Sentencing guidelines suggested by prosecutors take into account sentences handed down for similar crimes. They rely on precedents established by years of litigation. Trump has no expertise in preparing such guidelines. And Trump's record thus far is to ignore precedents. So it is no surprise that he tweeted out his gut feelings on the the proposed sentence for Stone, without realizing that he was wrong in his assessment of a fair sentence. The big surprise is that Barr acted on the tweet. Barr should have the experience and the knowledge as to the proper way to propose sentences for a person found guilty, and should have recognized that his prosecutors followed precedent. Instead, Barr yielded to a president eager to seek revenge on the system and to shield his supporters from lawful punishment. While Trump deserves to be faulted for his unwarranted tweet, it is Barr in this case who failed in his duty to uphold the law.
225
@Harold
It's not that Trump was ignorant of sentencing guidelines — though he certainly was. It's that he doesn't care about guidelines, precedents, or even the law. Stone was loyal and useful, that is all that matters. Someone who is loyal and useful will be praised and shielded, and anyone who opposes him will be punished. Period.
People keep making the mistake of thinking that Trump cares about anything at all except his own ego and his own interests. Considerations like morality, legality, or simple consideration for others never even enter his mind.
46
@Harold The ABA should suspend Barr's license to practice law.
50
The headline is wrong, Trump and Barr are not out of control, they are completely in control and have no problem proving it. They are immune to backlash and the idea they can ignore the Constitution. Neither cares about public opinion, in fact the worse it becomes the more they like it. It rallies the base.
Magician's trick, keep the eyes focused on the smoke screen while the real tricks are elsewhere. Trump has spent a lifetime learning how to manipulate and now, with a little help from his friends, some in fear, some for power, it's sorted.
This year we will learn if our country is willing to rise up and protect our democracy. If not, if we are no longer three equal branches of government, our moral compass that it can work will be lost. Maybe it already is, maybe Trump is just the final nail.
Watching CJ John Roberts silence at the so-called trial, I think he is presiding over the demise of any authority that previously august body had. He, like Barr, have chosen the path of least resistance for their own self interest.
498
@Kathy
Roberts could have overruled the Senate and required witnesses at that mockery of a trial. But he didn’t.
51
@Kathy Congress must have some tricks. Maybe their budget could be wiped clean. trump would find funds however the federal judiciary would come to a halt.
7
@Kathy
Barr, Roberts, and the whole royalist crowd have not taken the path of least resistance, they are in full agreement with changing our democracy to a monarchy.
28
If this storm cloud has as silver lining, it would be this: with Trump there is no place to hide. You either become a shameless Trumpian toady or at some point are forced to take a stand.
One of the great revelations of the Age of Trump is just how many "respectable" establishment types have twisted themselves into knots in an effort to rationalize or justify Trump's abominable behavior. They all expected, or pretended to expect, that Trump would take a few small symbolic steps toward civility to offer them cover.
But to his everlasting credit, Trump has refused to compromise. He demands total abject submission. Nothing less will do. A choice must be made.
7
Kravis is is a perfect case of a power hungry prosecutor. Power centric and unwilling to cede any of his power to anyone let alone his boss, he decides to quit. That’s his message. Don’t question my judgement. I’m just a line prosecutor but no one should ever question my judgement. Not even the people I work for.
Can you imagine if you were to tell your boss that your judgement (opinion) is final. You’d find a pink slip in your inbox the very same day!
Bottom line this guy hates Republicans no matter who they are. And he hates to be corrected. 7-9 years is what he wants Stone to serve and not a day less. No 6 or 5. Has to be what Kravis wants. Rapists get 3-4 yrs. Armed robbers get 3-5. But Stone, Kravis says, deserves to spend the rest of his life (he’s in his 70’s) in prison. Why? Why not? He’s worse than a rapist or an armed robber. He’s a Trump Republican.
And no matter that Kravis told his bosses that he would make no recommendations ( this is a matter of fact and documented) and then turns around and recommends the 7-9 years. Total insubordination. So good riddance Mr. Kravis. Let’s see how you do in non-government life where things get personal, bosses count and insubordination can get you fired.
3
It's been a real revelation to me to realize that so much of our government's function has been due to the simple decency and honor felt by previous presidents. Even Nixon exhibited honor and decency in the main. trump has shattered that illusion. He's demonstrating in real, present time how a Hitler can happen in a country full of what appeared to be "decent" people. I am scared.
14
I remember when Donald openly complained about Jeff Sessions. He seriously believed that AG's in the past had all acted as fixers for their Presidents. As usual, he was projecting his own devious way of thinking onto others and giving us a warning of what was to come. He couldn't have imagined the gift that would fall in his lap in the form of William Barr. He finally got his Roy Cohn.
13
I never thought I’d live to see the day when the greatest nation on earth willingly destroyed itself all because a clown was put in the White House and allowed to stay there.
16
What genteel and measured wording. I could not muster such restraint in the face of what seems to me to be fascistic destruction of our system.
7
The most fascinating thing to me, beyond Trump and his minion's vile flaunting of law and the constitution, is that three leaders of this process, Trump, Barr, and Giuliani, all hail from New York City, that liberal bastion, and all are from the same birth cohort, ages 69-75.
You'd expect such a threesome to come from the south or midwest in good old Strom Thurmond and Joe McCarthy fashion.
But New York City? What are the odds of that? Is it that the city's excessive liberalism breeds its mirror opposite...a very dark strain of conservatism bordering on totalitarianism?
4
Anybody that works at DOJ and has any shred of integrity should resign. Trump and Barr are 100 times more corrupt than Putin or Duerte and Erdogan and ....
6
I am a Wyoming Republican.
Wyoming is fascist, with one party rule so clear you don't think about it.
Trumpism is how American fascism comes about:
with an elitist authoritarian in the executive branch...with one party rule domination of state and federal upper house legislatures... and submission by politically appointed federal judges.
Activate NDAA 2012 arrest and detention (already law, with no warrant arrest and permanent detention) and we are Iraq...we are Russia... Iran... we are China.
9
If we do not rise up now this Democracy will go like lambs to the slaughter. You out there are you sheep or just complacent. Our precious Democracy is dying and each of you will bear the responsibility for its demise.
Remember: All that is required for Evil to flourish is for good people to do Nothing.
8
9 years for obstruction is just as crazy as the fbi using a complete swat team , seal team, heavy military grade equipment to arrest a Roger Stone in the first place.
9 years is insane. NYT please provide any example of a democrat getting 9 years for obstruction
2
Ask yourself why Obama's Justice dept declined to prosecute Wall Street crooks, or allow timely House investigations of 'Fast and Furious' abuses.
1
You all are barking up the wrong tree. Such resignations won't deter Trump*. Keep in mind that he is clinically a narcissist, a psychopath, and a demagogue by nature. In his mind, for a "disloyal" mid-level employee to resign is only a thing to smile about. It's another small victory, just another step closer to the dream of Absolute Control.
5
I wonder how much longer the NYTimes will exist under this regime? Or any independent new organization that isn’t affiliated with the ruling dictator in charge? This is no longer a republic. It will happen quickly.
5
More people should do this. Nothing like a mass exodus from various agencies. Heck, if you can't look yourself in the mirror before going to work, what's the point of heading there in the first place.
To be second guessed by a corrupt tyrant like Trump makes a mockery of all their training. Not to mention putting your head down and trying to work for justice in a climate that offers anything but.
7
Trump asked for, and got, his Roy Cohn.
William Barr learned he could withhold documents and help his Republican clients get away with anything during the Iran-Contra affair.
Look again at the picture of Jeff Sessions the day he got fired. It was sudden and surprising. He was in shock. Once Trump found his crooked lawyer, it was over very quickly.
5
They are out of control. Does that mean YOU are out of control? Have they unhinged you that much?
What happens when you get a 3rd-generation white collar criminal and head of a mafia-style organization as the President Of The United States?
This. This happens.
What a brilliant idea Putin. Thanks. Thanks so much.
8
The G.O.P. is the Party of Criminals.
If you vote for Republicans, you are voting to support criminal behavior.
9
Well, wasn't Ted Cruz compared to Joe McCarthy? And now, Bill Barr has been likened to Roy Cohn.
The A.G. deserves to be dis-Barr'ed, post haste!
7
This event is not worth taking up space on the NYT or worrying about enough to waste your time writing this opinion. Nobody cares anymore.
Why do we continue to focus on things and prioritize a narration of topics voters could care less about. Immigration reform is much more important for Congress and Democrats to focus on and make a priority.
1
It's your countrymen.This is what they want. Rule.
You pay. They are not only laughing in your face, they just shot your precious dog. Just wounded it. Forced to watch it suffer while they kick it. Just letting you know who's in charge.
Who's crazy?
It'll get worse.
Bernie will be arrested if he wins. A sitting United States Senator, president elect.
Keep your sweet little job. Keep your house and gear. Do plenty recreating and TV watching.
Stay comfy everyone. Particularly you, young Mr Sulzberger. That's all you know.
As long as you continue to pay. They'll laugh in your face as they snatch it. Electronically.
What a bunch of dummies.
What aspect of the Russia Collusion investigation did Roger Stone’s contribution obstruct? Did his words conceal a true fact that would have changed the outcome of the multi-year process? Did he send investigators off in the wrong direction by implicating an innocent party or exonerating a guilty one?
The witness he allegedly meddled did the same with him when informing him of an upcoming WikiLeaks drop of supposedly damning Clinton emails, advising Stone to pretend that he (Stone) didn’t know the guy. From USA Today: ‘In early October 2016, Credico texted Stone: "big news Wednesday ... now pretend u don't know me ... Hillary's campaign will die this week.”’ That same witness also denies feeling intimidated by anything Stone said or texted to him. On February 12, 2020, Politico reported that “Credico recently wrote to the court saying he did not think Stone was threatening him physically...”
Apparently, his big lie was his identifying Randy Credico as the go-between who brought him news of Wikileaks’ Clinton material and intentions regarding it. We are told that in reality, it was Jerome Corsi. What if it was Mr. Magoo? Stone’s foreknowledge of an upcoming event that he had nothing to do with is something that would seem to have no bearing on anything. Why he was asked who told him about them is another mystery.
The emails of H. Clinton, J. Podesta and their friends are a fertile field in which to plow up some criminal indictments. The man who revealed them? Imprisoned.
1
Let's at least do ALL WE CAN to toss out these Republican senators who are up for reelection in November, and who continue to support Trump:
AZ: Martha McSally
CO: Cory Gardner
GA: David Perdue
IA: Joni Ernst
KY: Mitch McConnell
ME: Susan Collins
NC: Thom Tillis
SC: Lindsey Graham
TX: John Cornyn
17
When every professional with scruples and a conscience leaves the Trump administration, there will be nothing left but grasping toadies and slimy bottom feeders, such as Barr and Stone. Trump will be in his element, deep in the boiling swamp of his miasmic corruption, where he'll feed on the reeking carrion that sinks to the bottom.
6
Trump is turning the US into what he called African states -- and selling it as greatness.
6
Can Barr be reported to the Ethics Committee of the Bar Association.
8
HEY NY TIMES! Why relegate the news about the risks of Trump using the National Emergencies Act to a small item on the front page? This is huge, TERRIFYING NEWS and everyone needs to know about it immediately. Remember, any power that Trump can grab, he will (with the aid of his co-conspirators, Barr, Putin and the spineless R's in Congress) and he is never going to give it back while he can still breathe. We need Congress to immediately block his access to these immense powers!
5
It is worse than that. How anyone can even want to escape with entertainment of any kind, when the dangers of DT, and his like minded cult, that he has surrounded himself with in the White House, and Congress, of worshipping fools, are turning our country into a dictatorship by a deranged person.
4
"I could shoot a prosecutor in the street and nobody could do anything about it". Getting close...
4
The constitution is nothing more than a bunch of gentlemen's agreements, full stop.
Your high school civics teacher was wrong.
Pearl clutching shall have little effect.
As Bill Maher said the other night, we know live in the world of oh ya "make me".
After the election everyone of them will be pardoned.
What baffles me to no end is why is any clear thinking person surprised.
The GOP has no intention to hand over power at all costs.
Again "make me"
6
No American citizen who claims to believe in our constitution, our democracy and our rule of law can continue to support this criminal donald trump.
This is beyond outrageous - I consider myself a moderate Republican who grew up in the Midwest.
I’ve lived in NYC since 1980 and watched trump with his mafia style family (yes stone and cohn where all part of that “family”)
lie and steal from anyone who would let him.
Vote my friends, Micheal Bloomberg.
6
What Trump requires and demands is a government and political party whose members pledge total fealty to him. Democracy, who cares? Constitution, who cares? Future of the United States, who cares?
As for Trump's "base" of fools who turn out to bray at his rallies, who cares? As voters, they're powerless; they count for nothing, and they're too dumb to realize it; almost as dumb as those in the Trump administration, who believe they're serving their country.
Trump doesn't require service or competence; he requires belly crawling. Those who want to serve their country need not apply.
4
The Democrats need to be as ruthless and forceful in defending the Constitution as the Republicans are in trying to shred it.
Republicans just refuse to follow the Constitution or the rule of law.
The Democrats need to stay impervious to the authoritarian onslaught.
Don’t take a squirt gun to a gunfight.
4
Elliot Richardson, William Ruckelshaus, now Jonathan Kravis: Integrity, courage, honor, respect for the law, believers in and supporters of Constitution of the United States.
Donald Trump, William Barr: Corrupt, cowardly, dishonor, perversion of the law, traitors to the Constitution.
5
Duh. Senate Republican acquitted Donald. Susan Collins stated this dude would learn a lesson.
2
President Trump reminds me of Dean Wormer’s description of Bluto Blutarsky’s behavior in the movie Animal House: “Fat, drunk and out of control ...” I know the President doesn’t drink but absent that the shoe fits.
3
I am disgusted that there are so few MEN OF INTEGRITY left in the current administration among the Republicans. I applaud the prosecutors who left the Stone case especially the one who left the DOJ. But I have heard only SILENCE from GOP House & Senators unless it is to support Potus or Barr. How anyone can, at this perilous time of dictatorship killing Democracy, I know not!
2
Trump and Barr are setting precedents in the same way that Ken Starr set a precedent in the '90s for investigating every aspect of Clinton's personal and political life (and having come up with nothing, he managed to nab him on a lie about oral sex). These political hacks do whatever they need to do to expand and retain power. And when Bernie seeks control over the Justice Department in 2021 in order to use it for his own political purposes, the Trumpublicans will be yelling and screaming about how un-American Bernie is for abusing his office. So maybe Lindsey Graham and McConnell are enjoying the short-term fruits of the "strong executive" they have fallen in love with---but they'll have to flip-flop once again when the precedent they set becomes the new normal.
2
Barr meddling in sentencing for clearly criminal Trump henchmen is the final sign that the entire cabal feels above the law.
We can only hope that their arrogance will soon tip them into a fatal overreach.
3
Actually Bauer, the revelation that the Jury Foreperson is an anti-Trump activist complete with social media posts is a much bigger deal.
Roger will not see the inside of a cell, for a very long time.
Do your homework, Bobby, it's embarassing
1
No - The President and AG are IN control.
Whenever the "progressive left" has lost power and control at the presidential level over the last five decades, they've freaked out and thrown tantrums...
Its an existential quandary for the loony left - or at least that's what their elite media hero controllers would have them hyperventilating about. The political left (at least as they are characterized by the current, reality engineering, state media - like the NYT or WAPO etc etc etc) has truly become a "secular" CULT - precisely reflecting everything of which they accuse their "religious" "enemies"...
2
We ARE a Banana Republic. Not due to Climate, but because the Dictator is absolutely Bananas.
Thanks, GOP. NOVEMBER.
6
Trump isn’t so much ‘out of control’ as he is very much in control of destroying our Rule of Law. He cares nothing for justice — unless it impacts him and hie heinous, reckless cronies. Trump treats the law like a snowplow: He pushes it out of the way and just keeps on defying it. He is a horrid mess and an embarrassment to the country.
4
This is what a dictatorship looks like. Dictators flout the law. They know the law does not apply to them. They help their toadies commit crimes and then absolve them when they are caught.
Congresses, parliaments, or other governing bodies become nothing but an instrument of the dictator. They all pledge their undying fealty to him personally, and not to the rule of law.
High courts contort their legal analyses to a ridiculous extent so that they ultimately rule that if their dear leader takes an action, then it must be legal (see the Supreme Court's opinions in the Muslim Ban and Wall cases).
In a dictatorship, the law is whatever the dictator says it is. And we see this with every action Trump takes, and every governing body that kowtows to him.
Perhaps many Americans don't yet believe we are in a dictatorship, having seen news reels of the Hitler and Stalinist regimes of the last century. But each dictatorship looks different - and in our case, our dictatorship is quintessentially American. Money buys influence. Money absolves anyone of moral and ethical responsibility. Those with extreme wealth are worshipped in this country, regardless of any of their personal failings.
But make no mistake, we are under the rule of a dictator. Roger Stone will ultimately be pardoned by Trump, as will others who participated in every unlawful action of his (such as Michael Flynn). The only question now is how long we will tolerate living under the boot of a dictator.
8
Well, if Donald Trump thinks he can what? shoot someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it - is anyone really surprised?
3
Just keep adding it up. Barr's dad was the principal that hired Jeffrey Epstein. It's the company you keep. That is who you are. The white-collar mob is running our country. It will turn around. It always does. And those who have supported him who truly know right from wrong are just as guilty for looking the other way. It's shameful. If there is (a) God or reincarnation (and this group of thugs want to make me believe just for this reason), these people should fear that day.
4
Trump is a fascist, as are his closest administration officials. Congressional Republicans are eerily reminiscent of France's Vichy collaborators, Norway's Quislings, during WWII.
Trump is a fascist.
He claims his power is unlimited, and the institutions we've counted on are crumbling. They were weak and and pliable to outside manipulators, and Trump has pushed them into meaninglessness, other than tools of his quest for absolute power.
He is a fascist.
I do wish the Times and commentators here would recognize what has happened and begin pushing back.
That the job of journalism.
7
Thank Comey, McCabe, et al for the sorry state of the FBI and DOJ. The footage of the FBI goons with AK’s marching up to Stone’s house in the wee hours of the morning to arrest him was not only frightening, but totally unwarranted and bizarre! Who was the leader in charge of this fiasco? Any attorney will tell you the “recommended” sentence by the anti/Trump prosecutors was way out of line and over the top. Trump tweeted “after” the fact, and not before. But, I agree, he shouldn’t have tweeted at all.
1
I am sure Susan Collins can explain this.
4
I had no idea that Barr would turn out to be both so corrupt and so spineless. I fully support any prosecutor who has to walk out in the face of this unethical conduct, and I wish them well going forward. I'd like to quit this whole mess right about now myself.
4
Trump Undermines R Democracy
every day, every minute
vote blue no matter who
4
Trump and Barr are out of control & Trumpublicans shrug:
Resisting Trump’s threat to American democracy begins with clear-eyed recognition of what designs he has on political power. It also should be a wakeup call to those who have become witting and unwitting accomplices in that transformation.
"For senior administration lawyers to just manage these kinds of conflict — ignoring Mr. Trump’s tweets and disregarding his inappropriate if not unlawful presidential orders — allows the abnormal to become normal and professional standards to crumble.
The prosecutor who resigns rather than remain in a decaying institution is upholding crucial norms. To his credit at least one lawyer has chosen to do this even if it is the rare case and it may have come too late to protect the Department of Justice from Mr. Trump’s demands and Attorney General Barr’s apparent willingness to accommodate them."
Bob Bauer: professor of practice and distinguished scholar in residence at New York University School of Law was a White House counsel in the Obama administration. NYT 02/12/20
https://www.justsecurity.org/68585/the-friday-night-massacres-broader-context-trumps-redesign-for-american-democracy/
2
The problem with resigning is that it ensures that a shill will replace you.
3
Look on the bright side, he's still going to serve time and it isn't like he was pardoned..
Here's a long list of Bill Clinton's Presidential Pardons, many of these nefarious characters still deserve to be behind bars.
https://www.justice.gov/pardon/clinton-pardons
1
Bob,
That's a nice note. You're highly qualified to voice an opinion on the matter.
You were an Obama team member.
That's what matters to republicans & they discredit you without investigation.
That's our new world.
Only way to change it...November....or Canada.
1
I could care less what the Trumpicans misthink, and the other's who've sold their souls to Trump. I want to know what the American Bar Association thinks.
3
You mean they are in control.)))
I can't think of one single reason why Mr. Kravis can't go on CNN to tell his story, before the IMPEACHED so-called president's goons go after him.
