There are less than 90 days until US Election Day and in fact many Americans can start voting by mail in September. Will there be a legal surprise in October?
All thoughts made?
And, even if there is, the question is whether it will be just too late to make a big difference as to why Americans, ultimately, are the judges and jury of President Trump’s plate?
One clock was ticking in New York City where criminal prosecutors could be charged against Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization.
Another bell hangs in the office of U.S. Attorney General William Barr in the nation’s capital. He and his team were able to drop charges against former government officials – all of whom served in the Obama administration.
Vance attacks in New York
Earlier, the US Supreme Court ruled in July this year that the President of the United States is not above the law and can indeed be investigated, then Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance began taking action.
Contrary to Trump’s lawyers in court on the grounds that his demand for financial records from the Trump Organization of the accounting firm Mazars USA is terrible, Vance has made a dramatic counterattack.
He first indicated to the court that he was seeking eight years of financial records that were critical to his investigation into “alleged insurance and bank fraud.”
Second, the New York Times reports that Vance’s request to the court is likely to be supported by information about the Trump Organization’s finances that he has already received from Trump’s sole bank financier, Deutsche Bank.
The New York Times story notes:
Over a period of months last year, the office of Mr. Vance provided detailed records, including financial statements and other materials that Mr. Trump had provided to the bank when he sought loans, according to two of the people familiar with the investigation.
Trump’s strategy? Slow down and slow down again
Trump’s lawyers will do everything they can to delay court decisions in New York, especially to prevent progress before the election.
But judges have long dealt with Trump’s many legal actions and they may now have no sympathy with him. The same judges disagreed with the arguments made by Trump’s lawyers before his case was dismissed by the Supreme Court.
Moreover, delaying tactics by Trump’s lawyers could backfire. If they continue to declare that Vance is simply on a vague fishing expedition in search of Trump’s tax records, then Vance could submit a detailed letter to the courts – which may be made public.
Such a document, perhaps based in part on Deutsche Bank information, could amount to a wonderful catalog of tax and general corporate fraud.
Barr’s regulations
Meanwhile, Barr has indicated that he hopes the findings of a special investigation he personally oversees, and why he hired John H. Durham, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, can be made public soon.
Durham’s mandate was to find evidence to support more frequent claims by President Donald Trump that Russian interference in the 2016 election was a “hoax”.
And, more importantly, that Trump is right in claiming that the Obama administration is responsible for this “false news” and has conspired to undermine his 2016 election campaign.
Report FBI personnel?
The Durham report could raise accusations against former Justice Department, FBI and other intelligence officials. Maybe it could even include people who serve in Obama’s White House. The goal is raw: To prove that the Obama-Biden administration was crooked.
Support for these claims is now also being propagated by the House Judiciary Committee, which chairs Trump’s most sycophant of all golfing buddies, Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Republican from South Carolina.
The man who loved John McCain before he fell for Donald Trump hook, line and sinker and who now also realizes his fealty to his former First Chamber member Joe Biden holds public hearings every day.
These are heavily reported and solemnly disrupted by Fox News to promote the story that Durham is charged with following.
Steal the election?
Corruption in Trump’s White House has risen to high levels, and the record of conflicts of interest and criminal activity is visible to all.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump, ably supported by Barr and Graham and many other incumbents, believes he can win the election – even if it means putting it off until he can be strongly confident that, perhaps helped by Russian intelligence, he can steal it.
Ms. Vance and Barr were able to generate big headlines each other in the coming weeks, respectively, hard blows at Trump and Biden. But it’s hard – though not inconceivable – to believe they will be knock-out punches.
The American jury will decide
While former Obama administration factory Norman Eisen sees it, Trump has set aside all governmental norms and government regulations.
Trump has also violated the self-enrichment protection measures in the constitution and he has ignored multiple demands by Congress for information. And, finally, Trump has literally bound hundreds of cases in the courts in recent years.
Eisen knew, as co-chair of CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government), he was responsible for submitting many of those cases.
In addition, in early 2019, he was appointed Special Counselor in the Justice Committee of the House of Representatives, as it led the successful impact of President Trump in the House of Representatives.
Demands played a central role in the House trial that Republican senators, ignoring evidence and opposing the inclusion of witnesses, threw on the sidelines.
So now, in a blazing book – A Case for the American People – The United States -v- Donald J. Trump – Eisen writes as if he is the Chief Attorney who addresses all Americans as the jury that should reach a verdict at the elections in November.
Conclusion
Despite all the legal activities being pursued by Vance and Barr and the courts, I think Eisen is right in the opening statement in its fascinating volume. There he explained:
I have a case for the American people. It is the ultimate sentence to deliver on Donald’s high crimes and crimes. J. Trump. You are the witnesses, the victims and – most importantly – the judges and jury. Only then can you stop him – or allow the messenger of high crime to continue.
This article has been republished from The Globalist: On a daily basis, we recall globalization and how the world really depends on each other. Thought-provoking cross-country comparison and insight from employees from all continents. Investigate what unites and what divides us in politics and culture. Follow us on Facebook en Twitter. And sign up with us highlights email here.
