"If witness tampering didn't happen the way we all recognize on TV, with a gun to his head or worse, then it didn't happen at all." (I'm paraphrasing here.)
Pretty sure if someone makes a credible threat and POTUS is put in fear, that's actionable. But his friends get to plead, Just Kidding!
“I’m going to watch the process. I’m going to watch it very closely,” As indeed we all should. Here's part of the process...a thin wedge: New York State citizens denied airport pre-clearance because NYS won't allow ICE unlimited access to DMV records. NYS citizens denied ability to ship automobiles abroad because of the same reasoning. Start by denying small "insignificant" rights. If the clamor is small, go after bigger rights. This is exactly what Hitler did to the Jews. Watch the process, watch it and get alarmed early.
7
The depth and breadth of Trump's ongoing corruption beggars the imagination. What stuns and upsets me is that it appears so easy for him to continue in his manipulation and deception.
1
The Feds should hold off on prosecuting some of these cases until Trump is out of office and has no ability to pardon anyone. And might I say that Trump's fake tan is so bad, that the difference in skin tone around his eyes makes it looks like he's wearing glasses or makeup for a comedy skit.
3
I guess Mr. Barr has a decision of conscience to make. Personally, I would leave Trump flapping in the wind...
1
Barr is Trump's lap dog, acting as his personal lawyer and not as the protector of law, justice, and the American legal system. Barr's actions have been disgraceful and disgusting, and he needs to resign immediately. Ever since he suppressed and misrepresented the Mueller Report, he has been reduced the DOJ to a mockery.
Government
Of the Trump,
By the Trump,
For the Trump,
will make our Democracy
perish
From the Earth.
1
Trump has done us all a favor. As much as I do not like the man, he really has in this instance.
He has shown us all a big mistake by the Founding Fathers. The power of the pardon has a big problem with it when it is in the hands of a person who has a gaping character flaw.
Time for a Constitutional Amendment people!
One that states that a President may not pardon anyone who was sentenced during their Presidency nor within the preceding 24 months of it.
If Congress will not act, then We The People need to via a Constitutional Convention.
14
@JD ...and also not intervene with "sentencing recommendations", as though he had any legal expertise whatsoever.
It is nearly impossible to fathom: President Trump, man given the most powerful office in the world decrying "Unfair!" on a daily basis. Are we to believe that Trump is a victim—that in his victimhood he lacks agency, deserves empathy, and pity? And in this particular display of whining, he shames and blames law enforcement to an audience of convicts reentering society, seeking to malign and vilify the rule of law. Think about that. Instead of sharing words of encouragement and inspiration to a room full of individuals whose criminal acts resulted in conviction and incarceration, Trump stokes the smoldering embers of fear, anger and injustice residing in them. Seek a vulnerable audience, manipulate and gas light, seeding the notion that, I, Trump, and like you, a victim of a corrupt system, and that, except for my words and deeds, trust no one. What a wonderful role model this man is!
7
Trump thinks the government, the country, the world, the law, are all about HIM.
I’m so tired of his voice, his lies, his face.
Make America Great Again is one thing.
Adoring Trump like the golden calf is altogether different.
3
Yep, a lot of bad things are happening all right! Trump is trying to free all the criminals and jail all of the innocents! This is a naked attempt to destroy the criminal justice system and turn it into an instrument to punish the enemies of a “ very stable genius “. Our civil liberties are at stake here.
5
Barr just likes to do his dirty work in silence and the dark.
7
Obviously in DJT's lexicon "dirty cop" means someone NOT on the take from or beholden to him.
5
Trump rails about "dirty cops" two days after pardoning Bernard Kerik.
O the irony!
10
Blue tsunami in November or our republic is dead.
5
Dirty cops have written me tickets for violating traffic laws. It couldn't have been that I was speeding or parked illegally
and good cops were just doing their jobs to serve and protect.
No! They must have been dirty cops to come after ME! So unfair!
3
It’s like watching half of Lindsey Graham’s head melt off, and the other half try to keep blabbing that everything’s Just Fine.
3
A very few years ago such a near imbecilic rant by a president would have been astounding news. Now, it's just another day at the White House. It is truly sad how quickly we have fallen
5
Hey Republicans, when will you realize that the house is on fire and your guy set it?
Actually, the country is engulfed in a conflagration, your guy started it, and you are blocking the firemen while spreading accelerants.
Vote Blue no matter who 2020.
4
"Dirty cops putting away good people ...."? Well, i think they are too mild and not putting away the really dirty one. Can we just lock Donald up and keep him there ?
4
Lindsey Graham is an utter disgrace. If he has any integrity he’s be ashamed. As they say in the south, “bless his heart”.
As for the rest of the Senate that has untethered the wannabe dictator by overwhelmingly acquitting the “president,” we will remember when it’s time to vote you out. Count on it
Of course, Russia will be able to manipulate elections because Mitch won’t allow security measures to be implemented. Wonder why?
Vote them all out!
5
The idea that what Barr has said constitutes pleading with tRump is preposterous. Why would you take at face value what a pathological liar says?
3
No President Trump. Comey, McCabe, and the others did not lie. They may not like you and they have good reason, but they did not lie. You protect liars and cheats and fire those who tell the truth. The last thing anyone on god's green earth should do is to trust you on anything.
1
DJT forgets that HISTORY has a way of remembering, reporting, recording, reflecting, and finally making the final analysis of all of his illegal, misguided, idiotic, and insane actions.
History does not forget. All of his actions will not only reflect badly badly on him, but his family and his “ organization” for generations to come.
But a man who cannot keep his mouth shut and his fingers idle deserves nothing less.
1
“We’re cleaning the swamp. We’re draining the swamp. I just never knew how deep the swamp was.”
What a jolly remark by Herr Trump who is filling the swamp with crocodiles, e.g. the latest one with the Ambassador to Germany, Grenell, who was insulated in Berlin by all other after having involved himself in the internal affairs in Germany.
None other than the crooked, illiterate and self-declared very stable genius who knows so many words 'great' words, is the 300 pound top crocodile of his swamp.
The majority of his great words would never be used in polite society.
3
@Sarah
Trump drained the swamp and found Rudy.
-Former Arlingtonian.
1
How can you be 'exonerated' if you've already been convicted? More idiocy from the 'very stable genius.'
4
Trump continues his 3rd-world tinpot dictatorship Presidency as 240 years of American ideals and institutions swirl down Donald's drain and stadiums full of cultists cheer his resentment, projection, lawlessness and catastrophic narcissism.
No healthcare - no infrastructure - no mass transit - no free and fair elections - no funding or competent staffing of the government - no reform of our corrupt oligarch tax code and oligarch campaign finance swamp - no decent public policy........just grievance, whiny complaints of persecution and lawless performance art.
Anyone who votes for Individual #1 and his Republican aiders-and-abettors has lost their their bearings.
This guy is an hourly national security threat.
November 3 2020
Hit the EJECT button !
6
Attention to any cops out there: are you following this? The president could care less about you, or what you do, and will not hesitate to use you for his advantage. Is that what you signed up for?
Get all those police unions fired-up and activated. It's time to take-down the #1 criminal in the US, and he's laughing at all of us. Everyone needs your help!
3
And now another Trump snake crawls out from under the woodpile.
His name is Richard Grennell.
Answer this question please.
How can Richard Grennell NOT bring his conscience to work as the LATEST acting director of 11 agencies in US national intelligence?
We must have faith that honorable people like James Mattis are operating behind the scenes in this ongoing farce of affairs.
To Richard Grennell: --- have you no decency sir?
---- Roger Stone is just the tip of the melting iceberg.
3
Trump is using a quid pro quo with Stone: If Stone wont “rat” on Trump, then President Trump will pardon convicted-Stone.
That’s why Stone promised in his indictment he won’t “rat”: “I have made it clear, I will not testify against the President!”
5
Ah yes, the dictator's playbook. Sow doubt about the judiciary, police, elections, intelligence...even the government itself, in order to create mistrust and mass confusion and thereby solidify your power.