1
This is a narrative setup for yet another sedition attempt, release 4.0 (following Crossfire Hurricane, Mueller’s RussiaGate, Schiff’s whistleblower / UkraineGate) and is being run by Lafayette shills in a desperate ruse to deflect coming Indictments against FBI, CIA, State Dept, and other officials and former officials. It will blow up in their faces like all previous efforts and contribute to the death of the Democratic Party.
Were they ever under control? Let’s face it, the lunatics continue to run the asylum.
2
I'm following this story over the last 45 minutes.
Seems like we're being hijacked ---- right now.
Next thing you know, Manafort and Gates will be released from their prison sentences, but Michael Cohen ---who said Trump was a con-man, a cheat, and a racist --- will be forced to remain beyond his sentence.
This farce has got to stop. Wake up people --- if you have any sense of decency or honesty. This is more than we can take and we're not going to take it any more.
3
The slow moving coup continues on as we devolve into a dictatorship...
3
Barr was in the bag starting with his Mueller Report announcement.We have a President that pardons his co conspirators in the ultimate quid pro quo.
2
"Bob Bauer, a professor of practice and distinguished scholar in residence at New York University School of Law, was a White House counsel in the Obama administration.
The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor."
The author of this article is just another Obama holdover, precisely the type of guy in Trump's administration that our great president should have weaned out before taking the reins of the government over three years ago. Of course Mr. Bauer is going to criticize the president for anything and everything. Just like all the other loser holdovers that Trump should have gotten rid of right from the get-go. To me, that is the only mistake Trump made and he would be the first to admit it. The other 153 accomplishments, the appointment of two great federal judges were fantastic political moves. It is obvious to anyone except the radical, almost fascist American left whose banner the NYT touts with a flourish, that 9 years for Roger Stone is ridiculous, and that since the FAL (fascist American left) can't get Trump through Adam Schitt or any of his henchmen, they're putting any person who's worked with Trump in jail on cooked up charges filed in a kangaroo court (e.g. the House trials of Kavanaugh and Trump). Washington and New York City are swamps that Trump is rightly going after but the Swamps themselves are projecting their swampiness onto Trump et al and derisively naming it "Fox News" stuff.
2
Nine years in prison for process crimes? And to bellyache endlessly about the intrusion of the executive powers into an obvious prosecutorial overreach is astonishing. This is a miscarriage of justice. To demand the maximum sentence possible for a man whose major crime was being a jerk is insane. That the left demands this pound of flesh demeans them.
1
To the ethical and brave prosecutors who are resigning: thank you for standing up for our constitution and for justice itself. To Bill Barr, relishing. Resign now - you are completely corrupt.
2
Barr is going to spend the rest of his life in prison, we will see to it, preferably alongside Trump and the rest of his criminals. The "State" is nothing but buildings and people, these can be set up anywhere.
So much for the impartiality of justice and the American legal system's folklorist separation from the political circus. Any individual who had anything at all to do with this Trump debacle should, himself, be fired and told to get a real job somewhere. Acquittal or not, Trump remains out of control. Disgusting.
1
Most people don't care about this.
Keep their big screen TVs humming along, their 401ks doing well, the price of gas low and they are just fine, thank you very much.
That is, until something hits them smack in the face and they realize they are living in a dictatorship.
Then it's too late.
We are effectively living in a dictatorship. The senate do not pass bills the House sends them and they ignored all requests for evidence and witnesses in the recent impeachment hearings.
The DOJ is controlled by the White House. The White House never has press conferences any more, unless you count where Trump stands up at a podium and has one of his meltdowns.
The man is obviously mentally and emotionally in bad shape. Why he hasn't been removed from office is a travesty.
3
"William Barr, suggests that he accepts, to a disturbing degree, the president’s desire for a politically responsive Justice Department. "
. . . . .
I am struck by the kindness of the NYT's characterization of 'the president's desire'.
Out of control? Gosh, you think? The baying for vengeance, the vulgarity, the personal smears and assaults, the firings, the corruption, the whole heads-on-a-pike spectacle has this American citizen in absolute despair. And the juggernaut just keeps on rolling with Republican cheering for the lions to be loosed.
3
Barr's actions show that he's no more than a prostitute and if or when change finally comes should be investigated for such.
3
"Trump and Barr Are Out of Control"
With respect to Mr. Bauer, Donald Trump has been out of control since he was a child. He flunked out of more than one prep school for poor grades, was forced to leave at least one school because of disruption in classes and bullying fellow students, tried to steal his father Fred's real estate empire by illegally changing his will(!), has been found guilty of applying illegal and unfair housing policies toward minorities (and reportedly still does at the hands of his sons), and has been running amok virtually his entire miserable life. He now imagines himself to be King Donald the First, waving a scepter about to laud praise on this one, and brutally punish that one, all while dividing America, disrupting the courts and other institutions, and wrecking our standing in the world.
To say that phony president Trump is "out of control" is one of the understatements of our age. In just over three years, Trump—with the help of his nefarious goons and greedy, GOP SINators who only care about their perks, power and PAC money—has done more harm to America, our precious Constitution and our very democracy than any person in our 240-year history.
4
Trump got acquitted, so should Roger Stone. What's wrong with this picture?
The problem with a good person resigning is that Trump will replace him with a bad person, further eroding the longstanding integrity of the Justice Department and sucking it into Trump's swamp. So now the see-no-evil Senate, the Justice Department, and likely the Supreme Court are nothing more than Trump's rubber stamps. As for the upcoming Presidential election, the skewed Electoral College and Democratic disarray advantage Trump. I am afraid things will get much worse before they get better.
1
What nonsense. Stone was selectively prosecuted BECAUSE he was a Trump associate. SWAT team at 5 a.m.
These four are a group of Deep State prima donnas who can't accept supervision. Good riddance.
40% of America seems comfortable with Trumpian-GOP lawlessness.
There's a healthy segment of America that prefers Russian-style oligarchy to the rule of law.
This won't end well for America.
Vote as if your country's survival depends on it....because there's a lawless gang in charge of America right.
RED ALERT.
November 3 3020
Hit the GOP EJECT button.
6
Let's see if the the good judge will reject the DOJ change or heart and maybe add a few years to the sentence as a warning to the President and Barr.
Also, isn't it time to impeach Barr?
Trump is showing again nd again that he is unfit to be president of the USA and the same goes for his puppy dog William Barr.
Both judicial indepence and the integrity of the DOJ are at stake.
1
I can't recall reading another an op-ed piece that said so little with so many words.
The republican response to this atrocity is deafening in it's silence
1
How many years did the FBI lawyers get for falsifying a FISA warrant application? How many years did Kevin Clinesworth get for altering the email about Carter Page’s work for the CIA? Just wondering.
Trump will pardon Stone. Just watch.
1
To my Senators, Burr and Tillis - you own this. You had a chance to rein in lawlessness in the Executive Branch, and you chose political expediency and your future careers instead. Every unethical, unscrupulous, and illegal thing this president does moving forward is on you. You have failed our nation, and we will all be paying the price for a long time to come. Disgusting.
1
Trump is a wannabee king george III and william benedict arnold barr a traitor willing to sell out for God only knows what the price is this time. Before it was some upstart revolutionaries and west point for £20,000, today it's a country and a democracy for probably several million in some hidden offshore account.
1
I'm no expert but Trump must be right up there with the most unethical and corrupt Presidents of all time. He makes Mitch McConnell pale in comparison, not as easy thing to do.
President Trump is a lying, corrupt and dangerous person. He needs to be removed from office.
1
Trump and Barr skipping happily into the future....no Department of Justice or rule of law, no Constitution, EPA, Department of Education and all the rest...down the toilet. No consequences....I need to say it again...NO consequences. When did everyone in Washington become so afraid of Trump? Sure, he is a vile person, but scary? No....not so scary. Ways to beat Trump...challenge him to a foot race, a salad eating contest, a spelling bee, or make him explain to his "base" who pays for his tariffs. He is just a mean guy who has our whole government cowering in a corner...what is that sound that chickens make?
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What's odd is that the prosecutors are only making a recommendation which is within standards that are already available to the judge in this case. Those standards are also, clearly, available to the rest of the Justice Department, making the profession of "shock" look like that line in "Casablanca."
Abusing the judge in a case like this is just stupid, because she has the perfect cover for her decision on sentancing in the federal guidelines. 7 to 9, Roger. See yuh.
1
Trump and Barr pose a threat to every single American.
Republicans, Trump supporters - this means YOU.
Dictators and their henchmen don't recognize their friends if it isn't expedient. They won't be nice to their enablers. They won't be grateful and allow YOU to have civil rights and freedom even as they cut off the rest of us at the knees.
For heaven's sake stand up to this.
2
It's time to impeach Trump, again, and Barr. They are corrupting our government to their own personal use. Next, they'll be throwing those who disagree with them in jail, or more likely, Guantanamo.
1
Not true...Trump and his lap dog are in total control and with no functioning Republican Party to bring them to heel, it’s only going to get worse...
The Great Purge, also known as the “Great Payback,” was a brutal political campaign led by American dictator Donald Trump and his Procurator General, William Barr, to eliminate dissenting members of the Republican Party and anyone else he considered a threat. Although estimates vary, most experts believe several thousand people disappeared during the Great Purge, which took place between about 2016 and 2024. More than a million other people were sent to forced labor camps, known as Trump Re-education Centers (TRCs). This ruthless and bloody operation caused rampant terror throughout the United States and led to the country's decline into tribalism.
3
can't wait to see trump's pardon list at the end.
1
I am sorry, but Barr must be on some other payroll in addition to the U.S. Federal Government. Are there rubles in his bank accounts? Is he working for some oligarchs or directly for Putin?
1
Acid is corroding metal.
Trump & Barr is wrecking team, they are here to dismantle and deconstruct United States Federal Government.
I am amazed that the American public has not been more vocal about Trump's clear lawlessness & ignorance. The prosecutors did not come to a sentence in thin air. The used the sentencing guidelines-a kind of connect the misdeeds-way of calculating sentences.
Trump & Barr are a danger to the rule of law & spit on the Constitution almost daily. As an immigrant (naturalized citizen) from a former banana republic, what Trump & Co. are doing in our faces w/ no one except the loyal opposition calling a spade a spade, this nation is in big trouble.
The stock market & employment rate are not what made America great. The founders left tyranny & royal lawlessness across The Pond. I guess it is true....Americans are the most spoiled people on the planet. You are willing to destroy what the world admires in your values of basic decency, fairness, & willingness to shoulder the burden of leading the collective to higher ground. That spoiled little rich boy con man turned traitor in the White House will ruin the nation if you do not checkmate him at the ballot box in November.
1
they never were in control, at least not from a logical point of view. trump is an aspiring despot who has long been fantasizing over putin's control and barr has been with him since he wrote him a letter saying ridiculous things about how wrong the mueller report was that got him into trump's justice department.
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All those visits with Trump paid off... probably getting helpful hints on how to be a despot!
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The prosecutors resigning did the honorable and appropriate thing. However, this IS what Trump wants - to flush out the non-believers.
Trump doesn’t care, it’s ALL about him. Not you. Not me. Not America. Him.
We certainly don’t want to upset our “dear leader” Trump by asking him to follow the rule of law.
Will Judge Jackson be the next one to feel the wrath of Trump for daring to question him?
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After the DOJ reversal, Trump denied that he had instructed officials to change the sentencing recommendation.
"I'd be able to do it if I wanted. I have the absolute right to do it," Trump told reporters. But he added, "I stay out of things."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/482811-judge-denies-roger-stone-request-for-new-trial%3famp
Our President advances a new caricature from the caricature that he last established. He breaks one norm (AG impartiality), so he can break the next. Next stop --- real time protection for his law-breaking operatives like Roger Stone.
All four (4) prosecutors REFUSED to be party to William "P as in Puppet" Barr's -- Favors For Felons Protecting THE BOSS.
Barr wants a king, so he is pushing for that King any way he can, He couldn't make Bush the King so now he is feeding Trump the same lines and now that he got the nod to be DOJ head flunky, he is pushing us ever closer to the POTUS of his party being the King, The GOP don't care, as they hope one day they will be courtiers to the King. They will of course say that there can never be a King if their party isn't in charge. Just watch these pages for all Hail to the King features soon.
America is a failed experiment as of this POTUS.
Barr takes issue with China's military stealing hacking/stealing the personal data of 145 million Americans from Equifax, while Trump requests China to "investigate" the Bidens. You can't make this stuff up.
Control the Justice Department, control the media, control the elections and then, sadly, we are Russia.
"....Mr. Trump's demands and Attorney General Barr's apparent willingness to accommodate them."
Suggestion: Scratch the word "apparent".
Somehow another shoe must drop. The question is: Do the American people at large have the will to engage a General Strike to protest and call a halt to (1) the mass corruption (2) the collapse of our government institutions (3) the prostitution of the Rule of Law (if it's there at all). An upcoming national election in all this: What for??
I believe all the prosecutors who resigned were appointed by Obama or by Obama appointees. I believe all of the four are also Democrats.
Now why do I think this is not a coincidence?
Oh, and of course the author of this article served under Obama.
Just another coincidence, I guess.
Based on all that I've witnessed under Trump's presidency, should we expect to see Judge Jackson golfing at Mar-a-Lago, awaiting her Supreme Court appointment after she sentences Roger Stone to a suspended sentence?
Does anyone think the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (that would be Lindsey) will investigate this latest Trump “drug deal”?
This is your fault, Republicans. You need to man up and take control of the situation that you have let built up such momentum, it's like a freight train heading downhill.
No. The old hangers-on are out of control. Nine years for this old cartoon jokester involved in the "Russia" investigation is ridiculous. Really fundamentally unfair. UNBELIEVABLE.
I could not be happier that four rabid Trump hating prosecutors have resigned. Continue to drain the swamp Mr. President!
You make it sound like these guys are so thin skinned. Stand up for what you believe rather than run away
Why does Trump commit these abominable and corrupt acts ? Because he can. He is emboldened and fears nothing. Trump can now do whatever he wants and knows there will be no recourse. I shudder to think how far he will go.
Personally, I think a very dramatic message must be sent to Washington, and those able, will make a statement that will have the republicans act like chickens without heads.
They have asked for it.
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The United States became an illiberal democracy. And the people did nothing except resignedly bemoan the situation. No calls for impeaching Barr or Trump for the flagrant assault on institutions. The country is lost. You surrendered it.
Why didn't he wait until Stone was sentenced, to pardon him?
Oh, America! How are you allowing this to happen? The erosion of an independent judicial system is another step on the road to authoritarianism. Where are your big moral voices? Stand up Obama, stand up Bush; say something. Please, rally the voices of sanity and don't stand by and watch as your democracy is trodden into the dirt.
Eamon Hardy
I'm surprised at Attorney General Barr, who I didn't take for a Trump rally sort, unlike committed Trumpite former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. But at this point Barr might as well start wearing a XL red MAGA cap with his suits, and join in with the Trumpian classics like "Build that Wall" or "Lock her Up" Sadly, he's become little more than another Sessions with a slightly better legal resume'. We know how that ended for Sessions! When you decide to give up principle for this president, there's no end to the humiliations in store for you...
McCarthyism will be nothing compared to the damage Trump and Barr will inflict on America if Trump wins (whether through corruption or otherwise) on Nov 3, 2020. The only way to stop them at this point is to vote for whoever is the Democratic nominee.
Bernie Sanders and Sanders' supporters, do you hear me???
When will Trump be held accountable for his blatant disregard of the law!?
White I respect the integrity of the prosecutor to resign on principle, I doubt this administration will receive that message of reprimand that many might expect to be conveyed. I suspect this administration will simply scream "bad cop" and grim gleefully that they have an open high important position into which they can insert a sycophant without having to go through some politically costly process like the Ambassador Yovanovitch situation. The glaring gall searing against the sense of proper rule-of-law many readers of NYT expect and respect likely lands on key members of this administration as maybe a slight stink but for some a completely gleeful disdain for and dominance over common people's law. "Look what we did/do. Do you truly think laws restrict us, we who are brave enough to push law's limits beyond what you weaklings dare?"
People inside this administration are in tough waters -- resign because your conscience can't participate in what they do, or persist tainting your own integrity in the aspiration to help clean up the act. I suppose C. Vindman tried the latter. Look how a shameless Trump administration stomps all over upstanding comportment, and so far still seems to be getting away with it. How many of them are getting cash from Russia?
Were the democrats out of control when they started to impeach trump before he took office? This is called reaping what you sow folks. Enjoy.
When will the public march to make their statement against this administration?
The reality tv President has got himself a new gig. True Crime. Episode 1– set in the 50s and shot in black and white. The Don calls up the DA, who’s in his pocket. (Low music.) He’s upset. One of his henchmen is going to be sentenced to prison for lying in a failed attempt to cover up for the Don. The Don’s upset. (Lower music.)He barks into the phone, “fix it.” The DA scrambles to fix it while the Don threatens the judge. Meanwhile the good prosecutors who’ve won the case on behalf of “the people,” when they learn how corrupt the DA is, quit in disgust. (Cigarette smoke and fade out.) Episode 2– set in the 50s and shot in black and white. The Don threatens everybody, with odd and meaningless hand gestures, who testified and told the truth....
So they quit. Trump is no doubt quaking in his boots. The only way to stop Trump is at at the ballot box,and Democrats could shoot themselves in the face by electing an ancient socialist with no accomplishments.
By discussing the effectiveness of resignations, you've been assuming you're dealing with a rational actor.
You're not. Trump is incredibly thin-skinned and hypersensitive to criticism, making him irretrievably paranoid and hostile when questioned in the most benign way.
He is ALWAYS right. ALWAYS. He MUST always be right because to be anything else would require him to think deeply about things--and he is both shallow, incredibly lazy and pathologically vain, so since he has no capacity for serious consideration, NO serious consideration of anything can be permitted. You just obey him. That's it. Any insubordination regardless of justification (ESPECIALLY if you steal his thunder or show him up) is too confusing for him--his mind can't handle it--so if you're a source of unease or confusion for him, you're not just fired--he has to totally humiliate and discredit you so that you can't come back later and pose a problem for him.
These latest resignations will only provoke a knee-jerk hostile reaction and will do nothing to temper trump's mercurial, loose-cannon behavior. We're doomed to suffer that for the duration, and by that I mean all the way until 1/20/21, Not November 3.
Imagine the catastrophic damage this cretin can do in the 2 1/2 MONTHS after he loses the election (while refusing to accept defeat and claiming the election was rigged).
I swear he won't leave--he'll have to be physically dragged out, kicking and screaming all the way.
He is like a chigger.
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Blame the Republican Senate. They gave Trump a free pass with his acquittal on the impeachment charges. He now can conduct open warfare on his perceived deep state enemies.
We'll be seeing a lot more of this despicable behavior in the weeks and months ahead. And if he's reelected its doomsday for America.
A question for Susan Collins: What has trump learned?
Kravis, like Romney, is an American hero for standing up to a rogue president and attorney general who are quickly turning us into a banana republic. Kravis also gave up his job.
So The President decries sentencing an old nonviolent offender to 7 to 9 years in prison. Obviously, you people are professionals at manufacturing problems that don’t exist. Go back to figuring out which pronouns are acceptable.
I've pretty much given up hope in this country. The GOP has told trump he can do absolutely anything he wants, however corrupt or unlawful, with absolutely no threat of consequences. In fact, they viciously attack anyone who tries to do the right thing by calling out this corruption.
If we, the American people allow this travesty to continue, as we seem to be doing, the Republic is doomed.
I suspect the three prosecutors who did not resign (like the fourth did) likely will be fired very soon. Trump already is threatening them by tweet. I suspect he will have Barr cook up a reason to fire them. The Supreme Court's Republican-picked majority will stay mute, as will Senate Republicans. This is all so terrible.
The Trump regime has reduced the once respected Justice Dept. to a corrupt ambulance-chasing firm Dewey, Lie, and Howe.
I am guessing the only people sleeping well at night are the people doing whatever Trump tells them to do. BUT how can they sleep well knowing they are supporting a despicable person?
Trump and his sycophants and enablers - including AG Barr - believe that they are (and ought to be) above the law. The Republican Party has made it clear they are determined to ensure that belief becomes reality.
This is worse than Nixon and Mitchell.
Proof that the Rubicon has been crossed. Thank you dear Republicans for successfully turning this democracy into a Banana like Republic. What's next?
Immoral and spineless are words to describe those qualifications that Trump admires. He also desires people around him who tend to look like him, i.e., Barr and Pompeo. Vote them out!
Are we still pretending Mueller "completed" his investigation? It seems even more obvious after the events of this week that Barr was ushered in and Mueller was promptly shut down.
Trump is the sine qua non of this sordid regime but it is equally appalling that there is no shortage of fellow travelers, sycophants and simple opportunists ready to do his bidding and fill any void created by the departures of persons of integrity who act on principle.
