2/13/22: If you don’t realize Donald J. Trump is nuts by now, there’s no hope and you should not be reading this blog, referring to yourself as a “patriot,” or playing you’re your guns.
Once again, Trump is suggesting Americans deserve to be executed for crimes not yet charged, let alone adjudicated. Mull that over a moment if you will. See if it squares with your understanding of protections enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
Trump has heard parts of a story about how, in 2016, the Clinton campaign might have paid a tech company to “infiltrate” Trump Tower servers looking for links between Trump and Russia, and how that alleged breach may have allowed Clinton operatives to keep spying while he was president and out playing golf.
So, Trump has issued a statement based on a tenuous understanding of the case – and his idiot spokesperson put it out on Twitter, because her boss is already banned for spreading disinformation. That statement read in part – and raise your hand as soon as you see the first mistake:
The latest pleading from
Special Counsel Robert Durham provides indisputable evidence that my campaign
and presidency were spied on by operatives paid by the Hillary Clinton Campaign
in an effort to develop a completely fabricated connection to Russia. This is a
scandal far greater in scope and magnitude than Watergate and those who were
involved in and knew about this spying operation should be subject to criminal
prosecution. In a stronger period of time in our country, this crime would have
been punishable by death.
Don’t see an error? Trump didn’t either because he never checks his imaginary facts. Liz Harrington, his spokesperson, didn’t catch the error, because she’s an idiot, working for a liar, and facts only get in the way. The mistake is minor but telling. The report was not issued by Robert Durham.
Try “John” Durham next time.
More importantly, let’s not gloss over what has been proven in court. In multiple cases, real juries were impaneled, and real judges – with gavels – held trials. Witnesses were called. There were actual lawyers and cross-examinations.
Plus, dozens of felony convictions.
Multiple Trump aides and advisors did indeed have contacts with Russians during the 2016 campaign. So there is no “completely fabricated connection.” I am too lazy to go back and provide a full list once again. But here are names that come readily to mind regarding proven Russian interference in the 2016 election.
And let’s get this straight. Pretty much every U.S. intelligence agency came to the same conclusion. The Russians did interfere. They did interfere, because they wanted Trump to win.
We know, then, if we are not too lazy to do a little reading, that the following Trump pals had contacts with Russians:
Roger Stone – seven felony convictions, including one for witness intimidation.
Paul Manafort – eight felony convictions, and an admission of
guilt in ten more cases, and then another felony for witness-tampering. I can never
remember how many total felonies Manafort had, because he also got a few for
tax evasion.
Konstantin Kilimnik – zero felony convictions – because this Manafort pal escaped to Russia before he could be arrested.
Michael Cohen – three felony convictions (for non-Russian related crimes, with Trump listed as an “unindicted co-conspirator” as the criminal cherry atop the ice cream sundae). Cohen also admitted to working on a Trump Tower Moscow deal even after Donald had clinched the Republican nomination to run for president.
Even more fun: Rudy Giuliani – no felonies yet – later admitted
that negotiations for a tower in Moscow remained
active up to November 2016. Ha, ha. Until just days before the election –
possibly up to the moment Trump won!!!
George Papadopoulos – one felony conviction. (I had to keep looking, to make sure he plead to a felony; but he did. Later, he ran for a seat in Congress, which was nervy, but didn’t win. You can even read the fourteen-page “statement of offense” in his case, online, if you wish.
(I’ll be honest. I didn’t.)
General Michael T. Flynn – two admissions of lying about contacts with Russians, but pardoned by Trump prior to trial. The judge who dismissed the charges against Flynn, after the pardon, went out of his way to note that a pardon in no way meant Mr. Flynn was innocent.
In December 2015, Flynn was paid nearly $34,000 for giving a speech at a Moscow
dinner, with Putin seated on his left - but failed to get necessary approval
from the U.S. Army beforehand. (I had previously seen a figure of $45,000; but only
learned today that part of that fee went to Flynn’s speaker’s bureau. I was
looking at an old story and learned (thanks, Politico)
that “documents also show Flynn got two payments of
$11,250,” for other speeches, delivered in Washington D.C., “from a Russian
cargo airline company and a Russia-based cybersecurity firm.”
We also know that Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Manafort met with Russians in Trump Tower in June 2016 and discussed an offer of help in the election. This meeting was kept secret for thirteen months until the free press in this country blew the lid off the story. You can easily read up on that story, too.
Not “Fake News,” as Trump would call it. Not the work of “enemies of the people,” as he likes to call journalists.
Just good reporting.
For a final bit of fun let’s add that Natalia Veselnitskaya,
the Russian lawyer who attended that meeting, was later charged with assorted
felonies, including one for obstruction of justice. She also fled to Russia ahead of arrest.
With that as background, let’s get back to the John Durham story. The details are murky – but that hasn’t stopped right-wing types or rejected-President Trump from howling about the despicable spying – which has yet to be proven in court. At least one individual has been charged with lying to the F.B.I. Would it be illegal to break into the Trump Tower servers? I’m no expert on cyber security. I fairly sure it would. Prove it in court and let’s see what a judge and jury consider fair punishment for the crime.
It appears that there is no evidence that spying occurred after Trump was elected. So. No treason at all.
Again, let’s see what comes out in court before we start yelping about execution. You know. Respect all the amendments, such as IV, V, VI, VIII and XIV, that protect defendants in court.
(Such as Eric Trump recently pleading the Fifth in court five hundred times.)
FUN FACT WITH TRUMP PALS: Sadly, the former president and his idiot spokesperson are not the only persons to fail to grasp the fundamentals of the U.S. Constitution and the nuances of the Bill of Rights. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, as noxious a supporter of the former president as you can find, said on Sunday that he agreed with Trump in calling for the death penalty in this case. After posting the statement in a tweet of his own, Jordan said Trump was “right on target,” assuming you thought targeting other Americans for death was kind of cool.
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