It's sick that 40% of the country, aided and abetted by the treasonous Republicans in Congress, are actually allowing this to happen right before our eyes.
5
Our justice system depends in part on the decisions of juries, groups of women and men, common citizens who are called to serve and enjoined to take their task seriously and without bias. When this President picks on a specific jury member and accuses her publicly of bias in a verdict on his friend, he undermines our system by inserting his own bias. This action demonstrates that he has no respect for our system, no respect for his fellow citizens. We are not subjects serving at his whim. He is not a monarch. He is a citizen, and we are his peers. He is not fit to govern.
56
@Linda Rugg The juror in question lied under oath. But, of course, only conservatives that lie are punished. Liberals get a pass.
1
Any pardon of Stone has to be understood as a reward for Stone's refusal to cooperate with Mueller. Stone was the Trump campaign's conduit to Wikileaks, with its Russia-hacked emails. Mueller would have needed to flip Stone to make a case against Trump and Trump Jr. The prosecutors clearly tried to pressure Stone into cooperating, but Trump sent signals that he had Stone's back and would offer a pardon. This isn't about a friendship or outrage at how Stone was mistreated, but about rewarding a co-conspirator for refusing to finger the boss.
65
When will the games stop?
Does anyone really think Barr is divorced from DJT? They're attached at the hip, a bionically manipulated one where wealthy, white, male Americans get to twist and jerry-rig the justice system to do their bidding.
Review Barr's involvement in the Iran Contra scam if you need evidence of how crooked this man's entire career has been. So forgive me if I don't fall for a minute for this orchestrated act.
Barr, rightly, got hammered by legions of decent and ethical prosecutor, judge, and lawyers for his appalling breach of protocol in interfering with judicial proceedings. And, lo, instantly we start to hear this risible rot that he's "at odds" with his puppet master. Don't make me laugh.
Sorry. Not buying it. Not a minute or a word of it. I said this back in the summer of 2015 and I'll say it again. There is a much deeper game being played here, one designed to affirm the radical right's belief that the best government is no government. DJT was elected to prove that we can stumble, bumble and limp along without half the State Dept. seats filled, without nearly 1/3 of embassies filled, without regulations for clean water, air and land, without devoting any resources to combating the climate crisis.
And by hook and by crook, they've done it. And we'll keep limping, until we don't. Because the "policies" being put in place are gutting the nation and this house of cards is going to fall faster than we can say, "fixed elections."
They are traitors.
95
@AhBrightWings Spot on! The elections results coming up must be so overwhelming that not even the would be fixers can contest them.
13
@AhBrightWings
Who is ' they' and 'we'?
Since America is not at war with Russia they are not ' tractors'.
Donald Trump didn't run a covert stealthy subtle campaign. Every American knew who Donald Trump was and was not and voted accordingly.
Among the 63 million Americans who voted for Trump in 2016 was 58% of the white European American voting majority including 62% of white men and 54% of white women.
Trump can't be blamed on divine royal sanction selection nor an armed uniformed military coup nor Republicans.
Trump lost Cleveland but won all of Ohio's Electoral College votes. Rob Portman voted not guilty in Trump's impeachment trial.
Anong the 66 million Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton was 92% of the black African American voting minority including 88% of black men and 95% of black women.
3
Trump has become the sole arbiter of the truth and what we once called justice in this country and Bill Barr wants to sell that twisted version, but can not do so as the big mouth in chief keeps spouting his intentions.
Every time talks about with holding 'the great power of the presidency' he claims to hold, one knows that he is champing at the bit to pardon all of his friends, the loyal ones, and crush his enemies. This man of over 15000 lies and twisted reality will destroy our very democracy and rule of law for his dictatorial, selfish purposes. Its been said so often but can not be said often enough.
99
"“It’s not like the tampering that I see on television when you watch a movie,” the president said. “That’s called tampering — with guns to people’s heads and lots of other things.”"
That the president has such a childish world view, formed by television, not by study and reading, is one of the reasons we're in the mess we're in.
Of course, I seriously doubt he truly believes all this, but it's his way of communicating that reveals such a basic ignorance of the law, it astounds me how any person working with him can put up with it.
Schiff is right: pardoning Stone would be one of the most corrupt acts in his reckless presidency: using the power of pardon to silence a lifelong friend who knows where all the bodies are buried.
289
@ChristineMcM
I wonder, too, if the possible fact that Stone knows where all the bodies are buried has a lot to do with trump’s frenetic pardoning, paving the way for pardoning Stone.
9
@ChristineMcM
It is the malevolent Chauncy Gardner Syndrome all over again, right? How they sit there and watch this is indeed a marvel to behold. I would jump over the desk.
Live by the TV image, go down by the Tv image, I guess.
Neil Postman had it just right. Way too much TV.
Way too much news turned into entertainment/infotainment.
Someday all the bodies will rise to the surface, someday.
4
@ChristineMcM
Great Comment.
Your second paragraph nails it so well.
8
Going after them because they are criminals, but as being your friend is a crime, yeah, going after them for being your friends.
So the cops are dirty, the lawyers are dirty, the judges are dirty, the jurors are dirty and those convicted friends of Trump’s are all innocent ‘victims’ of the Justice system? And he has the nerve to talk about the swamp?
This is one man with pathetic enablers. He figures he can do whatever he wants. He accepts Russia’s help yet again for 2020 after calling what he’s been through a ‘witch hunt’? What has he had to deal to Putin in order to get Putin’s help yet again? Didn’t Americans fight in wars against Russia? How many Americans were killed fighting for their country in these wars and with this one man and his enablers, he opens the door to the Russians with open arms in order to get what HE (and he alone) wants? He needs to go and go now. Please Senators, House members, legal experts, active citizens, people in communities large and small, speak up, do whatever you can starting next week to tell this man he CANNOT get away with attacking your institutions any further.
This man’s actions are truly subversive.
3
Trump doesn't have friends: he has co-conspirators.
2
So perhaps Barr is on his way out as AG because DJT can't get him to do his bidding as he'd like.
If so, perhaps DJT should consider someone for his next AG who's (a) definitely looking for work, and (b) is even more beholden to him:
Rod Blagojevich.
We're watching a minority elected president morph into a dictator right before our eyes, now attacking the rule of law enshrined in our Constitution and the glue that holds civilized society together.
Meanwhile, all I hear from the group that can stop him, the Democrats, are accusations leveled at their comrades who also seek to replace him, and now howls of outrage that Mike Bloomberg is "buying the election".
Meanwhile, the guy whose election was bought by the Koch Brothers, Mercers, Adelsons, etc., and midwifed by dictator Putin is rampaging in plain view amid new cries to "lock her up!".
I give up. This is too nuts for me.
1
Obviouslythe cowards of the Republican party are going to do absolutely nothing to stop this tyrant. Perhaps they will need him to pardon them if it comes out that they too are influenced and compromised by the Russians and will also need to lie to the FBI.
How much more will Americans take? If this type of corruption was happening in broad daylight in any other country the citizens would be in the streets.
1
Trump never knew how deep the swamp is because he's never tried to swim to the top.
1
So, we have a president who uses our justice system to cover his own crimes.
For Congress to let this continue, and for his followers to think this is okay, sure makes us look like a nation of dimwits and criminals.
2
Roger Stone has been dirty his entire political life. That’s what Trump and his family don’t want us to talk about.
1
If Trump could keep his mouth shut for ten minutes, he'd find himself less compromised -- there's lots more dirt on him coming. Roger Rabbit is going to take him down the hole.
I'm more concerned (but only for today), with Trump's use of Grenell, the PR hack/shock-jock of Breibart, to take over the intel community. Grenell was an extremist in the embassy in Germany encouraging neo-Nazi parties across Europe. I guess the only reason he wasn't arrested under German law was 'diplomatic immunity'.
2
Can we all just agree that Trump is a raging lunatic, suffering from a severe form pf psychosis and who is unable to function normally — except to rail against the 'deep state' and anyone who disagrees with him? It's not funny anymore; it's deadly serious. America is in grave peril, at it worsens by the day. Someone in power has to do something to save America before it's too late.
