disgrace.
13
@Wilson
Treat him with disgrace now.
He's earned it.
2
Our court system is proving that it is unable to fulfill its role in modern times. The court process takes too long and ends up being irrelevant in cases where events are moving quickly. We need laws that require an expedited review process where Congress's oversight function is at stake. Even better, cases where witnesses are refusing to honor Congressional subpoenas should go directly to the Supreme Court, which should be required to decide the matter within 30 days. The law is too clear to justify a typical six month to one year process.
5
Congress needs to also use any alternative means at their disposal. For example, the Freedom of Information Act was used by americanoversight.org to get the release of some State Department-Ukraine documents;
https://www.americanoversight.org/state-department-releases-ukraine-documents-to-american-oversight
Reviewing even these redacted documents factually establish paper trails and contacts between the White House and Ukraine actors.
2
Right...ignoring subpoenas, paying off porn stars, profiting from the presidency, generally obstructing justice and lying to on a regular basis to the American people including his supporters is to be blamed on liberal judges. Ridiculous logic.
2
SCOTUS is partisanly complicit in Trump’s delay strategies. “Get over it.”
3
This is exactly the way lawless, big-time thugs operate, which is exactly what Trump is. Congratulations, America, for supporting your first fascist, oligarch, gangster president!
Now you can return to Thanksgiving TV football.
35
Someday, this nightmare will be over, and this lying, hateful, deceitful, despicable and truly disgusting sexual predator will be gone.
I only wish I were younger so I could enjoy more time in a world without Donald J Trump.
It's a shame he was ever even born. The world would have been a far better place without him.
Impeach him already. His followers would jump off a cliff if he told them too, they're hopeless, no matter if it's greed, hate or stupidity, they're hopeless.
Just do the right thing and do it now. Impeach him. Expose him. His very 'base' base is just a tiny portion of the world's population. The rest of us want him gone.
32
@JW sadly, they take us over the cliff with them. When the farm subsidies and other checks dry up alongside unemployment, they still won’t wake up. We will all sit and wonder how he did it. But it’s not him alone. It’s a generations of greed culminating in one person who was a genius at exploiting others. And I actually believe he doesn’t believe half of what he says. That’s the part that is hardest part to digest. Such a platform to do so much good and this.
3
How can a democracy function if the courts slow walk review of Congressional subpoena that would enable voters to decide rationally who to vote for.
This is a serious problem.
Congress has the ability to create expedited procedures just as it has the ability to create additional courts or define their subject matter jurisdiction.
8
The courts have some traditional standards for deciding whether to review decisions, and what should happen while an appeal is pending. They may grant, or refuse, a stay of a lower-court order while they consider a case.
Factors they consider include the public interest, the relative harms to the opposing parties of delaying or not delaying the order, and the likelihood that the appeal will be successful. If the decision appears to be sound, and the arguments for reversal appear to be far-fetched and unlikely to prevail, that weighs heavily against a stay of the order. Frivolous arguments should and do get short shrift.
The Justice Department, if traditional standards are applied, will not get deference and delay in the higher courts for the Trump-supremacist arguments it has been losing in the lower courts.
3
The judicial appellate system plays an important role in securing just results, but when the courts allow well-capitalized litigants to win by outspending and delaying their opponents, justice is defeated.
This isn't a problem unique to Trump. The delay and appeal strategy is used by the wealthy, large corporations, and governments to defeat ordinary litigants. The failure of courts to address this problem diminishes respect for the justice system.
3
@F. O'Brien I wholeheartedly agree!!! And ordinary litigants includes most of the middle class who just can not spend on their level.
4
He might be “winning” in his strategy but all these legal expenses are on the taxpayer dime. I don’t think he cares he’s spending a vast amount of our money to defend himself and stonewall.
648
@Not Pierre No, the Trumps are world-champion grifters.
104
Trump views his supporters as useful suckers and thinks about the rest of us not at all. I hope he is forced to repay us by working on a chain gang.
115
@Not Pierre This president, like all before him, obtain an executive branch budget to hire government employees. They receive the same salary per federal government standards regardless of what they work on or how long as they dont bill hourly as government salaried employees. Aside and apart from these salaried government employees, Trump as like other prior presidents, retains and pays private attorneys, counselors, pollster and the like. Trump, like prior presidents, pays for these attorneys himself from his own private funds. As it happens Trump, unlike almost all prior presidents, has refused to take a government salary. So it is simply false to claim, that the taxpayer is paying for any of Trump’s attorneys. Nice talking point but happens to be easily disproven.
5
In U.S. v. Nixon, it was just 4 months between the subpoena demanding the tapes (April 1974) and the Supreme Court's ruling ordering Nixon to produce the tapes (July 1974). Why aren't these prosecutors and Congress's lawyers seeking direct Supreme Court review of these District Court rulings?
788
@Fox Because the Justice Department is now led by a Trump/Putin toady.
191
@Fox Good question. The Supreme Court back then might have been a tad more conservative than the current one, with right-wingers Rehnquist and Powell and conservatives Stewart and Chief Justice Burger. But it also had Blackmun, Brennan and Douglas, who leaned left. Despite its conservative leaning, however, this Court made Roe v. Wade the law of the land in 1973 and delivered the unanimous decision against President Nixon in "The United States v. Nixon."
