7/10/20: Two men testify before Congress. Which witness will be punished? Which
will be rewarded by Team Trump?
Now, you have a chance to be judge!
____________________
“The
grand jury is designed to help the state proceed with a fair accusation against
a person, while protecting that person from being charged when there is
insufficient evidence.”
The Ohio Supreme Court
____________________
Witness A vs. Witness B
Witness A: This man tells the truth as far as
he can see it.
Witness B: This man lies to the congressional
committee hearing his testimony.
Witness A: His testimony is later backed up
by former National Security Advisor John Bolton.
Witness B: With investigators hot on his
trail, this man earns an extra felony count for threatening Witness C.
Witness A: This man does not get charged with
any felonies.
Witness B: Counting that extra charge, this
man is charged with seven felonies, after a grand jury decides there is ample evidence
to pursue a case against him.
This is how grand juries work, as explained by the Ohio Supreme Court:
The grand jury is an accusatory
body. It does not determine guilt or innocence. The grand jury’s duty is simply
to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to make a person face
criminal charges. The grand jury is designed to help the state proceed with a
fair accusation against a person, while protecting that person from being
charged when there is insufficient evidence.
At his criminal trial, Witness B is represented
by high-priced lawyers. He is still convicted on all seven counts by a jury of
his peers. His legal team couldn’t convince a single juror that there was
reasonable doubt about a single one of the crimes Witness B was accused of
committing. He might as well have hired Mr. Blogger to be his lawyer, for all
the good it did.
Witness A: He is a decorated combat
veteran. He was awarded a Purple Heart for service in Iraq.
Witness B: He used to work for a lobbying
firm that burnished the reputations of scumbag dictators and world leaders.
That firm became known in Washington D.C.
as part of the “Torturers’ Lobby.”
Witness A: This man was recommended by superiors for promotion to the next highest rank in
the U.S. Army. His record was clean, his service meritorious.
Witness B: This man was called in by the
judge, while out on bail, after he seemed to threaten her life.
“Significant national
security implications for our country.”
If you haven’t already guessed, Witness A,
is Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman. He testified truthfully in front of the
House Intelligence Committee.
While under oath he made it clear he believed
President Trump had held up critical military aid to Ukraine to force the
president of that country to help gather dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden.
At the time, Lt. Col. Vindman explained his decision to come before Congress and give testimony:
I
want to emphasize to the committee that when I reported my concerns on July 10 [2019]
relating to Ambassador Sondland and on July 25 relating to the president, I did
so out of a sense of duty. I privately reported my concerns in official
channels to the proper authority in the chain of command. My intent was to
raise these concerns because they had significant national security
implications for our country. I never thought that I’d be sitting here
testifying in front of this committee and the American public about my actions.
When I reported my concerns, my only thought was to act properly and to carry
out my duty.
Witness B is, of course, Roger Stone, man of
zero integrity. At his trial, the prosecutor pointed out that all the lies that
Stone told served to protect the president.
To give you some idea of who Stone is, he has
a tattoo of disgraced former President Richard M. Nixon on his back.
So, which man would you reward? And which would
you punish?
Lt. Colonel Vindman is leaving the U.S. Army
after saying that he has faced retaliation for testifying. His promotion,
which the Army said he earned, was blocked.
Roger Stone, the seven-time felon, has had
his prison sentence commuted by President Trump, without ever spending a day in
jail.
POSTSCRIPT: You have to follow matters closely to grasp the full extent of how
sleazy this president is, and how sleazy so many of the men and women Trump attracts
to his service are. Stone, you may remember, lied about ever meeting with any
Russians during the 2016 campaign. A second gentleman, who helped set up
Stone’s parlay with the Russian, and said he forgot about it too, who then amended his testimony to avoid a
perjury count, still has a job deep in the large intestine of the Trump
administration.
That would be Michael Caputo.
He was quietly posted to serve as assistant secretary of public affairs at the Department of Health and Human
Services in April. Tweets immediately surfaced, with Caputo showing his chops
for public affairs, by calling multiple women “dogface,” and making racist
comments. Call the spreading virus what you want. Caputo decided to “focus” on HHS
matters by denigrating Chinese people. “Millions of Chinese suck the
blood out of rabid bats as an appetizer and eat the ass out of anteaters,” he tweeted.
In Caputo’s mind eating anteater ass completely explains the spread of COVID-19.
When
other Twitter users questioned his comments, he responded with….more racism. “Don’t
you have a bat to eat?” he asked one Asian American. “You’re very convincing,
Wang,” he replied to another.
A person
not named “Wang.”
What happened to Vindman and what happened to
Stone, with Michael Caputo for dessert, tells you everything you need to know
about Trump and his scuzz bag crew.
