Posted on 07/12/2017 11:02:49 AM PDT by Meet the New Boss
"Collusion is not a crime.”
“Are you kidding? It could be a campaign-finance-law violation. After all, opposition research is a ‘thing of value.’ There could be a conspiracy to defraud the United States by impeding the legitimate functions of the Federal Election Commission. Plus, Trump said his campaign had nothing to do with Russia. He lied to the public.”
“Lying to the public is not a crime.”
This is the sort of banter that went on all day Tuesday, following revelation of the devastating e-mail exchange between Donald Trump Jr. and Rob Goldstone. Plainly, both sides of the political aisle are badly misinformed about the Constitution’s take on executive misconduct. When president’s behavior is at issue, it is the Constitution, not the criminal law, that is paramount.
snip
But the question is not whether collusion is a crime. It is whether collusion is a high crime or misdemeanor.
snip
We are a good distance from being able to assess whether President Trump should be impeached. It is specious, though, to suggest that this is not a question worthy of exploration, or that its answer hinges on whether collusion with Russia amounts to a criminal-law violation.
snip
We are closer to the beginning than to the end of the Trump-Russia drama.
snip
The investigation of Trump’s relationship with Russia will continue. We need to get to the bottom of exactly what it was, exactly what was wrong about it, and how that impropriety affects his ability credibly to carry out his duties — informed by precedents we seem to have established for executive relations with foreign sovereigns.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
So now according to Andy McCarthy it is "specious" to think that we should not be talking about whether Trump should be impeached over this?
For what? Because Don Jr. was promised he would receive evidence of Clinton crimes from Russia if he met with a Russian lawyer?
And what if the lawyer had provided genuine evidence supplied by Russia of crimes committed by Hillary Clinton?
And what if in the middle of the election campaign Don Jr. had issued a press release stating he had received this evidence of crime, and ostentatiously with reporters in tow delivered the evidence to the office of the Department of Justice, where he held a press conference on the steps of the building crowing about the fact that he had received evidence of Clinton crimes and had delivered it to law enforcement and was looking forward to her prosecution?
Is this a new variation on the rule of law being promulgated by McCarthy, that for a Trump to receive evidence of crimes committed by the Clintons if obtained from an unfriendly foreign government, must necessarily result in serious discussion of whether Trump should be impeached for it?
Would it not be helpful then, Andy, if this new position were formalized into a new federal rule of evidence, that evidence of Clinton crimes shall not be admissible in any federal proceeding if obtained from foreign government sources?
Did Andy not use evidence of crimes obtained from foreign government sources in his prosecution of the Blind Sheikh? Oops, I forgot, he was not prosecuting the Clintons so it was okay.
The investigation of Trump-Russia should be terminated. The Special Counsel appointment was illegal under DOJ rules because it did not specify a crime being investigated. A "link with Russia" is not a crime. If Congress wishes to investigate Trump on something, then fine, let them do it.
Nevertrumper review is full of crap. And yesterday fighting with people on reddit the people who were being the most dishonest about it was the never Trumpers. They insisted that this lawyer was a government official till no matter how much evidence I presented. Either their pathological hate for Trump makes insane or they’re just naturally nutsos.
Where is the beef? There is none.
The corruption in DC continues, but not by Trump or his administration.
McCarthy is deranged. He assumes without evidence there IS a connection, and that it is an "impropriety". One would think a lawyer would understand the need for evidence, rather than blind speculative allegations alone.
If the Swamp were ever to succeed in taking down Trump, there will be blood running in the streets. The deplorables simply would not stand for it.
I see National Review, a so-called “Republican” publication, is salivating again for Donald Trump’s ruin. When can we put this magazine out of business for good?
Andy must have his panties so wadded up he’s getting crack-rash...
He did? Then what did his campaign have to do with Russia? Donald Trump Jr taking a meeting because it promised negative information on Hillary is about wanting to get negative information on Hillary. Now if Donald Trump Jr had made a deal with the Russian government to sell him information or had made some policy based promise to do Russia a special favor in return for such information then there would be a tie. But the fact that the information that turned out not to exist had been originally referenced as being sensitive Russian information is not relevant. Who cares if Russia thought it was sensitive other than Russia? Obviously Trump Jr's concern was that it was supposedly dirt on Hillary. He wanted to hear what the person had to say, and thats it. Nothing strange. Nothing immoral. Nothing illegal. And he even voluntarily gave up the email trail to back his innocence up. No bleach-bit, private secret servers in his basement, and no subpoenas necessary.
No mention of the misconduct by the press.
Hopefully this is the horse the Dims ride into the 2018 and 2020 elections.
Or the Clinton Campaign’s misconduct with other foreign actors. McCarthy and the rest of the NeverTrump morons can all go screw themselves.
Nope! Just John (how dare he disrespect me...I'm a war hero) McCain again doing his damnedest to take Trump out while he still has his nitwits.
This is embarrassingly bad.
> Trump said his campaign had nothing to do with Russia. He lied to the public.”
I’ve seen this nevertrump lie over and over again. Here’s the facts: The lawyer was in no way was a representative of the Russian government. Just a fake story to get in the door. I’ll note also what Trump Jr. was looking for was evidence that Russia was funding the DNC the same way China had funded the DNC in the 90s. Hillary’s done it once, why not again? That’s the actions of a patriot not a criminal.
There’s no chance Donald Trump jr. Can ever be prosecuted for this, thanks to James Comey. Because thanks to James Comey we now know that there is no prosecution possible to an individual who breaks the law and does so without intent.
McCarthy says: “Trump said his campaign had nothing to do with Russia. He lied to the public.”
And so the downward definition of a “crime” continues. The conflation continues. Unable to establish that Russia was the WikiLeaks source or even that Podesta was hacked by the Russians (Password = Password) they turned to “well all the intelligence agencies agree.” Voila, Russia (Putin and his government) was suddenly established as hacking our election.
Next step, Trump asked them to do it.
Unable to establish one shred of evidence that Trump colluded with Russia (Putin and his government) that turned to “well his campaign did.” Unable to establish it was his campaign that colluded with Russia (Putin and his government) it is NOW that Trump’s campaign colluded with someone, anyone (Lord, please provide someone or something) from Russia.
Down down down we ratchet until having Russian dressing on a salad will be implicated.
Andy McCarty? Or is that really your Senator McCarty?
Meanwhile, Hillary accepted how much moola while SOS from foreign governments in direct exchange for speaking engagements for her Hubby? Hillary accepted assistance from an ACTUAL FOREIGN GOVERNMENT and there is NADDA said.
What this comprises is the criminalization of the political opposition. In their minds, liberals are what is and everything else that exists defies explanation and, therefore, must be criminal.
Shame on Mr. McCarty for falling for this. Again I say, is that you Senator McCarthy?
National Review. That faint fart smell in an old, closed place that never quite goes away.
I grieved Wm. F. Buckley Jr.’s death, but I am glad he never saw the descent of a once magnificent journal. It is not Weakly Substandard, and that’s the best that can be said about it.
Not only wasn’t he an “executive” in any government capacity ... Donald Trump wasn’t even the Republican nominee when this all took place.
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