Update to Lawless Republicans Again Threaten To Defund Law Enforcement.
Reuters reports, Manhattan DA: Trump created false expectation of arrest, Republicans interfered:
New York City prosecutors on Thursday said Donald Trump created a false expectation of his arrest and led fellow Republicans in Congress to interfere with a probe of his hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
On Saturday, the former president forecast he would be arrested on Tuesday in the probe by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
On Monday, three Republican committee chairmen in the U.S. House of Representatives from went on the offensive against District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, accusing him of abusing prosecutorial authority.
As of Wednesday, a grand jury hearing evidence in the Stormy Daniels case had yet to issue an indictment, and on Thursday Bragg’s office sent the committee chairmen a letter seen by Reuters.
The letter said the chairmen’s accusations “only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene.”
It confirmed that Bragg’s office was “investigating allegations that Donald Trump engaged in violations of New York State penal law.”
[T]he response on Thursday from Bragg’s office said the three Republican House committee chairmen had sought non-public information about a pending criminal investigation, which is confidential under state law.
“The letter’s requests are an unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty,” said the letter signed by the district attorney’s general counsel, Leslie Dubeck. “Congress cannot have any legitimate legislative task relating to the oversight of local prosecutors enforcing state law.”
Note: Congress has no jurisdiction over a state justice system under federalism. Congress also has no right to receive information from the Department of Justice in an active federal criminal investigation because it violates separation of powers (DOJ is in the executive branch) and would be a violation of the independence of the Department of Justice. Both the Manhattan DA and the DOJ are within their rights to tell these lawless Republicans to “fuck off!” in response to their unlawful attempts to interfere in ongoing criminal investigations.
The Manhattan DA’s response to these lawless Republican congressmen is exactly what MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell had earlier predicted. Lawrence O’Donnell Rips ‘Buffoon’ Jim Jordan’s ‘Joke Of A Letter’ To Alvin Bragg:
In one swift action, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Monday showed exactly what he thought of a letter co-authored by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that condemned the expected indictment of former President Donald Trump.
O’Donnell ripped it up.
“If Nancy Pelosi had gotten this letter … this is what she would do with it,” O’Donnell said, before tearing it live on air. “That would get the Pelosi rip faster than any paper she has handled since the Trump State of the Union address.”
In the letter to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the GOP chairs of the House committees on judiciary (Jordan), oversight (Kentucky Rep. James Comer) and administration (Wisconsin Rep. Bryan Steil) slammed the investigation of Trump over a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels, calling it politically motivated.
“You are reportedly about to engage in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority: the indictment of a former President of the United States and current declared candidate for that office,” the letter read.
O’Donnell had some advice for viewers.
“Please do not worry about a single word in this joke of a letter, authored by the chief Republican buffoon on the House Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan, and co-signed by two other equally buffoonish chairman.”
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aI’m just a simple country Wileybud but don’t these House Repug shenanigans rise to the level of obstruction of justice? If so, there’s at least three House Judiciary leaders who need to be closely investigated, letting the chips fall where they may.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
The GQP welcomes George Santos and the congressional insurrectionists with full hearts and open arms.
They promote accessory to child molestation Gym Jordan, actual groomer John Rose, wife of sex offender Jayson Boebert, Perry Greene’s serial cheating soon to be ex-wife, and their pussy grabbing Lolita Express flying E. Jean Carol raping leader.
Also Corey Lewandowski. Jason Miller, Pedo Ted Nugent, Matt Gaetz, and a cast of thousands.
Somewhere in Minnesota Al Franken is shaking his head.
“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” When Napoleon III created Devil’s Island he was asked “Who will guard the criminals?” His reply was “Bigger criminals”.
At least Al has been knocking them out of the park as a guest host on The Daily Show. I’d like to see either him or Sarah Silverman as permanent host.
UPDATE: Remember when Republicans were all about federalism and ‘states rights”? Fascism changes everything. “GOP weighs protecting Trump with law shielding ex-presidents from prosecution”, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-criminal-charges-waco-rally-b2308057.html?utm_campaign=social-alert&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newslit
A trio of House Republican committee chairs say the House of Representatives could soon take up legislation to strip state and local prosecutors of the authority to prosecute former presidents in response to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s potential indictment of former president Donald Trump.
In a letter to Mr Bragg, House Judiciary Committee Chair “Gym” Jordan, Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, and House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil rejected arguments the Manhattan prosecutor gave in response to the trio’s demand that he give evidence before their panels about the ongoing investigation into Mr Trump.
—
“Your letter treads into territory very clearly reserved to the states. It suggests that Congress’s investigation is being ‘conducted solely for the personal aggrandizement of the investigators or to ‘punish’ those investigated,’ and is, therefore, ‘indefensible,’” said Leslie Dubek, who is Mr Bragg’s general counsel, in a response sent to the chairmen on Thursday.
In response, Jordan, Comer and Steil said their inquiry is legitimate because “the potential criminal indictment of a former President of the United States by an elected local prosecutor of the opposing political party (and who will face the prospect of re-election) implicates substantial federal interests”.
They added that Mr Bragg’s work falls under the jurisdiction of Mr Jordan’s House Judiciary Committee because that panel — and Congress — has “a specific and manifestly important interest in preventing politically motivated prosecutions of current and former Presidents by elected state and local prosecutors, particularly those tried before elected state and local trial-level judges”.
[No, they do not have any such jurisdiction.]
“Therefore, the Committee on the Judiciary, as a part of its broad authority to develop criminal justice legislation, must now consider whether to draft legislation that would, if enacted, insulate current and former presidents from such improper state and local prosecutions,” they said.
“Because your impending indictment of a former President is an issue of first impression, the Committees require information from your office to inform our oversight”.
The ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, has condemned his GOP colleagues’ actions as “nonsensical interference” committed at the behest of Mr Trump.
“These Committee chairs have acted totally outside their proper powers to try to influence a pending criminal investigation at the state level,” Mr Raskin added.
Because the Senate has a Democratic majority and the White House is held by President Joe Biden, a Democrat, it’s highly unlikely that any bill shielding ex-presidents from prosecution could ever be enacted into law.
[A] spokesperson for Democrats on the House Oversight Committee told The Independent the trio GOP committee chairs who signed the letter to Mr Bragg “believe former President Trump is above the law”.
“This outrageous position is further evidence of former President Trump and MAGA extremists’ hold on Congressional Republicans,” he said.