President Trump must pardon Roger Stone, who has done absolutely nothing, I repeat nothing, wrong. Thank you.
Trump is deliberately and openly making the DOJ into a Putin-style attack dog. Well, maybe not dog. Barr and Trump can’t summon the integrity of a dog between them.
If Trump actually thinks Stone is getting a raw deal, he could subsequently grant a pardon or commuted sentence without trampling on DOJ independence.
But, Trump wants his toadies—including every GOP Senator and Congressman, save one or two—to understand what he’s doing, and cower as they always do.
Trump and Barr Are Out of Control
This is nothing new and repubs are willing accomplices as they value power and control...certainly not a democracy.
Unless William Barr is impeached then we have to admit the country is in autocratic control of Dictator Trump who can now investigate and punish those he dislikes and excuse those he likes of crimes they've committed; all accomplished with the all powerful Justice Department.
Can you say...Banana Republic?
Law. So passé to the Trump administration and the Republican Party.
“When one with honeyed words but evil mind
Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.”
― Euripides, Orestes
Trump is a voracious eater of all control of all things. It ain’t over yet.
It is long past time to remove these unfit people (trump and barr) from office. Barr should be disbarred. These “men” have no decency and we do not need people of this caliber in our government.
Trump tweets and all his weak-kneed zealots jump. Who else in the last century wielded such power? And who are they who enable that power to return so soon in this century? And do so despite America losing 400,000+ of its young fighting the last fascist scourge. They did not die for America to be front and center of the dreadful reawakening of fascist ideals.
Naive politicians need to wake up to the comparison, for it is evident and quite real. In the 1930s they didn't think it was real either, but they, at least, had less history with which to understand the implication. 80 million global dead is quite an implication.
Isn't "Out of Control" the whole point?
So the principled officials resign . . . and Trump replaces them with hacks and sycophants. Then what?
The Roger Stone sentencing fiasco is that Stone, even accepting the worst plausible gloss on his crimes, is a 67-year-old nonviolent first offender. If the criminal-justice “reform” fad were authentic, and not a stratagem of social-justice warriors who have taken Washington’s surfeit of useful idiots for a ride, then we could all agree that the original seven-to-nine-year sentence advocated by prosecutors was too draconian. But no. Like criminal-justice “reform,” the Stone prosecution is more politics than law enforcement. It was the Mueller probe’s last gasp at pretending there might be something to the Russia-collusion narrative. On Tuesday, the DOJ filed a revised sentencing memo, which does not recommend a specific sentence but strongly suggests that a term calculated without the eight-point enhancement — i.e., between 37 and 46 months’ imprisonment. The new memo concedes that the prosecutors’ calculation in the original memo was “arguably” correct, but contends that it would be unreasonable under the circumstances. On that score, the memo relies on Credico’s dismissal of the threat; the fact that a sentence driven by the guidelines enhancement would be wildly out of proportion with prison terms imposed in cases similar to Stone’s; Stone’s being a first-offender and Stone’s advanced age and failing health.This is an entirely reasonable recommendation, even if the process of arriving at it has been a train wreck. In the end Trump will pardon him anyway. Love the politics
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Kravis and his cohorts overreached, just as they did for most of the Mueller saga. The "enhancements" they proposed are just a slap at a president they detest.
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Hello America, 40 years of the Reagan revolution have given the country over to lawyers who, at best, disrespect the law, and at worse act like McConnell, Graham, and Barr. By any measure the US is a country run by criminals.
Move over Russia the US is now the most powerful kleptocracy in the world.
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A Banana Republic in the guise of a democracy. You made a terrible and ghastly error in 2016, and Mmes Collins, Murkowski et al, in 2020. You have supported the Head Banana, and now reap what you have sown. How is this experiment working out for you all?
The scary question is how many members of the Barr Association are there at DOJ. We know how many are in the Senate. Pay attention folks.
The scary thought is if that DOJ lawyers resign en masse, who will take their place?
The resignations I want to see are those of the Republican Senators who voted against impeachment–especially those from states with Dem governors: Susan Collins (ME), Cory Gardner (CO), Pat Roberts (KS), Jerry Moran (KS), Mitch McConnell (KY), Rand Paul (KY), Bill Cassidy (LA), John Kennedy (LA), Steve Daines (MT), Richard Burr (NC), Tom Tillis (NC), Pat Toomey (PA), Shelly Moore Capito (WV), and Ron Johnson (WI).
"The will of the Prince has the force of law..." Machiavelli
Congress needs to do its job, but as Trump, it is incompetent and incapable. All those aiding and abetting these illegal and unconstitutional acts should be impeached, removed and tried for treason for their overt actions of destroying our Democracy and aiding our enemies, whether it is physical war, cyber war or abuse, division and illegal actions against their own citizens. It is time for ACLU to file a class action lawsuit on behalf of Americans against Trump, the Cabinet, Republicans in Congress to remove, impeach and jail all that are intentionally destroying the Democracy and blatantly and illegally ignoring the Constitution and laws by which they all have taken an oath to uphold. The people and the Constitution have been raped Congress and now by Trump and Judiciary. Citizens have no rights or protections while Trump, the Judiciary and Congress do as they please. Most disturbing, is Trump is pathologically dangerous and mentally incapacitated and everyone has normalized Trump's outrageous insanity to join him in his unreality show. Ignoring laws, procedures and norms is not Democracy. We have an abusive tyrant, as the one which led to the founding of this country. This tyrant is destroying the country.
"Tweeting" has to go as a form of communication from our White House to the American public. It has allowed Donald to be the "400 lb guy on a bed" to stream of consciousness his way through a job that requires thought.
This president is corrupt and needs to go.
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NYT - can you find out if there is a way for citizens, "we the people," to bring a legal action against Barr to return the judiciary to an independent body? Just asking. And if any Constitutional lawyers read this, please feel free to opine.
Huh? Trump continues to drain the swamp. Barr, an excellent AG, has taken control of the DOJ - about time. Finally, the stain left by Holder and Lynch are being scrubbed.
It's a good time for America. The sun is rising and it's about to be morning in America again. I'm so sorry that your complaints are falling on deaf ears.
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It's incumbent on the House of Representatives to impeach him again.
Out if control? Apparently not!
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You think? Of course. John Mitchell was convicted and imprisoned. So was Spiro Agnes. We have lost our way.
Where is the genuine outrage? Andrew Johnson was impeached -- twice.
This is not a time to give up. Trump certainly has not. This is how Democracy slowly dies.
Mitch McConnell will do nothing.
If a democracy falls in the middle of the woods, does it make a sound?
This latest incident reminds me of the Saturday Night Massacre in the Nixon administration during Watergate. I had hoped we would never have occasion for the likes of that again, but here we are.
"Out of Control" is a nonspecific description of what Trump and Barr are doing. Trump is using/abusing the power of the Office of the President to protect and reward a co-conspirator who committed crimes to help cover up Trump's attempt to cheat in the 2020 election. And, Barr is acting more like a mob boss' consigliori than Attorney General of the U.S.
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Like all the wise folks have been saying lately – autocracy doesn’t land on your doorstep with tanks ushering in revolution, it creeps in slowly by the degrading of institutions and by the complicit failure of individuals to take a stand. This is indeed the “break-glass-in-case-of-emergency” moment as former counterintelligence chief David Laufman said. Where do we go from here, people? The vitriol is unprecedentedly high on both sides. This is not a test. I repeat, this is not a test…
The History books will expose this 2020 Senate as mystifying, corrupt, and very cowardly.
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Nancy tore up a speech; Trump tears up the Constitution every day.
Of all the obscenities made manifest in the Trump/Barr weaponization of the Justice Department, few are as vulgar as this:
As Trump/Barr seek to redeem and polish the reputations of corrupt faux-patriots, sell-outs and liars such as Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn and Rudy Giuliani, they, with equal vigor, seek to smear and destroy the lives of those who have faithfully served their country for lifetimes---think Lt. Colonel Vindman.
I hear that Susan Collins is "troubled," that Corey Gardner is "vexed," that Lisa Murkowski thinks that Trump has "perhaps crossed a line," that Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio had to get extra starch in their shirts today so that they can stand upright and that Mitch McConnell is exultant.
They are complicit in the vulgarity. They will not hold Trump/Barr accountable. Hence, it is up to us to hold them accountable, throw them out of office and then hold Trump/Barr accountable by throwing them out as well.
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The entrepreneur Clark Stanley, aka the ‘Rattlesnake King’, claimed that he had learned about the power of rattlesnake oil from Hopi medicine men. He was a sensation at the 1893 World’s Fair and the crowds snapped up his liniment. Years later his ‘snake oil’ was found to be primarily mineral oil; his customers had been had. When will Trump’s supporters realize that this charlatan is cut from the same cloth as Stanley and his confederates – they have sold the American public a bill of goods and are and will continue to feather their own nests before leaving John Q Public in dire straits. POTUS is by far the most dangerous leader in the world today.
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Obama weaponized the DOJ so much it became the enforcement arm of the liberal Democratic Party. President Trump has reversed that course to return the DOJ to legitimacy.
Those are simply the facts.
I don't believe that these resignations are doing the country a favor. On the contrary, it is a disservice.
Trump and his sycophants are fighting dirty. That, in my opinion, should be met with forceful determination by the prosecutors and all in the DOJ who do not submit to Barr's will to become subservient to Trump's whims. Instead they should fight with added vigor for the institution they swore an oath to serve and the laws of the nation.
Trump is now effectively a dictator. Rule of law does not apply to him. Democracy? What democracy?He continually calls his rivals corrupt - and without a hint of evidence - But HE is the most corrupt of all and the US establishment are letting him get away with it.Talk about a banana republic.
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Session, who Trump derided with names and made fun of his looks, turned out to actually have some backbone.
Barr, who looks like a bulldog, turns out to be a jellyfish.
Go figure.
2
The Stone* issue is just the tip of the iceberg. 45* simply must meddle with everything around him so that the oversight systems in our government can't work properly. It's typical criminal and corrupt behavior! 45* is out of control and needs to be removed/replaced!
I never thought the whole Ukraine mass was an impeachable offense. I thought Dem will put their own foot under ax with that mass from the beginning.
This, to me, is a clear impeachable offense. Obstruction of justice, in my opinion, an impeachable offense in any angle any time any circumstance. Too bad, Dem already used their chance.
So what can we do to stop the out of control dictatorship of Trump? My state's Senators are total Trump sycophants and enablers. I don't see a Democratic candidate who can beat Trump. Are we going to need a second American Revolution by the majority of us who don't support Trump to destroy Trump.
It definitely is not Trump and Barr who are out of control, it is the Democrats. The Dems just impeached Trump without real evidence even after taking testimony from the 17 "witnesses" they called and who all gave opinions, presumption and guesses based on conjecture which is not real evidence of anything. Of course, Trump was duly acquitted at the Senate trial because the foolish Democrat's did not have a case with actual evidence that Trump was guilty of impeachable offenses. Now they want to do it again. The Democrats are truly insane. “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
This would be fine if the President applied his disgust to all the people who are sent to prison for many years for nothing. Other countries do fine without the draconian prison sentences Bauer advocates for all Americans. His solution to everything is "lock Americans up!" The problem with what Trump is doing is that he does it only for his friends. FTP!
One cannot be neutral about the kind of corruption we see here. If one doesn't stand against the corruption one stands for it. These people are rotten to the core and for the good of all humankind must be removed from office as soon as possible.
2
Trump and Barr are not out of control. The rest of us are. We have lost control of our democracy, our system of governance and the rule of law.
They were wrested from us by grasping, spineless criminals in congress who chose to line their own pockets instead of representing the people, and to follow the money even if it meant allying themselves with a corrupt creep.
These crimes happened in broad daylight for all to see. Each day we've read the headlines, everyone else waiting for someone else to act. We saw it all unfold like an accident in slow motion.
We lost it.
Trump welcomes these resignations as he can replace them with his own acolytes. This is exactly how dictators consolidate their hold on power. It seems American democracy was an illusion sustained by the white patriarchy to maintain their hold on power. Now they have decided that the illusion is no longer necessary, and that naked power is far more effective now. Perhaps America has always been a banana plantation where the tools of power have just evolved from the bullwhip and the gun to gerrymandering and voter suppression, with a dose of naked corruption, to keep the worker masses toiling in a false mirage of democracy.
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Unhinged and unleashed.
Thanks again, Senate.
Hope we meet again in November.
Not just out of control, they now more officially uncontrollable. The sole constitutional check on their abuse of power he been declared null and void by Senate Republicans.
"Trump and Barr are out of control" - I stopped reading after the title.
They are not, 'out-of-control'. Quite the opposite. You now have an autocracy on your hands. trump is the dictator. barr is his enforcer.
Your representatives - mostly the Reps but also the Dems have given them the keys to the kingdom. The citizenry of the US has been too busy letting themselves be divided - or with one or other sporting event - to react and revolt.
Fascinating watching the death of a Republic. It's also very very sad and scary. Makes me wish that trump would have built a northern wall too.
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---Trump Unleashed and Unhinged Retribution Tour couldn't happen without 52 Republican Senators(not Mitt Romney--he gets vertebrate species exemption)
They always have been out of control. It is just more visible.
A bottomless pit of coruption all round.
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And to think we ALL thought Jeff Sessions was a bad AG.
Most articles I'm reading are leaving out the crucial information that the prosecutors who quit did not 'invent' the recommended sentencing as a way to 'punish Stone.' These are guidelines previously established.
https://youtu.be/YnC-2UUm3LM
The House should now impeach Bill Barr.
As one of the counts could deal with his role in the Ukraine extortion, Bolton could be subpoenaed.
It is not like the Senate is going to take up any House-passed legislation.
Get to it Nancy!
Craven thugs are in charge .. that much has been clear for awhile. More investigations won't change that, but, in this case, there is a need to get the AG disbarred at the very least. And, Roger Stone's mug shot should be a Willie Hortonesque issue advertisement about Trumpian lawlessness.
Silence is not an option ...
Trump has always used lawyers as his infantry to get what he wants. With Barr in place, Trump has the entire justice department working for his personal interests, and we are paying all the legal bills.
What do you expect when Republicans give Trump a free hand to do as he wishes.
In Trump's world Roger Stone is headed for a 30 day sentence followed by a celebration at the White House where he will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Rush Limbaugh.
The 2020 election comes down to this: Do you want a representative democracy based on the Constitution and rule of law that applies to everyone including the President? Or, do you favor a more authoritarian form of government led by an unencumbered strong executive who gets to make his own laws and is unchecked by the same rule of law or Constitution that applies to you? Answer that question and you will know with certainty ho to vote for.
Roger Stone lies to Congress and obstructs an investigation into Russia messing with OUR election and Donald comes to his rescue?
Trump is truly the Manchurian Candidate.
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We the people have been deserted by our Constitution and those in government who can actually save us. it's time for the second revolution and to find a real George Washington. If not we are doomed. It's up to we the people now. Wake Up!
This is not political, it’s criminal. And the criminals hold the keys.
1
Is Romney truly the ONLY, decent Republican senator?
Trump is not attempting to become a dictator. He already is one. Empowered by our weak Senate. Democrats continue to be outplayed at every turn by this clown and his friends. In order to take this country back, something more aggressive needs to be done. If ever this country was ready for another revolution, it is now. This is the last gasp of dominance by
the White-Collar American Male, and they are not playing by the rules. They know they are an endangered bunch, and they are fighting as though their future depends on it. Time to use some of their tactics against them; not as a long-term strategy, but in order to take back control and create a level playing field for all Americans. I'm fed up, and you should be too.
We find ourselves in the age of Trumpism...truth is irrelevant...the justice department is working for Trump, not the American people and our institutions...the Senate of the United States is afraid to call witnesses in an impeachment trial that was a trial in name only...and the insults by tweet and the machinations on line to perpetuate our GIC (grifter-in-chief) and his children complicit in the nepotism that seems to be the order of the day in Trumpism...
Cry for the beloved country. If I were several decades younger and a whole lot wealthier, I'd be headed to New Zealand.
The frog is cooked. You know the story. Put a frog in a pot of cold water, turn the heat on low, and slowly increase it. The frog is overcome before it realizes its predicament. When the President lies daily and subverts the Constitution, laws and the once sacred values of the American people with the help of Republican senators and the support of millions of Americans then democracy is cooked.
This thoughtfully worded article assumes a level of comprehension that Trump doesn't begin to have. He is just drunk with power, and to him the sacrifice and message of this prosecutor is a mosquito bite.
What might get to Trump is not the resignation of what he doubtless considers a mere paper pusher and "deep stater," but an implication that he didn't have the power to mitigate that sentence.
Trump doesn't comprehend nuance at all. He is a binary individual: he either gets his own way --- or he gets revenge.
He is so ignorant that to him it's just one more empty space to fil with a minion.
He also doesn't care a whit what people say about his machinations. He has Twitter and can lambaste them with invective and threats. His base will chime in joyously. They don't see a problem either. Just one more anti-Trumper gone. Good!
Whenever will our former presidents speak out for integrity and democracy? Mr Obama? Mr. Bush? Mr. Carter?
1
Does this happen in any other respected country, We are degenerating into a nation of lawlessness and Trump Tweets. We Americans are ashamed why not Republicans.
Sir, you are naive. I say that with respect but I believe it. A lawyer resigning, no matter who or at what level, will mean nothing to this President. Nothing. I wish I were wrong but I’m not. A top lawyer resigning might mean something to a serious senator or congressman but a majority of senators and a minority of congressmen have proven time and time again to buy Trump’s disgust for the system. I fear it’s collapsing.
1
We are less than 10 days after the impeachment vote. Trump and Barr are just getting started, unfortunately.
In the case of trump I don't think that a resignation or threat thereof works. He just brushes aside the individual and appoints a lackey as he has with Barr.
We are watching the unwinding of the trump dictatorial plan. He has taken ques from Putin and his rise as dictator for life of Russia. We will eventually see trump take over the "free press". We will see more of his cronies escape the legal process. His corrupt family will be our monarchy. It would not surprise me to see him move to eliminate presidential term limits. He has a strong party of accomplices behind him, the former Republican Party. They sold their principles, morality, honor and decency for raw power. Never did I dream that I would die in a banana republic. We lost the cold war after all, we killed our own democracy for the Russians. They didn't even have to fire a single bullet.
1
"Mr. Mueller was not fired and completed his investigation in the Russia matter."
Mr. Mueller didn't finish his investigation. Barr brought it to a end a couple of months after he was confirmed. I don't understand why people can't make the connection. Mueller said in volume 1 and then in volume 2 laid out multiple cases of obstruction.
"Volume I of the report concludes that the investigation did not find sufficient evidence that the campaign "coordinated or conspired with the Russian government in its election-interference activities".[4][5] Investigators ultimately had an incomplete picture of what happened due to communications that were encrypted, deleted or unsaved, as well as testimony that was false, incomplete or declined.[6][7][8]"
1
Thanks, Republican Senators - You're responsible for this.
Trump's behavior becomes increasingly despotic and criminal. Still, the New York Times and the mainstream media continue to report these catastrophes as if, to use Trump's phrase, all is well.
Wake up. As a nation we are looking straight into the face of evil.
1
These machinations and power plays by Trump, Barr and their ilk (I'm talkin about you Senate republicans) is nothing short of terrifying.
You know what else keeps me on edge every waking hour: the realization that we are careening towards a civil war. Can anyone out there tell me that they are not worried that we are heading in that direction? And why do you believe we are not?
1
Can someone explain to me the difference between a “unitary executive” and a monarch?
Jonathan Kravis, you're my hero!
1
We need fewer people resigning in protest, and more people refusing to comply and refusing to step down. Disobey, and publicly! Make them fire you, then sue them publicly! Make them drag you out of the building and film the whole thing. If you resign they'll just replace you with a Trump troll and we'll be worse off than before.
Stop resigning in protest and start protesting for real.
1
Do not be surprised if Trump loses in November, Barr will sue and allege some falsity and Roberts keeps Trump in Office.
Asked Lisa Murkowski if Trump learned his lessons from impeachment: “There haven’t been any strong indicators this week that he has.”(Manu Raju-CNN)
Lisa Murkowski said she was going to "sleep on it" when asked how she intended to vote the day before Impeachment Vote.
How are you sleeping now, Senator Murkowski?
Mitch McConnell should pay the price, and the voters of Kentucky should vote him out.
If all good men or women resigned from this administration, who would be left? The thought off that is even more terrifying than what is going on now. Maybe there is someone on the inside now who can help expose the corrupt Barr and others on the inside working with the White House. At least I have this fantasy that someone on the inside is smart and able to expose and thoroughly document the corruption in a way that is incontestable and immediately explosively injurious to the corrupt. I pray for this...
