A government of laws, not of men.–John Adams inspired by James Harrington
It is for public opinion (to decide), because eventually the decision here is going to be impeach or not impeach. Members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, are going to be informed a lot by their constituents. And so our jury – and it should be – is the American people.–Rudy Giuliani
Giuliani is right–he either will be or he won’t be. But the idea that not impeached implies exoneration is misleading. Impeached or not impeached as the only possible resolutions or our current political crisis is a false dichotomy–there are many other possibilities:
- President Trump might die of embarrassment.
- He might be removed per the Twenty-fifth Amendment.
- He might resign in disgrace as RMN did.
- He might take future acts which would make impeachment inevitable.
- An impeachment attempt might fail.
- Congress might vote to censure President Trump.
- Congress might clip his wings with legislation as it proposed to do for President Obama merely because they disliked everything he proposed or did.
Giuliani is said by many to be spreading manure. The idea that Trump must either be impeached or given a pass on whatever scandal is exposed is wrong. Giuliani’s message is that if Trump isn’t impeached, there is nothing more to see or care about; that’s wrong.
There are more misleading ideas in Giuliani’s statement:
- It is the duty of Congress to act in case of “high crimes and misdemeanors” rather than in response to public opinion.
- In case of trial for impeachment, the Senate, not the people, acts as the jury.
If we are to be a nation of laws, then our laws must be observed and enforced regardless of public opinion.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/27/rudy-giuliani-spygate-robert-mueller-donald-trump
http://www.claremont.org/crb/article/a-government-of-laws-not-of-men/
New NY 23rd 
We have yet to see President Trump charged with any crimes nor has there been any proof presented to us that he broke by working with teh Russian Government the law as he was running for President.
However, we have proof that Hillary Clinton, for at least 4 years, broke the law by using a personal email account and that her personal assistant Humma Abedin had forwarded classified emails to her husband sexual pervert disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner
The Justice Department is still investigating the Trumpster in a far reaching never ending investigation while Hillary Clinton and Humma Abedin are giving a “pass”.
This is a perfect example of a double standard towards the Clintons.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/d-c-rutledge/fbi-clinton-was-extremely_b_10818458.html
https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/29/politics/huma-abedin-state-department-email-release/index.html
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We are a government of laws. But the basis of those those must include decency and fairness. Laws which are unfair or discriminatory should be challenged. We saw this in the Civil Rights movement. While we are a nation governed by laws, we are really a nation of people.
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Interesting events unfolding
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/doj-watchdog-finds-james-comey-defied-authority-fbi-154204884–abc-news-topstories.html
From Dick Morris former Clinton friend and adviser and political consultant
https://www.dickmorris.com/obstruction-case-against-trump-rapidly-falling-apart-lunch-alert/?utm_source=dmreports&utm_medium=dmreports&utm_campaign=dmreports
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Will Andrew McCabe come clean ?
http://conservativefighters.org/news/mccabe-seeks-immunity-from-prosecution-in-exchange-for-testimony-in-congressional-hearing/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking_mccabe_seeks_immunity_from_prosecution_in_exchange_for_testimony_in_congressional_hearing&utm_term=2018-06-06
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We have recently learned from several article from the Associate Press that the Obama Administration lied to the public and Brok The Law.
“The Obama administration lied to the American people.
A lot.
The latest proof of their dishonesty: according to the Associated Press, the Obama administration attempted to end-around its own sanctions in order to give cash to the worst terror sponsor on the planet. Here’s the report:
The report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations revealed that under President Barack Obama, the Treasury Department issued a license in February 2016, never previously disclosed, that would have allowed Iran to convert $5.7 billion it held at a bank in Oman from Omani rials into euros by exchanging them first into U.S. dollars. If the Omani bank had allowed the exchange without such a license, it would have violated sanctions that bar Iran from transactions that touch the U.S. financial system.
Only the fact that U.S. banks didn’t want to violate American law prevented Iran from getting its hands on $5.7 billion more in U.S. dollars. As Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) explained, “The Obama administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with Iran.” The Obama administration repeatedly lied — over and over again — about their supposed unwillingness to allow Iran “access to the US financial system.” Obama’s Treasury Secretary Jack Lew even testified to that effect.
So, what did Team Obama have to say about all of this? Unnamed Obama officials told the AP that they were acting “in line with the spirit of the deal,” and that the lies were justified because they were attempting to debunk arguments that Team Obama wanted to give even more concessions to the Iranians. Which is somewhat like arguing that Bill Clinton didn’t lie about Monica Lewinsky, he just wanted to debunk rumors that he had sex with an intern.