It would seem logical that today's Supreme Court would act in the nation's best interest, but with Justices Thomas and Kavanaugh tainting it perhaps Congress would rather first go through the lower courts. Time constraints might wind up pushing Congress to go directly to the SC.
62
@Fox
It appears there isn’t as much will to save the country.
The Republican subversion runs very deep.
141
Yes this is a clear strategy and the courts need to step it up. There’s no excuse for enabling such a strategy.
914
@Aaron : Also, I contest the assertion that there are "No new facts." We have had extremely convincing testimony from accomplished professionals, and we have had people, mostly Sundland, roll on Trump, naming the VP and Atty General, among others. The Impeachment hearing have taken us from damning allegations to a smoking gun that would convict on multiple charges in any court in the land.
We have learned a lot from these hearings. These may be the most important hearings in modern history. Certainly they are more important than the Watergate Hearings, and they touch on subjects that represent a greater threat to American democracy than any but the worst days of the Cold War. Maybe more. While the Cuban Missile Crisis was terrifying, was the integrity of the Republic threatened then by a rogue president? Had one party totally abdicated any sense of responsibility to the Constitution?
These hearings may be the most important sine the Civil War ended. Nothing less than the future of America as a democratic republic is as stake.
61
None of it matters. We’ve been witnessing the character of this nation since he announced his run for the presidency. Yet, the media in general, politicians and scholars seem “ mystified” by how Trump gets away with it all!
This is America! A podcast called “The science of conspiracy theories and political polarization “ by Eric Oliver is the best analysis of what’s going on.
39
@Aaron The next excuse will be final and come from our now "Supreme" Court. Like Kellyanne Conway, our "Supreme" Court will be just another Trump enabler.
28
Speedy action by the courts, all the way to SCOTUS, would be the right thing to do, but it seems unlikely that that SCOTUS will do the right thing. What would help is if half a dozen of the top brass in the military, the entire Joint Chiefs, say, would resign and expose Trump for what he is. It’s a lot to ask. They’d have to give up great careers. But patriotism requires it. Time to give some credence to the vaunted patriotism the military is supposed to represent.
4
His legal strategy is going to get him impeached for obstruction of justice and makes him look like he is hiding something. If he has nothing to hide, let his people testify. Congress is there to offset the power of the presidency, not amplify it. If Congress wants to interview a witness, they should be readily available.
3
The debate continues over whether Dems should push for a quick, narrow-focus impeachment and trial or take their time, investigating all of Trump’s violations and interrogating everyone involved. The fear of those favoring a fast track approach, I guess, is that a lengthy process will exhaust the public’s attention span or that letting it continue during the 2020 election will lend support to the Republican argument that Trump’s fate should be left to the voters. On the other hand, though, is it a certainty that taking their time would be a negative for the Dems? What if the inquiry and/or the trial continue through the election...might not Trump’s standing suffer as more and more truth is revealed and the extent of his corruption becomes more clear? Even if he succeeded in being re-elected, an ongoing investigation during his second term would still offer the opportunity to see justice done and the Constitution upheld. As I recall, re-election didn’t help Richard Nixon escape his deserved ouster.
3
@pen. I agree wholeheartedly that the various committees should continue deposing witnesses and investigating all of the underlying crimes until they expose everyone involved. Indeed, The Rachel Maddow Show has presented new evidence and accomplices to trump’s schemes on a daily basis. There’s no reason to end it prematurely just because there’s an election. I don’t see how criminal investigations during an election will help trump; even the last minute suggestion by Comey of wrongdoing helped to sink Hillary Clinton in 2016. The “strategy” should be to uncover the whole truth. I suppose the investigations could continue after we vote trump out of office, but history has shown that doesn’t usually happen. Bush, for example, should be painting in prison, not under federal guard in the comfort of his ranch.
@Pen, Trump's corruption is already very clear. He will suffer more by being impeached soon than he will by running a campaign during a long, drawn-out process. And any ongoing impeachment becomes moot if Trump fails to win reelection.
Trump's attorneys should be sanctioned for violating the Rule of Professional Conduct 3.1 which says, "A lawyer shall not bring or defend a proceeding, or assert or controvert an issue therein, unless there is a basis in law and fact for doing so that is not frivolous, which includes a good faith argument for an extension, modification or reversal of existing law." If this federal judge defined Trump's legal argument as "fiction", the attorneys are violating that rule.
8
Voters already have a plethora of damaging facts about and against Trump. I would think it extremely likely that virtually every voter has by now decided if they will vote for Trump or whomever the Democratic nominee is.
Between the legal scholars speaking before the impeachment committee and so many smart lawyers in and outside of DC, there has to be some creative way to make sure Trump and his co-conspirators face some sort of legal
consequences in the unfortunate and very likely event that impeachment fails in the Senate.
And maybe impeachment charges can be brought against some other GOP politicians too.
There has to be something else that can be done other than hoping he doesn’t get re-elected in 2020.
