About Trump

This quote definitely reminds me of not only Donald Trump, but of a significant number of his devotees:

"This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men."   ---Andrew Johnson, 1866

{Minimum Wage}~{Wrongful Executions} ~ {Socialism} ~ {Trump}

Many people view President Trump as the most devisive president of modern times. They see in him deeply ingrained traits of lying, cheating, ignorance, and name-calling. See a comprehensive list of Trump's name-calling. Some of the over 10,000 lies uttered by Trump are documented at FactCheck.org. The New York Times has the definitive list of Trump's racism. Trump lost the popular election in 2016 by 2.87 million votes nationwide, the largest margin ever for a candidate who won the electoral college. In the 2020 election, Trump lost the popular vote by over 7 million votes, and the electoral college count was Biden 306 to Trump 232.

Impeachment

Trump, Ukraine and Impeachment: The Inside Story of How We Got Here. (New York Times)

Trump also pointedly ignores the fact that the Russian government, through the Russian company Internet Research Agency (IRA), known in Russian Internet slang as the Trolls from Olgino, interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with the goal of harming the campaign of Hillary Clinton, boosting the candidacy of Donald Trump, and increasing political or social discord in the United States. The IRA "troll farm" created thousands of social media accounts that impersonated Americans supporting radical groups, planning and promoting pro-Trump and anti-Clinton rallies, and reached millions of social media users between 2013 and 2017. This is documented in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report released in April 2019.

The Mueller Report

From the 2019 July 25 House hearing:

CONGRESSMAN KEN BUCK (Republican, Colorado):

"You believe that you could charge the president of the United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?"

ROBERT MUELLER:

"Yes."

Full report: https://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2019/images/04/18/mueller-report-searchable.pdf

Mueller Report excerpts:

IV. CONCLUSION

Because we determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment, we did not draw ultimate conclusions about the President 's conduct. The evidence we obtained about the President's actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment. At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.

Footnote 1091: A possible remedy through impeachment for abuses of power would not substitute for potential criminal liability after a President leaves office. Impeachment would remove a President from office, but would not address the underlying culpability of the conduct or serve the usual purposes of the criminal law. Indeed, the Impeachment Judgment Clause recognizes that criminal law plays an independent role in addressing an official's conduct, distinct from the political remedy of impeachment. See U.S. CONST.ART. l, § 3, cl. 7. Impeachment is also a drastic and rarely invoked remedy, and Congress is not restricted to relying only on impeachment, rather than making criminal law applicable to a former President, as OLC has recognized. A Sitting President's Amenability to Indictment and Criminal Prosecution, 24 Op. O.L.C. at 255 ("Recognizing an immunity from prosecution for a sitting President would not preclude such prosecution once the President's term is over or he is otherwise removed from office by resignation or impeachment.").

Appendix A of Mueller Report.

...By virtue of the authority vested in me as Acting Attorney General, including 28 U.S,C. §§ 509, 5 I0, and 5I5, in order to discharge my responsibility to provide supervision and management of the Department of Justice, and to ensure a full and thorough investigation of the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, I hereby order as follows:

(a) Robert S. Mueller III is appointed to serve as Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice.

(b) The Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the investigation continued by then-FBI Director James B. Comey in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 20, 2017, including:

(i) any links and/or coordination belwecn the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and

(ii) any matters that arose or may nrisc directly from the investigation; and

(iii) any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a).

(c) If the Special Counsel believes it is necessary and appropriate, the Special Counsel is

authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters. 

(d) Sections 600.4 through 600.IO of Title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations are applicable to the Special Counsel.

--Rod J. Rosenstein, Acting Attorney General, 5/17/17

List of witnesses in the Mueller report.

New York Times, 2019 June 7. Quinta Jurecic: 4 Disturbing Details You May Have Missed in the Mueller Report

[I'm not sure what possible penalties for Obstruction of Justice would be, but maybe a fine and/or 1-5 years in prison? If that were pursued after his presidency, I doubt that the Donald would view it as much of a threat or deterrent. I wonder if things not dealt with by Mueller, like tax evasion (or racketeering or money laundering?) might be a different matter. -AG]

Article:

Trump’s acquittal strips impeachment of all meaning

Erwin Chemerinsky, Berkeley Law dean | February 6, 2020

Wrong lessons:

Bill Maher's Dictator Checklist