May 31, 2019
Like a nation of C students, we professed to be shocked by Robert Mueller’s 9 minute statement Wednesday morning, summarizing the work contained in the 448 page report prepared by his office. Mueller’s remarks were notable for two key sentences that were lifted almost verbatim from the report. The first was his reiteration that the “central allegation of our indictments,[was] that there were multiple systemic efforts to interfere in our election. And that allegation deserves the attention of every American,” (Source: “Full transcript: Robert Mueller’s statement on the Russia Investigation,” Politico.com, 5/29/19).
Mueller’s other key statement was, “If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,”(ibid). He painstakingly explained that he was bound by Justice Department policy prohibiting the indictment of a sitting president. Although Mueller was terse and emotionless, his message was clear — he did not exonerate the president and the only vehicle by which to hold Trump accountable is impeachment.
Although the reaction from journalists and from the general public was immediate, Democratic House leadership remains hesitant about proceeding with a formal impeachment inquiry. It is hard to know whether that hesitancy stems from fear of angering Republican leaning independents or a vain attempt to preserve some fragile status quo. Perhaps they lack confidence that they can mount a case that convinces the majority of Americans that Trump is a clear and present danger to the country who must be removed from office.
House Democrats’ bewildering obsession with potential political backlash reveals a shocking lack of concern for their duty to uphold our Constitution. By refusing to divest from ownership of his businesses, Trump has violated the emoluments clause from his first moment in office. Foreign officials have been currying favor with Trump by staying in his hotels and he has brazenly prioritized his personal profits over the good of the country (Source: “Critics see no end to foreign favors to Trump businesses,” by Tami Abdollah, APNews.com, 5/23/18).
Far more damning, though, is the myopic view that doesn’t recognize that a presidency dedicated to white supremacy would by necessity require the commission of high crimes and misdemeanors that warrant impeachment. Trump has repeatedly tried to violate the laws governing asylum and has promised to pardon CBP officials who violated the law. Although Trump has presided over an increasingly cruel immigration policy that has led to 22 deaths of immigrants in ICE custody in the last two years, Trump has fired immigration officials for being insufficiently sadistic, (Source: “The Unlawful Ambitions of Donald Trump’s Immigration Policy,” by Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker, 4/23/19). Why aren’t these acts considered high crimes and misdemeanors?
Trump’s Commerce Department pursued the addition of a citizenship question to the Census for the express purpose of stripping Latinx people and other Democratic citizens of political power and Trump Justice Department officials blatantly and repeatedly lied about the rationale behind that question under oath, (Source: “Architect of GOP Gerrymandering Was Behind Trump’s Citizenship Question,” by Ari Berman, MotherJones.com, 5/30/19). How is the deliberate pursuit of policy devised to deprive Americans of their Constitutional rights not a high crime or misdemeanor?
One can only come to the conclusion that some in Congress believe that power is more important than principle, and that the rights, and very lives of some people are expendable. I don’t know what you call that, but patriotism ain’t it.
#Impeach45