3
This feels like Trump is getting away with serious misdeeds or worse. His ego and power of the executive branch - the Presidency - is turning out to be a very dangerous combinations as a key parts of legislative branche of the federal government i.e. Senate is simply standing by for partisan reasons, and the judiciary is bogged down by Trump's trickery and gaming of the system. I am slowly coming to the conclusion that this current nightmare is exposing serious flaws in our political system. The evidence of the flaws is this system gave us a President like Trump - someone with serious intellectual, moral and character shortcomings. Secondly, system is unable to control him in any meaningful ways, notwithstanding the sure to fail ongoing impeachment efforts. Thirdly, the political system has given us a highly polarized political culture where the extremes on each side are winning and are unwilling or unable to work on solutions to help solve big problems of poverty, income inequality, breakdown of American families, rising healthcare costs, high college costs, and above all climate change. I wonder, if a system like the Swiss political system where the power is vested in a council of 7 and executive (ceremonial President) is chosen on a rotation basis for one year term.
4
This is the legal system designed by the wealthy for the wealthy. Trump’s lawyers aren’t arguing the law, they’re playing the system. They’ll keep filing paper as long as the client has the resources to pay their rate. What’s correct, proper, and legal is irrelevant.
6
Gosh, I guess if people want him out of office they’re just gonna have to get out and vote!! And whether or not they succeed, they’re also gonna have to start voting again in minor local elections for state officials, congressional representatives, and senators. Because that’s ultimately what determines the makeup of the courts. This will certainly be difficult for some folks, because it may mean reducing the amount of time available for complaining on social media.
3
@stevevelo. Looks like you have forgotten our recent midterm election when we did just that Steve, ousting the GOP sycophants in the house to regain control and promote common sense. The same will happen now to the senate because the electorate is sick and tired of the criminal Ruspublicans catering to the kremlin’s wishes. But you knew that, right?
@Mr Dickens - ummmm, as soon as I see the same thing happening in the Senate, I’ll know it. Until then, I’ll remember how everyone knew Hillary was going to win. Until she didn’t.
Time to change the rues and amend the Constitution: no life mandate for the Supreme Justices and less power to the President and more and clearer to the House. The branches must have same power with distinct and clear power of oversight.
2
Our country has overcome much worse than this in its history, and will do so again. Read Lincoln’s Proclamation of Thanksgiving, given in 1863 during the depths of our terrible Civil War, to see a spiritual vision of hope for our country and the world.
As someone else has noted, let this drag on to the elections and let the voters decide, if that’s what it takes. The Truth will out, as Shakespeare reminded us so many years ago.
1
I keep asking and not getting an answer. What is this impeachment inquiry supposed to accomplish? All it does is muddy the water before the election. tRump fans will never turn on him and the more the same words and phrases keep getting repeated, the more the issues become background noise and lose their power. (Remember WMD?) Now the Democrats are stuck in this Kabuki theater performance which has to play out with no pay off. The energy would be better spent finding a single viable candidate that could unite all sensible people.
3
I watched the house hearings. For anyone paying attention, there's plenty of proof that we have a criminal in the White House. It's clear that Trump voters already know this, but are happy with his performance as president. They don't see criminality as disqualifying. If Democrats want Trump out of office, they will have to get Democratic voters to turn out in record numbers in states that matter.
4
What we need is for people in charge that have the information to do the patriotic thing and release the information and/or testify. The only reason Trump's stall strategy works is if people let it continue. Where are the people that will put country above their own self interest? Obviously not in the Trump administration.
Analysis:
America's Legal System and Department of Justice are inept, Byzantine, and unable to function effectively during a Constitutional Crisis.
It is past time for America's judicial system to have an updated overhaul.
1
This has clearly been Trump's strategy all along, in ALL of his legal battles: keep appealing and never admit defeat. NEVER ADMIT DEFEAT! He knew, even when he said it before he was elected, that he'd NEVER release his taxes. What I'm amazed by is how people still think he's telling the truth and admit they'd vote for him. Goes to show how little people actually listen -- without thinking about it -- to what is being said.
1
Avoiding deserved impeachment and conviction for treason is not what I call winning, in spite of how long the inevitable repercussions may be delayed.
Nor is being disliked and not respected by a majority of people in the US and abroad.
1
There's another way to say "often putting forth aggressive legal arguments backed by scant precedent." It's "making frivolous arguments."
1
I don't know how the headline can use the phrase "legal strategy." It implies what Trump is doing is legal, when it is not. He is acting lawlessly because the legal system is so hopelessly slow and cumbersome and without any practical means of enforcement that he can get away with egregious violations through the election before justice catches up with him. If it ever does, which is doubtful.
It's not clear why you insist that Trump is "winning," choosing tidbits of a big, chaotic political mix of events to "prove" it. It's as though you chose your thesis first and then looked for "evidence" of that. I think it's as possible that day after day of witnesses, stories of honor-caused resignations, stunningly credible witnesses, revelations of fresh offenses--a slow-rolling cement-mixer of truth is coming for Trump. There's a shaking of confidence by all as the almost endless excuses for Trump near the point of absurdity. Even in the minds of those who speak them. One of democrats' great weaknesses is how easily we declare defeat. We need to reject that right now.
In a de facto sense, then, this is an across-the-board failure of institutions to do their job. The courts are failing to do their job. It doesn't matter that their findings are all against Trump. Trump can undermine those findings by running out the clock. The courts need to be mindful of these realities, and enforce a schedule that does not permit the guilty party to undermine their findings like this. In particular, by, for instance, blocking appeals court rulings, the Supreme Court is also failing to do its job. Finally, the Justice Department is failing to do its job. Under Barr it has abandoned its tradition of nonpartisan independence, and is now acting like Trump's personal lawyer. This isn't a football game. This isn't reality TV. A president is not a king. Trump and his administration have broken the law and violated the Constitution. Mueller documented ten cases when Trump perpetrated the obstruction of justice. It is indisputable that Trump and his associates have extorted Ukraine into sabotaging our 2020 elections. Trump was an unindicted co-conspirator in campaign finance law felonies. And that is, no doubt, just the tip of the iceberg.