Kravis's resignation, along with the withdrawals by the other attorneys, brought tears to my eyes. After the shameful cowardice of the Congressional Republicans, witnessing such courage and self-sacrifice gives me hope, and fills me with determination to do all I can to ensure that Trump and his flunkies are voted out come November.
Thank you, Kravis, Zelinsky, Jed, and Marando. You are heroes.
I hope the judge does what is right. She does not work for barr or trump. She should give him life.
I find it interesting that our civic memories are so short. Ideologues are not new or even novel in American politics. NYT needs better content than talking heads and reporting in general if the publication wishes to serve it's mission.
But for the upcoming election, Trump would have likely pardoned all of his crew (Manafort, Flynn, Stone, Papadopolous) who weren't "rats" (Cohen, Gates) by now.
Prediction: If he loses in November, they will all get their Get Out of Jail Free cards before he leaves office in January. If he wins, he will pardon them all soon after his second inauguration.
1
If We the People of the United States do not throw Trump and his GOP gang of craven sycophantic minions out of office in November, we will deserve the government we get.
I say and say again that the only question on the ballot in whether the United States of America will become an autocracy or whether we will keep our democratic republic.
usa.gov/register-to-vote
Unorthodox behavior is the continuing saga of this president; to say it mildly. In a letter from my Republican House leader said this; unorthodox. When we have such a person in the White House who reflects a dictatorial behavior, we should consider if the president is suffering psychosis of delusional thinking. Further, if the medical exam is refused under the 25th amendment, then Congress has the ability to impeach the president and subsequently remove the president from office.
Blind faith of Republicans to overlook the presidents' behavior is no longer tolerable, or dismissable.
The subversion of our legal and cultural values to the whims of a bully and tyrant = an American tragedy.
We are not witnesses to political conflict; it is a more serious cultural issue. Decency and trust vs. prostitution and lawlessness. I wonder what historians will write about this period and how the USA will be permanently damaged by his reign of terror.
After reading Roy Cohn's biography, authored by Sidney Zion, I find little surprise in Trumpster's behavior = I am upset & digusted as Trumpster disgraces the Office of POTUS and, by association, degrades and defames each of us, USA citizens.
Just as a majority of US Senators selectively support or ignore the dysfunctional behavior, McConnell and Trumpster’s cabinet members and their immediate predecessors have contributed to the cultural decline of our Great Republic. Placing Trumpster ahead of their fiduciary responsibilities to their office and the US Constitution, it appears character no longer matters. The “Best and the Brightest” have been supplanted by the “Narcissistic, Mediocre, and the Dim.”
At the end of Trumpster’s reign of terror, if it is possible, I suspect it will take generations of "good & decent people" to repair & recover the damage Trumpster and his enablers have wrought on our nation.
I find it ironic that the masses of voters who support Trumpster are the same people who fail to recognize they are damaged most by his unethical and illegal policies and behaviors.
It should be required that every American watch "Judgement In Nuremberg" Stanley Kramer's great 1961 movie about how the great German legal system sold it's soul to a madman. This historical drama is now becoming America's nightmare.
To Linda Murkowski , who said she needed to sleep on Impeachment Decision and this week said she saw no real strong indicators that Trump learned anything from Impeachment
---How are you sleeping now?
Doesn't matter if everyone in all branches of the Executive branch resign except the top dogs. Nothing is going to happen. Nothing! Trump, Barr Pompeo, et el, are going to keep doing what they have been doing and worse. Why? Because there is no one to stop them and they don't care what anyone thinks.
"Resignations can be a shock to the system, just what is needed to clarify the issues, force Congress to pay attention and alter a president’s behavior"
Surely the Dems are paying attention, but after all the crimes Trump has committed out in the open, it seems no amount of chaos and injustice will force the Republicans to pay attention. If anything, they willfully hide their heads in the sand. They cover their ears, shouting, "Narny, Narny, I can't hear you!"
The resignation of a Justice Dept. prosecutor is a gesture that apparently has greatness. But from the Trump pov, so what? Someone leaves, you replace them, just like real life. Complainers are bad for morale anyway.
The only impact these resignations seem to have is on principled people. The professional ones write articles and denounce from their pulpits while we lesser folk post comments here. But what does this really change?
Does anyone have any practical ways to disable these people who are committing crimes against the Constitution? (They're also destroying peoples' lives but this is where we have to start.) Or do we stand here like St. Sebastian and roll our eyes while these psychopaths take turns emptying their quivers into us? How do we fight? If I'm to be a martyr, give me a sword, like Joan's.
When you work for the President, you do what he wants you to do,
There is no other way.
Democracy's only protection against dictator wanna-bes is the Constitution, laws, and Justice. Each day brings a new assault. And a new crumble. I mourn for our country.
Here we are again, another Trump/Barr abomination. Another example of how once perverted, and there is no correction allowed. Things remain - perverted.
The rule-of-law is perverted due to Trump and Barr's sustained attacks against the very nature of that which provides us our stability as a country.
No, sadly, you have it backward.
Supported by the Republican Senate and a good deal of the federal judiciary, Trump and Barr are in total control.
And, there lies the problem.
The motto for the Trump Administration is not "Make America Great Again."
When anyone dares try to make it follow the law, its motto is "Make Me."
1
Honest to god, with all this corruption, at this point i think it would be best to ship Trump off to an island somewhere. Like to Elba or St. Helena, for Napoleon. But the Napoleon comparison ends there, because Napoleon was a formidable general, and Trump, well, only had bone spurs.
2
Mr. Bauer seems to think that trump and barr are out of control, actually, they are very much in control, of the largest criminal corruption and infestation of our gov't this country has ever seen. meanwhile the courts and the senate sit idly by casually dismissing this or actively encouraging it by trumps picks to head the various gov't agencies. they are very much in control with virtually no way to stop them.
2
These are extremely disturbing times for our country. Trump is venting his anger, bias, cruelty on anyone and everyone he perceives to be an "enemy." The GOP clearly condones what Trump is doing and the Democrats keep talking about the people have a chance to stop Trump at the ballot box.
I sincerely hope our vote will be counted as cast. I think all the multi-millionaires and billionaires who care about preserving this nation need to contribute money to hire the very best hackers to counter those who might hack our vote totals. Please insure a safe, valid election.
1
And this is what everyone predicted will happen once Trump was acquitted. He gets a free pass to do whatever he wants.
This is nothing. Just wait and see what he will do next.
There is no stopping this madman now. The Republican Senate have given him the keys to the kingdom and we will suffer the consequences.
Remember this day when you walk into your polling place in November, if indeed you will even be able to vote.
1
The only way to save the Republic is for 5 Republican Senators to band together and put a halt on Trump's agenda till he stops doing this kind of corrupt actions.
None of this would be happening if Trump and the GOP were polling at 1%, which is what they should be. This is the corrupt government that the American people want and deserve. Get used to it. This idiocracy will continue for a second term.
1
Well, there's nothing stoppng the DEmocrats from pursuing another Impeachment for Obstruction of Justice, is there? And anything else, too. The USA is a country of Laws, not men. That's always been one of it's brightest accomplishments. Where's our Pride?
The fact that these prosecutors are Obama people and creatures of the left is not surprising.
They most likely have resigned to try and avoid any investigation of how they came up with this sentencing recommendation and why it was not handled as other sentencing recommendations are.
This whole episode stinks like more of the Democrats and the left trying to GET the President.
We are witnessing a huge, and shameful, conflict of interest, when Trump's associate, criminally charged, is being 'pardoned' in at least the length of incarceration. That vulgar Trump is a professional cheater leaves no doubts; but that William Barr, the Attorney General, supposed to uphold this country's justice, sells himself for cheap, makes him another 'swinish' weasel in granting impunity to heinous acts. So, please welcome the newly born "Department of Injustice', justifying the nefariousness, complicit in lawbreaking.
1
"Rule of law?" "Impartial, professional law enforcement?" I know a good deal about those: in my own litigation I discovered that federal judges routinely replace in their decisions parties' argument with the bogus argument of judges' own concoction, pulled out of thin air so as to decide a case the way they want to, not the way they have to. Clearly, that's no "due process." When I sued those judges for fraud, they argued that in Pierson v. Ray they gave themselves the right to act from the bench "maliciously and corruptly."
So much for the "rule of law" and for much-vaunted "due process." Those don't exist; the whole judicial process is arbitrary.
Somehow, the press does not want to cover the fact that a full third of US government -- federal judiciary -- is officially and proudly corrupt and malicious, and that due process is a myth. I wrote innumerable op-eds, contacted countless journalists and law professors -- and the silence about this outrage is deafening.
Luckily, President Trump remind us once in a while about how the things actually are. His tweets about judges, and about the press, are spot on. So in response to this op-ed, I can only say, Bravo, Mr. President! Keep up the good work of curing us of our hypocrisy!
"Rule of law?" "Impartial, professional law enforcement?" I know a good deal about those: in my own litigation I discovered that federal judges routinely replace in their decisions parties' argument with the bogus argument of judges' own concoction, pulled out of thin air so as to decide a case the way they want to, not the way they have to. Clearly, that's no "due process." When I sued those judges for fraud, they argued that in Pierson v. Ray they gave themselves the right to act from the bench "maliciously and corruptly."
So much for the "rule of law" and for much-vaunted "due process." Those don't exist; the whole judicial process is arbitrary.
Somehow, the press does not want to cover the fact that a full third of US government -- federal judiciary -- is officially and proudly corrupt and malicious, and that due process is a myth. I wrote innumerable op-eds, contacted countless journalists and law professors -- and the silence about this outrage is deafening.
Luckily, President Trump remind us once in a while about how the things actually are. His tweets about judges, and about the press, are spot on. So in response to this op-ed, I can only say, Bravo, Mr. President! Keep up the good work of curing us of our hypocrisy!
Bob - do you really believe Mueller completed his investigation into the Russia matter? The facts tell a far different story. Sessions leaves, Barr gets appointed and within weeks the investigation is "completed" but not before Barr gets to see the report first and issue a "summary" that provides the President with convenient political cover. The whole department is compromised.
1
How many of us have received death threats for doing the right thing? We can all sit here and write about what is right and about how critical it is for people to step up and do the right thing. I wonder, though, how many of us would do what we know to be the right thing, while also knowing that if we did step up we’d probably then have to go into a witness protection program.
What’s amazing and bizarre about our current situation is that Trump doesn’t have to do all that much to keep anyone who disagrees with him quiet. He can simply rely on armed lunatics with guns and internet access to do the dirty work for him.
Actually, that resignation did far more harm than good, despite the statement it's sending. Now there's a vacancy that will be filled with a flunky willing to do Trump's bidding. Once the last of whatever good public servants are left are gone, we're going to be plagued with a lot of very bad ones. And once the Republicans pack the judiciary with them, at all levels, then forget it. It's over. Kiss the America you knew goodbye and welcome the new authoritarian regime.
2
"if the department leadership appeared to buckle under White House pressure"
"Buckle"? Buckle implies giving way after resistance. I see no evidence of Justice Department leadership exhibiting resistance.
Similar to the 17-minute National Student Walkout to protest gun violence, in 2018, all the career professionals in the Department of Justice Building and the FBI Building, both on Pennsylvania Avenue not far from the White House, should hold a brief but unified walkout en masse -- at, say, lunchtime Thursday or Friday -- to make an unmistakable statement about their integrity and fervent belief in the rule of law.
It's the least they can do. Their boss, Bill Barr, is defiling everything they stand for. As is, of course, Donald Trump. Lady Justice is under assault and desperately needs allies.
I was a small child once. Many years ago. My sister was too. Many years ago.
One fine day, we wandered into a kind of storeroom in someone's garage. Full of glass things--windows--vases--garden urns--I forget what all.
And we had a field day. With no real understanding of what we were doing, we started breaking stuff. Smashing stuff to smithereens. Laughing uproariously. Gosh, we had a fine old time.
So we went home and told our parents all about it.
They--um--disapproved. Greatly. We had to walk back over (our parents leading the way) and apologize. Profusely. Up and down.
So we did.
Mr. Trump reminds me EXACTLY of myself when I was four or five.
He has walked into the White House. He has walked into the federal government. And, with no notion of how slowly--how painstakingly--that government has grown and developed and evolved--
--he is smashing it to smithereens.
Like a small, ill-tempered little child.
Except that (down deep somewhere) it is inconceivable he does not recognize the horribleness of what he is doing.
I guess he doesn't care.
His "base" sure don't care.
But some of us do.
God grant we stop this out-of-control man-child in November, 2020--
--while we still have a country and a government to protect and preserve.
God grant.
Mr Bauer, everything you say is correct but we are ‘tribal’ now; there are no rules, norms, mores, or laws.
You’re either this camp or that. There is no in-between.
The U.S. has now entered ‘knee-jerk’ Administration mode: whomever is in power inflicts the greatest amount of damage against the other.
In this case, this Administration, the Republicans are inflicting the greatest amount of damage to the nation, to Democrats, and the planet, as fast as they can.
Unfortunately, it just doesn’t matter. If previous actions didn’t elicit outrage from his supporters this has no chance of moving the needle.
1
Why should any honorable citizen continue to follow the rule of law when the nation is held hostage by the most corrupt cabal imaginable? The tipping point is soon approaching.
1
If we ever get our democracy back, a legitimate DOJ must prosecute Trump and Barr to the fullest extent of the law. I honestly believe their crimes warrant execution.
I have no confidence that Republicans will help Democrats protect us from any further destruction of the Justice Department. We only have two choices. Either put all of them in a room with the coronavirus or vote them out of office. At this point, I don’t care which method we use. Just get rid of them.
“The rhetoric of Mr. Sessions’s successor, William Barr, suggests that he accepts, to a disturbing degree, the president’s desire for a politically responsive Justice Department. Mr. McGahn’s successor, Pat Cipollone, defended the president in the impeachment proceeding with arguments of the kind, in tone and variance from the factual record, you would expect to hear from Trump surrogates on Fox News.”
When the justice department serves to promote the executive’s political goals, we’ve arrived at fascism as a form of government. You’re about to hear all the propaganda and lies about “socialism” in the next year, but I doubt anyone will spend money or use the word “fascism” in a TV ad. Thus Trump wins unfortunately, because the Dems won’t fight fire with fire. How about it - a few little ads explaining the evils and horror of fascism? Come on.
I’m 60, and the next time a young person says “OK, Boomer” to me, I am going to remind them that when Nixon tried this same stuff with his AG John Mitchell, about a million of us showed up in front of the White House. Where are the protests, where are the young people?
Never really followed the collateral Mueller actions but if Comey is free, I question the sentencing that was recommended by the former prosecutors against Stone, who I assume is a total clown. The pre-dawn raid stuff was nonsense. I'd love to know if there are any comparable sentences like this. Without knowing anything 2-3 years sounds like a lot.
Mr. Bauer, is someone going to die? I ask because the president and his administration act like managing America is sport and some of their followers have guns.
I fear for the Vindmans, for Ms. Yovanovitch, for the four prosecutors in the news today, targeted democrats, Mr. Sondland, and others who have obeyed the law and the constitution and who Mr. Trump demonizes.
1
Roger Stone was found guilty, after an extensive trial, of having committed seven federal felonies for Donald Trump.
Donald Trump now has three choices:
1. Allow justice to be done; Roger Stone will be imprisoned.
2. Get his consigliere, AG Barr, to finagle a lenient sentence.
3. Pardon his life long friend, Roger Stone.
I am betting this will get down to Option #3, and Trump will pardon Stone for his crimes, abetted by Mitch McConnell and the criminals in the GOP.
Cheers for Mr. Kravis! William Barr has clearly been bought and paid for.
Prelude to a Pardon, a typical piece in the Trump canon, that will likely find it's way into the repertory.
Trump's corruption and abuse of power are out of control.
Republicans have shown they are unwilling to control him
So, it comes down to us to put a stop to it.
Vote in November
1
I believe all the prosecutors who resigned were appointed by Obama or by Obama appointees. I believe all of the four are also Democrats.
Now why do I think this is not a coincidence?
1
So, the person, Stone, who literally lied to make sure that Mueller could not get the evidence needed to prove Trump colluded with Russia, this person, Stone, has now himself been proven to have told these lies, literally convicted and awaiting sentencing -- and now Trump is intervening to give leniency to Stone -- for having told the lies that protected Trump.
Sounds like another Quid Pro Quo to me.
Trump may as well just pardon his friend and make his contempt for justice that much more obnoxious. And while he is at it, Trump may as well shoot the prosecutor who had sought the harsher sentence for Stone, on 5th Avenue, too. Why not?
There are no more reasons in Trump's mind to obey any law.
Impeach Trump again.
This is not frivolous.
Yeah, and who's going to stop them?
Aren't they pushing the limits to the borders of political violence? They know that we know that the righties own many, many guns.
And don't we know it, and they, knowing that we know it, will take calculated risks to the next level...and to the next, each time testing the limits.
This is how authoritarians and fascists can insinuate themselves.
How much more of doing nothing will we take? Probably quite a bit, for fear underwrites our quiescence. Well, that, and a disruption of our daily lattes.
They have the military and the police behind them, and they may not care for what we call sanity.
Fear. And more fear.
The left is dead.
We now know that whatever Trump accuses an opponent of doing or having done is the very thing Trump himself is going to do. William Barr is making Trump’s lawlessness possible. Get Trump out in November and get someone in who will clean house.
I think Mr. Bauer forgets who Trump's mentor was. Hit them hard and harder. It's all a street fight to this guy.
If believe women of the #Metoo movement without any regard for the evidence is rule of law then what trump is doing is also rule of law. Sexual assault can never be justified under any circumstances. Nor can rights of the accused. Otherwise no difference between Canada and Saudi Arabia. So how is the believe women without evidence different from what trump is doing. Hypocrisy does not become something else if it is practised by the left. Rule of law had to be upheld by both left and right
The jamoke is running the U.S. down just like he ran down dozens of companies he owned. He's given the U.S. to the robber barons. Can you say Great Depression in the next 9 years when the entire economy collapses?
Although only one of the DoJ attorneys resigned his position, all four formally “withdrew” their appearance in the pending Stone proceeding. As an additional display of conscience, wouldn’t it be wonderful if no DoJ staff lawyer “entered” an appearance to replace them? A dream, I know, but let AG Barr defend the indefensible!
Trump is managing expectations for the pardon he will grant to Stone.
It's winner take all politics. This is what the Republican senate has given us. Why not put Stone in the cabinet and jail Mueller. The absurd is real, and at least until November there's no turning back. The disgrace is unambiguous.
The answer I always get from my Republican friends is: “How’s your 401K?” I guess it’s become politically incorrect to care more about Truth and Justice than the great god of the almighty dollar. I always tell them that I’ll mail it all back to the Republicans if they just give me back my Country’s sense of self respect and reputation for decency and honor around the world. God save us all . . .
The White House is denying it got involved even though Trump is congratulating Barr on getting involved following Trumps tweet the sentencing guidelines were unfair. Even if you discount the act of the DOJ being highly politicized and personalized, how ridiculous is this White House denying a link between Trumps tweet and the intervention to help Stone? The White House denying its role in this shouldn’t be tolerated. If Hogan Gidley tried to tell me the White House wasn’t involved, I wouldn’t even bother with him. This is utterly ridiculous on at least two fronts
President Trump and Attorney General Barr are out of control, and there is exactly one reason:
Republicans in the United States Congress, except Mitt Romney, have turned their back on their essential responsibilities - to serve their constituents and to defend our country from all enemies, foreign and domestic - in order to avoid the wrath of Donald John Trump.
This circular, cowardly reasoning hands unprecedented power to President Trump and puts our country and its democratic institutions and traditions in grave peril.
1
For decades Donald Trump has managed to evade the law, this goes back to the '70s when he first came on the scene,
his misdeeds are well documented as are his depositions which by the way sound like they are given by a child who is
afraid of being "grounded" you must wonder if his sister the retired Justice Maryann Barry an appellate court judge of the third circuit who was forced in April 2019, to retire in order to stop judicial investigations into her part of tax-fraud in conjunction with the Donald, has had any part in decisions to seal all documents pertaining to his many acts of illegality while sitting on the bench and as she seems to spend much time at Mar-a-Lago is she a silent adviser to both Trump and Barr, Trump does not have the intellect to govern, he seems to be directed by those around him including media personnel, they know that all that is needed by Trump are signatures and put him in front of a camera, let him rant, his blatant disregard for law beginning in his early years describes the behavior he now enjoys as he is a manipulator and that is all, the average soldier of Organized Crime with the ambition of being the Don but can't even become the capo, the friends he has are often misfits such as Stone, Flynn, Barr, McConnell, Graham(what type of Military attorney was Graham and what a disappointment as a friend)so I support the four Prosecutors who do not need to go back to school and denounce these two failed humans. Judgment will be unfavorable
I am an attorney of 35+ years. Barr is a disgrace to the profession. He exhibits no grasp of why our nation was founded.
