Summary

Special counsel Jack Smith dropped 44 federal charges against Donald Trump, citing DOJ policy that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.

The charges, including election interference and classified documents retention, could be refiled after Trump’s presidency.

Critics, including Rep. Dan Goldman and former Capitol officer Aquilino Gonell, decried the move as a miscarriage of justice, asserting it places Trump above the law.

Trump and allies celebrated the decision as a victory, with Vice President-elect JD Vance vowing to prevent similar prosecutions.

Democrats fear Trump will seek political retaliation, deepening national divisions.

182 points

If only we still had another month with a Dem president and his AG controlling the DOJ…

I mean a month is a short time, ideally we’d have had that the last four fucking years and had plenty of time to handle this.

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5 points

The Russia/Republican propaganda has been too strong to make anything stick. If you try to arrest Trump while he has enough followers to win an election then you’ll get a mob like Jan 6th storming whatever prison he’s held in.

It’s not as simple as you’re trying to make it sound.

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41 points

Give me a break. These charges could have been pursued on day one, in Washington DC.

The administration sat on their hands.

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-13 points
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Why do you think they “sat on their hands”? Do you think they are conspiring to help Trump? Do you think your internet armchair analysis of the situation is better that the entire DOJ and they just aren’t as smart as you?

Or is it the obvious answer that Trump has been able to get away with corruption time and time again due to Russian/republicans? And their control of our government and justice system? And the DOJ knows that if they try to prosecute Trump and the charges don’t stick that they won’t get another try.

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11 points

Sounds to me like a perfect recipe to round up and arrest a bunch of traitors to American principles. Was the thought trump would just shut up and quietly go away if we kept biding time or he lost another election. What, if anything, about trumps character would make anyone think that. 100% the government just dropped the ball on this. They won with trump in the opposition and wanted to time it well enough to win again and have him divide and weaken the republicans.

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106 points

Fairly certain and it appears obvious the DOJ believes the president is totally immune.

Part of the reason we are not members of the ICC.

Part of the reason Dick Cheney is not in The Hague right now.

Fairly certain United States has been a fascist country since at least 1790

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-15 points

I wouldn’t go that far back, or say we’ve been a fascist country for that long.

I put a lot of blame on Dems closing ranks for Bill back in the 90s.

The root of the argument is semantic: The President has testified that he did not touch Lewinsky sexually. Lewinsky’s testimony, and that of her friends and colleagues claim he did.

But the bottom line is whether this constitutes an impeachable offense. Again, Starr’s report claims there is ample evidence of Clinton lying under oath, and concealing evidence of his relationship with Lewinsky to begin impeachment proceedings. Lawyers for Clinton declared today that the President’s transgressions were “personal,” but do not constitute an impeachable offense.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/did-clinton-lie-under-oath/

Like, people still act like trump has some mastermind legal strategy when he’s just ripping off Bill by blurring the line between president and person.

At the end of the day for decades both parties have agreed that regardless of which one of them is in charge, no one gets any consequences from the others.

We can’t count on those groups holding each other accountable. Voters need to hold at least one party to a higher standard, or literally no one is ever going to be held accountable.

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6 points

Until we have a different electoral system there is no way to hold a party accountable without losing an election.

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53 points

Every single time someone tries to hold Trump accountable he claims it is a witch hunt.

Every single time the charges don’t stick because of intimidation or corrupt judges the public believes that it is a witch hunt just a little more and it is harder to get people to take it seriously.

This has happened so many times now that he has been able to win an election as a felon.

The DOJ knows that even if they successfully charge Trump now, his administration will get him out of it. Their only hope is to put it on pause and wait for an opportunity to actually hold him accountable. Because there is no way that can happen after he won an election.

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38 points
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that fat fuck’ll be long dead before any justice could ever be served. justice within the legal system, that is.

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25 points

Their only hope is to put it on pause and wait for an opportunity to actually hold him accountable.

it’s fucking over. he won the election, and he’s going to fucking pardon himself, die, or both before anyone holds anyone accountable.

he’s going to gut any functional part of the legal system and get no reprimand.

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8 points
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According to what I heard on youtube from US lawyers, the statuette of limitation will run out by the time Orange Goo finishes with his current term. Leading to no trial. There is no pausing.

