At The Hill Allen Dershowitz calls for a non-partisan commission to determine whether any crimes were committed in connection with Russia’s meddling in our elections in 2016 and, if not, for the Mueller investigation to be permanently suspended:
The vice of a special counsel is that he is supposed to find crimes, and if he comes up empty-handed, after spending lots of taxpayer money, then he is deemed a failure. If he can’t charge the designated target — in this case, the president — he must at least charge some of those close to the target, even if it is for crimes unrelated to the special counsel’s core mandate. By indicting these low-hanging fruits, he shows that he is trying. Maybe those lesser defendants will flip and sing against higher-ups, but the problem is that the pressure to sing may cause certain defendants to “compose,†meaning make up or enhance evidence in order to get a better deal for themselves.
In this case, the appointment of a special counsel has done more harm than good. It has politicized our justice system beyond repair. The FBI deputy director has been fired for leaking and lying. His testimony appears to be in conflict with that of the former FBI director as to whether the leaks were authorized. Messages by high-ranking FBI agents suggest strong bias against Trump. A tweet by the former CIA director reveals equally strong negative views of the president. Perhaps these revelations prove nothing more than that law enforcement and national security officials are human and hold political views like everyone else.
That’s what I called for at the time and, frankly, I think it’s too late for that now. IMO a deadline should be imposed on the Mueller investigation to find and reveal the evidence of an underlying crime. The present situation is Kafka-esque.
Meanwhile I’ve seen columns in major media outlets by purportedly responsible journalists saying that it doesn’t really matter whether there was an underlying crime or not since the objective of the investigation is to disrupt and discredit the Trump Administration. Our system just isn’t supposed to work that way and I doubt that anyone will care much for these new rules.
I don’t think anyone would think the special prosecutor failed if he came up empty handed after a thorough search — and issued a report with enough details that we know it is a thorough search.
The prosecutor is appointed before there is knowledge of probably cause, but when there is an appearance of impropriety and when the justice department cannot be expected to impartially investigate their boss.
Trumpistas would be delighted if Mueller came up empty handed. Democrats would be mostly relieved.
Alan Dershowitz is just wrong there.
I’d like a more public process, but I’m not sure what a nonpartisan commission would look like. Where do you find nonpartisan people these days? Mueller is about as close as you’re going to get, and he’s clearly a Republican.
“IMO a deadline should be imposed on the Mueller investigation to find and reveal the evidence of an underlying crime.”
Well, I assume you mean election collusion. I don’t think that was the real intent at any point in time. The FBI didn’t really believe that; I’ve seen nothing credible to suggest they did. Rather, it was to be disruptive to the incoming administration and mask the malfeasance of the DoJ/FBI. As such, I see no hope that anyone will impose a deadline.
I don’t think Trump should fire Mueller, even though the portrayal of Mueller as some sort of near saint is a fairy tale. He has a, um, checkered past. But its not how things should work. That said, the fabricated stories of his imminent firing were met with hysterical howls from the usual suspects, which only illuminates the real objectives of the investigation to anyone who cares to look at this objectively.
I’m starting to think that maybe Mr. Mueller just wants the paychecks coming as long as he can. In this political climate, that could be eight years.
Somewhat related, it appears that my former Congressman, who decorated his office to resemble Downton Abbey, might be eluding federal prosecutors on the technical distinction btw/ what is political and what is criminal.
The prosecution took a few ugly turns. The FBI asked people if they knew whether the Congressman was gay. Then the Judge threw out chunks of the case because the Feds misled the Grand Jury and essentially stated that he believed he was being deceived and wanted superiors to sign-off on future submittals.
The failure to toss the entire case gave the Congressman’s attorney’s an avenue to appeal the entire case to the 7th Circuit and argue for an acquittal on the grounds that the entire lawsuit is premised on debatable interpretations of Congressional rules. One cannot simply put the word fraud or conspiracy or violation in public trust in front of activities that are unseemly. The Courts aren’t for resolving political disputes.
1) It would be impossible to form a non-partisan commission. Someone on the commission would know someone who once talked with a Democrat, hence it would be declared biased. Or vice versa, take your pick.
2) The special counsel didn’t politicize this, it has mostly been political actors and media. Trump gets special credit. Next, the deputy director was fired for lying (not for leaking as far as I can tell as he had the authority to release the information).
3) I thought they were supposed to look for influence by the Russians on the Trump campaign, which would go well beyond Trump.
4) I thoroughly support seeing a time limit. It should be the same as the Benghazi investigations, 8 years.
Steve
You do realize the real goal here is to get to interview Trump, and then ask him questions about sex? Worked before.
Steve
I don’t know where the idea that the Department of Justice is apolitical or that its politicization is recent came from. It has been politicized my entire adult life. Here’s the first item in Mr. Mueller’s mandate. He is to investigate
Investigating the campaign of a single candidate is inherently political. It’s inescapable.
Not exactly. See above.
Two wrongs do not make a right. The way to put ourselves back on the right course is by doing things in the right way now. Also how many members of the Obama Administration were jailed for perjury during the investigations? At the very least one definitely lied under oath and he went scot free.
Benghazi was never a big deal for me. How often did I post about it? Maybe once. Maybe not even that. Yes, Americans died because of administration screw-ups. Yes, the administration lied about it. All administrations lie when telling the truth would hurt them politically. Move on for goodness sake.
There was no Special Counsel for Benghazi.
A Republican Assistant Attorney general (because the AG had to recuse himself) chose a Republican special counsel, who actually had a pretty good reputation. The investigation has been pretty leak free. While the DOJ broadly is not free of politics, this investigation has been about as free of it as possible. It has been through the efforts of the media and other politicians, especially Trump, that tit has been politicized.
“Not exactly. See above.”
And you call me pedantic, which to be fair, I am at times.
Steve