He may think himself bright, and maybe he is. But in the end, he is but a toady to one of the most heinous figures in American history.
It doesn't help to stay and fight because Trump and Barr are bigger than everyone. They are determined to dismantle this government. No amount of blood letting will stop them. II only hope that this experiment of a civilized nation will survive. Trump and his minions must be demolished by vote or secession. Any way possible. This is a scary time for our country.
Do not forget that Republicans do nothing. The Senate Republicans are nearly more powerful than Trump - their silence is incredible and destructive.
It is just unbelievably sad that they have decided to look the other way in favor of ....what? Power? Greed? White, christian male power?
Sentencing is not a precise science or art for something a goof ball does. No one died, no one was raped, taxes were not evaded, no drug deal was made, no woman was assaulted, no national security secrets were stolen or sold. I still do not know why Roger Stone deserved a draconian punishment for 8 years in prison after being arrested, hand cuffed and publicly humiliated and his freedom restricted?
Enough is enough. Under the name of the constitution we have more Americans in prison per capita than any other nation that considers itself a civilized nation in the world. No wonder there is a bipartisan support for criminal justice reform.
It is all hyper partisanship power struggle is business as usual and bias . Who on earth believes a white counsel in the Obama administration is going to do justice to DJT or to AG Barr at law? Non violent civil disobedience by those in power is not abuse of justice it is reversing injustice.
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Trump is way too much of a narcissist and an overall whacko to pause and consider the fact that a distinguished prosecutor resigned rather than do what he suggested, asked or demanded. Instead, Trump's only reaction is great, one down, who's next?
The judge in the Stone case probably can't get away with this, but it would be great if he announced that he had been ready to give Stone a lesser sentence than that recommended by the prosecution but now that Trump has stuck his nose in where it doesn't belong, he is going to give Stone a sentence that is even longer than that initially recommended by the prosecutors. Maybe that will be the ending for the Quentin Tarantino movie version of this travesty.
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Trump, the McConnell Senate, the Trump DOJ, and the shrieking GOP chorus in the House will not see resignations as a forceful act of protest - rather, they will see it as a capitulation by a weaker enemy - a victory over their illegitimate adversaries.
The most disturbing thing is the constant refrain that Trump is smashing the norms when in truth, he is just exposing the norms. Where did people get the idea that America was this shining democracy on the hill that has been besmirched and besotted by Trump.
America has always been racist, oppressive and barely democratic. The United States Constitution has been more a goal than a reality. Stop whining about a country lost that actually never existed. The exposure of different laws for different people, of inequality, of injustice, of bias, racism, nepotism and all the other crimes and misdemeanors Trump has committed should make us stronger and solidify out commitment to democracy, real democracy.
“I don’t want to say that yet, but I tell you what, people were hurt viciously and badly by these corrupt people.”
Once again without a whit of evidence to support the allegation Trump accuses those who would apply the standards of law and order as being corrupt because said law and order processes either exposes him or his friends as being the corrupt ones. This time it's the DOJ instead of the FBI or the House.
I have given up trying to understand how any American can just look the other way on this and other behaviors of this president and tell themselves that none of this matters.
All we have left now is a head count in November to either repudiate or normalize the disposition of this president who is nothing more then a dumpster fire of untruthful, unethical and amoral substance.
We have a Congress that can't or won't check the abuse of power of this corrupt president. The Supreme Court is staying mum. The only body that can reign in this abuse of power is the voting public.
So we have to decide whether this threat to our democracy is worth voting for a candidate we don't really prefer in order to throw Trump out of office and stand up for the rule of law as these prosecutors did.
Voting is our last and only resort to hold this mafia-esque administration to account.
Please stand up for our country and vote out Trump and McConnell's majority.
None of this outrage matters. Trump is going to pardon Roger Stone.
And to think Susan Collins and other Senators had the gall to suggest they thought the President had learned and would act more judiciously on matters of abuse of power going forward!
They were half right - the President did learn something: with this Senate he can get away with anything and is now doing so. He is purging and suggesting punishment against those who called into question his conduct, even though the Senators (more than a majority) said his conduct was "improper" or "inappropriate" even if not impeachable.
He is now openly interfering with the independence of the Justice Department, and its vital role in our democracy.
Trump learned the Republican controlled Senate is his lap dog. Shame on them.
The NYT Picks include no defense of the President or the Attorney General. I am indifferent to the Stone affair, but I am not indifferent to the rule of law. In my opinion genuine concern for the law obliges all of us to a more disinterested appraisal than I can see in any of these comments.
The President is the Nation's chief law enforcement officer. He is free to address miscarriages of justice as and when he sees them. We are free to disagree with his judgment, but he is not acting ultra vires when he exercises the authority granted him by the Constitution.
The Attorney General is in immediate charge of the Justice Department. He is free to reverse decisions by subordinates with whom he disagrees. It is to be presumed that his judgment may be influenced or even guided or determined by the President, who is his own superior.
The subordinate lawyers who figured in this affair were free to resign, as they did. Whether their judgment as to sentencing was well grounded can be debated. They were not free to impose their own judgment or will on the DOJ.
None of this is in the least degree unusual or troublesome. Events of this sort have happened countless times since the founding of the Nation.
What is unusual is the degree of contempt and hatred directed at the President and Attorney General. I say unusual, not unprecedented. But vilification of this intensity is rarely well judged, and is even less so in this case than in others that have gone before.
Any reasonable person would admit that the excessive proposed sentence for an offense that had no effect on anything on the Russia hoax case that was bogus is prosecutorial misconduct. The resignations are merely more kabuki theater by Trump haters.
The purported “severity” of the recommended sentencing in this case is, in large part, due to Stone’s well-established witness tampering and gag-order violations, one of which included his posting a picture of the judge against a backdrop of crosshairs. Now Trump is doubling down, and kicking up a notch, his fixer’s shenanigans by tampering himself with the entire Justice Department and system, attempting to render it a shoddy shambles. If nothing else, we now know the original source material for Trump’s well-worn “Stone cold loser” insults. Roger that!
We will see what happens on the night of Nov 3, 2020? Who signs and who resigns.
Maybe I'm naive, but don't resignations make it easier for this administration to fill the vacant position with lackeys?
I dream of a march of the honorable - led by Mitt Romney , including all those fired, denigrated or insulted by Trump knocking on the front door of the White House asking for our country back.
This is such a sorry situation that can only be stopped by Congressional oversight and then Vote them out in November. Maybe Trump and Barr and others can be indicted after the election if Democrats win.
The other sad situation is that Trump's supporters do not read the NYT and probably applaud his aggressive actions due to lack of knowledge of the separation of powers and norms.
9 months to go. Outrage and sadness must motivate us all to vote these horrible, misguided people from office. 11/3 folks. Mark it on your calendars.
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Most of us have only seen the mafia in action in movies and novels, so we're a bit stunned at the outrageous real-life mob-boss act of all things trump, barr, flynn, cohen, gates, stone, manafort.
I can see Russia from my kitchen window.
I think that by now EVERYONE, including ALL R's know that Trump and Barr are totally corrupt. The problem is that corrupt R's love the corruption as long as it gets them what they want.
The amazing thing is that the entire GOP in the US Senate (and the House) is corrupt as well. So are the vast majority of GOP voters. 40% of the US is comprised of completely corrupt people! Sworn oaths mean absolutely nothing. Trump, Barr and all the R's have made this very clear. The total corruption of the US Congress was proven during the fraudulent, witness-and-documents-free impeachment "trial" in the Senate and the partisan fiasco in the House that preceded it.
Now the question is what can be done about it... Apparently nothing.
It's easy to say just let the people decide in November. The problem is that Trump put his entire, huge weight on the scale by calling for numerous foreign governments to interfere in the election and now it looks like Barr is working closely with Giuliani and operatives in the Ukraine to interfere in the election as well.
Who among us ever imagined that the entire US government (Republicans almost exclusively, but they're in control) would become so thoroughly corrupt so rapidly?! It's a national and an international disgrace and a global tragedy.
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As long as a large minority of the American people support an imperial presidency, with a president who has no limits, it doesn't matter who resigns. The Trumpets will be delighted to appoint loyal subjects in the place of those disloyal to Trump.
I hear Senators Collins and Murkowski are concerned.
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This sinister duo is defining the type of synergy that makes our vaunted Democracy look silly. With the packing of the courts with unqualified judges, an enabling Senate and a State and Justice Department with tails super glued between their legs, the government literally consists of one pillar with the dimmest bulb in the room calling the shots. Trump's most profound and longest lasting legacy will be exposing the holes our Constitution simply does not address - a complicity to surrender enumerated powers to the executive for fear of a bad Fox News day.
Quitting isn’t the answer. Leaving a very important organization in protest does not influence those who remain and promote the corruption. In fact, some degenerate twit is likely to take your nice office and parking space. The corruption continues.
The highest expression of quitting is burning yourself, immolation that is, especially out in public, but it doesn’t help.
Staying in the agency, the company, the army, and working against the evil is best.
There are tens of thousands of career government people right now who really do understand the existential threat to our country embodied by this administration, and who may even have somewhere to roost if they left, but are sticking to their jobs, doing whatever they can to stamp out, to cripple, to hold back, the continued attempts to destroy the rule of law, the delicate heritage of democracy.
Heroes can’t always walk away clean.
Resignations may send signals. Since Republicans are in Trump's pocket expect that the replacements will be worse. Trump's removal from office is the only thing that can turn things around.
Why aren't the Democratic candidates pushing legislation to make it even more clear that criminal laws, ethics, conflicts and separation of powers apply to the President?
Mr. Kravis is obviously seeing what I'm seeing. America is sliding into Fascism at an alarming rate and only those paying attention are aware that we may have reached a point where the effects are irreversible. I would love to see a breakdown of those who are ignorant, those who are willfully ignorant and those who are apathetic to all things political. I keep coming back to the 83% of the population who, in a Fox poll on the eve of the Iraq war, thought Saddam Hussein was responsible for 911. How do so many, even those who sent their sons and daughters off to fight, got the most basic facts completely wrong? I keep hearing that "my 401K is doing well", "it's just Trump's style" or "all politicians lie" as if there is a precedence for what is happening. Or it is chalked up to "politics as usual" as if this was a Republican v Democrat issue as opposed to Good v Evil. 911 happened on a beautiful fall day in Manhattan. I feel like I am witnessing that kind of devastating attack on the very pillars of our society and our government but Republicans, only, want to talk about the beautiful weather we're having.
Accountability is a keystone of good government, but many voters don’t care much about accountability, because there’s not a lot of it in their “free to whatever” lives, where might-makes-right is a “principle” that they experience regularly. So, of course, “powerful” Trump (their hero) does what he can. And the Republican Senate has to go along.
Mr. Bauer’s well-argued defense of professional principle pertains to institutional peers, but the Trump base supporter couldn’t care less. The strong leader principle that “warrants” the Executive Branch’s complete separation of powers (i.e., not being accountable to Congress) is congruent with a massively common attitude of unaccountability in people’s lives:
“You” have a stance, and it’s nobody else’s business (even if you’re on your way to a coronary event).
You vote for whatever reason you want (or no reason at all) without responsbility to anyone. You buy what you want. You accumulate as much debt as you want. You run red lights when you’re confident no cop’s around. And so on. Trump’s audacity is part of his appeal.
This is vital to Republican Senate concerns about suriving in their state’s primary elections.
The professionals can stand for principle all they want. But the Senate’s not going to censure, and the voter that matters isn’t going to object.
The prosecutors who quit are heroes. More people need to quit working in Trump's administration until he is sitting there all alone punching at his phone.
The judge in the case should fine Stone millions of dollars instead of giving a prison term. Trump is only going to free him win or lose. So a fine will be more painful!
Again you people are overdoing it. The president must have the right to express his opinion publicly. DOJ should accommodate if it is reasonable and lawful. In this case it was both reasonable and not illegal. Probably, no action against Stone is required as there was no underline crime and Russia inquiry against Trump was a witch hunt. Also, Trump has a constitutional authority to pardon anybody he wants. The real reasons behind these resignation may be something else, and may be a pretext to achieve those goals.
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If he was better educated Trump might be thinking, "Why subscribe to the separation of powers when I can cross that line with impunity?"
If the Dems unseat him as president I hope that they establish a corruption commission to investigate these transgressions.
Mr. Kravitz may be a principled man, but quitting without a forceful public statement in defense of the rule of law and in opposition to the immoral ravings of Trump and of Barr’s pandering to this blatant lawlessness, is to my mind just more weakness. We’ve seen over and over, from Mueller onwards, that no one is willing to stand up to trump’s barrage of bullying, and so our democracy dies day by day. Nine tenths of Washington seems spineless in the face of Trump’s crazed tweets.
I understand why leaving a position can be the best moral option, but silence is not the same as bravery.
I applaud and thank the prosecutors who protested Trump's illegal and immoral interference by resigning. At least somebody in the government remembers what it means to be honest and honorable.
While good men and women are fired for telling the truth, Mr Trump seeks to absolve those that lie and cheat in his service.
At some point even conservative Republicans will reach a tipping point; one can hope.
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News flash: nobody in a position of power (i.e., no Republican) cares when someone resigns in protest in matters of conscience, precisely because they have no conscience. They are power-hungry zealots, pure and simple.
For those who've watched too much Fox News or whatnot, let me say this one last time: our public officials do NOT serve at the pleasure of the president. Go back to history class and take a look one more time; our democracy was precisely designed to be everything OTHER than a monarchy, which our forefathers rebelled against.
Barr is unfit to be AG because he behaves more like Trump's personal enforcer, rather than the head of the Justice Dept which was meant to be apolitical. And for all their talk about being the party of law and order, the GOP is strangely quiet on all the intervention by Trump on the prosecution of his cronies. I guess it's only law and order when it's the kind they want. Sounds awfully like China, doesn't it?
America was deprived of a fair senate trial, when Roger Stone ignored a Congressional subpoena, and repeatedly defied, lied, and cried in his courtroom appearances.
Roger Stone needs to go to a nasty prison until he expires, in order to get him to testify under oath before Congress.
Our courts are the only institution in America with a more wretched reputation, for failing the people of America. Americans deserve a refund for all tax dollars wasted by our courts, the Attorney General of the department of justice, and republican senators who failed to defend our elections or Democracy.
Trump intends to bastardize every American institution. If the military cannot take illegal orders, every federal employee should abide by the same standard.
I think both Barr and Trump have been spinning out of control for a while, especially since the Mueller investigation. But Barr was able to spin that nonsense about Trump being in the clear just like all but one Republican Senator cleared Trump of those abuse of power and obstructing justice charges.
The real question that remains is who is left to stop either of these individuals from continuing down this destructive and dangerous road?
Clearly, the majority of Republicans have given Trump a very, very wide range of "corruptible" behavior from which was deemed wrong but not wrong enough to be impeachable.
So in the end, presently only cowards are in the majority to do anything but will not because they are fearful of the wrath of the monster they help create and get elected.
The solution for removing this out of control knucklehead remains in the hands of the voter.
I used to hope the actions of Trump and his pals would not be forgotten when November rolled around.
However, at the rate and speed in which he is tearing up the road as he goes, there will be more than enough examples of how and why he is not only out of control, but justification for him to be voted out of office.
We must do what so many of our elected officials are afraid to do.
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No, it is the deranged prosecutors who are out of control. Their sentencing request was just obscene, not to mention completely out of line with usual practice in such cases. One cannot but conclude that their extreme zeal was driven by nothing but hatred for President Trump. Why shoukd any accused suffer for personal political beliefs of the prosecutors?
Kudo's to those who have the courage to stand up to tyranny and corruption. However- I fear this president and his cronies are too emboldened now and this won't make any difference.
Trump will continue to dismantle every norm, every law, and use his power to make Trumplandia the new US- and ignore the constitution.
The Senate failed (Republicans) when it came time to stand up for this country. We will now reap what they sowed.
The abnormal - meaning a slow walk toward dictatorial authoritarianism on the part of Trump with Barr and the republican party as his henchmen - is quickly becoming the new normal. We are sleepwalking into the end of the rule of law and our democracy. The Republican party is at least as much at fault as is Trump himself because they refuse to hold Trump accountable in any meaningful way. The rest of us should be out in the streets.
Looking for lessons to be learned from the appalling behavior of Trump and his lackeys, each act like this points to holes in the Constitution that future congresses will hopefully close with legislation or amendments. Trump has shown that "norms" are mere wisps that can be easily blown away by a gassy demagogue like him. Walls between the president and DOJ, and between different branches of government need to be built from concrete legislation, not hope. The Founders optimistically assumed that anyone who rose to the level of the Presidency would have the good manners to abide by certain gentlemanly expectations of behavior that didn't need to be explicitly spelled out in the Constitution. Instead they should have written it with demagogues like Aaron Burr and Trump in mind!
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Trump being acquitted has really given him license to use the Government for his own political and personal ends. He knows Barr is his "man" and non of his Cabinet Secretaries will stand up to him. He also knows the Senate will not do anything to reign him in. When asked about these resignations today McConnell refused to comment. The GOP simply does not care that Trump is trampling over our Constitution. All McConnell cares about is appointing conservative judges and making himself and his cronies richer. I expect Trump to start going after Adam Schiff, Hillary Clinton and others. I expect him to pressure Barr to find something to indict his political opponents on, and Barr will do it. I have no confidence in the DOJ which is appalling and a great disaster for the rank and file attorneys working there.
Unfortunately, resignations at the Department of Justice will not have any effect, simply because Trump really doesn't care, and Barr cares only about pleasing his boss. Justice in America has been not just politicized, but corrupted as well, and things will only get worse if Trump is re elected.
Getting older gives you some perspective on what's normal and what's not.
We've been to the brink of nuclear war. We've seen wonderful a young president assassinated and we've seen a corrupt president resign. The US has traded weapons to some of our worst enemies. Our CIA has assassinated world leaders and sponsored regime change numerous times. We've been attacked and we've attacked others.
But, after all of that nothing has prepared me for the craven disregard for the norms of governance like the Trump presidency. I am reminded of Macduff's speech in Macbeth, "Each new morn new widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows strike heaven on the face, that it resounds as if it felt with Scotland, and yelled out like syllable of dolor". Just when we think it can't get worse it does.
Generations to come will hopefully use this terrible lesson to repair the gaps in our democracy and constitution that have let this come to pass.
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Speaker Pelosi was talked into the bogus "impeachment" campaign move -- what lesson other than "fight stretching the law with stretching of our own" do you expect the President to learn??
I do not like meddling with "justice", and do not believe two wrongs make a right, but condemn both sides of this childish, dangerous behavior.
But we won't and will continue this "Divide with Hatred" as the ONLY campaign tactic on both sides.
What I find frustrating about the entire Trump administration, the Senate, and supposedly independent agencies, e.g., Dept. of State and Justice, is the oft-repeated refrain: whoever in question (in this case, Barr) has accepted the "president's" desire for politically-responsive departments. That is too easy an out. What we have is Derrick Bell's interest convergence. It's not that Barr or the Senate or whoever has come around to Trumpism, it's that their interests have converged with the "president's".
This is extremely challenging to counter because it's not a matter of "educating" them. They are as corrupt as the "president" and are simply using him to accomplish their agenda that happens to coincide with Trump's (to the degree he has an agenda that goes beyond making money for himself).
It's not that Barr or the Senate or whoever has come around to Trumpism, it's that their interests have converged with the "president's". Trump is nothing more than a tool.
Trump has always been out of control.
Barr first showed his true colors in his response to the Mueller investigation.
This shady business with the Stone sentencing is just the first of many to come instances in which both Barr and Trump will rub our faces in their blatant abuse of power.
Once again, the bar continues to drop like a stone with these two at the helm.
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Let's not forget; The world is watching.
Already, the witness-less impeachment trial has outsiders scratching their heads. Now this?
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Proof positive that there is no rule of law. There are no checks and balances. This is an autocracy with toadies and henchmen doing his Trump’s bidding.
Getting older gives you some perspective on what's normal and what's not.
We've been to the brink of nuclear war. We've seen wonderful a young president assassinated and we've seen a corrupt president resign. The US has traded weapons to some of our worst enemies. Our CIA has assassinated world leaders and sponsored regime change numerous times. We've been attacked and we've attacked others.