1
The thing is, President Trump really IS "...fighting for future presidents and the Office of the President". Is it the height of cynicism that his "fight" is so future presidents will not be constrained by the laws and constitution that make America a fair and bountiful place to live?
OR IS THIS MORE CYNICAL, when the President tells voters, "Other than that, I would actually like people to testify"?
If there's nothing to hide, why try to bar testimony to Congress? What are Trump and Republicans trying to hide?
As pointed out in another op-ed, Trump's diabolical genius is in starting and inflaming destructive fights, a continuation of his WWF and Apprentice spectacles. Only this time, he's got more attention than ever. I'm still unsure of the best antidote, other than Nancy Pelosi.
Yes, this is on the Democrats for not using all of the tools at their disposal. Enforcing subpoenas is the first thing. If you fine and/or lock someone up for contempt of Congress, then you get judges to move quickly. If you keep fining people like McGahn, etc., and/or locking them up for contempt, you normalize what seemed before like a dramatic over-response. This is much like the normalization of Trump's behavior. What's good for the goose...
Then, I don't see how the judiciary has any intrinsic right to stay the fines or imprisonment, but I could see the House agreeing to release a comtemnor as long as a ruling is prompt. Occasionally turning it up to 11 is important since it reminds people of the consequences of not following norms.
It's now quite clear that the Democrats dithered when they should have been subpoenaing the various potential witnesses, including McGahn. Much time was wasted, and now the Trump rope-a-dope will likely stave off potential bad news until after the election. Perhaps it was Pelosi's reluctance to go the impeachment route early on that, in retrospect, underestimated just how shrewd the Republicans would be.
1
Congressional oversight seems to share one thing in common with prisoner interrogation. At some point it may cross the line to become torture. I doubt if Nadler's House Judiciary Committee will be calling John Yoo as one of their expert testimonies. Or since he's good with torture maybe they should.
If what I read is true, then he is likely to be ousted on his kiester next year. The article I am referring to states that millennials will be the largest block going to the polls next year, and further, 70% of them are Democrats.
So he can build a new house for each of his supporters, shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, but it’s four years later and even though he claims omniscience, the rest of the world hss changed and gone in a new direction, without Donald J. Trump’s permission.
But since his narcissism has created a house of cards that he believes will
never fall, he is extremely vulnerable, much more so than any other person running shsinst him.
The sad facts are that (a) his base couldn't care less about any damaging testimony, and I fear that (b) the general nature of our culture today is such that there's a subtle collective yawn even among those that don't support him. Let's face it: many more than should be are simply inured to the idea that inducing a foreign government to interfere in our elections is 'not good'. Ever since the 'greed is good' 80's, each decade appears to have bolstered the 'win at any cost' ethos. Sad that the ultimate cost will be our national soul.
240
@LGato Then it is a sad commentary that so many Americans don't know the difference between right and wrong.
34
@LGato
No Republican ever lost an election by underestimating the intelligence and racism of the american people.
24
@LGato Trump's "base" is not a majority of American voters. The base may control many gerrymandered districts, but more Americans would rather see someone other than Trump in the job in 2021.
15
This is profoundly cynical: run out the clock, let the Russians continue to hack (and don't allow funding for more election security come to the floor of the Senate for a vote), let all the disinformation spread over the internet, let voter suppression worsen (more purges of the voter registries, more polling stations closed), let Drumpf win re-election and become Czar Donald I, and then say "oh well, the voters (or rather the electoral college) decided, so that's that!"
8
A by product of our cherished freedoms per the US Constitution is that the laws work for the bad guys too. The Republicans say there were no first hand witnesses but the WH won’t allow the first hand witnesses to testify.
If Trump had exculpatory evidence why not let it be known? Is it because there is none?
2
@Oliver
If every crime needed an eyewitness our prisons would be empty.
1
I am confused here. You indicate,"The Justice Department immediately filed an appeal and sought a stay — virtually ensuring that the fight over Mr. McGahn will remain bogged down for the foreseeable future."
Doesn't the "Justice Dept." work for the American people, not at the behest of the POTUS? I understand it is part of the executive branch, but Article 1 identifies the Congress as the representation of the people. Therefore it is only logical and rational the Justice Dept. act in the best interests of the American people, which would be to support the legal efforts of Congress, not the POTUS, especially in this case of legal Congressional oversight functions.
It's clear in his complicity Pence should be impeached, now Barr as well. there can be no justice if the Justice Dept does not defend the will of the people as represented by Congress.
2
@LaPine
Wow. You said that with a straight face.
You're correct, except for the part about William Barr, who was hired by Trump for one reason and one reason only - his performance during the Iran/Contra Scandal, specifically his support as AG to pardon the people who did the illegal things that were central to the scandal.
I am confused here. You indicate,"The Justice Department immediately filed an appeal and sought a stay — virtually ensuring that the fight over Mr. McGahn will remain bogged down for the foreseeable future."