The Obama administration activity on behalf of Iran went even further, the AP reports. In March 2016, Obama officials including execrable Secretary of State John Kerry “fanned out across Europe, Asia and the Middle East trying to convince banks and businesses they could do business with Iran without violating sanctions and facing steep fines.” In other words, the Obama administration became the foreign ministry for the mullahs in Iran. The AP continues:
That same week, the AP reported that the Treasury had prepared a draft of a license that would have given Iran much broader permission to convert its assets from foreign currencies into easier-to-spend currencies like euros, yen or rupees, by first exchanging them for dollars at offshore financial institutions.
The draft involved a general license, a blanket go-ahead that allows all transactions of a certain type, rather than a specific license like the one given to Oman’s Bank Muscat, which only covers specific transactions and institutions. The proposal would have allowed dollars to be used in currency exchanges provided that no Iranian banks, no Iranian rials and no sanctioned Iranian individuals or businesses were involved, and that the transaction did not begin or end in U.S. dollars.
Obama administration officials at the time assured concerned lawmakers that a general license wouldn’t be coming. But the report from the Republican members of the Senate panel showed that a draft of the license was indeed prepared, though it was never published.
And when questioned by lawmakers about the possibility of granting Iran any kind of access to the U.S. financial system, Obama-era officials never volunteered that the specific license for Bank Muscat in Oman had been issued two months earlier.
This is the second story this week demonstrating that Team Obama lied to Americans about the Iran deal, which Obama treasured so dearly.
On Tuesday, the Iranian government announced that they had completed a new centrifuge assembly at their Natanz facility — just a month after President Trump killed the Iran nuclear deal. This is deeply suspicious, given their supposed acquiescence to disarmament under that deal. Here’s how Obama fanboys at The New York Times reported that odd development:
While Iran said it would keep enrichment within limits set by the 2015 nuclear accord, the center’s opening seemed to signal that it could swing to industrial-level enrichment if that agreement, which the United States withdrew from last month, should further unravel. … Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran stopped enriching uranium to the 20 percent level that would allow for rapid development of a nuclear weapon and agreed to a limit of under 5 percent. It will adhere to that limit, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a speech on Monday.
Yes, surely the mullahs who lied about their nuclear program for well over a decade would never have lied to us, facilitated by the obsequious Obama administration.
And, of course, the Obama administration lied constantly during the Iran negotiations about the supposedly “moderate” Iranian regime that had opened the door to those negotiations, with serial confabulator Ben Rhodes taking the lead. Rhodes later bragged about his “echo chamber” strategy to anyone who would listen.
We keep hearing that the Trump administration is historically dishonest. But the same press saying so largely overlooked and in many cases actively covered for Team Obama’s dishonesty on the Iran deal, beyond even covering for Team Obama’s rampant dishonesty on issues ranging from Libya to Obamacare. Obama goes around bragging that his administration was scandal-free. That’s factually untrue. But his administration was largely criticism-free thanks to a media replete with his supporters.”
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The above was cribbed from “The Daily Wire.” Shame on you, Gary.
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Ryn, your long cribbed article says:Obama broke the law.Another Right wing scandal that is not a scandal.
A news article (not editorial) about the Iran deal and license….
“…Issuing the license was not illegal. Still, it went above and beyond what the Obama administration was required to do under the terms of the nuclear agreement. Under that deal, the U.S. and world powers gave Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for curbing its nuclear program. Last month, President Donald Trump declared the U.S. was pulling out of what he described as a “disastrous deal….”
“…The situation resulted from the fact that Iran had stored billions in Omani rials, a currency that’s notoriously hard to convert. The U.S. dollar is the world’s dominant currency, so allowing it to be used as a conversion instrument for Iranian assets was the easiest and most efficient way to speed up Iran’s access to its own funds…”.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-obama-license-iran-money-20180606-story.html
Issuing the license was not illegal. Not illegal. Not illegal.
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We keep hearing that the Trump administration is historically dishonest. But the same press saying so largely overlooked and in many cases actively covered for Team Obama’s dishonesty on the Iran deal, beyond even covering for Team Obama’s rampant dishonesty on issues ranging from Libya to Obamacare. Obama goes around bragging that his administration was scandal-free. That’s factually untrue. But his administration was largely criticism-free thanks to a media replete with his supporters.”
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And yet…how many of Obama’s campaign staff were indicted for illegal activity? In 8 years , how many cabinet members has to resign for scandals involving misuse of taxpayer funds? How many times did Obama obstruct justice ? How many contacts did the Obama campaign have with foreigners trying to win the election?…Lot of hot air…but no facts from the right wing.Please list all the Obama folks who are now in jail or have been indicted….
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