2
Do we need any more proof than this statement, "of going after his friends but not his enemies, that DJT is just a banana republic dictator wanna be. The ONLY lesson he learned form the impeachment trial was to eliminate all in government that do not swear fealty to him.
1
Have we seen enough? Trump is unhinged, totally without restraint. This malignant narcissist is doing terrible damage to our country. Putin is overjoyed at the damage Trump has done and is once again interfering in a presidential election.
1
'Dirty cops'? Just because they don't do his bidding? I hope every law enforcement agent sworn to uphold the law, from the FBI to ICE to local police, hear this message, "Do your job, do it well and maybe you won't be a 'dirty cop." I hope they hear this loud and clear and join the Dump Trump movement. He may be above the law but he is not the law.
1
Trump is a big defender of local law enforcement when it comes to their questionable tactics towards minorities. But when it comes to federal law enforcement investigating his associates or other white-collar criminals they're "dirty."
2
"Dirty cops" would be taking payoffs from Trump's friends.
Honest law enforcement officers are the ones people like Trump and his buddies really fear.
1
The NYT would help us all if it interviewed statured experts in political history and despotism who detail that Trump is following the same authoritarian, corrupted, despotic playbook as the people he has publicly expressed love and admiration for: Putin, Kim Jong Un, Bolsonaro, Erdogan, MBS, Duterte, etc.
Perhaps if Americans realized that Trump and his gang are trying to take over this country, gut the constitution and rule of law, and install a president for life, they'll realize why Trump should be impeached, removed, or voted out.
3
Trump's opinions and expressions of taste are hilarious. He hates "dirty cops"; the Oscar-winning movie "Parasite" (which he admits he hasn't seen); germs; serving in Vietnam, respecting women, minorities and child activists; the rule of law; reading, except for the Bible, he says; powerful women; an unfenced border; properly tailored clothing; California; honesty, morality and ethics; climate change; his paunch; and the truth. A smorgasbord of hate. Excellent qualities, indeed.
1
More evidence that there are simply not enough derogatory adjectives and invective in the English language to describe Trump.
He is, hands down, the most corrupt and worst American in a position of power that I have seen in my lifetime.
2
Add another to the list of acts of obstruction of justice.
Need to get ride of that unconstitutional policy of not indicting a squatting President.
2
“We have dirty cops.” This from the highest official of the land. To ex cons ready to re-enter society. Where is the outrage from cops? Remember the outrage of “implicit bias”? We have averted our eyes to the horror for so long, we cannot even look anymore.
4
We are being led by a six-year-old who gets all his information from cowboy movies.
3
Trump has “ friends”? I thought he only has transactions.
1
Law enforcement agencies across our country should be calling Donald Trump out for his use of the phrase "dirty cops". An absolutely disgusting and vulgar phrase that he has hurled against the men and women of our law enforcement agencies who risk their lives on a daily basis to protect their communities. Stand up for these people and the rule of law in our country.
1
Donald Trump is one of the most corrupt Presidents in modern times. He sounds like a crime boss because he is the political equivalent of a crime boss. One has to return to a century ago to find apt comparisons in the White House.He must be removed from office while some remnants of honest democratic government remain.
2
Expressing love for the FBI while labeling its former leadership as dirty cops, President Trump as always projects from his own experience: he knows that relentless dirt rises to the top. Some day, hopefully next January, the White House will have to be fumigated for a decent occupant.
2
Does any rational person believe Barr will quit? If he were a truly moral man, he would have quit at the first corrupt interference. Barr wants the appearance of having a moral compass without actually having to act on that compass
1
“I’m going to watch the process. I’m going to watch it very closely,” Mr. Trump added. “And at some point, I’ll make a determination.
Get people registered to vote. The People's point of determination is the 3rd of November.
1
Trump's accusing anyone of being "dirty" is such an obvious act of projection that even an armchair shrink can make the diagnosis. He will pardon Stone. Barr won't resign. The Republic will continue to crumble. Trump supporters won't understand or, if they do, won't care.
1
Three years into his oversight of the DOJ and trump is angry that it prosecutes his friends but not his enemies.
One takeaway: He's admitting his own ineptitude here.
Seriously, he's unable to appoint people who will prosecute the "right" people?
Almost as bad as a 400 billion stimulus to get an increase in growth of 0.2%.
Really inept.
1
If you do it one more time I'll be very upset (Barr speaking). Yet another impeachable offense interfering in the judicial process. House DEMS don't give up start another round of impeachment and subpoena Barr to testify.
Once again the Donald is corrupting our justice system to suit his interest all while damaging the future interest of the American people. Roger Stone was convicted of lying to Congress, witness tampering and several other Felonise by a jury of citizens. If the Donald pardons stone it will be in one of the most corrupt, self-dealing, shady moves I am president in decades.
The Donald is an embarrassment and a threat to our democracy with the way he repeated the subverts our justice system.
Does Trump really believe what he says?
Yes and no.
No, not at first, in many cases. He is mapping out what he wants to be the case, a scenario that reveals his greatness and destroys any hint of nefariousness. He is, afterall, a legend in his own mind. And a tireless salesman for that legend.
Yes, once he develops a plot, an interpretation favorable to him, he mentally buys all the stock available in that new, manufactured franchise. It's another Trump production, with a nebulous plotline and often a cast of thousands: good guys on his side; bad guys on the other like the free press and government employees.
He thus creates his own world. He has succeeded in putting mind over matter, which he not only loves, but sees no reason to change or question his psychological operations. In that sense, he is indeed a self-made man, a man of mythical proportions, dangerous to one and all.
1
Trump says he would like to see Roger Stone "exonerated." Well, it's a bit too late for that; he's been convicted of several federal felonies. And a presidential pardon would do nothing to exonerate him; it simply admits that Stone committed the crimes while relieving him from the consequences.
Trump will pardon Stone; that is as inevitable as Trump lying. Life as a criminal is really good when one co-conspirator can pardon another.
1
I used to think that the question was not whether Mr. Stone will receive a pardon, but when.
Now I see that Trump will bully, threaten, and cajole the Department of Justice, and the courts, including by firing any official not sufficiently supplicant, or by installing lackeys, until a new trial -- one producing the Trump-desired outcome -- is held.
Early in his administration, I recall Trump telling a gathering of law enforcement officers and officials to "not go so easy on suspects" including, but presumably not limited to whacking their heads on the squad car as they are put in the back seat. So now with his railing against law enforcement being "too hard on his friends", it appears that he only wanted law enforcement to be abusive of poor and black suspects, but to go easy on rich, white suspects - especially if they may be "connected" to those in power.
This is about as close to the definition of corruption and official misconduct as one could get. And petty dictatorial autocratic rule.
So much winning for Americans....
1
The fact is that Trump has a perverse idea of what the law is supposed to do. He views laws as something to be manipulated. Readers will remember his declaration that getting around the IRS shows that he is smart. He cannot conceive of doing something out of principle or as part of a duty, sworn or not. He therefore views anyone who acts on something that goes against his interest as a sign of corruption, animus, partisanship. If someone is sworn as a witness and views the oath as a sacrosanct duty to the idea of justice, that individual is disloyal. We have no Lincoln gathering in his political enemies here. Anyone who is simply honest is a danger to him. If a judge is of Mexican origin, he will of course decide in favor of Mexicans, If a juror goes against him, that person is naturally biased. Anyone who cannot conceive obeying the law, no matter the consequences, DOES NOT BELIEVE IN THE LAW.
Having someone with this mind-set as the leader is the greatest possible danger for the country because he will pervert the law as a reflexive reaction.
1
Mr. Trump said of Mr. Stone. “They say he lied. But other people lied, too.
Then he lied “Hillary Clinton leaked more classified documents than any human being, I believe, in the history of the United States,” he said.
Trump is normalizing lying - trying to get citizens to think everyone lies - so that he and his cronies are not held accountable for their lies.
That is very corrosive to the rule of law, to the credibility of the pact that holds this country together. It must be stopped - at the polls.
