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When the rule of law becomes rule of lawfare
The Washington Post ^ | August 23, 2025 3:42 p.m. EDT | Megan McArdle

Posted on 08/23/2025 5:47:20 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

Friday’s Bolton raid and the rebuke of Trump’s $500M fine show what happens when justice is not impartial.

If you are a liberal alarmed by the Friday raid on the home of former national security adviser John Bolton, well, you should be. It’s possible that if charges come out, we’ll learn that Bolton committed a security breach that would have been prosecuted under any president. But there are reasons to suspect otherwise, given that President Donald Trump and FBI director Kash Patel have endorsed lawfare against their political enemies, including Bolton.

This is a crisis for American democracy, because even if charges bear out in this case, the fact remains that we cannot trust our officials to impartially administer justice. And if we can’t count on that, we are vulnerable to their punitive whims — a motivated prosecutor can usually find something to prosecute, even if they’re unlikely to win a conviction.

Those who believe in the value of neutral institutions must do everything they can now to protect the rule of law — and I’m afraid that doesn’t mean condemning just Trump. It also requires us to condemn Democrats who have violated norms of institutional neutrality in their zeal to get Trump.

By curious coincidence, the day before the Bolton raid, a New York appellate court vacated the fine, totaling nearly half-a-billion dollars, imposed by state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron last year in a civil suit brought by New York State Attorney General Letitia James. The ruling left in place the lower court’s decision that Trump had committed fraud, though the court disagreed on to what extent, and one judge wanted to throw the verdict out entirely. But the decision, particularly the separate opinion from Judge David Friedman, offers a disturbing account of a justice system that...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: districtofcolumbia; jeffbezos; johnbolton; media; meganmcardle; msm; orangemanbad; tds; wahingtoncompost; washingtoncompost; washingtonpost
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Friday’s Bolton raid and the rebuke of Trump’s $500M fine show what happens when justice is not impartial.

No matter how much you hate these people, you don't hate them enough.

1 posted on 08/23/2025 5:47:20 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I prefer the El Rush-Bo description / name:

The Washington Compost


2 posted on 08/23/2025 5:50:31 PM PDT by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The Washington Post discovers lawfare. I wonder how many times they used the term (without scare quotes) in the last four years.


3 posted on 08/23/2025 5:51:52 PM PDT by ChessExpert (Infidels of the world unite against the evil that is Islam.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I read that and my brain almost exploded. How could someone type that grotesque statement?


4 posted on 08/23/2025 5:55:01 PM PDT by Shady (Where did the 18% of GDP PLUS $37 TRILLION DOLLARS of OUR MONEY, Go?)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
You are correct. Freedom is enigmatic, just read Genesis. Our greatest gift, and our current predicament, save Christ. We do not deserve salvation.
5 posted on 08/23/2025 5:56:15 PM PDT by Fungi
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
That's because they provide irony, and they do not even realize it, or they think we are too stupid t see it.

I have to chuckle at their irony, and their underestimation of our mental abilities, for the biggest mistake one can make is to underestimate the enemy..

6 posted on 08/23/2025 5:56:18 PM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“””— a motivated prosecutor can usually find something to prosecute, even if they’re unlikely to win a conviction.””

They were talking about Fani Willis, Leticia James, Jack Smith, Alvin Bragg etc, right????


7 posted on 08/23/2025 5:56:22 PM PDT by shelterguy
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

No one is above the law.


8 posted on 08/23/2025 5:58:40 PM PDT by ArcadeQuarters (You can't remove RINOs by voting for them!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Does Wapo really have that ruinously short of a memory?

Or do its readers have ridiculously short memories.


9 posted on 08/23/2025 5:59:34 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

How did they miss the raids on Mar a Lago, Stone, Navarro, Manafort, and that military hero whose wife lost the baby?


10 posted on 08/23/2025 6:00:26 PM PDT by Williams (Thank God for the election of President Trump!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
They were completely happy, even endorsing, the Trump, Stone, etc. anal cavity searches. They weren't even for lawful reasons. Then, they let everything gleefully slog through the legal system and supported that harassment every step of the way.

I want these liberals arrested and given a one-way ticket to capital punishment for their offenses to this country, under the guise of Law.

11 posted on 08/23/2025 6:00:42 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Rumors are that Bolton emailed classified docs to a family member so yeah that’s a crime


12 posted on 08/23/2025 6:00:57 PM PDT by Sarah Barracuda
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To: ArcadeQuarters

Bullshit! Hillary Clinton most certainly is.


13 posted on 08/23/2025 6:02:07 PM PDT by sport
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I’m torn between “unmitigated gall“ and “it takes one to know one“. And you’re right.


14 posted on 08/23/2025 6:04:46 PM PDT by jagusafr ( )
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To: Shady

She doesn’t have the credentials to make a statement like that. No water degree. Just your typical preppy school and liberal arts background another spoiled little rich girl masquerading as a.”journalist”


15 posted on 08/23/2025 6:12:58 PM PDT by A_Former_Democrat (Boycott everything Mexican. Vacations, food, restaurants. Regardless of ownership. )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
I really don't know why the DOJ started with an irrelevant like Bolton when the RussiaGate disaster deserves more attention and its movers prosecution.

Make the WaPo choke on that.

16 posted on 08/23/2025 6:13:34 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The Post never disappoints in their grasp of crap.


17 posted on 08/23/2025 6:13:55 PM PDT by Eli Kopter (ביחד ננצח הלב שלנו שבוי בעזה Together we will win, our heart is captive in Gaza.)
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To: Sarah Barracuda

“”””Rumors are that Bolton emailed classified docs to a family member so yeah that’s a crime”””

Since the CIA gave the information to the FBI it seems like he may have been selling things to other countries.

So now they can ask the Magic Mustache if he wants to spill the beans about the whole conspiracy or go to prison for many years.


18 posted on 08/23/2025 6:14:06 PM PDT by shelterguy
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To: Ronaldus Magnus III
The Washington Compost

Pravda on the Potomac....

19 posted on 08/23/2025 6:15:19 PM PDT by Rummyfan ( In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.👨 )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum


“What goes around comes around”


20 posted on 08/23/2025 6:17:39 PM PDT by Chicho1852 (MAGA!)
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