But, after all of that nothing has prepared me for the craven disregard for the norms of governance like the Trump presidency. I am reminded of Macduff's speech in Macbeth, "Each new morn new widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows strike heaven on the face, that it resounds as if it felt with Scotland, and yelled out like syllable of dolor". Just when we think it can't get worse it does.
Generations to come will hopefully use this terrible lesson to repair the gaps in our democracy and constitution that have let this come to pass.
Tell us something we don't know! This has been common knowledge -- and the cause of exponentially mounting dread -- for the last 3+ years!
Bums and crumbs the whole lot of them. And they're in charge!
There is no chance that the 3 lawyers who simply stepped down from the case will still have their jobs by week’s end
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Trump's desperation to be re elected has little to do with any legislation he envisions. It is to avoid prosecution for all the fed, state, and local crimes awaiting him, which being president protected him from.
In 10 months after Trump is not re elected today's story will be one more crime for him to be prosecuted for. Too bad he's not younger; those 9 years for Stone would be just a fraction of what Trump deserves.
Can the time be switched to Don Jr and Jared, along with
the millions he's pilfering ?
Yes, dark times require dark humor !
"If you can't win, then cheat / break the law" is Barr's message. My parents would be appalled by his behavior, as they were by Nixon's. That level of outrage is simmering.
So, the Prosecutor resigns and Trump brings in one of his lackeys to fill the position -- are we really better off? Resigning would be morally responsible in a responsible Administration -- it would pass the "norm" test. However, there are no more norms, it's not a normal time -- that time has passed. It's time to stop fighting fire with paper! Fight fire with the tools to put out the flame!
Mr Kravis: I salute your integrity. I hope there is a job waiting for you at the Department of Justice in January 2021.
And I hope Judge Amy Berman throes the book at Roger Stone.
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Principled prosecutors resigning from the DOJ, at a time when we need them the most, is the worst thing that can happen to the department. They will be handing the department to those who are making it an arm of the executive, protecting criminals, not people.
We need you. Please don't quit. Please persevere!
Great praise for Jonathan Kravis for standing up for his own integrity that shines a bright light on an egomaniac and his subservient attorney general. (Attorney General is intentionally not capitalized).
Jonathan Kravis is yet another tragic American hero and professional martyr to democracy.
If you work in Federal law enforcement, whether you are an Assistant US Attorney, ICE agent, FBI agent, ect, you work for Donald Trump's and Bill Barr's corrupt agenda. Whatever legitimate good that comes from your efforts is incidental to them. The Senate does not support you.
The Senate, meanwhile, is busy corrupting the Federal Judiciary which is supposed to be an independent check on the power of Federal law enforcement against people's civil liberties.
Oh, what will become of our nation if this continues for four more years?
The US Constitution is flawed. The founding fathers never dreamed Americans would elect a blatantly corrupt President and if they did, they never dreamed one party would be beholden and corrupt enough to keep him in office and desperate enough to hold onto power. They assumed Congress wanted to remain a two party democracy. They assumed wrong. Republicans want imperial rule, a monarchy.
This will be known as "The Month of the Long Knives".
People who think that they may be targets should get their affairs and passports in order. If he wins retribution will be brutal.
Don't forget: Roger Stone was convicted for lying to protect Trump. That tells you everything you need to know about why Trump instructed Barr to change the sentencing recommendation. Doesn't matter at this point what Judge Berman does, Trump will pardon Stone. Justice is dead.
Trump and Barr actions about what happened to Epstein will be the topic long long years.
Epstein , if stayed in jail will sure talk and spill all beans. That beans were not be digestible by any measures of even a corrupt society.
Stone is in the same situation, if he stays in jail no matter what he is going to talk with media and explain things , these things may be as not bad as Epstein issues but still bring lots of trouble to Trump administration. Of course nobody can kill Stone, only way reducing or annulling his sentence.
I think Trump was encouraging the fringe when he asked "Second Amendment people" to think About Hilary Clinton's threats to his presidency. He may have now by his past actions, have encouraged others to consider a "Second Amendment solution" as a "karmic intervention" to his own......
Donald Trump is untouchable until the upcoming November, 2020 election, he knows it. The overwhelming majority of the Republican Senators just gave him this carte blanche. But why is there no investigation into William Barr's character and fitness to hold his law license? It is an absolute disgrace to the legal community to allow this individual to masquerade as the Attorney General when in reality he is a court jester for a tin pot dictator. Enough already, it's time to begin the process to throw Mr. Barr, as well as Rudy Giuliani, into the dustbin of attorneys history.
It becomes clearer everyday that the Constitution means absolutely nothing to Trump and his administration. The oaths they have taken were nothing more than words with no meaning. The total disregard for the integrity of our democracy and the nation itself only enforces the belief that Trump is under the thumb of Putin and other demonic forces.
These "Norms", "Guidelines", "Understandings" that trump and barr are violating should be codified into Law. This is ridiculous how easily trump is destroying our Constitution by ignoring them. I can't believe how weak our Constitution is when it literally depends on the President to honor Norms and Guidelines. They just don't work in a government led by people who have no honor, or character, or decency.
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Justice has died in America. Trump and Barr are using the Department of Justice for their own purposes. Trump to carry out revenge and Barr to support the President in whatever he wants. We can no longer trust anything that comes out of the DOJ. Stone was convicted by a jury, and Trump puts his fat thumb on the scales of justice. At least the line prosecutors had the guts to resign in protest. I worry about the life of the judge. I wouldn't put it past either Trump or Barr to get rid of her a la Putin's methods. The whole thing is that the DOJ can not be trusted ever now that the Attorney General has in essence become Trump's attorney. They are involved in the Flynn , Stone, Manafort cases and there will be pardons.
Barr has an agenda. He’s made it abundantly clear he sees this countries social order corrupted by abortion rights, challenges to police authority, same sex marriage, and diminished presidential authority. He’s being a martyr to his far right fundamental Catholic faith by tolerating Trump’s egregious behavior because, he believes, Trump’s authoritarian rule is necessary to restore his Catholic vision of social order.
Shoulda, coulda, woulda, didn’t. Resignations didn’t happen, and saying so after the fact serves no purpose. It’s a weak argument that relies only upon suppositions. Once again Trump is having a field day with social media, the more hate he spews, the more his supporters idolize him. It’s a win-win for him and he knows it. Is there any possibility that media can ignore him and render him irrelevant?
Somehow this dastardly alliance between Trump & Barr brings back memories of the Nixon-Mitchell alliance in the Watergate era. Mitchell spent 19 months in prison as a result.
Barr's actions clearly show he works for Trump rather than the American people both in his deliberate misinterpretation of the Muller Report & now in the purposeful alteration on the sentencing recommendation on Roger Stone.
The stark difference between is that the GOP at that time had a sense of country over party, but now it's party over country at every turn. As Boehner said, the GOP has been converted into the "party of Trump," and his vindictive, megalomaniac, narcissistic actions toward anyone who departs from his "agenda" has transformed the party into a conglomeration of toadies, sycophants, and apologists.
So long as this "normalization" of Trump's abhorrent behavior becomes acceptable to the public, as
Sen Warren said yesterday, "Right in front of our eyes, we are watching a descent into authoritarianism..."
The GOP House and Senate have repeatedly stated that "the people" will have the opportunity to make their opinion known on the actions of the current administration & their party in November. They are indeed correct as there appears to be no other way for truth & integrity to triumph.
The only hope left to save the nation is for the electorate to kick Trump & his complicit cronies in the GOP out of office as soon as possible. We owe it to ourselves & to our children to do so.
Can we please move to accepting the fact that America's democracy and the rule of law has ended? Whether or not Trump should ever have been impeached, now that he's been acquitted there is no stopping him.
The American people apparently do not care about any of this. They cheer this guy at rallies that evoke images of 1930's Germany.
There is no stopping this guy now.
The world watches as we grapple with a president who has abused the powers of his office by: (1) rewarding Rush Limbaugh's racist radio rants with a Medal of Freedom, (2) tweeting harassing invective at his critics daily, (3) spewing propagating disinformation and conspiracy theories, (4) launching cruel attacks on the lives of individual public servants, (5) railing at the free press, (6) intervening in the trials of his criminal pals, (7) undermining the rule of law, (8) inserting his venom into the Democratic primaries, (9) projecting the naive policymaking of his daughter and son-in-law into the public sphere, and (10) doing all of it, so far, with impunity. Let’s hope we are not barreling toward that moment when Trump will stand, not on Fifth but on Pennsylvania Avenue, surrounded by armed MAGA-hat supporters, emboldened to shoot down all who oppose and protest the actions of this impeached despot. This is the rotten fruit of the work of such GOP enablers as Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham, John Thune, Marsha Blackburn, Tim Scott, Marco Rubio, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Cory Gardner, and all the other GOP Congresspersons who have allowed themselves to be cowed into being a rubber stamp, and are content to be a fig leaf, for the first American dictator. Ain't no Superman or Batman coming to the rescue. We the people are going to have to handle this ourselves. Who would have thought we would become Putin's America, not the United States of America?
The GOP establishment has played a 40-year long game to dismantle the federal government, and Trump is their guy, and his cult are their pawns.
The comment by Susan Collins that “I think the president would be better served by never commenting on pending federal investigations." is misleading
Trump did more than comment - he changed the course of action of the Dept. of Justice.
I am sick and tired of Senator Collins pretending that she is worried about Trump. She in no more worried about him as she is worried about the man in the moon. She worried about losing her job.
The prosecutors, who have done nothing wrong, resign to retain their dignity. They lose their paychecks and are then are told they should apologize to a criminal. What planet is this? I want to go home.
This is the new "Norm." Think of Germany, Italy, Japan and a host of other dictatorships. All these countries started the same way.
Fake News, take over the courts and use force if necessary, and it will come to that soon. Trump, Mitch and their families are ready to keep shredding the Constitution until we are all going to be under Marshall Law soon.
And for our great leader's friends a get out of jail ticket even if they shoot someone in the middle of 5th Ave.
1
This outrage is not better policy.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Amy Berman Jackson, the federal Judge in Stone's case, can order the 4 prosecutors in Court to explain to her in OPEN COURT what happened and why they asked to withdraw from the case.
1
This latest version of presidential malpractice is chilling. Trump not only congratulates his corrupt Attorney General for interfering in the Stone sentencing, but he ignores the behavior of Stone, who posted a gun crosshairs video over the face of the federal judge due to sentence him next week. When the Senate failed to impeach Trump, Republicans who engineered his acquittal said that Trump would be chastened and moderate his behavior. Instead, he has ramped up his assaults on the rule of law, ousting Lt.Col. Vindman and his brother from their National Security Council positions and firing Ambassador Sondland from his European Union post. No decent and honorable deed goes unpunished by our vile and corrupt president.
Whether public officials resign as the federal prosecutor did, get pushed to the side as happened to Sessions, or get fired like Comey is irrelevant. Far from being out of control, Barr’s theory of the unitary executive has set the stage for Trump’s gut instinct to “do what I want,” putting him in total command of the entire Federal government. If he decides to bypass the House Democratic majority by implementing his budget in toto, or ignores a Supreme Court order to submit his finances, who is there to stop him? Rule of Constitutional law is only as good as the leadership that enforces it. Trump is a rogue President well on the way to one-man rule.
Looking at this from Europe- why aren't there any people in the street?
Do you all just let it happen? Is there no limit what this government can do without massive public protest?
Just asking...
Yet again, news that makes me feel that these are dark days for the republic and I am afraid.
Of course, this will get far worse.
When Manafort helped install a Putin stooge as leader of Ukraine, a man named Yanukovych, it became clear that the real purpose of that man was to try and weaken Ukraine, as Putin sent in troops to steal its land. Before Vanukovych was chased out of Ukraine, there were many bodies in the streets, and when the people finally were allowed to examine what was going on, they were astounded how he wasted their money.
We are Ukraine in 2013, but I fear we just don't have the political will to stop Trump/Putin.
Hugh
Just to whom does this country belong? I guess trump is making a point. It's his country and not ours.
I hope that Judge Amy Berman Jackson directs both Tim Shea and BillBarrBagman to appear in her court and to submit to pointed questioning about how the change in sentencing recommendation came to pass.
Then she can patiently explain to them that the guidelines clearly call for seven years just for witness tampering with threat of violence. Stone threatened Randy Credico to “prepare to die.” Even buying the risible rationalization from Stone’s shysters that it was merely bluster, she can point out that he revealed her personal information, including a picture of her with crosshairs.
Then she can throw the book at Stone in the presence of Trump’s flunkies.
1
Our 'career' Federal bureaucrats and courts are mostly Obama-Cheney-Clinton appointees, largely hostile to President Trump and his supporters. The President has every right to remove those who are biased or incompetent.
Stone's crimes of lying to the House Intelligence Agency over public conversations he had with a radio show host are silly a best and not worth the money it took to email them. Except for the fact he was a peripheral part of the Trump campaign, these political violations would not have prosecuted as felonies, and certainly not given 7-9 years.
1
The actions of president Trump to influence DOJ cases of personal interest, and the AG’s actions fulfilling Trump’s intentions is A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER to the future of American democracy!! Democracies fall through the erosion of its institutions and the Rule of Law. Once it begins it is hard to stop, unless the people take physical action, when our Elected Representatives and Senators either can’t or won’t act on our behalf. The erosion has begun in earnest at DOJ, following that at State during the Yovanovich affair, and the abandonment of the Kurds in Syria, with no pushback from Pompeo. Take to the streets, people, the window for action will close long before Election Day, so now is the Only time to act, in any way you can!! NOW!!!
All this hand wringing is futile.
We all know that whatever sentence the judge hands down, Stone will be pardoned immediately.
The three divisions of government have broken down irreparably.
And it is going to remain broken long after Trump is gone.
Sessions "stood up" to Trump only because they all knew that Mueller had been handicapped and was disinclined to use the subpoena power.
We can only hope the judge takes trumps threats seriously and pushes back with a strong sentence and a bench warrant for Trump.
The penalty was unjust. The prosecution was corrupt from the beginning. There will be indictments coming after the Durham investigation. Other than getting demoted or fired, who has been prosecuted for lying under oath to congress? McCabe, Comey, Clapper, Brennan, and others have lied under oath, and no prosecutions. An FBI lawyer plants doctored documents to a FISA warrant request to get a warrant on a citizen illegally. Nothing. Dirty agents and lawyers are worse than Roger Stone. Let’s prosecute them all. Every person involved.
1
In the Roger Stone case it falls to the judge to mete out the appropriate justice for his felonious deeds. The rest is just a continuation of Trump's three ring circus.
Trump and the GOP do not care that Justice Dept. prosecutors are resigning. They will simply fill the vacancies with sycophants, like Bill Barr. We are beyond the looking glass where reason and integrity no longer matter.
A must read-- "We are in a Golden Age of White Collar Crime," featured in the Huff Post. It is absolutely shocking and depressing how the 1% is using our entire nation as a platform for their crooked activities; Trump is merely the most high-profile of them all.
How do we get our country back?
There should be something like a "Regicide Amendment" introduced to the Constitution.
Here is a first draft:
"When an out-of-control and unrestrained President acts repeatedly like a dangerous tyrant, dictator or king and his or her own party enables such abuse and/or refuses to remove the said individual, the good citizens have a right or, indeed, duty to remove him permanently, and by whatever means necessary."
Sadly, our courts are impotent. Why aren't we seeing decisions on Trump appeals of oversight subpoenas. While the courts ponder, Rome is burning.
You can thank McConnell and the Republican Senate for all of this.
Without their oversight - of which there is none - Trump and his crony administrators are free to do whatever they choose.
The solution?
Elect any Democrat to the White House in November, but for the sake of the United States, Vote OUT the Republican Senate at the same time.
1
Who is the bigger threat to freedom, a political operative who lied to Congress about what he knew about Wikileaks or the FBI supervisors who falsified a FISA warrant application in order to spy on an adviser to a presidential campaign they opposed? According to the Inspector General, one agent went so far as to alter a CIA email that had stated Carter Page was in fact a source for the Agency. Where is the outrage over that?
I knew that we were in trouble after Barr gave his interpretation of the Mueller Report. Why do people who once had sterling reputations enable the horror occupying the Oval Office?
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.
-- Dylan Thomas
at this point, congress is completely done in. no backbone and no accountability for trump. done.
4
Resignation means something only if it costs you something. People who cycle in and out of public service can quite easily walk across the street to another job.
Bob Bauer, married to Anita Dunn, political strategist for the Obama administration, comes from a position of opposition to the Trump administration.
Of course, a discussion of the fairness of the recommendations is not made. That would only require a review of similar sentence recommendations. The only question is whether Stone’s was outside the normal range.
I think the title of the article is not that they are "out of control", but that they are in "complete control" of our country. Democracy died the day that the Senate Republicans decided that witnesses and documents did not matter.
16
Might not Barr be a reasonable target for a House impeachment effort? Might not GOP Senators find a little spine and redemption if Trump were not the direct target? Certainly many other Trump Cabinet appointees are also ethically (and perhaps criminally) challenged.
6
That one out-of-control president could so completely rip to shreds the structure of our constitutional framework in such a short time period is astonishing. It lays bare the truth that any system of law, rules or regulations, no matter how carefully constructed, can prevent the harm that men of bad faith can cause. The entire source of Trump's power over this nation is nothing other than the rabid voters who support him. As one who has argued in front of juries as well as investigated the dynamics of cult behavior, I am painfully aware of how gullible and how easily misled too great a number of our fellow citizens can be.
19
As long as the economy is good, most people do not care what Trump does. Trump, will be reelected because he knows how to simplify complex issues into slogans that fits his needs. Day in and day out the majority of people do not follow the news closely, it easier to condense issues into slogans. Our system has always relied on people with integrity to be the head of our government and follow the rule of law. Attorney William Barr obviously lacks integrity and does not care what history will write about his actions. Even the most conservative lawyers and law schools must all be scratching their heads about him.
12
I Think the Republicans and Democrats need a summit conference to identify common interests in reference to
Debts explosions, war and peace before the markets collpase - common ground must bring forth a better feeling for all. It's all about perception and gut feelings.
The President and Mr Baar need to talk and talk and talk to - yes, Democrats of all stripes; and the Republicans should not keep quiet, they need to say everything and lay it all out.
Many years ago Dobrynin was the Russian Ambassador
to Washington and , he would drive himself in the night to the White House to talk to President Nixon.
Even when not invited, Dobrynin invited himself to the White House, Horowitz and Rubinstein played the piano for Presidents Carter and Reagen with screaming crowds and there was a wonderful feeling for all.
Democrats and Republicans, think of bringing each other together in D.C. or New York, bring on concerts, the worlds best food - from all nations and talk, talk, talk for several days.
Anything is better than the status quo.
2
The Doomsday Clock is at 100 seconds, the closest ever to midnight. Any spark can precipitate a crisis that could call for declaration of a national emergency. The emergency powers of the president are limitless. No impeachment could remove such a president.
Some presidents have faced crises and relinquished power. It is unclear what president Trump might do.
The president has the power to spark a crisis that could call for emergency powers to address. President Trump has created crises, such as the crisis on the southern border apparently for media impact. They left millions alarmed, but did not warrant emergency powers.
Or, a pandemic or other crisis could demand emergency action. Then retribution measures could be more easily hidden even if they exceed what the American people would otherwise not stomach.
2
The acts of this regime have been disgraceful. I demur from calling it an administration as it is no longer in the tradition of American constitutional politics.
Trump, and his fellow travellers, have destroyed one of the main planks of the American Constitution: the separation of powers. A concept first outlined by Montesquieu and considered part of the enlightenment has been jettisoned by a regime that puts venal self interest before the rule of law that protects its citizenry.
7
I deeply admire the four prosecutors for their highly principled actions. They deserve much more than this tepid essay on the value of resignation.
Rome is burning, the president and his submissive Attorney General celebrate by fanning the fires that undermine the rule of law. This is a four alarm fire, made worse by the Republican Party’s conspiracy of silence.
The legislative branch is disabled. The judicial branch is led by a Chief Justice too weak to say a word in support of the rule of law while presiding over the president’s impeachment trial. So, what’s left? Who will rid us of these vicious tyrants?
Us, that’s who’s left. The only imperative is November. Focus. Democrats need to get their act together quicker. The only hope is a massive movement behind the strongest electable candidate that continues to expose Trump’s corruption and takes him down at the ballot box. Focus. Make the decision faster. It’s time.
That’s the only thing we can do to honor four lonely prosecutors for their patriotic sacrifice.
4
The Stone prosecution had political motivation from the outset and ended with an absurdly exaggerated sentencing recommendation. Mr. Stone's life has been essentially ruined by the overly zealous prosecution. I hope President Trump pardons him as soon as possible.
1
Roger Stone committed crimes against the United States Of America. His prosecution was not political, it was an action to defend this country. To make Stone legitimate and to make the case against him illegitimate is to assist this president in his desire to destroy the entire fabric of American law.
