In Defense of Merrick Garland, Not That He Needs It
– By Ed Kociela –
There is a very good reason why we have three very distinct and separate branches of government.
The founding fathers had a pretty good idea about it all when they set up the executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches as independent entities and that was to avoid too much power being seated in any one of those vital functions. We learned about this, of course, in our early school days when the importance of checks and balances was drilled into us by our teachers. Although at times each branch can come across as ham-handed — whether through the inane blatherings rooted in partisan survival offered by Mitch McConnell or Lindsey Graham, the tear-soaked posturing of a Brett Kavanaugh, or the authoritarian despotism of Donald Trump, the checks and balances have served us well.
They could be called into play if a recent story in the New York Times alleging that President Joe Biden told members of his inner circle late last year that he believed Trump should be prosecuted rings true.
The president, of course, has the right to believe whatever he wishes and I would bet a lot of money that he would like to see Trump tossed behind bars. He cannot, however, use his position to influence the Department of Justice, headed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, to conduct prosecutions at his bequest. Look, there is no doubt about the enmity between Biden and his predecessor. It was, in fact, Trump’s racist remarks supporting white supremacists who wreaked havoc at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia five years ago that pushed Biden into the presidential race. So the fact that there is bad blood between the two is hardly surprising. I wouldn’t, for example, invite the two men to Sunday dinner unless I sold the rights to a UFC channel. But, Biden has taken no overt steps to measure Trump for an orange jumpsuit. Trump, of course, wanted jail time for all of his political enemies, particularly Hillary Clinton and former FBI chief James Comey.
Putting it into historical perspective, Trump was very much in line with Richard Nixon, who used his office to hound those who he perceived as a threat, from military analyst Daniel Ellsberg to rock ‘n’ roll star John Lennon, sending the hounds from the IRS, Immigration and Naturalization, the FBI, and a cadre of break-in thugs to do his dirty work. Trump, when it became clear that his minions refused to play his wicked game, sought out the Russians to help him throw dirt on his enemies.
Biden, on the other hand, has pretty much bitten his lip on Donald Trump and the legal process that may remove him from his freedom. Whatever Biden’s private feelings may be, they have remained pretty much that — private, even when Republicans sold out and the Senate refused to find Trump guilty through not one, but two impeachments.
The thing is, Trump opened a lot of prosecutorial doors on his own accord that have nothing to do with politics — from tax and fraud irregularities to his role in the Jan. 6 attempt to overthrow the United States government. He’s still not in the clear as the DOJ continues, at glacial pace, to investigate the insurrection and the State of New York continues to unweave his financial history.
In the case of Nixon, Gerald Ford took a very unpopular route and pardoned the former president of all crimes. It prevented the nation from a long, laborious and painful legal process that surely would have found the former president guilty and sent him to a federal penitentiary. Ford said he did it in the interest of unifying the nation, to protect it from further divisiveness and disarray. It was a fragile time and, perhaps, he was right. But, Nixon’s transgressions were bush league when compared with the attempted overthrow of the federal government, which was attempted at Trump’s suggestion on that chilly January day.
Trump could face charges with penalties to be served in a New York state prison as well as a federal lockup. While there are many who have no feel for Trump, I doubt they could name a single violation of law and wish him away to the corn field simply because of their dislike for the man. There would be no justice in that, which is why, I suspect, the New York and DOJ cases are moving so slowly. To get such a big fish you need big bait and prosecutors do not wish to go into a courtroom without a slam dunk case when bringing up a former president on charges. You see, if the United States Senate could whitewash the charges of two impeachments, how effective would jurors not smart enough to get out of jury duty be?
The stakes are extremely high.
While Trump was not the darling of U.S. allies, grievously rubbing them all the wrong way while playing up to the despot Vladimir Putin, packing him off to jail would mean a severe crack in the credibility of a nation once looked upon as the moral compass of the world. Putting it all out there could result in long-term damage to the nation’s reputation.
That does not mean Trump should get off Scot-free by any means. Despite his belief and statements that the president could do anything he wishes without penalty, he is still not above the law, especially for his part in the attempted coup. For that, he certainly deserves to get the perp-walk out of Mar Lago and thrown into the dark recesses of a federal prison. The other stuff is serious, but marginal when compared with treasonous activity that would overthrow the government, as he tried to do.
And, that is why Biden should keep his mouth zippered and Garland should take all the time he needs to get an airtight case against this guy and make it stick.
Finally, while I can understand why Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon, Trump’s participation in the coup overshadows the penny ante thievery by some crooks who broke into the Watergate Hotel.
They, after all, just wanted to secure an election.
Trump wanted to secure a coronation.
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