2
When is the Republican Party going to disavow this man? They could use his standard line " I barely knew the guy"!
The collective lack of political courage shown by Senate Republicans is...is..... I don't know what it is but I don't think there has been such a display of political cowardice from a group of Senators since the Roman Principate (Mitt Romney excepted ). My first chance to vote was the 1976 election so I was not around during the McCarthy era, but now I know how the political cowards of those times acted. Silence.
1
Because trump likes to throw in what he considers $5 words every now and then, like exoneration, doesn't mean he understands the definition of the word.His buddy Roger Stone can never be exonerated, by pardon or by death.He has been proven guilty on a number of felonies,given jail time and will always be a felon.No exoneration there.Just wish he'd been hauled off to jail upon sentencing.
2
Certainly Trump knows "dirty" and "dirt" when he sees it. Unfortunately it is from when he looks at the mirror and confuses his unquestioned self-righteousness with what society sees as right behavior. As with some others, Trump thinks laws are for others to follow, like the late real estate queen from New York who said that taxes "were for little people." When she died, she left he fortune to her cat.
Trump does not seem to have a cat, but he has demonstrating a liking for cathouses. And ups the late queen of real estate, he thinks taxes by showing that not only are taxes for "little people", but so are the laws.
1
The one 'dirty thing' occupies the oval office. Everybody else that he denigrates are doing their jobs while you know who is shirking his for his and only his sake. How others can view him differently is puzzling considering the way he conducts himself in public and on twitter.
1
Once the stable genius reality show has been canceled, Congress needs to work so that someone like him never goes near the Oval Office again.
One thing that needs to be done is to get rid of the presidential clemency. It is used as a political tool and it doesn’t belong in the hands of one person. There are ways in the judicial system to protect a wrongly convicted person. If there are cases that need more scrutiny than they get in the judicial system, then some sort of appeals commission needs to be set up to address those cases.
And the Electoral College must go as well!
1
To Trump, “fair” treatment means DOJ should let his friends and cronies off easy while pursuing baseless charges against political rivals. So he’s going to act based on his distorted definition of “fair.” If there was ever a time when the courts and Congress needed to assess and limit the powers of the president, including his power to pardon, it’s now.
1
"...some in Mr. Barr’s camp took solace in the fact that the president did not directly attack the judge in the case, Amy Berman Jackson, the prosecutors or the sentence itself and that he said he admired the F.B.I."
It's astounding the level to which Trump has dragged us that this is now noteworthy. The president didn't attack a judge and admires the FBI. What's next, he loves the military?
2
I continue to be utterly dumbfounded that anyone could support this man for President. For three years I have felt like I am living in the Twilight Zone. I understand policy differences, but any Republican candidate could have delivered those. How can anyone think Trump is best? What is wrong with people?
4
As his operatives are threatened with exposure and consequences, his cries of overzealous application of the law become louder and more accusatory.
If there is contempt for the system and the means by which beliefs become laws, then address that as the problem while siting a solution. His 'duly elected' status doesn't wash clean his contemptible past, there by eliminating him as the final judge interpreting the rule of law.
Obstruction of justice(Congress) is a crime for which there is a reckoning.
Respect the laws and rights of others, or fear the consequences.
Nary one word from the GOP enablers since they unleashed the wrath of DJT by not convicting him. Where have they gone as he furiously runs over every tenet of what makes us a democracy? How long can we hold on?
1
All one has to do is look at a majority of the pictures with a grin on Stones's face, that in my eyes tells it all after sentencing, to know the pardon is coming. Stone bare's the look of a man who is glad he chose to lie and protect his friend in order to protect himself. Now that Trump has complete control of what a crime is and who gets investigated along with our entire intelligence system. He also can now dictate what information gets out to the people. The confusion and disbelief of what happened in 2016 are about to explode into a situation where no one will even feel comfortable in trusting their vote ever has counted. I am an uneducated self-employed independent who sees it is time to be afraid of the next 4 months yet another 4 years. Wake up people will you continue to vote if you know it doesn't matter?
“It’s not like the tampering I see on television when you watch a movie.” Prior to this moment, it would have probably been unfathomable to most thinking Americans that they would have ever heard or read that the President of the US uttered those words in relation to charges of witness-tampering by a defendant in real-life federal court. This sounds like a statement by an elementary-aged child who is trying to make sense of the events in the world around him. The scripts of TV movies as the benchmark for measuring the reasonableness, the seriousness, the believable character of events happening in the real world. If what happens in the world doesn’t fit the verisimilitude standards he has adopted from TV movies, our president thinks the problem is that the events are falsely characterized, not perhaps that TV movie world is artificial, inflated, unsophisticated, cartoonish, and created for purposes of entertainment, excitement, humor, etc.
What is an appropriate response to reading that the US president seriously said that? Absolutely nothing. Just a silent, unbelieving, utterly stymied open mouth.
2
Every article i read, and I do read them, is an unveiled attack on the President. This is distressing when they make the top of the digital edition and a spreading lethal virus gets second fiddle. Not to belabor the fiddle theme but it reminds me of Nero fiddling while Rome burned. Also opinion belongs on the opinion and editorial columns. The articles ere consumed by impeachment which, as everyone knew, would end with acquittal and the spreading virus was ignored. Frankly, I'm more concerned about a lethal virus that is already a pandemic than Trump's comments about " dirty cops".
@alan brown
Corruption, and growing Authoritarianism pose a grave threat to our way of life. Perhaps you have forgotten the millions killed by dictatorships in the 20th century? Lets not wait to find out how many a US dictator would murder.
This is what happens when a celebrity mob boss becomes president. Everybody in government who does their job and honors their oath is out to get him. If you don't put your loyalty to the man in the White House above your oath to serve the country, you are part of a 'deep state' conspiracy that somehow involves an ever growing list of people. The 2,000+ former Justice Department employees who called for Barr to step down? Part of the Deep State. The people in the FBI who investigated Russian meddling? Part of the Deep State, out to get Trump. It couldn't be that lifelong public servants are doing their job and following evidence of criminality, it's all part of a vast plot to 'get' Trump.
I can understand how Trump got elected. A lot of people were unhappy with the state of things and see how nothing improves for them with either political party. They wanted a change. But by now it should be glaringly obvious from Trump's attacks on the FBI, the press, and even judges that Trump must be doing something wrong. It can't all be a conspiracy involving thousands of people to get Mr. Trump. And yet they hang on to their belief in Trump, as if he was a Messiah. When do some of these people start to realize that the emperor has no clothes?
2
Trump was speaking to an audience of newly released prisoners in Las Vegas? Why not interview a few of them and get their reaction to what he was talking about. When he gets up on a stage in front of any audience it’s like a switch is turned on and the same message gets played. Just released prisoners may have liked a positive message from the president.
13
@SML
ha ha ha
you've got to be kidding. Trump couldn't care less about anyone not connected to him and he couldn't care less about anything but white collar criminals (like himself) getting off scot free. so, what, exactly, was the positive message for just released prisoners? that if they actively helped Trump in his corruption that they, too, could seek a pardon?
Maybe the DOJ prosecutes cases based on the strength of the available evidence. All the chanting of "lock her up" never created any evidence and it never will. I hope we never get to the point where people can be prosecuted just because Donald says so.
25
I never imagined in my life that I would be living in a country where the President doesn't know how to tell the truth. Yes, D.C. is probably a swamp, but it is a swamp of his own creation. This man MUST be voted out of office before he turns the entire country into a police state where the only "good" people are people that bow to his wishes. This Roger Stone debacle is not the first time Trump has misinterpreted the law to suit himself nor will it be the last. I shuddered when he declared himself the Chief Law Enforcement Person in the Land.
55
I find your and Trump’s reference to a “swamp” disingenuous.
In nature, swamps cleanse and provide habitat for a wealth of species.
Instead, Trump and his regime are a “seeer” that is poisoning our democracy.
@joyce ....."I never imagined in my life that I would be living in a country where the President doesn't know how to tell the truth.".....Trump is a narcissist. Narcissism is a recognized personality disorder. The disorder is characterized by pathological lying and delusions of grandeur. He is mentally ill. He should be in therapy, not in the White House.