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21 points

Because there is no way that can happen after he won an election.

“A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.”

  • Alexander Hamilton
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11 points

You’re talking about a criminal case, what does a month do for you? At every turn, Trump has consistently tried to delay the process. It has nothing to do with the DOJ or AG, they are working the system to intentionally delay everything until now. Why proceed either, he’s going to be president in two months.

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18 points

He’s making a facetious point about the huge quantities of time Merrick Garland had to waste to create this outcome.

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1 point
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“they are working the system to intentionally delay everything until now.”

If only every criminal defendant could afford to do the same…

–It would probably be a moot point because it would be legislated away as a legal strategy by the same officials that were previously dragging their feet for Trump.

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23 points

How about 2.5 years in which everyone held off because they didn’t want to step on the FBI’s toes, and it turned out that they weren’t doing anything?

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16 points
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This is just like Obama giving Bush and Cheney a pass for war crimes and starting a war based on complete lies.

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9 points

Yep. None of this is new, it’s the same song and dance.

I’ve criticized both parties for acting like voters have the memory of goldfish, but it’s getting harder and harder to argue they’re wrong.

People don’t remember the shit they literally lived thru already.

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That’s almost insulting to goldfishes.

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33 points

If only the AG didn’t waste 3 years before filing charges.

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20 points
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It seems counter intuitive, but you want as little of this of this floating around as possible while he’s in office. Act like nothing’s pending throughout his term, then reopen this the minute he’s out.

We don’t need him having more motives to try to dictatorially stay in power after his term, and stuff like clearly pending trials and sentencings hanging over him the moment he leaves the WH could give him that extra incentive.

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2 points

The charges, including election interference and classified documents retention, could be refiled after Trump’s presidency.

Yeah, like he’s not going to view that as something hanging over his head the next four years…

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If his dementia continues to progress at the rate it is President Vance may be our bigger problem by then.

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5 points
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On a side note “Life and Times of Tim” is one of my favorite shows and why Im always willing to explain things when I see that little picture of his face.

But mate…

America has literally already had a literally demented Republican president who was an actor when younger.

This is just a reboot of Reagan, and while we may hear about Trump’s stuff while it’s happening, I’d be surprised if he causes more harm in the next four years than Reagan did.

And when Reagan got too bad, his VP did take the reigns and the next election.

Back then it was HW Bush, who was the ex-head of the CIA and the son of one of the Business Plot leaders where American capitalists were floating the idea of overthrowing FDR and the American government to join WW2 with the actual nazis…

So if Vance ends up running things in 2 years and being the candidate in 4 years?

Shits been worse before.

For fucks sake, Reagan’s handling of AIDS and literally smuggling crack into poor communities is still fucking shit up forty years later, not even getting into Reaganomics.

They both sucked, and Trump’s next four years will suck. But it ain’t the end of America unless everyone gives up without a fight.

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15 points

Who is going to stop Trump from just pardoning himself?

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A heart attack before inauguration.

But then we have a couch fucker.

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8 points

And I’m not sure which would be worse. Vance might be a bit more moderate on some things but his competence and ability to work with others makes him more dangerous on those.

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3 points

Nothing for the Federal stuff, I guess.

He can’t pardon the state felony convictions he has, though. That’s the case that worries me in this regard.

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-3 points

You can’t pardon yourself if you haven’t been charged or if the case was dropped 😉😉

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11 points

Oh yes you can.

Ford’s pardon of Nixon states:

Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.

Whether or not any crimes were charged is irrelevant. Whether or not any charges were made and then dropped is irrelevant. “All offenses.”

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7 points

Who says so? Nixon was pardoned for a crime he wasn’t even charged with.

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3 points

They can’t arrest a husband and wife for the same crime 😉

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78 points

then reopen this the minute he’s out.

I’ll take shit that will never happen for $800, Alex.

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8 points

This is how our nation falls. Not with a bang, but cowering and whimpering.

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11 points

He’s not sitting yet, you fucking bootlicker.

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22 points

Here comes 4 years of dem finger wagging

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11 points

And don’t forget conservative finger wagging.

“I’m sure he learned his lesson.”

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3 points

No one has pretended that in years.

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12 points

Breaking News: liberals once again forget which country they live in.

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