Tag: Trump ongoing abuse of power

Trailing in the polls, Trump enlists his administration and co-opts the government to bolster his reelection

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In the final days of the 2020 election season, President Trump has featured his White House press secretary as a star at his campaign rallies, where she has triumphantly joined him onstage.

Trump’s daughter Ivanka, a senior White House adviser, has stumped for him and on Saturday posted a stylized photo with uniformed law enforcement officers in Wisconsin, a key battleground.

His top aides, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser Robert O’Brien, have found pressing official business in a number of swing states, traveling there on taxpayer money. Continue reading.

Five things to know about Trump’s legal power under the Insurrection Act

The Hill logoPresident Trump is threatening to deploy U.S. troops to states and cities that don’t crack down on destructive protests that have gripped the nation amid the uproar over the killing of an unarmed black man in police custody.

In order to send troops to police the streets, Trump would need to invoke an 1807 law known as the Insurrection Act, which authorizes the commander in chief to deploy active-duty troops within the United States to enforce federal or state laws under certain circumstances.

Here are five things to know about the statute. Continue reading.

Trump seeks to bend the executive branch as part of impeachment vendetta

Washington Post logoPresident Trump is testing the rule of law one week after his acquittal in his Senate impeachment trial, seeking to bend the executive branch into an instrument for his personal and political vendetta against perceived enemies.

And Trump — simmering with rage, fixated on exacting revenge against those he feels betrayed him and insulated by a compliant Republican Party — is increasingly comfortable doing so to the point of feeling untouchable, according to the president’s advisers and allies.

In the span of 48 hours this week, the president has sought to protect his friends and punish his foes, even at the risk of compromising the Justice Department’s independence and integrity — a stance that his defenders see as entirely justified. Continue reading.