Will someone tell Donald Trump that he doesn't understand the concepts of "right and wrong" the way 99.999% of the rest of the population of the planet understand it? Clearly telling him can't change his skewed view of morality, but it might help him understand he is different and should step back in these matters and let more competent minds figure these things out for him.
18
But oddly a huge percentage of the GOP seems to have the same difficulty.
A reminder: Every single republican in Congress, save one,rubber-stamped this. The "Law and Order" party.
48
@BarryStern. The comments and actions of President Trump* show he wants to erect a two-tiered prosecutorial system—one in which his toadies receive free reign and the other in which his perceived enemies are punished. It is extraordinarily frightening that he has enthralled so many citizens to believe that his behavior in any way simulates a system of justice.
26
I worked with police officers for 23 years. Men and women
who at times faced death, calmed hurts, and provided
a sense of nobility.
A few were even killed in the line of the duty they swore
to uphold and protect.
They were never dirty cops!
33
We all can see America's top 'dirty cop' very clearly.
He works in the Oval Office.
He helps convicted felons get out of jail after they have been publicly tried and punished.
He projects his own transgressions onto others and never ever accepts personal responsibility for them.
I don't want a 'dirty cop' as President of the United States.
November 3 2020
122
Trump is unfortunately correct the upper echelon prior to his retorts got away with whatever they felt was "justified" unopposed. Yes Trump is a egomaniac, with limited skills who greatly exaggerates, but it is better then the shadowy self righteous, non elected puppet-masters who manipulates the massive sheep-like, liberal populous. In five years he will be done and the overly emotional drama queens can get back to the status-quo.
1
Stone broke the law. It is completely irrelevant to his case that others may have broken other laws. That is like saying it should be illegal to get a speeding ticket if other people are also speeding and didn’t get caught. You are unlucky if you get caught, but it is still perfectly fair that you be given a ticket.
@Sal Who are these non elected puppet-masters? The creators of Sesame Street? The status quo, for us drama queens, is to live in a democracy, not an oligarchy. In your view, Trump and his cronies will be entitled to a free for all for the next five years. How exactly is that better?
1
@sal The country cannot survive another five years of Trump.
The "good cops" are the ones he encouraged to not be so gentle with arrested immigrants.
The chief 'dirty cop" is the one he appointed head of the Justice Department, AG Barr.
12
What will we do when Barr starts prosecuting trump's perceived enemies? This man is crazy and out of control!
18
@George
These *men* are both crazy and out of control, along with half our senators!
1
Unlike Meryl Streep, Attorney General William Barr is an overrated actor working for a spoiled bankruptcy prone real estate developer who could only become president through illegal means (e.g. rigging the system through redlining, gerrymandering, voter ID laws, antiquated electoral college, spreading lies, cozying up to foreign rivals, bribing, breaking election laws, using GOP controlled press (Fox News, Breitbart, etc.) and promising billionaires favors like tax legislation as priorities.) Trump is an imposter and everything he says to the press & at his rallies are lies meant to gaslight the public into believing that he is a legitimate president due to his gigantic insecurities. The fish is rotten at the head so it's time to clean up the kitchen & vote the entire stinking Republican party out of office in 2020.
42
@Dunca: Real estate developer? Please. He's a marketer ... and not a very good one.
Given that Trump lies constantly and has committed fraud (Trump University, the Trump "charity") it is not surprising that he doesn't believe these acts should be illegal.
23
Not one Republican Senator has publicly denounced Trump for interfering with the Justice system on behalf of his friends. Think about that.
58
@Howard McLaren Not much to think about. The Republicans revealed what they are and what they stand for many years ago. Fortunately we have a solution; Vote them out of office.
2
My God, sir..... they're doing everything possible to make it easier for Russians to interfere on our elections! Don't hold your breath for them to do anyting of a patriotic nature. The entire party is corrupt!
3
How often in this spiraling rule-of-law disaster do we realize another line has been crossed, another guard rail that stood for as long as this country has stood is smashed through? And here is another. Trump praising the FBI rank and file while calling their superiors "dirty cops" is a bald attempt to cripple the entire organization both by undermining public trust on the outside, and by excreting within the poison of petty grievances and tensions over differences whether procedural or personal that occur in any organization. Convince enough of the rank and file that they are in the right while their superiors are in the wrong, and that disappointing assignment or work evaluation or missed promotion becomes evidence that maybe not everybody is working toward the same objective, and the very lines of traditional command and control can be perceived as subjectively applied.
I want to believe that the sworn and tested commitment of all law-enforcement professionals immunizes them against this poison, and that the rest of us are aware and appalled enough to resist it, but so little of all that's transpired since the ride down the escalator gives me any assurance.
17
@Jean Louis Trump will happily accept the help of the FBI if they go after "the right people" - i.e. target only those pointed out as "enemies" of Trump, of the GOP and of the far right conspiracy mongering evangelical crowd led by Fox and the newly awarded Rush Limbaugh and their ilk. Sadly, it appears Barr will gladly (and likely already is helping) this effort with grand jury investigations and trumped up indictments.
2
@David
Of course you’re right. What Trump intends to do isn’t to “cripple” the FBI but to corrupt and re-purpose it.
Does anyone see the horror show ? “Fox News commentators attempting to smooth out the rift” between the Attorney General of the United States and the president of the United States. Are you kidding me ? I am in shock as to where our nation is now.
All Americans with a conscience and a sense of dignity should take a knee in protest.
23
When is our government going to do what is absolutely necessary to stop this Tyrant, he is ruining our Democracy, doesn’t anyone care, what are they all thinking?
17
@Kim It's not our government until we vote every Republican out of office and take it back. We all care and we all must vote. It doesn't take a lot of thought. In November put one foot in front of the other and head for the polls.
1
I will forever remain skeptical of Barr’s protestations. As if he were the protector of rule of law, and not the defender of Trump. He is as corrupt as the rest. More so.
16
If anyone knows about corruption and dirty politics, it is the man doing more of it than anyone else. It becomes particularly galling when he starts accusing others of his intentions and his actions.
16
No outrage from the Republican Representatives and Senators on this? What an insult to those who have died in the line of duty. More outrage went against those who took a knee out on the football field. So I guess it’s ok to call our law enforcement members “dirty cops” but don’t take a knee during the National Anthem. This doesn’t make sense to me but yet look who we have sitting in the most powerful position, a man who doesn’t make sense at all.
27
With one statement, Emperor Trump impugned the integrity of the four prosecutors and by extension everyone in his Justice Department, the judge and by extension everyone in the independent judiciary and the citizen jurists and by extension every U.S. citizen who has given of their time to serve on a jury and render impartial justice. And he gave more license to Fox News and other hate bloggers to advance baseless conspiracy theories about each.
20
Much much worse than a mob boss---and he is running the country. How did we allow our democracy to be sold for so cheaply?
35
@Deb We didn't let it sold. We simply failed to vote in 2016 because too many believed that Hillary was going to anointed and Donald didn't have a chance. That was smug arrogance on the part of the Democrats and the elitists that ran the party. Many Dems didn't want a replay of the Clinton era. We wanted fresh minds with better ideas and a sense of responsibility for the dwindling middle class. So, too many stayed home and didn't vote. Nothing was sold.
We did this to ourselves with help from the former Democratic so-called leadership. Now we're paying the price. To end this before it gets worse pick a Democratic candidate and vote Trump out of office.
@Deb actually it was quite expensive, if you look at the amount of money that the congress and republicans in state governments as well as school boards have allowed to be redistributed to the wealthy 1%. The number of poorly educated who helped and continue to keep trump in the office is staggering and that he will continue isn’t really in doubt it’s just when he will leave 4 years or 8 or longer.
1
Justice is not about friends or enemies. It is about getting to the truth of actions and whether a person or entity has broken the law. It must not become personal as Trump would make it and without the striving for objectivity our country devolves into just another vigilante authoritarian state subject to the whims of a dictator. In our case Donald trump.
