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How Devin Nunes & Trey Gowdy accidently encouraged Trump's defenders into lying under oath:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/11/michael-cohen-lying-to-congress-plea-deal-devin-nunes.htmlYet Cohen’s new plea must have been quite chilling to others, including the president ... as well as a number of other individuals who may have been less than honest during their interviews before the Senate and House intelligence committee inquiries into Russia’s role in the campaign.
These potentially dishonest witnesses could be excused for having previously believed they could lie to Congress with a certain amount of impunity.
...
Until very recently, lying before the House Intelligence Committee during its Russia investigation has seemed, even by generally lax congressional standards, likely to be nonconsequential. Far from considering the referral of even the most mendacious of witnesses for potential prosecution, the committee’s Republican majority has refused even to give Mueller transcripts of its interviews. The GOP majority thereby all but ensured that prosecutions for false statements simply could not be brought, at least in the absence of voluntary admissions like Cohen’s.
...
This is because, as the House Intelligence Committee majority’s publicly released report indicates, the GOP appears to have all but openly encouraged its witnesses to deny any and all potential wrongdoing, regardless of the plausibility of their denials. Thus, the GOP members and their staffs appear to have been singularly uninterested in testing the veracity of witnesses’ testimony or even inquiring into elemental questions,
...
As a result, some witnesses affiliated with Trump and his campaign may have been lulled into thinking they could lie with particular impunity. It is therefore possible, if not likely, that a fairly substantial number of witnesses, including possibly the president’s eldest son, will soon find themselves facing the unusual prospect of being criminally charged for lying before a House panel that all but welcomed their dishonesty.
These potentially dishonest witnesses could be excused for having previously believed they could lie to Congress with a certain amount of impunity.
...
Until very recently, lying before the House Intelligence Committee during its Russia investigation has seemed, even by generally lax congressional standards, likely to be nonconsequential. Far from considering the referral of even the most mendacious of witnesses for potential prosecution, the committee’s Republican majority has refused even to give Mueller transcripts of its interviews. The GOP majority thereby all but ensured that prosecutions for false statements simply could not be brought, at least in the absence of voluntary admissions like Cohen’s.
...
This is because, as the House Intelligence Committee majority’s publicly released report indicates, the GOP appears to have all but openly encouraged its witnesses to deny any and all potential wrongdoing, regardless of the plausibility of their denials. Thus, the GOP members and their staffs appear to have been singularly uninterested in testing the veracity of witnesses’ testimony or even inquiring into elemental questions,
...
As a result, some witnesses affiliated with Trump and his campaign may have been lulled into thinking they could lie with particular impunity. It is therefore possible, if not likely, that a fairly substantial number of witnesses, including possibly the president’s eldest son, will soon find themselves facing the unusual prospect of being criminally charged for lying before a House panel that all but welcomed their dishonesty.
Even if there barely was any collusion, the Trump-campaign has meanwhile added obstruction of justice, witness-tampering and lying under oath to their rap-sheet.
Wouldn't that be ironic?
Going to jail for the cover-up of a nothingburger?
(Not to mention the emolument-taking and sanction-breaking and money-laundering we are discovering along the way.
)
21 replies
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