Doesn't the "Justice Dept." work for the American people, not at the behest of the POTUS? I understand it is part of the executive branch, but Article 1 identifies the Congress as the representation of the people. Therefore it is only logical and rational the Justice Dept. act in the best interests of the American people, which would be to support the legal efforts of Congress, not the POTUS, especially in this case of legal Congressional oversight functions.
It's clear in his complicity Pence should be impeached, now Barr as well. there can be no justice if the Justice Dept does not defend the will of the people as represented by Congress.
1
Can someone explain to me why the courts can’t expedite matters of extreme national interest? With all this stonewalling that will continue indefinitely, we may as well hang a banner over the White House declaring “The President really is above the law”.
4
For better or worse this nonsense needs to be expedited to the Supreme Court. No assurances that the conservative majority will actually uphold and support our constitution. How scary a prospect is that?
Further proof of the weakness of our system. Inherently vulnerable to bad players.
1
We should not be surprised that Trump is using the courts to fight his battles. This is the way he has conducted his shady business dealings all of his life.
Lifelong scenario:An honest contractor sends Trump a bill for work completed, he turned it over to Cohen (or one of his other shady lawyers) and the business is slapped with a lawsuit and forced to spends thousands to receive his rightly earned payment from Trump. The contractor either gives up, goes broke, or accepts pennies on the dollar.
Let's not forget his sham of a university.
Now he is using the same tactic on the American people. Why not? Being any unscrupulous businessman has has propelled him to the most powerful job in the world and put him in the same room with deal making Russian oligarchs.
This way of doing business appears to be just fine for Nunes, Jordan, McConnell, and even Murkowski, Collins and the other Republicans mesmerized by their own reelections.
How is it working for the American people?
Ask the Ukrainians and Cohen.
2
I was speaking with a retired law professor last night and he raised an issue that is blood curdling, He said that if something happens to Ruth Bader Ginsburg that the Supreme Court will be under Trump’s thumb. If the Supreme Court loses any pretense of being impartial and fair the Trump nightmare will get even worse.
All this mess to hide that he probably hasn’t paid income tax in years (because of previous losses) and that he’s not as rich as he says. His base won’t care anyway, it’s not his moral rectitude or successful past they are voting for.
1
Precisely. Trump is abusing the legal process. The courts need to have the courage of finding him guilty of abuse of process. You cannot just announce in advance that you will appeal the decision if you lose. Nothing reduces respect for the law more than such cynicism.
1
The photo of Trump says it all: delusion and self infatuation. This phrase coined by Frank Bruni today is not just for Jared but the whole trump family with the exception of Barron who looks quite embarrassed on all those walks out to the waiting helicopter.
2
Impeachment is about him stopping his illegal actions. I don't want to see our country being illegal to our constitution.
Voters will make up their minds in their usual fashion.
Run out the clock, but voters will have their say in 2020. Then 45 will face New York State prosecutors, and will be fighting subpoenas for years. Quite a legacy!
1
I don't think the Robert's court has any intention of hearing these cases. If they can issue a stay and effectively block enforcement of lower court rulings until the end of the term they will have delivered for the President without sullying their own legacies. Whatever you may think of the Supremes they are not stupid. None of them is going to be willing to codify such wide ranging executive privilege knowing it will eventually lead to disaster.
They can allow Donny John to run out the clock without going down in history as the ones who broke the Republic.
2
As I explain to incredulous European neighbors, Trump and his godfathers are riding through holes in our system big enough for a horse and wagon.
My takeaway from these awful times is that America is based on an idea that people will behave honorably, and that norms are sufficient to curb malfeasance.
What perhaps no one but Putin realized is that we are a slumbering nation, out cold, sleeping like the guards in the Scottish play, whose drugged possets allowed the murder of the king.
We sleep off our carb binges and our overwork, dreaming that Facebook is Community and posting is Activism. We rise up, miraculously, for the Women’s March and Indivisible and then we collapse back into sleep, overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the revealed checkmate by the GOP, whose gerrymandering and dark money and Fox propaganda had us cornered long before we knew it.
More battered nations here between the Black Sea and the Baltic, trampled by centuries of shooting war and betrayed by end-stage Communism, with partisans and martyrs in the family, rise up because unlike America, they know it is all too real.
In our Disneyland culture, nothing is real enough to get us up on the ramparts. I hope we defeat Trumpism by going for broke like the partisans in the Polish woods. Yes, it is that dire.
2
Calling the advocacy of a position that the courts are routinely rejecting as a repugnant assault on the concept of the rule of law and the Constitutional order a "legal" strategy strikes me as a corruption of language.
"Losing the battles; winning the war".
Trump is barely coherent, and is willfully ignorant on anything that doesn't benefit him immediately, but he possesses and instinctual cunning that has enabled him to get where he is. So it should be no surprise that he would employ the same tactics he's used his entire career to defraud people, and leave them holding the empty bag, while he walks away.
I would like to think that there is such a thing as justice, or even karma, and that he will finally get his just deserts, but the more worldly part of me knows this isn't likely to happen. The rich and powerful never have to pay the piper, that bill is paid by us "little people".