12
I agree with your assessment of the myth makers in the group, but you may be fostering a myth if your own: that Sanders and Trump are two sides of the same coin. Yes they both demonize, which can be corrosive, but the parallels end there.
3
“Mr. Barr has come to recognize that he may never be able to keep Mr. Trump quiet altogether and so in parsing the president’s latest comments, the attorney general and his team chose to see them as progress and an opportunity to work out their differences without further public exchange.”
That should be troubling to anyone.
14
I never dreamed in November, 2016, that Trump would make it to the end of his first term. Now I am resigned to the fact that he will.
A second term, however, is unthinkable. On the off chance that someone within his sphere should be charged with criminal wrongdoing and put on trial during a second term (yes, that is sarcasm), an unfettered Trump will make a complete sham of any such trial. His constant meddling and disruptive tweets during the trial will render any semblance of impartiality by the court system impossible. There will simply be no way to trust any decisions coming out of the legal system.
Is this what we want? Is this America?
I read newspapers and magazines, and I watch what I believe are the most impartial news shows available. I can see this unfolding decay of our beloved system with only the benefit of public information. What is wrong with the Republican politicians? What is wrong with Mitch McConnell? What is wrong with Lindsey Graham? What is wrong with Kevin McCarthy? Is this what they really want for America?
Trump has got to go. I never thought I would believe this, but I have come to see that the identity of our nation, as a democratic republic, is truly in danger. It will soon be too late. Wake up, citizens, and do whatever you can to make sure a second Trump term does not become reality. There are no guaranties.
36
@hhhman
“ our beloved system” —in which nearly 50 million eligible voters do not vote.
5
“It’s not like the tampering that I see on television when you watch a movie,” That's Trump in a (great big) nutshell. Removed from reality and living in a made-for-TV fantasy world fantasy of villains and heroes.
22
Message to Trump cronies: Lie and obstruct investigations of corruption - you'll be pardoned, if caught.
13
In sentencing Roger Stone, Judge Jackson said: "He was not prosecuted, as some have complained, for standing up for the president. He was prosecuted for covering up for the president.” But the Muller Report does not alleged President Trump, the Trump campaign or the Trump administration had anything to do with WikiLeaks’ publication of hacked DNC email. If Stone was prosecuted for covering up for the president, his conviction should be thrown out.
@William Case
"Covering up for the president" isn't a crime. Stone was prosecuted for obstruction, making false statements and witness tampering and was convicted on all counts. Covering up for the president was his intent and that's what Judge Jackson was noting in her ruling.
29
@William Case
He was convicted for lying to Congress, not divulging information that he had that Trump himself refused to release. That's called a cover-up.
20
@William Case
Thanks, Ace, but I don't think the charges literally read "covering up for the president." You might want find out what they actually were before you decide whether the conviction should be "thrown out."
18
Let’s keep focused on the real issue – stopping Trump from destroying America.
Trump has become a full-fledged corrupt dictator, and the GOP is supporting him.
Trump’s extreme narcissism presents an imminent danger to America and to the world. The GOP caters to Trump’s every whim.
Trump has betrayed our National Security by repeatedly and consistently aiding a foreign power, Russia. The GOP has become the Gang of Putin.
Trump sees enemies among immigrants, refugees, minorities, the Press, our government agencies, and our Allies. The GOP has endorsed all of this.
We need to get rid of Trump and his GOP apologists.
Vote Blue, no matter who!
62
After reading this article, all I can do is think of a quote from a true patriot. "Lordy"
8
We don’t have a president we have a corrupt money launderer pretending to be president while he dismantled our institutions and gives our treasure to his cronies.
130
@Deirdre
Which brings us back to the point of why have the Democrats not been more aggressive about obtaining Trump's tax returns? Why has this fallen by the wayside? Why have they given up speaking out loud about it? Money laundering is a federal crime and the "real" reason Trump will not release his tax returns.
1
@Deirdre And yet Zuckerberg/Sandberg prefer to stuff their wallets more, instead of change the way Facebook operates. It's not just the Republicans in Washington who should be ashamed of themselves. Why don't Zuckerberg/Sandberg have more respect for our democracy?
He might as well exonerate Weinstein and of course his buddy Epstein posthumously.
20
@Bertha There’s zero gain for him to pardon Epstein. Everything is transactional for The Occupant.
Meanwhile, 3500 companies and citizens took Trump to court - no “deep state “ there!
33
There are 9,388 men and women buried at the Normandy American Cemetery in France. These selfless Americans gave their lives to end tyranny. When will Republicans finally stand and denounce this tyrant, who is threatening everything those men and women sacrificed their lives for?
113
@Kvetch The Republicans will only try to do so once all of them behind bars once king takes over US. He will put them first in prison because as tyranny establishes,the tyrant first capture the ones who knows him well so they can’t open their mouths and even if from jail shells they try to bark against him,they will be up in bigger jails nobody can see & help them,even their loved ones too.
1
@Kvetch
The Republicans will never denounce Trump while he’s in office.
5
@Kvetch------They won't denounce anything, they'll pay lip service to those buried in France on Memorial Day then it's back to business as usual.
Trump now going after the movie Parasite? Brad Pitt? C'mon--enough. Minimize Trump Articles unless Emergency.
More Excellence, Less Lowbrow.
And correct, Trump can't read subtitles...
14
@That's What She Said
Yes, and I think the last movie Mr. Trump actually watched starred Stormy Daniels.
4
@That's What She Said What a joke. We have a "President" who wants to bring back Gone With the Wind. From 1939. That should get the Millennial vote.
@That's What She Said
I'm waiting for Parasite Two. Starring Donald Trump. As himself.
Rich, male, white lives matter, right? I am beyond cynicism. Yesterday we read the Gettysburg address in class. How right Lincoln was: "But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this ground." We have fallen so far below the great soldiers whom Lincoln commemorates. Yet "this nation [can] have a new birth of freedom and [our] government of the people, by the people, for the people, [will] not perish from the earth" if we fight this uncivil war head on and vote out this despicable leader.
34
And the "law-and-order party" is silent.
46
@LSR
Indeed. Because it is up to its neck in it. In order to truly clean house, the GOP must be investigated. At the very best, they are criminally, if passively negligent in upholding their sworn oaths, but there is a very real possibility that they are actively colluding and being paid to do so.
There must be a reckoning of what is happening. When did we become so incurious and passive as a nation? Whether we like it or not, we're aiding and abetting him in his crimes by not taking more dire and direct action.
11
A pardon requires an admission of guilt.
Under the Constitution, the president's clemency power extends to federal criminal offenses. ... The beneficiary of a pardon needs to accept the pardon. The Supreme Court stated in Burdick v. United States that a pardon carries an "imputation of guilt," and acceptance of a pardon is a confession to such guilt.
There will be no exoneration of Roger Stone regardless of what Impeached President #3 'feels'.
19
@Desperate Otto
No. A pardon does not require an admission of guilt. Presidents have pardoned many person who denied guilt. Many pardons go to inmates whose denials are plausible.
3
@William Case
So you're saying people who were in prison denied they were guilty. Got it.
What the formerly incarcerated individual says has no bearing on their acceptance of a pardon, however.
"There are substantial differences between legislative immunity and a
pardon; the latter carries an imputation of guilt and acceptance of
a confession of it, while the former is non-committal and tantamount
to silence of the witness."
Burdick v. United States, 236 U.S. 79 (1915), 79.
@Desperate Otto Excellent point the media never mentions that fact. One has to be guilty of something to accept. But, you know I would believe since the King is short in the brain department that he never caught that little legal fact. Jim Trautman
1
As the President clearly points out, DOJ seems to have two different justice systems - one for Democrats and the other for Republicans. Hopefully, Attorney General Barr can see through it all, clean house and ensure that we finally get a post-Obama judicial system that evenly weighs evidence and sentencing guidelines for all no matter their political affiliation or demographic group.
