Letter to the Editor

Democracy or Monarchy?

By John Lown, Maybrook
Posted 5/29/19

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, covering the investigation of Trump’s 2016 Presidential campaign along with Russian meddling in the election, leaves questions unanswered. This …

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Letter to the Editor

Democracy or Monarchy?

Posted

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, covering the investigation of Trump’s 2016 Presidential campaign along with Russian meddling in the election, leaves questions unanswered. This heavily redacted report does not exonerate Trump. No collusion was found. However there are questions about Trump credibly obstructing justice on 11 occasions in the report. Mueller did not bring charges as per the U.S. Justice Department’s office of legal counsel policy that a sitting President can not be indicted or criminally prosecuted. However, apparently Mueller is passing the torch to Congress to continue investigations of Trump and his organization. Had Trump not been President more than 375 plus retired and active federal prosecutors stated the report revealed grounds for a Trump justice obstruction indictment.

US Attorney General Wiliam Barr, a Trump appointee, received and reviewed the Mueller report condensing its 400 plus pages into a 4 page summary. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee Barr exhorted no collusion, no obstruction. He politicized his testimony on the Mueller probe acting like Trump’s personal attorney and spin doctor. Barr threw impartiality out the window. Mueller himself made known his dissatisfaction with Barr’s mischaracterization of his findings. Congress wants the full unredacted report with the underlying evidence; it wants the details, not a summary. Congress represents the people and we have a right to know the truth.

Congressional committees are now conducting investigations to get to the truth about Trump and his organization. Congress, under the umbrella of checks and balances, has the constitutional duty and authority to exercise oversight of the executive branch. Trump’s staff members are being called to testify. What is Trump’s response to Congressional checks and balances. Stonewall ! Stonewall ! He is urging his staff to flout the rule of law; refuse to testify and ignore subpoenas. Attorney General Barr, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, and Don McGahn, former White House counsel, followed Trump’s orders. They will both be held in contempt of Congress. Subpoenas are not optional; they are legally binding. Steve Mnuchin, Treasury Secretary, refuses to release the last 6 years of Trump’s federal tax returns as requested by Congress’ Ways and Means Committee; it’s mandatory they be released.

Trump is also spurning the constitutionally mandated separation of powers among the three government branches. He is circumventing Congress’s ‘ power of the purse ‘ and its legislative power over federal spending. Trump is taking monies, without Congressional approval, from some government departments to subsidize the Midwest farmers hurt by his own tariffs; $12 billion last year and $16 billion this year.

Clearly Trump is attempting to expand his executive power with the intent of nullifying Congress as a co-equal branch of government. To make matters worse, Trump refuses to work with the Democrats on the issues of the day like infrastructure until all investigations end. This is legislative extortion. He is abdicating his responsibility of governing our nation. President Clinton was under investigation for five years with Whitewater and the Monica Lewinsky scandal but continued to govern the nation. He worked, even under the cloud of impeachment, with Newt Gingrich , then the House Speaker, on the budget, welfare and a host of other issues.

Our nation is at a constitutional crossroads. Trump has put us there. Will his political base continue to support him even with his all-out assault on our cherished Constitution ? We Americans are faced with a choice: Do we want governance framed by democracy where the rule of law is golden or do we want a monarch who governs by decree ? If Trump the tyrant is allowed to continue down this path of dangerous authoritarian rule, the next step will be his coronation.