this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2023
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Out of the loop

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Back in 2017 the story broke that Trump and his goons tried to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton from a Russian government official. The emails were clear solicitation of foreign interference with a presidential election. You know, the whole “if it is what you say, we love it” thing, which must be illegal.

Now he’s getting indicted for some of the other blatantly illegal things he did while president. So what’s going on with that one?

I get that there were probably hundreds of illegal things he did, and some will never get prosecuted, but this seemed like one of the worst, and most red-handed of them all.

Is it just being forgotten or did I miss something?

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[–] Changetheview@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And one of the main people who put an end to it was then-Attorney General William Barr. He basically said “Mueller says Trump didn’t obstruct” when Mueller’s actual report basically said he can’t say for certain either way (obstruct or not) and provided a mountain of evidence that could be seen as obstruction. Most legal professionals see Mueller’s report as “we can’t say he’s guilty without charging and convicting, so we’re just going to say the door’s open and hand over the evidence.” Barr’s interpretation was complete bullshit.

The other giant elephant in the room is charging a sitting president with a crime. It’s never been tested in the US whether it can actually happen or not, but there are a lot of strong arguments against. The damage that can do to a country is extreme… I see it as a matter of absolute last resort. One that’s more likely to come after impeachment and removal unless absolutely necessary. And that’s one ugly situation that’s basically showing complete dysfunction to the world.

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/20/1118625157/doj-barr-trump-russia-investigation-memo

[–] amio@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago

To be fair, complete dysfunction isn't new. Absolutely nobody in the world would be surprised, the whole US government has shut down at times because of squabbling about the budget.