@Barry Stern And that a sitting president interferes in a presumably independent branch of government? You are ok being under the rule of a one man show? May I suggest Russia, PRK, Syria or similar for you? We here like to believe we still may have a chance to restore remnants of what once was a republic not just in name.
32
@Barry Stern The president has no legal background, has no idea what is legal, what is not, what is a criminal offense, or what it takes to convict someone of a criminal offense. Nor does he bother himself with determining the law or facts necessary to have an informed opinion. He has no regard for law or justice. What he does know is who he needs to pressure or reward in order to benefit himself, and what powers the presidency gives him to do that.
12
Yes, I'm sure Trump and his administration is truly interested in equity and justice no matter what demographic or political background. Any graduate of Trump University can see clear to that.
1
Is there not one person with the common decency to defect and expose all of this corruption?
76
@J Edwards It's happening in plain sight!
Until this regime came along, I had never heard anyone over the age of seven carry on so much about things being “not fair.”
153
Exactly. I taught my kids when they were growing up that there was one 4-letter F-word that I never wanted to hear them use as an excuse or to hide behind in any way - “FAIR”...
5
@Luann Nelson
You are so right.... Trump reminds me of my two sons sitting in the back seat of the car... Mom, he's looking at me again, Mom, he's making a face, Mom, he's poking me.....
3
@Luann Nelson Regime is an appropriate word!
1
Barr won’t resign. He’s not concerned about Trump’s public attacks on the rule of law; he’s just annoyed Trump is making it hard for him to do it quietly.
117
@Demosthenes It won't matter if he does resign. He will just be replaced with someone even swampier.
1
In Trump's world Justice Department prosecutors are "dirty cops" and convicted felons (if his friends) are the "good guys". Perhaps clever in comic books or fantasy movies, but sadly, this is now the view of the leader of the Free World.
59
@C It’s about time to retire the notion that the US is the leader in much of anything, aside from environmental and ethical despoilation.
1
The nation has to face the fact that we have a president who is becoming unhinged before our very eyes.
He is so worried about his own personal protection (and Russia's) that he is lashing out at everything and everyone around him -- Clinton, Comey, McCabe, Page, Strozok, even the judges.
His greatest fear appears to be that he will be next.
51
Well, even though I also believe that Hillary Clinton should have faced some form of punishment or at least a proper trial, one can’t justify a wrong behavior with citing another wrong behavior. He really acts like a little child.
4
@Jakub Piwowarski
Hillary Clinton never used executive privilege to stop the Republican smear campaign against her. She showed up at the hearings, gave testimony and it ultimately cost her an election.
The false equivalency narrative of the Trump party continues...
3
@Jakub Piwowarski Since HRC was exonerated of any crimes, on what grounds should she have faced a trial, much less punishment (without a trial?)?
3
@Jakub Piwowarski She was investigated to death. It seems there are too many people who want Hillary prosecuted and punished because they don't like her. That's not how it works.
3
How can there be any expectation of a fair trial for anyone associated with Trump when he openly calls the cops dirty, the judges crooked, the jurors biased and prosecutors as members of the "deep state?"
When a president acts in this way, does that not fit the definition of "abuse of power?" It would not seem unreasonable for Alan Dershowitz to next tell us that if a president pardons a criminal so that he/she can begin working on his reelection campaign, that is not a crime.
43
@Tom Q If you opened your eyes and really understood what has been taking place you would not make such comments. He has been treated so unfairly because they hate the fact that a non politician was able to beat one of their own. Look through history and tell me how many democrats have gone to jail for lying. Tell me how many democrats had a SWAT team invade their home early in the morning with guns drawn and were treated like a criminal. The point is none have ever been and this behavior is police state tactics trashing our rights. If you understood what has happened you'd be outraged instead of calling Trump's actions an abuse of power. That my friend is a stupid talking point in light of everything that has happened.
Donald really should be telling his friends that they have to stop committing crime and lying, maybe then law enforcement would stop targeting them!
12
@scott
Best comment that I've read in a while!
1
Can anyone imagine the righteous wrath that would have poured forth from GOP lawmakers if, while President, Barack Obama had ever used the term "dirty cop" in any kind of context?
Of course when Trump does it what we get from them is...silence.
71
Trump was raised to rule by Mob tactics, that is, fear and intimidation.
Who better to teach him but Roy Cohn, Trump’s attorney then.
I have lived through 12 US presidents. There was Always organized civilian protests, Before Now.
What does that say more loudly today that we have submitted to
Evil without fighting back.
My God, My God, My God.
45
Does it matter to anyone at this newspaper that Stones transgressions were part of a manufactured story of Russian/Trump collusion? Much like Martha Stewart, there is something wrong when people are jailed for events where no crime existed. Trump is right to say say that politicians lie every day with immunity. Didn’t Larry Tribe make a similar point last week?
2
@Dady "Transgressions????"
Stone was convicted in November on all seven counts of an indictment that accused him of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election.
He was the sixth Trump aide or adviser to be convicted on charges brought as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The only thing keeping Trump from joining his motley crew is that he is a sitting president.
6
@Dady If you lie to a legal authority you lie. And if that is a crime, then that is a crime. And we punish people for crimes. Presumably that is what most people here want. punishment for crime.
Is this what we’ve come to accept? Lying is okay as long as no crime has been committed? I suppose cheating is okay for the same reason. And spreading false rumors about someone. That’s just another kind of lie. No real crime committed. And “exaggerating” on a job application. No crime there. And telling a spouse we’re out with the guys when we’re seeing another woman. Not a crime, so I guess that’s okay also. There are so many “legal” ways we can lie and cheat. I’ve noticed it at work many times. Usually by the same people who complain that something is not fair because someone got more than they did. And guess what? It turns out that lying and cheating are contagious. When otherwise good people notice others getting ahead by lying and cheating (with no consequences, even when caught), they start lying and cheating themselves. Of course there are always chumps out there that will be honest even when it hurts them. Thank god for the chumps in the world! How could the incompetent people of the world ever get ahead without them? So, here we are. The incompetent people become the rulers (by lying and cheating their way to the top) and the competent people become their servants (because of their honesty). What a lovely place to live. Is this where we’re headed? Is this what we want to become? How about it, all you “good” christians out there? Technically, only two commandments are crimes. Don’t kill. Don’t steal. Well, I guess two is better than none. Enjoy your Trump world!
I can't understand Trump supporters that are staunch defenders of back the blue with one glaring exception if you are FBI, CIA, NSA. Those fine men and women have been designated as dirty cops or the deep state to suit the partisan politics of Donald Trump.
39
Yeesh, he won't have many left on his side when he refuses to leave the White House after getting beaten in November.
10
Thin skin and little hands. One of the highest forms of corruption is protecting your friends from the justice system. Trump proves everyday that America is truly no longer the shinning city on the hill. We are just as shallow and corrupt as any other nation and bend to the will of tyrants.
21
Trump should know a "Dirty Cop" when he sees one he just gave a pardon to a big one Kerik who was involved with Organized crime and probably still is. Frankly this King is so disgusting, but maybe he should read a little history though I am not sure he can even read about what happened to the French King. The constant twitts appear to be the extent of his brain power. The good news for us is that the recession has started so he won't have the economy to say he is doing a great job. Next up pardons for OJ and Pete Rose. Of course they were not federal crimes, but the King can do anything and also shortly Stone of which that wonderful American Lindsay Graham has no problem with. Susan Collins and Mukowsky and Lamar Alexander have gone under their rock again. Jim Trautman
18
This crook is winning, of course now his worst side will come out, including acting with impunity. Can you even imagine what his actions will be when we wins the second term?
8
No, I don’t even... The only hope is people show up to the polls. How can a farmer vote for him? He ruined markets with the trade war. Then he hit them with reductions in ethanol for fuel, and followed that by cutting the food programs. He has hurt their business from all sides and yet they seem to enjoy his mean pettiness and ignore his behavior. It seems hopeless, but maybe, just maybe, voters can correct the course.
"We’re cleaning the swamp. We’re draining the swamp. I just never knew how deep the swamp was.”