14
I don't think we actually know whether or not Mr. Mueller was able to complete his report. It seems not to have examined anything related to trump's finances, and that could be because Mr. Rosenstein was following orders from trump.
11
@Marilyn Burbank Good point. Mueller did not examine Trump's finances or his campaign's finances. Not only that, but there was very light examination of Trump's children.
7
Donald Trump swore to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.
He is now attempting to preserve his presidency, protect his buddies, and defend the indefensible. Apparently, he had his fingers crossed when he uttered the word, “Constitution”.
4
"If Mr. Mueller had resigned over the president’s attacks on him and refusal to sit for an interview, he might not have completed his report but he would have rendered a devastating and unequivocal judgment."
But then Trump's toady Acting AG would have appointed a toady as Special Prosecutor---or no Special Prosecutor at all---and in either case we'd not have had a real investigation of, and condemnation of, Trump's obstruction of justice.
3
It's increasingly clear, through their shameless actions, that Trump and the GOP have no Plan B for losing the election.
Therefore, they are certain of the success of Plan A, whatever that is.
And I don't see how Plan A is a free and fair election.
10
“Mr. Kravis’s is the first resignation in the face of these assaults.”
There is the problem. How do tRump’s many enablers got to work every day and facilitate his law-breaking and corruption? And only one is so revolted that he felt the need to resign?
6
What kind of business forces out its best people, like the four lawyers? A business people increasingly don’t want to do business with.
The “leader” has brought us countries that don’t trust him, and many parents who don’t believe him.
It’s not politics—it’s business.
It is time to change direction before this brand of leadership bankrupts our priceless spirit—which is our best, and only, real business.
5
While I'm sorry John Kravis quit, I nevertheless think John Adams put it best when he said: "We are a nation of Presidential tweets, not of men."
2
Without diminishing the virtue of the four prosecutors who resigned from the Stone case, full and fair disclosure would include the fact that the prosecutor who resigned had clerked for Merrick Garland.
4
So what??? How does that fact change anything at all regarding Trump and DOJ’s interference?
Three of the prosecutors kept their jobs. As for the fourth, it's not clear what he did but "apparently" he quit -- nobody seems to know for sure.
This piece makes a big deal out of three resignations that didn't happen and a fourth that may or may not have happened. It's a travesty if it happened, but we don't know if it happened. We'll get back to you later.
When elected leaders act like autocrats and are not held to account by other elected politicians, who are supposed to represent the checks and balances in the constitution, then all that is left, if you want to keep your democracy, is organized, large scale civil disobedience - like the Vietnam war protests or the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. I don't see anyone taking to the streets. But all it takes is a spark. The occupy movement seemed to come out of nowhere and it fizzled out but it caught a lot of people's attention. Something similar in 2020 could have a profound impact on the elections. But a lot of people have to get off their "duffs." Do people care enough about democracy to do it? I'm not sure.
4
"Resignations can be a shock to the system, just what is needed to clarify the issues, force Congress to pay attention and alter a president’s behavior." Which Congress, and which president? Expecting this Congress to alter 45's behavior is a naive statement, suited for a civics textbook.
7
It's called a coup he's stated repeatedly he's not leaving and he's made it a point to get the police on his side though perhaps not the military.
7
Well it didn't take Trump long to over step again after the impeachment 'trial'. And what was that lesson he learned ?
13
You would think Trump would be nice to these federal prosecutors.I can see them having a lot to talk to him about when he is out of office.
8
The Department of Justice has been politicized by Barr into a tool to serve whatever ends Donald Trump asks for.
We are going to see criminals walk free, crimes go unreported and unpunished. Does anyone doubt show trials and political prisoners are next? Trump’s own party is terrified of him.
Those who think an election will remove Trump should ask themselves this: everything we counted on to stop a would be dictator has failed at this point - will we still be able to believe Trump will accept being voted out of office?
His followers are already talking about Don Jr. 2024 and Ivanka 2032.
8
Judge Jackson now an opportunity to show courage for the rest of the world to see. I am holding my breath.
12
the reagan administration invented the republican alternative reality of ceasing to play by the rules of american discource and politics, and this is its natural end point, taken further over the line faster than anyone imagined but utterly in character.
11
In 2009, the Republicans decided to obstruct anything put forward by the Democrats. Their crowning achievement was the acquittal of Donald Trump 11 years later. The discourse that paralyzes the American political landscape isn't partisanship, it's strategic lying and there seems to be no shortage of men and women willing to go along with it all.
28
Sadly, Trump and Barr are IN CONTROL of our government and our (formerly known as) "justice" system.
Is this was happening in any OTHER country, the press would be talking about a coup, utter and complete corruption of the political and legal systems, and the overturning of democracy and the rule of law.
24
Okay, I see that what they are doing is different than previous administrations but to start from the presumption that we have ever had a justice system that meted out justice is lunacy. Money has always bought favor. The wealthy have always gotten off.
The vast majority of people in the US have never been able to look for justice in our criminal justice system. It's more of a poor people punishment system.
Stone and Trump are wealthy white guys. Nothing new there.
9
Anyone who has formally studied law in the United States, no matter what year or in what educational venue, or institution, no person who works within the "legal" system, no matter his or her legal authority but who may be an officer of the court, no one single person in that large community (California has nearly or exceeds in 200,000 attorneys with licenses active or not), considers what has happened in less than seven days a horror.
I have always known I would never survive in a totalarian government like that of the Former USSR. There are so many on this earth right now.
But for the United States to join that group by having this mad man and his totally corrupt associates is beyond my imagination.
Now I am angry that the recommendations that the Articles of Impeachment did not throw the entire book at Trump. Yes, we would be in the thick of the impeachment proceedings that would have taken us all over the edge of the election.
But we wouldn't be here with a dictator.
26
People should not be fooled by a press that thinks we are all unsophisticated. Barr knew of this sentencing decision long before any tweet— that’s obvious by simple logic and understanding of how it all works. His decision to change it was also made prior to the tweet— as has been stated by the DOJ.
What we don’t know is what happens behind closed doors.
6
We are witnessing nothing less than a take-over of our government by the forces of a conservative oligarchy which began a decade ago with the wildly undemocratic SCOTUS decision "Citizens United".
The unexpected minority win that put Trump in the White House has given the anti-democratic oligarchy the perfect weapon to tear down the last vestiges of our two party system, and their brazen defense of the criminal in the White House is the announcement of their victory.
Republican senators and compromised government agencies are standing behind a president whose unaccountability and dishonesty they uphold because it has given them the absolute power that they have craved for so long. When they say, "let the people decide" they do so knowing that their antidemocratic tactics of voter suppression, gerrymandering, propaganda and dirty tricks will keep them in power long enough to cement in place an ersatz democracy until some unforeseen catastrophe changes everything (climate crisis?), or, quite possibly, forever.
22
All the new Trump and Barr appointments in the justice department will they leave when Trump is gone not! The government before our eyes is in the process changing for ever. The stuff we are seeing is a start of complete control, the cancer from out right misconception has challenged people beliefs along with a false sense of security as we know it. There vision of a small government easier to control. Authoritarian Rule making sure all court ruling are known in advance for the out come of there desire. Look no farther than the SCOUS and the Senate.
All of us if we want a country worth living in we need to get all these people out then maybe we can control what normal should be..
3
Trump is ripping up the US Constitution and rewriting it in his image. If he gets away with it, America will no longer be the same country. If Trump wins in Nov, the American people will have given him permission to do it.
10
I just finished reading Stable Genius. One of the things that struck me was that one of our intelligence employees said that every morning Putin wakes up and wonders what problems there are in the United States and how can he make them worse. To me, Trump's actions confirm what Mrs. Pelosi said. "All roads lead to Putin."
Trump likes to stir the hornets nest and who is he stirring it for?
23
I rented, “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington,” this evening. It is available, on Apple TV. It is as relevant, perhaps even more so today, than when Frank Capra directed this iconic film, in 1939. We see a novice, and idealistic Senator Jefferson Smith, played by Jimmy Stewart, taking on the corrupt politicians, exhibiting courage, against all odds. He quotes Abraham Lincoln, as he stands in awe, at the base of the Lincoln Memorial. Lincoln, during the Gettysburg address, was trying to unify our divided country after a bitter civil war. Senator Smith reads these words, “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” One of our founding fathers, John Dickinson wrote, in July 1768, “Together we stand, divided we fall.”
This gives me hope that we will survive these divisive times, where vile rhetoric is meant to divided us and sow chaos, and turn us one against the other. Our country, and our institutions are stronger than any one man. We will survive. Whether we are Democrats or Republicans, we are first and foremost Americans.
As Reagan emphasized, “America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere.”
1
It is a wonderful film, I agree. But Capra's America didnt have Fox and talk radio, Twitter and Facebook spreading lies 24 hours a day. Citizens had to think for themselves and draw their conclusions without regurgitating what some shill told them to believe. We still have people with Jeff Smith's integrity, but not one of them has an R behind his or her name.
Perhaps the professional government bureaucracy ought to strike en masse in protest.
Trump's actions overriding longstanding well-grounded policies everywhere would warrant it.
2
It is illegal for federal employees to strike. If they did that, it would provide Trump with just the excuse he wants to replace the professional civil service with a patronage system which would owe fealty to dictator Trump.
It's time for the House to start up an Impeachment Inquiry on Bill Barr. Nothing could make the case against Trump's disrespect for the rule of law more clearly than televised hearings examining Barr's actions at DOJ.
12
The present highly disturbing situation, a “soft coup”, at the manipulated DOJ could get worse, a lot worse. For starters, I wonder how long until F.B.I. Director Wray is unceremoniously sacked by the emboldened Fake President, followed by him installing yet another “acting”, unconfirmed stooge like the embarrassment Whitaker. Trump has been running the Cabinet since his inauguration like continuing t.v. episodes of the “Apprentice”, without regard to any settled democratic norms, traditions, or practices. This unrestrained tinkering with the DOJ however, represents a qualitatively new threat, even for him. The Executive Department of the federal government is turning into an iteration of the Trump Organization, complete with its income producing capacity to enrich its head, and his family, through continuing violations of the Constitution’s emoluments clause.
10
It is so far beyond the pale. Can you imagine what the Republicans would do if Obama had done anything even approaching this?
Vote this fall, and no third party candidates, please. (We learned our lesson in 2016.)
16
trump supporters can say that the president was lawfully elected. Although he lost the popular vote by 3,000,000. I guess history may tell the true story. But now we actually have a criminal government.
I see jail sentences for not only the likes of Stone, but the entire trump family, except of course for Barron and Melania.
Everyday they double down on their criminal activity, reflective of his poor business practices.
3
Maybe Attorney General Barr is just reacting to over zealous, politically motivated prosecutors who are abusing their positions to try and overturn an election they didn't like.
3
David,
How is sentencing Roger Stone for perjury an attempt to invalidate the election in 2016?
Absolutely accurate comment.
Career government employees being forced to take policy direction from those elected to set policy. Liberals hate democracy so much - and sneer at the intelligence of American voters so much - that they cheer careerist federal employees attempting to subvert the will of the people.
Never mind that a jury found Stone guilty, right?
Let's see: we have a Justice dept. that does not represent us, budgets that mock our real needs while flooding money into more military and military contractors, destruction of our public lands, air and waters, threats and damage to safety net programs, failing infrastructure, a compromised justice system, and a Congress filled with bribetakers - aka corporate donations - When do we start demanding, NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION?
There is enough money to address climate change, keep our environment safe, and help our people and build new infrastructure, but whenever it is time to pay for people's needs, oops! No money! It's our money, our payments, our taxes. And to add insult to injury, every member of Congress has gold plated health care and pensions FOR LIFE.
Nero aka Trump is squeezing us like a lemon and stealing even the lemon peels.
13
When Democrats take over the White House, they will cancel voter registration cards for Republicans. Why? A. Its in the National Interest and B. The President can do as She wishes.
6
Americans will have to decide in November if this behavior, which typifies how Trump has operated for decades, is what we want from our President.
I certainly don’t.
7
Concluding this projection of sympathy for fair play, we encounter for the millionth impotent time in remarks on this government the expression, "crucial norms." It is time to denounce and abundant this Edith Wharton view of legality, in favor of the expansive but natural view all citizens possess of that standard: a written and unwritten set of constraints the observance of which is vital for holding in check their right of revolution. This cesspool of a government is not about to be held at bay by the doily of crucial norms.
3
Trump and Barr are out of control is the headline that inevitably follows an entire major political party, its donors and voters give Trump their permission tondo what he wants. This is particularly dangerous, when he made it quite clear during his presidrntial campaign that he wanted to prosecute his political opponents on Trumped up charges.
2
Yes Mr. Stone lied. Yes he was loud and disrespectful to the judge. On the other hand that doesn’t deserve 9 years in jail.
The Mueller report proved that Trump didn’t cooperate with the Russians to be elected, therefore Mr Stone couldn’t have helped him illegally in any way.
1
@Marian
The Mueller report found that there were many many contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign, but could not prove Russia and Trump coordinated. That is very different from what you said.
Roger Stone lied about trying to coordinate leaks of e-mails stolen by the Russians.
10
@Marian
He threatened witnesses. He threatened the judge. He helped rig a national election.
@Marian
The Stone trial also showed that not only did Stone lie, so did Trump. Not only in public, but probably on his sworn written testimony to Mueller. If it was a Democratic president, it would have led to impeachment article #126.
It's looking like Trump is daring the House to start up a second impeachment.
It's also looking like we are in dire need of some laws that will specifically thwart this kind of takeover--as soon as the crooked GOP swamp is drained and a majority of honest senators seated.
6
Everyone knows that Trump will pardon all these guys ASAP anyway. At most he'll wait 'til the day after the election, win or lose.
3
The punishment for Stone was by far excessive. And Trump intervention is right. The witch hunt by the demos now in its 4th year just strengthen the Trump base. Now it is pay back time. Trump 2020 and God bless the USA.
1
The missing point is that only the judge will decide the sentence. DoJ is a federal bureaucratic structure with a chain of command. I wish the Bush's DoJ made Acosta to persecute Epstein rather than wrist-slap.
1
Barr not only apparently accepts "the president's desire for a politically responsive Justice Department." He apparently believes that the President is the unconstrained dictator of the Executive -- he favors the so-called unitary executive. He also apparently believes that loyalty to the Constitution is no longer the appropriate loyalty -- it is personal loyalty to the President that is expected, and not only to this president.
5
Not really, they’re very much IN control, which is why we should worry. Democracies have died not as result of autocratic presidents or sycophantic legislators, but mostly corruption in the judiciary.
3
@ehillessum
These prosecutors are talented individuals. They could have easily moved on or even skipped service to our country and made significantly more without trying. Suggesting their motives are more selfish than honorable diminishes the significance of their actions. Classic Trump tactics.
4
It might have made sense initially to "work from the inside" and try to bring some order to the chaos and lack of direction of Trump's administration at its start when he was at a loss as to what comes next; he had not prepared for winning. So people like Kelly and Mattis could do some good in restraining the beast. But now that Trump has found his groove and been emboldened by the acceptance of his corruption and criminality by his Republican enablers---it can no longer work; he can no longer be restrained from the inside. Resignation and criticism from the outside are the most effective ways to hold him back now. If he holds on to power for another four years , we are lost.
4
President Trump and Attorney General Barr are out of control, but they're in cahoots controlling the Department of Justice and our Presidency. Who will confront Donald Trump's illegal use of executive power and deal with him as harshly as he has dealt with Congressional Democratic lawmakers and any people who block his way toward his corrupt presidential accomplishments? We can't rely on Donald Trump resigning our presidency as Nixon did in 1974. He'll be removed by the passage of time and his inchoate rage. William Barr's Department of Justice goes along to get along. As does Mike Pompeo's Department of State. The American people are foundering in uncharted territory under Demander-in-Chief President Trump.
284
@Nan Socolow Sorry, but you give Barr and Pompeo far too much credit. They aren't behaving this way because they're "going along to get along". Trump attracts other tyrants and authoritarians. Barr and Pompeo are equally contemptuous of the Constitution and the rule of law as Trump is. Given the opportunity to govern from the White House both of them would readily behave despotically. In fact, both men are significantly smarter and more competent than Trump and would likely be much more effective and successful in their abuse of power.
79
@Nan Socolow
I agree with you, and the reply posted, and the ones below as far as I scouted.
What I found most disturbing watching evening news tonight was Sen Graham, who I used to respect till he became total Trump acolyte, agreeing this evening when questioned by a reporter, that perhaps it had been too harsh...that he had NO regard/question for the fact that DOJ was kowtowing to Trump's demand..seems ALL the Republicans have drunk the KoolAid...
51
I fear that most people do not recognize the threat that the pairing of a lawless president with a singularly corrupt Attorney General represents. This malign combination is the key ingredient for an authoritarian state that can intimidate or even prosecute would be opposition and protect corrupt allies. Barr has shown an unprecedented eagerness to do both of these things on behalf Trump. Without bipartisan condemnation of Barr's conduct I’m not sure what can be done to stop him short of impeachment. Even that drastic measure is likely to meet the same fate in the republican controlled senate as Trump's sham trial. The stakes for the coming election have just been raised from critical to existential.
447
@Robert O.
Well put and I completely agree. I also think people don't realize that the Senate Republicans could have put the brake on Trump, even without removing him from office, and chose not to. It didn't have to be all or nothing. McConnell could have encouraged a handful of Republicans, those retiring or those in purple states, to vote their conscience. If there had been ten Republican votes for conviction instead of one, it would have put Trump on notice without "overturning the election." Instead, they handed him a blank check, basically told him to go ahead and do whatever he wants. I'll NEVER forgive them.
83
I love it that all the people of "good conscience" are getting out of the way for the people of bad conscience to come in right behind them and take their place. Go ahead - show us your high moral standards for everyone to applaud; a week from now nobody will remember your name and your seat will be filled by someone guaranteed to help carry on with a complete government takeover.
4
I've had a hard time seeing this latest obstruction of justice by trump. Seems like a never ending nightmare, but this one is 'way more serious.
It's good to see this response from someone with experience of the Justice Department. Makes me feel I'm not alone in my fear that this is going too far for the future of the justice in this country.
6
Another situation that shows up our full-proof Constitution to be without teeth. We have been living in a mythical place. We thought that our traditions and customs will hold. They do not any more. We need to go to the streets - where are the young people? We need a 1968 summer of discontent. We need laws that can reduce the power of the executive and separate the Justice Dept completely from the executive. Otherwise, we are not far from another 1862.
10
The resignation of Mr. Kravis should be applauded as recognition of not submitting to the whims of the president. Concern should also be extended to the prosecutors who chose to stay because working for this president is similar to living with an abuser. An abuser demeans, intimidates and punishes those who disagree with his or her actions, which describes the current occupant of the White House.
4
Every part of our government is being corrupted and diminished by Trump. It is deeply disturbing to see our institutions, sullied by our corruptor in chief, transform into politicized willing servants of a guy who has never found a law or a moral principle he didn't wanted to destroy.
But more terrifying to me is how little resistance there is. We on the outside can scowl snd raises are voices in protest. But other than resignation, nothing seems effectual in stopping our mad president.
Better vote while we still have the right to remove this tin horned dictator wanna be and send him, with his disdain for our democracy, to the cleaners. Only we have the power to save ourselves.
But more worrisome, even if beaten at the ballot box would Trump accept electoral defeat? Would he give up power? No one really knows what will happen, but I doubt a peaceful transferral of the office from a guy who seems to live in a different cosmos of "alternative facts.".
This means I call up my crazy brother from Cincinnati who loves Fox news and ask him to please think twice before he votes for Trump again.
22
The oligarchy is who's out of control.
Barr, Trump, McConnell and the rest of the Republican crew in power are soldiers of the oligarchy. They had two jobs: roll everything even remotely connected to money all the way back, and make sure they retain power after Trump is gone.
That's what they've been doing and why so many unethical people have been put in charge of things they would never have been allowed to run, especially in light of their prior records. This includes Trump as much as it includes Barr with his previous incarnation in a Bush administration.
Make no mistake, few are the oligarchs who aren't pleased with the results they're seeing. Oligarchies are structured like the Cosa Nostra, replete with competing, warring clans and extended famiglias.
The upper classes have dictated the terms for far too long. Now that they're in control, they've stopped pretending that there is a political party structure. They're the party now and they're entitled to us all.
17
Fortunately, DOJ's change in its sentencing position will not likley influence Judge Jackson's sentence. Unfortunately, the President will almost certainly pardon Stone.
