Impeachment Now, More Than Ever
If not these crimes, what? If not this criminal, who? If not now, when?
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Ben
by Bob Cesca
By now, you’ve probably absorbed enough of the Mueller Report to agree with me that despite the relentless lies from Donald Trump and his hand-picked Wormtongue, Bill Barr, there are myriad impeachable offenses described in the document. The redacted portions of the report might reveal many, many more.
Before I dive into the point of this article, my three biggest takeaways from the Mueller Report are as follows.
1) Yes, collusion.
In his report, Mueller reminds us there’s no criminal statute covering “collusion,” which is more a term of the press to describe contacts between Trump and Russian operatives. The statute Mueller was aiming for was criminal conspiracy, and he was unable to prove such crimes in conjunction with the Russian military intelligence agency due to the numerous lies by “several” members of the campaign. In other words, for both Barr and Trump to declare “no collusion” is a lie. Mueller didn’t rule out collusion, only conspiracy.
2) Yes, obstruction.
In terms of obstruction, we find at least 10 instances of obstruction described in detail in the report, including Trump’s attempts to subborn perjury and his attempts to fire Mueller. Just because he failed to obstruct doesn’t mean he didn’t try -- likewise, if Jesse Watters tries to beat up a homeless person but fails, he still committed assault. Additionally, Mueller clearly states: “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.” In other words, if Trump were innocent of obstruction, Mueller would “so state” it. Mueller didn’t “so state” it.
Mueller also said the report “does not exonerate” Trump. He wrote there is “substantial evidence” that Trump tried to screw with Jeff Sessions, to get the former AG to unrecuse himself. The report also accuses the Trump campaign of having “deleted relevant communications.”
And finally, Mueller absolutely did not leave the obstruction question up to Barr. Mueller clearly writes that Justice Department policy prevents anyone but Congress from making that call, including the attorney general.
3) Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania.
There’s been ongoing debates about whether Russia’s attack was enough to swing the election from Hillary Clinton to Trump. On page 140, we see indications that, yes, Russia handed the election to Trump with the help of voters in those three “battleground” states. You might recall how Trump barely won those states. If Democratic voters hadn’t cast ballots for Jill Stein, Hillary would be president today since Stein’s vote totals are greater than Trump’s margin of victory in those states. How were minds changed by Russia? It could be this: according to Mueller, Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort gave Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian GRU operative, proprietary internal polling data on those big three states -- again, the states that won the presidency for Trump -- with the obvious intention of focusing the IRA/GRU attacks on those battlegrounds. Trump is president because of Russia. This polling data could’ve allowed the GRU to target vulnerable districts with Russian propaganda. All told, this is the best evidence yet that Russia literally won the electoral college for their candidate, Trump.
Impeachment is mandatory
There’s obviously so much more to the story, and new details will roll out as this crisis continues. But what we know so far is this: there’s copious justification here for the impeachment of Donald Trump. Indeed, I believe impeachment is mandatory -- now more than ever...
...which is why House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s remarks today infuriated me almost as much as Bill Barr’s obvious sideshow routine this morning. Hoyer told CNN’s Dana Bash, “Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point. Very frankly, there is an election in 18 months and the American people will make a judgement.”
WRONG.
Hoyer is the majority leader today because Democratic voters turned out in record numbers last November in order to hold Donald Trump accountable for all of it -- his crimes, his lies, his relentless gaslighting, and so much more. We had an election, Leader Hoyer, and the American people told you exactly what they want, loudly and without equivocation. We don’t have to wait until 2020 to punish Trump for what he’s done to democracy and the rule of law.
There was a referendum on this matter last year, and it’s been decided. Impeachment now. You have the go-ahead from your people, Mr. Leader. Now, go. Do your job.
If the House Democrats walk away from this moment in history, they’re telling future Americans that the president is above the law. They’re endorsing the imperial presidency. They’re screaming from the highest mountain that Trump is just like any ordinary first term president and the same rules apply to him as to anyone else holding that office for the first time. Trump, by any measure, is not an ordinary first term president. Has the majority leader not been paying attention? My god, the abuses of power are so legion, it’s impossible to know where to begin listing them. The damage to American democracy and our institutions is reaching the point of being irreparable.
By the way, a conviction in the Senate isn’t irrelevant, but it’s not the end all. The Democratic Party controls the House, and the House can take action that’ll shake Trump and, according to Gaslit Nation’s Andrea Chalupa on my podcast this week, it will embarrass him. I’ve been saying since the beginning that Trump and Trumpism need to be humiliated out of existence. Impeachment is a fantastic step in that direction. Not only that, but an impeachment vote will tell history that the system will rise up against despots, and it will crush them.
And, holy hell, there’s no doubt about this: the first part of the Mueller Report lays out the Russian attack in harrowing detail. Is Hoyer really thinking the 2020 election is going to be on-the-level -- enough to remove Trump? Breathtaking.
At the risk of sounding hokey, I ask the House leadership: If not these crimes, what? If not this criminal, who? If not now, when?
We have no choice but to rise up now and force the Democrats to earn the power they’ve been granted by the people. Call your representative and tell him/her that you’ve got their backs -- that it’s electorally safe for them to support impeachment. Likewise, you need to also express your support for truth-telling reporters and pundits. Trump is this close to getting away with it. Let’s make him regret he ever ran in the first place. Impeachment now.
Read more:
Julian Assange Is No Journalist And Not Worthy Of Sympathy
Assange is a criminal in his own right, and a threat to journalism and other whistleblowers who speak out about state and corporate crimes.
by Ben Cohen
The arrest of Julian Assange and his planned extradition to the United States has been the source of much contention, particularly in the world of journalism. Many have decried the Ecuadorian government’s decision to boot Assange out of their embassy in London and hand him to US, claiming it sets a dangerous precedent for freedom of speech and journalism. Continue reading…
“Mueller didn’t rule out collusion, only conspiracy.”
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And, as you note, there’s no criminal statute covering “collusion“. It’s a term simply used by the media. So Mueller not ruling it out is rather meaningless since he couldn’t rule it in.
That noted, yes, impeachment is absolutely necessary. Not just because it’s so obvious that Trump has indeed committed high crimes and misdemeanors. But because, as you note, the message that this kind of behavior IS. NOT. ACCEPTABLE. has to be made very clear.