1
It won’t matter if he is re-elected as long as the house and senate are in democratic hands - work on that
1
Distort. Distract. Deflect. This is all Trump and his toadies have. If Chief Justice Roberts cares about the constitution and our democratic republic, he must move swiftly to have the Supreme Court rule on this matter. If we still have a democracy, this simply cannot wait until after the 2020 election. Trump’s blanket stonewalling of documents and subpoenas requested by the House of Representatives must not stand.
2
To find out if Trump was really telling the truth I hooked him up to a lie detector. And just as I suspected, my machine was broken.
1
We need patriots to leak all the damaging info to the press, If I held such a position I would gladly hand over what I had access to.
1
In 2016, the Democrats nominated a weak candidate, with extensive ties to Wall St, who did not even bother to campaign in Michigan. The result, HRC was defeated by Donald Trump, who convinced people he was outside the beltway and would make America ‘great again’. So what have Democrat’s done since the 2016 debacle? They have deliberately avoided issues that directly affect working people- fairer taxation where the wealthy pay the same percentage of taxes as teachers, plumbers and police officers pay, more jobs paying a livable wage, affordable housing, healthcare and education, bringing out troops home from taxpayer- funded $ Multitrillion wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen. Instead they have spent 2 years on Russiagate’, which turned out to be a big nothing burger and more recently the impeachment hearings, aka political theater which has zero chance of succeeding as Trump will never be convicted by a 2/3 vote in the Senate. I am a life-long Democrat and am disgusted by the behavior of Alan Schiff, Nancy Pelosi and rest of the Democratic ‘leadership’. The Moon of Alabama lays things out well. See- The House Will Not Vote On Impeachment. It Will Censure Trump; Link: www.moonofalabama.org/2019/11/the-house-will-not-vote-on-impeachment-it-will-censure-trump.html
2
After having corrupted the Executive Branch and the Republican Congress, next up is the Supreme Court. Citizen's United was a fatal blow to representative democracy thanks to Justice Roberts. Trump v. Congress will either move us from plutocracy to significant autocracy or rescue our democracy in the 9th hour. If absolute power corrupts, we're seeing what happens when an absolutely corrupt President is given near absolute power.
Trump will continue to politicize the judicial system. He will blame unfavourable decisions on liberal judges and/or Obama appointees. He will expect judges appointed by him to express their gratitude and personal loyalty by way of favourable decisions. And that is the way it is in the new America under Emperor Trump.
"…reducing the prospect that voters learn new damaging facts about him before the 2020 election."
(loud, sustained laughter)
As if the existing damaging facts and all the nonsense he'll get into between now and election is not enough!
He's gonna have a tsunami of voters from young to old drown him next year.
Enjoy the Trump show if you can.
He's gone.
1
In other word , the legal system is blocking justice to get serve ?
This article hints at the truth: we are powerless against Trumps authoritarian ascent. He has bewitched his base, vexed the systems of justice, and greased the wheels of the 2020 election. Democrats are too busy resigning because of lurid photo scandals and the like.
We must remember that Trump must be removed from office at any cost. He repeatedly and brazenly has broken the law and put American security at risk.
He belongs in jail. Get on the ball, Democrats. Nice nice is over.
2
This is the damage that the so-called "adults in the room" eg Kelly, McMaster, and Mattis have done: by making it seem like this guy was even remotely capable of doing the job they delayed the absolutely inevitable complete implosion of the country juuuuust long enough that normal voters with busy lives won't notice until it's too late.
No one needed to sabotage or undermine Trump for him to fail, but by preventing him from doing his lazy worst, they did the country a massive disservice.
1
I'm of the opinion that the leaks and revelations will become more frequent and more damaging as those that he has insulted come forward. After all, the CIA wrote the book on overthrowing governments and removing despots from power, especially pro-Kremlin puppets like Trump.
I believe that Roberts, scared to death that any rulings favorable to Trump by his Court will inexorably result in its popular delegitimization, will be forced to accordingly be the minority’s fifth swing vote, not a “Trump Judge” nor an “Obama Judge” as he famously declared. To do otherwise will commence a firestorm of unending protest, followed by retaliatory actions taken against his Court such as its “packing”, should Democrats be completely victorious in 2020. This is a certainty!
1
Are there any facts damaging enough to sway the Trump electorate? Especially in the disproportionately represented states in the electoral college? They will swarm to the polls shrieking, "Socialism will ruin our country!" just to vote against any other candidate. Let's hope the Walter Reed visit went poorly.
1
umm...hope this was a useful analogy for your football buddies...because it was as clear as mud for me:
"Like a football team up late in a game whose defense hangs back to prevent big plays while letting its opponent make shorter gains,"
My senior year AP English teacher might not have liked it much, either. For other reasons.
3
"Trump keeps losing in court. But his legal strategy is winning anyway." That sums up the situation very succinctly. Battles are being won, but my fear is that the war is being lost. I keep watching the polls, and Trump is starting to pull ahead of the leading Democratic contenders, where in the weeks preceding the latest polls, such was not the case. I know this is very early, but it is still giving me pause, and it is worrisome.
While impeaching Trump would seem to be a moral imperative, I have doubts about its impact on voters, and yes, that has to be a consideration. Sometimes, philosophically, the greater good of the whole has to be considered when weighing a moral decision.