8
What if Mueller had resigned? I would argue that our country would be less if we did not have the Mueller report. Of course, there were highly competent people who probably did most of the work, but Mueller's presence at the top may have shielded them and allowed them to be more effective. The resignations send a story, but working from the inside can be effective also.
2
I agree. If mueller had resigned the Right would have spun a story that he wasn’t getting anywhere and so got out. Or would have simply moved on. No news is not news.
3
"Resignations can be a shock to the system, just what is needed to clarify the issues, force Congress to pay attention and alter a president’s behavior."
Sorry, but members of the Trump Party in Congress have made it perfectly clear that they are not the least bit concerned about his behavior, and will block any further attempts at congressional intervention.
That horse is long gone from the barn.
21
@Jim Remington
And this is a very good thing.
So many commenters don't understand how our democratic republic is designed to work.
The executive branch of the government--including federal prosecutors--answer to the President. He is the CEO of the government.
If you didn't have this essential link from government employees to the President, then we wouldn't have a democracy. We would have some form of oligarchy where the government could act unconstrained from the will of the people.
Simple as that.
4
@Mmm
Not really "simple as that". And it may be you who doesn't understand the design.
We are supposed to have 3 coequal branches of government. One branch's (congress) majority has given up that role of check & balances, leading to the neutering of the role of the judicial.
Look up the definition of "oligarchy". And plutocracy. And "monarchy". We're headed down that path.
28
Yes, but justice is not what Mr. Trump determines, it is defined by laws. Thusly, the Department of Justice is tasked with enforcing the rule of law, not the will of the president. And, frankly, I believe you already understand this.
20
@J Darby OK answer this question: can a U.S. attorney determine to prosecute or drop a case, or does he need to get approval from Congress or the Courts to do so?
Think hard about that and you'll learn something about the Constitution, checks and balances and executive power.
7
Resignations are not a good idea. In fact they play into what is desired. It means the position will be filled with people who are willing to comply in the future.
Look at the Republican Senate. Many have resigned leaving a core that is wholly compliant, save Romney.
13
I've been on the fence for some time as to whether people such as the prosecutors should stay in the administration and minimize the damage, or resign. No more. As staying in appears to do absolutely no good in minimizing Trump's outrageous behavior, the only thing that might get the nation's attention is mass resignation.
The mass graveyard of political careers of people that thought they could work with the president, rivals Arlington in size. Right now, in Alabama, Republicans who used to revere Jeff Sessions as a nonpareil in conservative thought now describe him with one word: "recusal". William Barr will certainly not make that mistake unless something dramatic happens.
The only thing that might get the his attention is a Saturday night massacre on a massive scale. When, finally, all that are left are the Mick Mulvaneys and Hogan Giddleys and Kelly Anne Conways of the administration - three who couldn't pilot a merry-go-round - then even Republicans will be willing to see something has to be done.
16
@Thucydides don’t bet on it. There are far more incompetent people out there who’d be more than willing to take a position in this administration. I fear for our country like never before. And I lived through the Vietnam Nam protests and Nixon.
That one renegade president could so dramatically rip to shreds the entire structure of our constitutional framework in such a short time period is astonishing. It lays bare the truth that no system of law, rules or regulations can prevent the harm that men of bad faith can cause. The entire foundation of Trump's power over this nation is none other than the rabid voters who support him. As one who has argued in front of juries as well as investigated the dynamics of cult behavior, I am fully aware of how gullible and easily misled too great a number of our fellow citizens can be.
36
I am shocked that our federal government, that we all took for granted as being rock solid, has been so easily compromised by the simple breaking of norms. Clearly norms aren't enough. We need to update our laws to make sure that the fiascoes that we're witnessing on a daily basis never happen again.
27
@Helena Laws work only so long as they are enforced.
@Helena Let us hope it is not too late.
The rigor of the law sometimes admits what subsequently could be interpreted as nugatory pleasantries in lieu of harsh criticism. Witness the February 5, 2020, editorial by James D. Harmon, Jr. which seems to avoid the apparent niceties expressed by Mr. Bauer; "...During the House investigation, Mr. Sondland testified that Mr. Trump told him: “I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. Tell Zelensky to do the right thing.” To me, a former federal prosecutor who has successfully argued cases before the Supreme Court and handled many organized crime cases, the words “do the right thing” recalled the way mob bosses made an offer that could not be refused — the threat and reward clear but unstated, without explicit incriminating language." Perhaps the President interprets his role as Mr. Harmon observes it, even unabashedly, now that he has been acquitted of high crimes and misdemeanors. He seems to have built a fire under a tin floor for the bear of a man, the Attorney General, to dance upon. Some would not stand for it. We observe the essence of cruelty in the pure intent, irregardless of the circumstances.
9
Complain if you must. But if Mr Stone was a figure who was sympathetic to the left—think then Bradley Manning, Trump would be a hero. Just depends on your political perspective. And who knows what motives the prosecutor who quit had for doing so. I will find it interesting to know where they are 6 months from now and whether their salary is significantly higher.
5
If Stone was sympathetic to the left Republicans would have gone bonkers over what Barr did.
When you cheer on the pendulum swinging excessively in one direction, be prepared for it's return swing with equal momentum in the opposite direction.
FISA rules were broken to initiate the Russia investigation. It's undeniable if you're willing to look at the facts without any bias. Impeachment was attempted when it would knowingly fail in the Senate. This by any means necessary mentality is totally blind to the eventual backlash. The sky has been falling for over 3 years now and we've done just fine.
Now there's talk of a second impeachment attempt. That's a good way to lose the house in the fall. The democrats have been focusing on all the wrong things. Attacking what they hate and presenting zero real world solutions. That's the main reason Bernie has so much support. But nominating Bernie will result in a landslide for Trump and stealing the nomination from him will have the same result.
American is about the opportunity for prosperity if one is willing to work hard. Unfortunately people start with different circumstances, talents and opportunities. That's just life and a lot of times the people that have overcome tremendous hardship end up being all the better for it.
A country where everyone prospers or suffers equally, regardless of effort, is not a country that anyone wants to be part of. The thought of a utopian reality is appealing but the inevitable reality never meets its expectations.
8
@RSB
It continues to amaze me how people continue to push the false narrative that the FISA warrant had anything to do with the beginning of the Trump/Russia probe. The IG report was VERY CLEAR that the investigation was PROPERLY predicated. There was sufficient evidence to start the probe and political opinions had NOTHING to do with the start of the investigation. The FISA application, not the first, not the second, but the THIRD FISA application on Carter Page, was improperly obtained. A tiny detail in an ocean full of other evidence. At that point in time, the investigation was in FULL swing. Neither the Steele Dossier NOR the Fisa application errors were used to BEGIN the probe. Please read the IG report.
12
Nor was the FISA warrant material to any of the successful prosecutions take by the SDNY, the DC District Court or the Eastern Virginia District Court.
5
I wish I had your crystal ball.
What makes you so sure trump would win by a landslide against Bernie? I’m not so sure.
For the public to understand, a simplified clear explanation is necessary.
1. The Guidelines were fairly applied as a recommended range for the Judge to consider—with sentences frequently lower.
A. The District Court may be the best Forum for the system to do it. Judge Sirica was instrumental in a different setting in Watergate.
2. Of special importance now and more in the 2020 elections:
A. Exactly what did Stone do (some behavior was extreme) that resulted in each of the 7 convictions; why was each so very serious; and what is the consequence for the rule of law if those crimes are tolerated?
B. What are the Congressionally-approved Guidelines and why are they important in the System?
C. While tedious: there should be a written explanation of how they were applied to correctly to yield 7-9 years—which is not a sentence.
D. The defense arguments should be stated with comment—but left to the Judge’s discretion.
E. Why DOJ and judicial independence are important.
This can do much to alleviate the damage inflicted on vital confidence of both the public and career professionals.
5
Mr. Bauer writes “The rhetoric of Mr. Sessions’s successor, William Barr, suggests that he accepts, to a disturbing degree, the president’s desire for a politically responsive Justice Department.”
I’d go further, and point out Barr unambiguously embraces disgraced torture-advocate John Yoo‘s made-up “unitary executive” theory, which gives the U.S. President monarchic power.
Pres. Trump’s abuses escalated to such a point that, whether politically expedient or not, impeaching him became the sole morally tenable option. Perhaps Congress should regard the abuses perpetrated by Bill Barr — who is also eligible for impeachment — with a similar clarity.
22
A key is for the federal judge (or judges, if it goes to appeal) to not buckle and in the words of Gilbert and Sullivan, "make the punishment fit the crime".
After that, it would be possible for President Trump to pardon Stone.
For the sake of the country, and for the sake of the Republican party, let us all of us hope that Republican senators would then be reunited with their consciences.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, said after she and almost all the other Republicans voted acquittal, that she thought President Trump had "learned his lesson". What learning?
What lesson? What conscience?
21
Where has Mr. Bauer been? Trump not only does not care about norms, he knows that he becomes more popular with his illiberal and illogical base when he breaks them. The "powerful signals" sent by this resignation are just a difference in type from the signals Trump has created in a thousand different ways since the beginning of his candidacy - and found validated by both his tribal base and sycophants like Bill Barr and the Republicans in the US Senate. In other words, while I applaud the actions of all four career prosecutors, it will not matter unless Trump is dumped on November 3, along with enough US Senators to provide a Democratic majority. We will then be back on a better path, but will by no means be healed.
11
At the head of the government sits a man who has submitted a budget that slashes Medicaid, Medicare and other popular social programs in this, an election year. He obviously thinks it won't affect his chances, and given the nature of the Electoral College, he may be right. Would this man have been affected by high-level resignations? In fact there were massive resignations when he first took office by lower-eschelon career civil servants in various departments, once his secretaries were installed--not that those resignations got much coverage. Many of his initial appointments resigned or were fired. Your insider's experience, Dr. Bauer, certainly commands respect, but from my perspective, at least, your hypothesis is unpersuasive.
8
Yes, Trump and Barr are out of control. The House may take a stand and oppose their action, but what about the Senate? If the vote for Impeachment is any indication, the Republican majority will huddle behind close doors in a caucus.
10
If Trump is doing us any service it is to remind us how fragile democracy is. Our institutions are falling like dominoes to his new rules of the game: the Senate last week, the Justice Department today. This is happening in the most established democracy in the world.
The author does a good job at illustrating how much things have changed in... three years when he compares Barr to his predecessor.
The simile of the frog slowly boiling to death without noticing is used to illustrate how global warming is endangering us. I fear it is also valid to picture the quick and relentless eroding of our democracy under (and it is “under”!) Trump. If he wins in November, I fear this is no exaggeration, the worse will indeed be possible. Let’s not take our cherished democracy for granted, my fellow Americans: it truly is under attack.
15
Bill Barr and Donald Trump are not out of control, they are in control. They are wise to the ways of the corrupt officials who have been trying to bring Trump down ever since he entered the Presidency. Stone was a longterm friend and advocate for Trump for many many years. Trump does not forget his friends and he will fight for them if they are unfairly treated. If trump can't get justice for these persecuted allies, he will pardon them and there is nothing anybody can do about it.
8
How does being a long time friend relieve one of responsibility from being found guilty by a jury of your peers on seven felonies? It appears that the idea is no one should be held accountable for their actions which is contrary to law and order expressed by the ruling administration.
And, who is Trump to decide whether his friends have been “unfairly treated”? Care to explain?
@Babel: you note that Trump can pardon Roger Stone and “there is nothing anyone can do about it.”
There I think you are wrong. The voters can toss him out of office. That is why Paul Manafort languishes in prison and why I think Trump won’t pardon Stone.
All bets on that are off if Trump loses the election.
These are the codes of ethics that govern all lawyers. At least some at DOJ respect them. The President single-handedly is destroying the rule of law for his own (and his friends') self-interest. We need more people to resist the President's demands and to resign if he insists. But to this President, the law, ethics, the will of the people do not matter. We can only continue to hope that others will refuse to comply. Unfortunately, this will likely be another blip on the ever-downward spiral.
10
Barr may have personally agreed with the president that the sentence was too harsh but he should have known, or maybe already knew, that the president would tweet about it. He certainly knew that Roger Stone was an associate of the president. By overriding the prosecutors he created the impression that the Justice Department was acting on the direct or indirect orders of the president and thereby degraded the Justice Department.
To re-phrase a well known saying "If it looks like corruption and smells like corruption then it must be corruption".
15
The prosecutor, Mr. Kravis, is to be applauded for his integrity, morality and patriotism by standing up for the principles and beliefs he obviously holds in high regard. The same can't be said for Trump or Barr whose increasingly reckless, methodical actions defile the Constitution, show there is no separation between the executive and judicial branches at the highest level of our government, and send a message across the land that they, like the scoundrel Stone they advocate for, all believe they are above the law.
16
@Horseshoe Crab
Or maybe, Mr. Kravis saw that their ruse to oust the president was going south and decided that self preservation was in order.
This is like a bad version of Twilight Zone. We are losing the rule of law at an alarming rate. The State Department is gutted. Now the Justice Department ...No decent and qualified person will want to serve there. Patriotism and service are being rewarded with intimidation. SAFT--Save America From Trump.
34
@EM
You know what's sad: Democrats see Trump as the enemy and Republicans see him as the guardian of democracy.
To those who wish for mass resignations from DOJ to "make a point: and signal that "something is wrong": that is exactly what happened in the Republican caucus of the Senate. Every Republican with a conscience left the Senate after Trump's election, and many left the party entirely. The result is what we see today. Think twice before you call for a similar change of staff at DOJ.
13
More important the removing Trump is getting rid of a Republican Senate and specifically Mitch McConnell. They want unlimited power now for Executive Branch but not so much when Obama held it. Then they stonewalled everything. Still are. And will again.
Barr is not protecting the president, he's protecting an ultra right agenda. As soon as a Democrat holds the job he'll work to dismantle.
23
You need to speak out more frequently.
Eloquently stated and a masterful argument.
There is not much standing now between the US that we know and anarchy.
Free speech, and the sunlight it brings as a disinfectant, is crucial.
Use it.
17
@Bob "There's not much standing now between the US...and anarchy"
Well, there's:
1. The police
2. The second amendment
3. Prayer
4. Law abiding citizens
5. The need for a job (helps keep one drug free)
Sounds like pretty much to me.
Thank goodness somebody in the legal profession has said this. I am with it 100%. What has happened shows that the whole Justice Dept is being contaminated with political influence. The question is whether a lawyer or prosecutor wants to be part of such a system. Given that these people have served law and truth most of their lilves, and no doubt feel it deeply, at some point the contamination has to eat into their self-respect.
17
Ask Alan Dershowitz, Trump's attorney, who said that the president is above the law. The Republicans supported that idea, of course, so this is the horrifying outcome. This president can't stop his greed and Barr now has transformed himself in a private servant ready to fulfill any Trump's desire.
27
Where were the resignations in protest after Barr took over the Mueller report and used the DOJ to protect the President? I would have expected mass resignations for those with a conscious and a sense of duty.
The ones overthrowing the Constitution, Democracy, and the rule of law are the very ones protecting Donald Trump.
10
Why does the length of the sentence matter at all? I’ve assumed from the start that Trump will pardon Stone.
8
@Bill in Yokohama That is his prerogative and Trump alone will bear the judgment for that. The current course of interference is hugely damaging to the independence of the justice dept. The outcome might be the same, but the path of interference Trump has chosen has the effect of tainting the mission of the entire judicial department with political bias favouring Trump. Not since the firing of the US Attorneys for not being "Bushie" enough has the DOJ been so abused by a president.
2
Trump is determined to bring a Kim/Putin style govt to America as he has praised them both for how they run their countries. Americans do not know what it is like to live under a dictatorship but may find out "it can happen here" as it has come with the flag and the cross as predicted. Americans may be surprised to find their neighbors calling into Trump Watch Groups to report them for anti Trump comments. A Loyalty Pledge (to trump and Ivanka) may be required to get or keep a job . Police and military all wearing MAGA hats may be common and the Trump family may be declared rulers for life. What can we do he has all the guns and judges.
30
“...all the guns and judges.” Scary.
Democratic senators were asleep at the wheel during Barr's confirmation hearing. I'm a 70 year old Canadian and i remembered all of Barr's history and his predilection for the expansion of executive privilege. Trump and Barr's actions should be no surprise to anyone.
31
@Tom Yup, you are right. If my memory serves me, they were more or less satisfied with Barr's assurance that he would protect the Mueller investigation. He protected it, buried it, spun it, and now he'll investigate it, all at the behest of the president's wishes. A real prize he is.
2
The power of language comes from recognizing the power of the adjective. Adjectival use reveals much about the position of the writer, regardless of what they claim is their position. Consequently, I am disturbed by, and argue with, Bauer's use of the following adjective in describing Attorney General Barr's actions. It is not tr ue that Barr "accepts to a disturbing degree, the president's desire for a politically responsive justice department," rather, the truth is that "Barr accepts to an utterly cowardly degree, the president's desire for a politically indebted justice department." While I applaud Bauer's clear sense of propriety and balance, but when it comes to Trump, it is time for rhetoric that has, at least, more teeth.
11
The real problem is that 40%+ of Americans apparently have no problem with this.
It is incumbent upon the rest of us, the majority, to send a loud and clear message on November 3 that this behavior is unacceptable.
73
Thanks for explaining the ways resignation can be effective. But I still wonder whether loud and public criticism, plus refusal to resign, might not be more effective - as Wally Hickel did, forcing Nixon to fire him publicly.
12
Actually, the problem is Trump and Barr are in control, not out of control.
29
As someone who represents regular street criminals in federal court, this news is certainly dismaying. I am confident that the district judge will sentence appropriately under the advisory sentencing guidelines and set a sentence that is sufficient, but not more that necessary.
What is equally dismaying is the fact that there were few, if any, criminal prosecutions of the individuals who caused the 2008 Wall Street fiasco. Their actions caused much more damage to Main Street. I am sure that a low-level bank fraudster sees the disparity.
A Republic—if you can keep it......
20
Upon hearing the latest news I started hearing this song in my head: “Welcome back again my friends to the show that never ends”. Thanks, Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
19
What we have is a president of the United States who's a de facto mob boss and intimidator of witnesses, prosecutors and judges, and an "attorney general" who serves as his consigliere (aka fixer) and principal enabler in brazen lawlessness.
Our democracy has descended into its darkest place yet. To borrow a phrase that movie director Todd Phillips used in a different context, it's safe to call Donald Trump "the tunnel at the end of the light."
The sound you hear is the rule of law on life support, gasping for air and struggling to survive. Will it?
72
In Trump world the truth isn't necessarily true, facts aren't always factual and right is now lurching horribly into wrongness. After you have absorbed these gems consider this: if Trump can put his thumb on the scales of justice then the law is not really the law. And that means that Trump can do whatever he pleases to anyone who displeases him and no one can stop him.
Listen up: Trump will never leave office voluntarily because he believes that it is in the "national interest" for him to remain in the White House. All of the foregoing means that the only way to excise this cancer is for direct action in the streets and at the polls. Despite what WAPO would have you believe our democracy is dying in plain sight at high noon on a very clear day. If millions take to the street and - more importantly - show up and vote this November we might be able to overcome Trump. Based on the past three years of political events I'm not particularly sanguine about our chances.
29
i imagine it would take armed military personnel to remove him and his insidious family from 1600... these people are not your average human being, they believe they are above everyone and everything
The real question is why so many attorneys have not also quit in protest. If you’re complicit in unconstitutional evil doing by working at DOJ, why not quit, speak out and make 5 times more money doing honorable private sector work?
11
@Michael,
"The real question is why so many DOJ attorneys, State, FBI, IRS, Commerce and military leaders have not also quit in protest."
Because they are Republicans! Like 90% of Republicans, these individuals believe they should let Trump do his job. Even, if it means destroying the country and everything the country stands for.
13
When prosecutors call for a stiff sentence and the Justice Department downgrades the recommendation, the message to the judge is that the matter has turned political, so he will disregard the new recommendation and follow his instincts. Anyone who knows anything about criminal law and criminal practice knows that the more lenient recommendation will be ignored. So those upset about what happened are upset about nothing at all.
5
People aren't upset that a sentencing recommendation was downgraded, they are upset at how, why, and by whom it was downgraded. I think you know that.
1
@michjas,
"Anyone who knows anything about criminal law and criminal practice knows that the more lenient recommendation will be ignored. So those upset about what happened are upset about nothing at all."
LOL! Trump and Mitch have put hundreds of unqualified judges on the bench, including the a few on the Supreme Court. You are living in a past, which does not exist, anymore.
It is not unexpected. Considering the freedom and "popularity" obtained after the acquittal, this can be expected. Also, the view of AG Barr is that a President can do whatever they wish.
Much more worse things are expected to come, prepare for the ride.
20