I now hear trumpists repeating this over and over. How in the devil can they not realize many of these swamp creatures are his choice? The only explanation I see is they have gone full religious cult believing the word issued by their god.
28
Okay Mr. Barr the ball is in your court now.
2
As with every demagogue they eventually self-destruct--Trump is on that path. The Republicans have enabled behavior that will become growlingly bizarre and criminal--at least to the 50 or 60 percent of the American public. In every public outing for Trump, now, he swings for the fences---with his base screaming from the upper decks--ironically, the only seats they can afford. What concerns me more however, is Trump's hollowing out of our deep state. We need a competent civil service to run this country---the kinds of people--diplomats for example---we saw at the impeachment hearings. Trump has failed at every business he has entered for the very fact, he does not know how to built successful systems manned by competent personnel. Bloomberg does have that skill set---but that skill set does not travel well (as David Brooks points out today) in arena cheering on candidates that swing for the fences.
14
I know this may seem like a small thing, but in the (on-line) headline, and in the first sentence of this article, law enforcement officials are prefaced by Trump's descriptor. It should be made perfectly clear that Trump is berating legitimate law enforcement, and only later should his insulting mischaracterization be reported. Style in reporting is increasingly important.
27
Lindsey Graham, knowing full-well the inherent ethical issue regarding a pardon for his friend, remarkably states, straight faced, that "President Trump has all the legal authority in the world to review this case, in terms of commuting the sentence or pardoning Mr. Stone for the underlying offense.”
When is he up for election?
12
@Sara G2 He's actually up for reelection this year, which pretty much says everything.
7
@MB great,thanks, I shall contribute to his opponent!
"By contrast, Mr. Trump mocked the case against Mr. Stone, including the witness intimidation charge. “It’s not like the tampering that I see on television when you watch a movie,” the president said. “That’s called tampering — with guns to people’s heads and lots of other things.”
Therein lies the crux of the issue. Mr. Trump lacks either the intellectual acuity or desire to appreciate subtle, or even not so sublte, similarities and differences across related situations (i.e., Mrs. Clinton's emails and Mr
Stone's contacts with WikLeaks).
In Mr. Trump's mind, if his behavior, or that of his associates, is not completely beyond the pale reprehensible, then it is above reproach.
12
@Apple314
I respectfully disagree. Trump knows full well what he’s doing, which he learned from his master and evil-incarnate Roy Cohn.
The statements he makes, in which he appears like a witless bumbling yokel are intended for - you guessed it - his base.
Who else would claim to get their knowledge of legality from the ‘movin’ pictures’?
Stones crime was lying about something that didn’t happen. Trump was acquitted so stone should be pardoned.
@Ben If he lied and obstructed, how do you know the truth?
Here we thought the trump party believed in God, but they reject the brains God gave them.
And still Trump's approval rating among republicans is very high. What happened to the party of law and order?
21
@Alan It's always been "law and order" for everyone except people of privilege. Bonus if it's directed at POC. Sad history, but true.
2
Isn't deplorable a perfect description of Trump's behavior?
16
“ President Trump used his remarks at an event in Las Vegas for former convicts re-entering society”
tRump has found his people!
5
With trump in office all you need to escape justice is a well financed lobbying campaign on FOX & Friends. This Reality TV president gets his counsel from FOX TV. May this be the last US president so unhinged from reality.
14
Lewis Carroll captured Trump's sense of law and justice in his poem "The Mouse's Tale":
Fury said to
a mouse, That
he met
in the
house,
'Let us
both go
to law:
I will
prosecute
you.—
Come, I'll
take no
denial;
We must
have a
trial:
For
really
this
Morning I've
nothing
to do.'
Said the
mouse to
the cur,
'Such a
trial,
dear sir,
With no
jury or
judge,
would be
wasting
our breath.'
'I'll be
judge,
I'll be
jury,'
Said
cunning
old Fury;
'I'll try
the whole
cause,
and
condemn
you
to
death.'
7
I am certain POTUS is considering a pardon for Michael Slager as well. In part because it would send a strong signal to his core, in part because he actually believes that shooting an unarmed black man in the back is justified, and because it will tell everybody that the federal justice system holds no value, independently of the president.
8
He’s calling our law enforcement dirty? That’s rich coming from him.
140
I can’t imagine a world where trump is the honorable one and law enforcement, intelligence, and congress are the enemies. I guess I’ll have to turn on Fox News to see what that looks like, and so I can get a lecture on who the “real Americans” are.
How far we have sunk
159
Trump is daring us to get rid of him. Unfortunately the Republicans can’t see the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes!
49
@Melinda After all the Republicans have showed us, we have to stop hoping that the Republicans and their voters are going to do our bidding. If we Dems can't nominate a candidate who will unite us and turn out and beat Trump in November, then we will get what we deserve and have nobody to blame but ourselves.
6
@Melinda
Just when I thought 'it' couldn't get worse, you put this worst of images in my head!
Can someone tell me in what way Donald Trump does NOT sound a like a crime boss gangster when he speaks?
He speaks of rats, snitches, flipping, hitting back, favors, deals you can't refuse, revenge, the way he gets everyone around him dirty, demands of loyalty and fealty around the table... its all there in the open.
335
@Marie: The working class that Bernie is trying to wake-up, apparently enjoys the drama of a president who casts himself direct from the Sopranos. The mediocre electronic media has caused a big vacuum in the American culture that is now being filled by reality TV star, Donald J. Trump. Yes, it is really this bizarre.
14
@Marie - Trump has had a fascination for and ties to Russian mobsters dating back over 3 decades. Malcom Nance wrote a book which exposed Trump's connections to the Russian mob which was published in 2016. Furthermore, there are numerous articles outlining Trump properties being used as vehicles for money laundering by dirty Russian money so this is no secret. The fascinating psychological aspect for exploration is Trump's base's approval of his mafioso style. Maybe it is similar to his loyalists respect for his statements about trying to pay as little taxes as possible. What is interesting is that his base is so numb as to not realize that Trump is shaking them down & conning them as his style by taking away all of their sense of safety nets while at the same time fooling them to believe he's acting in their own best interest. None of them are shouting out "show us your tax returns" or "lock him up." I wish that Elizabeth Warren had an opportunity to use him as a pinata on a debate stage like she so adroitly punched on the Democratic stage this week. It would be fireworks and epic proportions of good vs. evil embodied as a crowd pleasing spectacle.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-walks-out-over-questions-about-his-mafia-connections-during-bbc-panorama-interview-8695855.html
3
@Marie
Actually, he sounds like a guy who spends half his life watching movies and the other half practicing in front of a mirror.
6
Can these people not see the pattern? Eventually, even the most loyal lapdogs to Trump get kicked and burned. Why do people keep trying?
87
“I cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me.”
Translation: I can't keep do your bidding if you keep making it obvious that I'm doing your bidding.
306
@Chuck
Zing! Spot on and it needs to continually be called out.
It's driving me crazy that credible journals and journalists keep treating this story as if it were anything but a transparent stratagem to save Barr after he spilled the beans and revealed how he's been fixing the game. There has never been a minute when these two corrupt men have not been in cahoots.
It's actually dangerous that there are journalists falling for this. This is what normalizing criminality looks like.
34
@Chuck
Sure he can.
5
@Chuck
“I can't keep do your bidding if you keep making it obvious that I'm doing your bidding.”
That’s what Trump and Barr want you to think. But that’s not it at all. There’s no bidding to be done. It’s all calculated and coordinated by Trump and Barr. In their reality show called, “American’t Anymore” they want you to believe they disagree with each other. They want you to believe Barr is fighting for us. You know the game they are playing. It's good cop-bad cop. But it’s all a ruse to create more chaos and keep American’s off balance. Why the title of their show is, "American’t Anymore?" Because critical thinking is dying out in American. The American people can’t see through or even try to see through the haze of disingenuousness, lies, deceit, and trickery that is Trump, Barr and their sycophantic minions. Most of the main stream media, especially the broadcast media, is guilty of this too. They are asleep. We are asleep. Yes it has gotten that bad.
So you need to ask yourself, are you asleep?
1