1
Trump’s claims, if true, would place the President above the law. Yet, we regard no one above the law. (Except the lunatic fringe does.) Indeed, the only officials in any government above the law make the law, yet we have reserved law-making rights for Congress, representing the People. There is something deeply wrong when a tyrant, a would-be king, a Trump, can contest, appeal, and appeal again a claim that is specious legal nonsense. Such lunacies should be tested and tossed out of our legal system in weeks, not months and certainly not years. The next Trumpian autocrat cannot be allowed to use Democratic freedoms and laws to use nonsensical legal ideas and bad faith arguments to undermine our legal proceedings, as this Trump has done.
2
@dt: Trump has done this his whole career, and the US courts run a racket for these creeps because they create lots of employment for lawyers.
@dt wrote: "There is something deeply wrong when a tyrant, a would-be king, a Trump, can contest, appeal, and appeal again a claim that is specious legal nonsense. "
You must know that tyrants are not removed by courts, just study the history.
1
It is embarrassing that the court is entertaining such silliness as if to say there is really an intellectual argument to make with fools, anyway they have to justify why the court exists hence the drag race of hindering justice by all means. I just happen to believe that the Judicial system should stop all these hyperbole and set deadline and not let this drag on
4
American "democracy" is now in complete tatters. The presumption of a basic commitment to the public good has been shattered. These people do not even have the distinction of being paid wolves. They're more at the level of hyenas feeding off of the dead carcass of the slain American body politic.
10
The courts should sanction Trump's lawyers for filing frivolous lawsuits.
21
But America is losing, and that is what is really important.
27
Don't we deserve better from our top leadership?
12
@John McLaughlin
I believe that this is what we got when people weren't paying attention.
So, I guess that this is what we deserve.
1
Trump is probably relying on the Supreme Court, especially one stacked more in his favor with a Ruth Bader Ginsburg replacement, to allow him dictatorial powers. Every time RBG is hospitalized, the Democratic heart of the nation skips a beat.
24
@AMR
I pray for her daily and more!
2
Still. Everyone knows Trump is corrupt It's just a matter if they care
26
@JoeG
Agree 100%
I'll bet that most supporters admire his corruption.
We have a big problem on our hands, it's beyond just the Administration.
3
@dannyboy
Yes, they do admire his corruption. They think it's 'smart.'
1
We may not learn some of the damaging facts that iq45 is still trying to hide, but I remain hopeful that the truth WILL come out, and that it can and will be used against him in the court of public opinion.
3
@Greg sigh. The truth has come out and it didn’t sway diddly squat. We’re facing a greater challenge than truth VS. Lies.
Democratic lawmakers need to start speaking the President’s language to his followers.
Those of us who understand politics by choice or passion clearly understand what has happened here and do not need explanation or clarification.
The majority of Trump’s followers/voters are uneducated, and have the reading comprehension level of a fifth grader, or below.
Whenever lawmakers explain what the President does or has done they use cumbersome explanations or definitions, and people just don’t get it. You can tell they don’t understand anything because when they are asked why they continue to support this President they don’t know what to say. If they can’t say why they do support him in an eloquent manner, imagine saying why they would not support him using appropriate language.
Call the President a con man, a cheat, a liar, etc. Use a language that his followers understand, and tell them why those negative qualities matter and how they affect the American people.
Treat his people like fifth graders. Speak a language that they will understand. We can’t have another four years of this fiasco.
4
@MC Astoria
re: The majority of Trump’s followers/voters are uneducated, and have the reading comprehension level of a fifth grader, or below.
Is this your belief or is there a source? If a source, please share and is "majority" 50.5% or 85% or?
The only fact(s) I'm waiting to learn about Trump won't change my vote or my opinion about him. They only relate to time he will be the first American President to be imprisoned and join the bevy of co-conspirators who are warming their jail cells. Pure justice and unmitigated Schadenfreude.
2
The best justice money can buy.
4
Time squandered cannot be regained. Hope, Congress members now and future ones learn the lesson that fulfilling lawful duties in checking US Official’s conduct & actions are of equal priority to that of their legislative functions.
They may see themselves as colleagues to one another but their first duty is to protect The USC from crooked agents domestic & foreign who seek to undermine it. A simple personal declaration to each other: “You can’t do that”; may have prevented the rapid and steep decline our nation is enthralled in.
1
Would “damaging” information matter? Voters are lost anyway. Essentially, you have Fox News and various talk show personalities with a stranglehold on a sub population. That sub population will say that the “liberal media” has the same stranglehold on another sub population. In the middle is a slice of population that will determine whether the election swings 52-48 one way or another. It is quite remarkable. Surprisingly, this 4-5% of the population are probably the most tuned-out and/or unpredictable group. After all, they can’t make up their mind about the most polarizing topic of our times: Trump. Perhaps this is why polls are so woeful at predicting outcome. The result depends on which way the wind blows at 4:58 pm on Election Day in your county elementary school where you’ll vote.
4
Look at what the people of Hong Kong had to do to be heard? They marched in the streets to fight a corrupt China government.
If our orange, corrupt President wants to stop the legal system with his appeals, than maybe our only option is to march in the streets demanding Trump be impeached.
If Trump were a Democrat, could you imagine the hysteria the Republican Party would be engaged in to impeach Trump? It's time to take the government back from the Republican Party.
5
@Valerie yes. This is perhaps the only way. Agree.
The proverbial bottom line remains: Mr. T puts self ahead of America. He should be removed from office; sooner the better.
