After Trump, we will need a truth commission
Former vice president Joe Biden has said that if elected, he would not pardon President Trump for any alleged crimes. As a political matter, that makes perfect sense; as a legal matter, it smartly leaves options open.
As much as I would love to see the federal government prosecute Trump for potential crimes in office, I fear that criminally prosecuting a predecessor would be so destructive and fraught with peril that it would outweigh any added benefits. (If Trump committed financial crimes unrelated to his official acts in office, that is another matter.)
That still leaves open what Biden, if he becomes president, should do regarding Trump. I would suggest two main goals.
The first goal should be a complete historical accounting of the reams of scandals and abuses of power in the Trump era. We usually leave it to history to review a presidency, but here we need a swift and definitive legal accounting on issues such as any secret understandings with Russian President Vladimir Putin; the use of federal forces against peaceful demonstrators; the limitations imposed on the FBI in investigating Brett M. Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing; the firings of inspectors general and more. (I would not recommend redoing the Russia and Ukraine investigations, although coming to a conclusion where then-special counsel Robert S. Mueller III would not on whether Trump committed crimes may be required.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/20/after-trump-we-will-need-truth-commission/
I disagree with Rubin's fear of criminally prosecuting Trump. If he is judged to have committed crimes while in office, then he deserves a prison sentence. Otherwise future Presidents will see there is no risk to their lawlessness while in office.
SWBTATTReg
(22,191 posts)charged too, e.g., the RICO act. This is a criminal enterprise (ask Mueller this ?) and should be taken down as such, and all members of this criminal enterprise should be charged.
duforsure
(11,885 posts)It helped put us in this situation. If trump walks free the next time it will only get much worse, and draw criminals to run for office even more. If these criminals aren't held accountable, the American people will look towards other party's that will hold criminal politicians accountable, and stop trusting Democrats. They'll lose a lot of voters if they refuse t hold them to the same rule of law we're held to.