From Hartmann Report
Prosecuting Donald Trump and Bill Barr is not a matter of political payback. It has very little to do with Donald Trump or the Republican party, in fact: it's about the future of our republic
Donald Trump, the Snake Oil Salesman that Conned America
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Honore' de Balzac said, "Behind every great fortune lies a great crime." Apparently there are multiple great crimes behind the Trump fortune, stretching all the way back to his stealing most of his initial wealth from other members of his family, as his niece Mary Trump is alleging in a lawsuit.
But the crimes of Trump we should all concern ourselves with are his crimes against our nation and democracy itself.
Not only is there little evidence that anybody, including the Justice Department, is interested in pursuing these crimes, but Republicans in state after state are going out of their way to facilitate future political criminal activity.
America has always had a weird attitude about prosecuting the rich and powerful.
Think about it: outside of Jeffrey Epstein, can you name one billionaire or multi-hundred-millionaire who's been seriously prosecuted for criminal activity? And Epstein, after initially being convicted some years ago, was treated in a hands-off fashion and allowed to continue his crimes, with the support of some very consequential politicians and Florida prosecutors, at least until he was shut up for good.
While there is a certain immunity available to very wealthy people all over the world, both because they can afford the very best legal help and they have politicians in debt to them, other countries still manage to prosecute their rich and powerful citizens.
France's President Sarkozy was recently convicted of bribery, and Israel's Netanyahu is under indictment for crimes that could land him in prison for years. Neither of those democracies are trembling under the weight of this.
Donald Trump brought criminals and fascists like Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn into the heart of our political system, and grifters and con artists like Betsy DeVoss, Elaine Chao and Wilbur Ross into the White House itself.
And Trump also brought in the extraordinarily corrupt lawyer, Bill Barr, who had previously corrupted the office of attorney general for George HW Bush, too.
When Barr was attorney general in December, 1992, after Bush lost the election and Bill Clinton was about to assume power, Barr helped Bush engineer a massive cover-up of the Iran Contra Treason when Reagan and Bush committed American weapons to the Iranians if they would hold the hostages long enough to damage the presidency of Jimmy Carter to help Reagan win the 1980 election.
America knew that both Reagan and Bush were up to their necks in Iran-Contra, and Democrats had been talking about treason, impeachment or worse. The independent counsel had already obtained one conviction, three guilty pleas, and two other individuals were lined up for prosecution. And Walsh was closing in fast on Bush himself.
NY Times December 24, 1992
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