Indict Trump!
Published in Süddeutsche Zeitung
(Germany) on 4 January 2021
by Stefan Kornelius (link to original)
U.S. President Donald Trump threatens the Georgia home secretary and tries to incite him to commit a crime. When will this farce finally end up before an ordinary court?
There are 16 days remaining for Donald Trump to pardon himself. He will have to seize the moment because it seems increasingly unlikely that this president can get away with it after his term in office. What Trump has done in the phone call with Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's secretary of state, and five direct eavesdroppers should be enough to bring him to justice for attempted incitement of a crime and threats to election officials. The public prosecutor's office has an obligation to investigate the president.
Trump has the chutzpah to threaten and urge witnesses in a semi-public phone call. He violates laws protecting fair and equal elections, he calls for election fraud and opens paths to illegality. In all of this, he pretends to be unassailable. A constitutional state cannot accept that from any of its citizens.
Even before his term in office, this man's understanding of law and his behavior seemed to be from a gangster milieu. It is widely documented that he also influenced the judicial branch from the presidency. No president before him has exerted so much influence on investigations by the judiciary, and no one before him has so openly intervened in the constitutional process.
Trump Lives in a State of Persistent Violation of the Law
From the Russia investigations to accusations of enrichment, to the no longer subtle request to the Ukrainian president to start an investigation at the expense of his political opponent Joe Biden: Trump lives in a state of ongoing violation of the law − which is now clearly demonstrated by a telephone recording.
It was presumably the secretary of state in Georgia or one of his employees who made the conversation public. They acted cautiously, preventively − because Trump dragged them down into his swamp a few days before the state's all-important Senate election. With the release, Georgia Republicans protected themselves, but reduced their chances of winning the election. The phone call will not exactly mobilize their voters and force the party to split. But they honored the rule of law.
Now that the majority situation has been resolved, fear of the president's revenge is over. Trump has become vulnerable. In the impeachment proceedings a year ago, the president was able to discipline his own camp with his destructive power. Now every Republican secretary of state, public prosecutor, representative or senator must ask himself whether he or she continues to support Trump's unjust system.
Raffensperger shows the way. It is predetermined by the law and ends in court − also for Trump, whose complete collection of legal violations will become public in the coming weeks and months. As the crowning highlight, the only thing missing is an attempt at self-pardon.
There are 16 days remaining for Donald Trump to pardon himself. He will have to seize the moment because it seems increasingly unlikely that this president can get away with it after his term in office. What Trump has done in the phone call with Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's secretary of state, and five direct eavesdroppers should be enough to bring him to justice for attempted incitement of a crime and threats to election officials. The public prosecutor's office has an obligation to investigate the president.
Trump has the chutzpah to threaten and urge witnesses in a semi-public phone call. He violates laws protecting fair and equal elections, he calls for election fraud and opens paths to illegality. In all of this, he pretends to be unassailable. A constitutional state cannot accept that from any of its citizens.
Even before his term in office, this man's understanding of law and his behavior seemed to be from a gangster milieu. It is widely documented that he also influenced the judicial branch from the presidency. No president before him has exerted so much influence on investigations by the judiciary, and no one before him has so openly intervened in the constitutional process.
Trump Lives in a State of Persistent Violation of the Law
From the Russia investigations to accusations of enrichment, to the no longer subtle request to the Ukrainian president to start an investigation at the expense of his political opponent Joe Biden: Trump lives in a state of ongoing violation of the law − which is now clearly demonstrated by a telephone recording.
It was presumably the secretary of state in Georgia or one of his employees who made the conversation public. They acted cautiously, preventively − because Trump dragged them down into his swamp a few days before the state's all-important Senate election. With the release, Georgia Republicans protected themselves, but reduced their chances of winning the election. The phone call will not exactly mobilize their voters and force the party to split. But they honored the rule of law.
Now that the majority situation has been resolved, fear of the president's revenge is over. Trump has become vulnerable. In the impeachment proceedings a year ago, the president was able to discipline his own camp with his destructive power. Now every Republican secretary of state, public prosecutor, representative or senator must ask himself whether he or she continues to support Trump's unjust system.
Raffensperger shows the way. It is predetermined by the law and ends in court − also for Trump, whose complete collection of legal violations will become public in the coming weeks and months. As the crowning highlight, the only thing missing is an attempt at self-pardon.
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