Column: Shaming? Absolution? Jail? How to treat those complicit in Trump's wrongdoing

How do we bring to justice those complicit in Trump's wrongdoing?

www.latimes.com

Among the glories of democratic government, the historian Jill Lepore wrote recently, are that after an election “the loser concedes without violence, and the winner accepts without vengeance.”

Lepore was right in her observation but wrong in assessing its current implications for the U.S. She was arguing against a reckoning of Trump administration wrongdoing that takes the form of either a South Africa-style “truth and reconciliation commission” or criminal prosecutions.

Either option would inevitably become an instrument of partisanship, Lepore argues. She approvingly quotes Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden as warning that criminal prosecutions of Trump officials would be “probably not very … good for democracy.”

Judge denies DOJ effort to end E. Jean Carroll defamation suit against Trump

A federal judge on Tuesday denied the Justice Department's effort to effectively end a defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump brought by a longtime magazine columnist who has alleged he raped her in a luxury department store dressing room, paving the way for the case to proceed.

www.cnn.com|Erica Orden, CNN

The DOJ had sought to intervene in the case and substitute itself as defendant in the lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll, a move that likely would have curbed the proceedings, since the federal government can't be sued for defamation.

Writing in her 2019 book, Carroll claimed Trump raped her in a dressing room at a luxury Manhattan department store in the 1990s.

Shortly after Carroll's allegations became public, Trump denied them, telling reporters, "She's not my type," and accusing Carroll of lying to boost her book sales.

In a 61-page opinion, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Trump "is not an 'employee of the Government,' as Congress defined that term," and therefore the lawsuit isn't, as the Justice Department argued, against the United States.

Yesterday, @CREWcrew sued the Justice Department over their failure to respond to our FOIA requests about the costs of US Attorney John Durham’s duplicative investigation into the start of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

—  Noah Bookbinder@NoahBookbinder

1. Debunked by Barr’s own DOJ  😂
2. Debunked by even John Durham  😂
3. Debunked by all of the U.S. Intel agencies  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
4. Debunked by the Republican controlled SENATE Intel Committee 😂
5. Debunked by the U.S. House Intel Committee 😂

The conclusions drawn from the Mueller investigation showed that the investigation was not politically motivated, as Barr claimed. Additionally, while there was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy, the report produced convictions of numerous Trump campaign officials and associates. Barr’s involvement in the Mueller investigation created a potential appearance of impropriety because it appeared that Barr had pre-judged the outcome of the investigation. Still, Barr and Durham continue to pursue an inquiry into the origins of the investigation.

Previously, CREW requested documents that would shed light on Barr’s involvement with Durham’s investigation and sued DOJ when it failed to turn over any responsive documents. 

The latest lawsuit stems from three FOIA requests CREW filed concerning the costs of trips related to Durham’s investigation, including an international trip to Italy taken by Barr, and copies of all budgets, expenses, salaries, and costs of the investigation. CREW is suing following DOJ’s failure to turn over these documents.

5 Takeaways on Trump and Ukraine From John Bolton’s Book

New revelations from the former White House national security adviser could complicate President Trump’s impeachment trial.

www.nytimes.com

President Trump directly tied the withholding of almost $400 million in American security aid to investigations that he sought from Ukrainian officials, according to an unpublished manuscript of a book that John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, wrote about his time in the White House. 

The firsthand account of the link between the aid and investigations, which is based on meetings and conversations Mr. Bolton had with Mr. Trump, undercuts a key component of the president’s impeachment defense: that the decision to freeze the aid was independent from his requests that Ukraine announce politically motivated investigations into former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter.

1. Mr. Trump tied his willingness to release aid to Ukraine on investigations he sought.
2. Mr. Trump was at odds with his senior national security officials.
3. Mr. Bolton says he talked to Mr. Barr and Mr. Pompeo about Mr. Giuliani.
4. Mr. Bolton is willing to testify. The White House doesn’t want him to.
5. The manuscript introduced a significant twist to the impeachment trial.

Roy Cohn was many things but he was not a sniveling pussy. Bill Barr is no Roy Cohn. #Resistance 

— Tom Arnold @TomArnold

“You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart with spies and treason, right?”

— Donald J Trump

Pompeo fails to meet House subpoena deadline to produce Ukraine documents

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday failed to meet a subpoena deadline from the House to produce Ukraine-related documents.

www.cnn.com|Zachary Cohen and Caroline Kelly, CNN

A House Foreign Affairs Committee aide told CNN that "Secretary Pompeo has failed to meet the deadline to produce documents required by the subpoena. However, the State Department has contacted the Committees on this matter and we hope the Department will cooperate in full promptly. Apart from the outstanding subpoena, we look forward to hearing from Ambassadors Sondland and Yovanovitch next week."CNN has reached out to the State Department for comment.

On Saturday, Pompeo told reporters that the US State Department had sent a letter to Congress Friday night with its "initial response" to the document request.

"We'll obviously do all the things we are required to do by law," Pompeo said, during a press conference in Athens, without elaborating on what the department's response said.

Raddatz wasn’t having it. Clearly sensing evasion, she interrupted: “You say you know nothing about this. Let me ask you this question…Do you think it’s ‘perfectly fine’ to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political opponent?”

Pompeo: “I think I saw a statement from the Ukrainian foreign minister yesterday say there was no pressure applied in the course of the conversation,”

He then launched into an attack against the Biden family.

The #Treason Four 

— KarenVCU @KarensHavoc

• Directly involved in #UkraineGate
• Directly involved in #RussiaGate Cover-up 

“I have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense,” Barr wrote.