Tag: Trump abuses of power

Senate on collision course over Trump DOJ subpoenas

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Senate Democrats are quickly running into a GOP buzzsaw as they probe the Trump-era Justice Department’s collection of lawmaker records.

Reports that the Department of Justice (DOJ) under former President Trumpobtained lawmaker communications data, and similar info on former White House Counsel Don McGahn, have sparked a days-long fury that’s sent Attorney General Merrick Garland scrambling to contain the fallout.

As part of the fierce backlash from Capitol Hill, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee launched a probe this week and are threatening to subpoena former Attorneys General William Barr and Jeff Sessions if they don’t testify voluntarily. Continue reading.

Trump legal troubles may not be over despite Senate acquittal

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Despite his acquittal by the Senate, former President Trump’s legal problems may not be over.

He’s already been hit with one lawsuit connected to allegations he incited last month’s riot at the U.S. Capitol and faces the possibility of more to come.

Shortly after the Senate voted against convicting Trump in his impeachment trial Saturday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) argued that impeachment was not the proper venue for holding the former president accountable and suggested he could face legal consequences for his actions. Continue reading.

Democratic lawmakers have no plans to drop multiple lawsuits filed against Trump once he leaves office: CNN

Any hope that Donald Trump may have had that Democratic lawmakers were willing to move on and ignore the possible illegalities committed during his four years in the White House has been put to rest as a top Democrat stated they have no interest in dropping a multitude of lawsuits that have been filed against the president.

With the president already looking at possible criminal indictments being filed against him and his family by New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., his life after leaving the Oval Office promises to be filled with depositions and increasing legal peril.

That includes lawsuits filed by House Democrats that won’t disappear after January 20th. Continue reading.

The Law Finally Got Ahead of Trump

Trump has used the legal system’s inherent slowness to his advantage for years. But in his election battle, it finally wasn’t an advantage.

Donald Trump has been in a footrace with the law for most of his adult life. And for the bulk of that time, he’s been able to outrun it. As James Zirin put it in Plaintiff in Chief, his book about Trump’s business dealings, one of many Trumpian legal tactics dating back to the Roy Cohn era was simply to wait out his legal troubles, either by heaving more money at lawyers, appeals, and more process, or by simply bankrupting or terrorizing his legal opponents. More often than not, time buffed the sharp edges off the legal system, and cushioned its consequences. Trump benefited from the same turtle pace of our legal system throughout his presidency. Whether it was slow-moving litigation over the fact that his close associates—like Don McGahn and, relatedly, John Bolton—ignored valid congressional subpoenas and requests, or the endless lawsuits over Trump’s financial documents that are still bogged down in the chutes and ladders of the federal court system, it’s been occasionally maddening to witness the contrast between the glacial pace of a justice system that demands slow and deliberative consideration of facts and the high-speed mayhem one person can wreak if he is inclined to ignore facts, invent new facts, and thus persistently remain 10 steps ahead of any accountability.

Continue reading “The Law Finally Got Ahead of Trump”

Kayleigh McEnany’s Fox News interview epitomizes Trump’s confused, contradictory post-election gambit

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The vote counts in key states are increasingly turning against President Trump’s reelection, which leaves his team to fight it out in the courts — both legal and public opinion — alleging that something nefarious has happened.

The problem is they haven’t enunciated what specifically was nefarious, and their arguments about which votes should still be counted don’t follow a coherent, logical path.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s Fox News interview Wednesday night epitomized that. Continue reading.

‘He’s getting a bit desperate’: Trump tramples government boundaries as election nears

As his fundraising has slipped, Trump has upped his use of federal resources to compensate.

The farther behind Donald Trump has fallen in the competition for campaign dollars, the more he’s milked government resources to make up the difference. 

Millions of boxes of food doled out to needy families — with letters signed by the president taking credit stuffed inside. An $8 billion program for drug-discount cards to seniors featuring Trump branding — intended to arrive before the Nov. 3 election. A $300 million advertising blitz to “defeat despair” over the coronavirus pandemic — the biggest threat to Trump’s reelection.

Each of those initiatives have two things in common: They’re paid for with taxpayer money, and they are plainly intended to help Trump’s flagging reelection campaign. The actions are just the latest examples of how the president has eviscerated the traditional boundaries separating politics from government. Continue reading.

House Democrats debut bill that would rein in Trump’s abuse of power

The Protecting Our Democracy Act seeks to reassert congressional oversight over the Executive branch.

House Democrats called out Donald Trump directly this week while introducing a number of broad, sweeping reforms aimed at presidential corruption and abuse of power.

The 158-page bill called Protecting Our Democracy Act aims “to restore our system of checks and balances,” according to a press release from the House oversight committee.

“Since taking office, President Trump has placed his own personal and political interests above the national interest by protecting and enriching himself, targeting his political opponents, seeking foreign interference in our elections, eroding transparency, seeking to end accountability, and otherwise abusing the power of his office,” seven House committee chairs said in a joint statement. Continue reading.

House Republicans Resort to Literally Drowning Out Testimony About DOJ Corruption

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony from two Department of Justice attorneys who said that improper political influence had warped multiple cases, including the sentencing recommendation for President Donald Trump’s associate Roger Stone.

These insider accounts of political abuse by Attorney General William Barr confirmed what thousands of former DOJ employees suspected when they recently signed onto letters calling for Barr’s removal. The testimony detailed how federal prosecutors were pressured to change tactics and recommendations based on the president’s tweets and political pressure from the administration.

As damning as this testimony is, however, it was quickly overshadowed by the fact that the Judiciary Committee is a clown show. Republicans on the committee immediately sought to derail proceedings by turning to familiar tactics. Democratic leadership on the committee, as exemplified by Chairman Jerrold Nadler, consistently allows committee Republicans to wreck proceedings any time the committee attempts to address Barr’s efforts to put Trump and his allies above the law. The theatrics have become so predictable they may as well be scripted. Continue reading.

After Trump fires Manhattan U.S. attorney, some Senate Republicans respond with a shrug

Washington Post logoSome Senate Republicans on Monday offered a muted response to President Trump’s ouster of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, the top federal prosecutor in New York, dismissing calls for a probe into the matter.

Under Berman, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has managed a number of sensitive investigations involving people close to Trump, including his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani.

Attorney General William P. Barr announced Saturday that Trump had fired Berman, ending an unprecedented standoff after Berman had resisted being removed from his post the previous day. Democrats reacted to the news with alarm, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) has said his panel will open an investigation into the episode and seek to secure Berman’s testimony. Continue reading.

Trump, without evidence, accuses Obama of ‘treason’

Washington Post logoPresident Trump on Monday accused his predecessor, Barack Obama, of treason, without offering any evidence or details to back up his claim.

Trump made the accusation in an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network. The president has frequently accused others of “treason,” but Monday marked the first time that he has leveled that claim against the man who preceded him in the Oval Office.

“On Obama and the spying situation, this idea that they were spying on your campaign — you’ve been asked before about what crime would have been potentially been committed,” Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody said. Continue reading.