4
Donald demonstrates his ignorance and unsuitability to serve as president constantly, but his extraordinary deceit and manipulation skills compensate for his failings.
In substance, he is a world class con man whose sheep continue to follow him lest they must admit how many times he's duped them.
But Donald never duped me or many NYers who had the displeasure of tracking his nefarious career in the local papers. Stories of his flagrant disregard for rules and laws were in abundance so our horror of his election was magnified. The enormity of the electoral mistake is displayed each and every day in media across the planet. As I travel abroad, confidence in America wanes daily.
I'm not sure how to reeducate the suckers who believe his lies and continue their support. Waiting another year to remove him is tantamount to the discovery of lung cancer and refusing treatment. I sincerely doubt there will be an election if he's certain he'll lose.
It's apparent our system of hiring managers needs a complete overhaul. Also, a periodic review of every federal employee is essential to make sure they haven't gone completely off the rails.
These are dark days for America every day Putin's puppy remains in the WH.
5
Do we know that Trump’s has a history of financial crimes, including tax fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, using his foundation for personal benefit, employing undocumented workers, cheating students out of their savings, and reneging on the terms of legal contracts? Do we know that he paid off a pornstar and a Playmate for adulterous sex as not to have him deposed? Sexual assaults - much more than a dozen charged, with him bragging about. Backing dictators over traditional allies. Advised police and ICE to ignore the law.
We really need no additional information - he actually has been overt about his threats of a civil war if he isn’t re-elected. That makes him a traitor. If voters don’t vote or vote for him, they are voting for the end of the greatest democracy in the world. Those who fought and died in wars over the last 100 are dishonored by any American that doesn’t step up and help throw Trump out his ear. If I am talking about you, think about this as your legacy.
4
45 loves a lawsuit because it can drag on for months, even years. And he can commit more crimes while the lawyers fight it out. It is his standard gambit. I hope in 10 years' time, the GOP looks back on his trash fire of a presidency and are ashamed. If they're not disbanded for being as corrupt as he is.
3
Future Presidents? How incredibly generous! Did he really mean future presidents not named Trump? Maybe we should ask Bill Barr.
1
MLK: Justice delayed = justice denied.
5
"Damaging facts" ???
You mean see his tax returns and see what a lousy businessman he is ? Most of his income came from his television work on "The Apprentice" ?
Or the tax write off part ? The billion Dollar loss 20 years ago that he profited from tax wise ?
1
Of course, the Trump people know their supporters are not interested in the facts, having made the facts and the press that reports them "enemies of the people." Hence, while they use the courts to tie up the truth they also have made lying a strategy, and the truth into at best an opinion -- an opinion they are ready to attack as false. Those who oppose this will have to play with a new and more aggressive set of rules and procedures if they want this despot and liar gone.
1
It’ll be a truly joyous day when this monstrosity of a human being FINALLY gets the punishment he’s been subconsciously seeking for half a century.
2
Any literate voter has already had more than enough experience with this administration to cast their vote.
You’re either for this administration or democracy.
6
Trumps true talent is gaming the system- any system, for his own greedy benefit. He could care less about others. He’s a master at obfuscation, obstruction and misdirection. He’s a huckster selling something of questionable value- himself. New Yorkers know this guy- unfortunately the rest of the US is only now ( maybe) seeing it.
Anyone who lies so blatantly, is so completely and obviously narcissistic, and so devoid of caring and empathy will eventually be caught. It won’t be pretty.
2
@Rob L I hope you’re right.
Reading this daily onslaught brings tears. This land is so deeply dumb and corrupted and that is why he and all he brings is possible. From a disdain of all that is good and laudable, declining life expectancy, environmental degradation, the widest wealth discrepancy in our history and a disdain for education, rational thinking and social justice. This is what Americans want in the name of making themselves "Great".
4
@drphil well, we DID have a black president. so therefore the world should burn, according to trumps base. I’m pretty sure that’s what ALL of this is about. Pathetic isn’t it.
1
@Dave
There seems to be a deep flaw in human nature, of tribalism, fear of being the last in the hierarchy, hence the rabid acquiescence of a demagogue who sells the message that his base can be "Great" only if they embrace this burn them, shoot them, carry them out strategy. The same white base that is getting less and less educated, living shorter and shorter lives, getting more poor each generation, believing in a flat earth and of the "divine" nature of Trump. We get the leader we deserve and humans are now reaching stupidity. It has taken humans 100k years from start to writing history, 7000 years of farming, 500 years of scientific deductive reasoning. Taken down in one fell swoop by Trump in one generation, only because this is a democracy, with an under educated populace ready to take down the very institutions that defined us all. The denouement will be even speedier than the collapse of an imperial system.
“I am fighting for future Presidents and the Office of the President,” Mr. Trump said. “Other than that, I would actually like people to testify.”
Add this to the list of bald-faced lies told by the man who has treated the Office of the President worse than a stoned rock star on tour treats his hotel room.
4
Mr. Trump has always left a path of destruction, bankruptcy, and chaos in his wake, which is in line with a diagnosis of being a malignant narcissist. He is only and always about him. This primary instinct necessarily leaves those around him in ruin and trauma. He is the most dangerous foe the United States has ever faced, because he represents a danger from within, where it is easier to hide, especially under the cloak of patriotism and religion.
1