Trump can still make it very hard for the FBI to investigate him next year

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Max Boot
@MaxBoot
.⁦⁦@AshaRangappa_⁩ : Trump has the power to muck up any cases that could be made against him by a future Justice Department — enough to set up Biden to continue as the villain in the same “witch hunt” narrative Trump has been talking about.

Perspective | Trump can still make it very hard for the FBI to investigate him next year
From a self-pardon to Justice Department memos, the president has the power to protect himself now.
washingtonpost.com
10:49 AM · Nov 9, 2020

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/11/09/trump-justice-department-pardon/

The final votes from Pennsylvania and Nevada not only changed President Trump’s political future — they changed his legal prospects, too. When Trump leaves the Oval Office for the last time, he will face potential liability for any criminal acts he committed while in office, and even before. Between now and Jan. 20, though, Trump has a lot of power to make it harder for the Justice Department and FBI to follow through on any investigations once he is no longer president.

Until now, the office of the presidency has largely shielded Trump from the prospect of criminal prosecution. Some of this is because of Justice Department policy: Despite finding substantial evidence of obstruction of justice in the Russia investigation, for example, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III declined to charge Trump, citing a 1973 Justice Department policy memo precluding it. Attorney General William P. Barr has further protected Trump, defending the president’s actions in public and pressuring prosecutors who might harm the president’s interests in private. But without the immunity offered by his position, and with a new attorney general in charge under Joe Biden’s administration, Trump will be accountable to the law like any other citizen.

Trump reportedly planned to fire FBI Director Christopher A. Wray once the election ended. While that might be emotionally satisfying for the president, we saw when he fired former director James B. Comey that simply deposing the head of the FBI doesn’t actually stop any ongoing investigations. Nevertheless, Trump can take much more concrete steps to protect himself and his family than the simple symbolic one of throwing out an appointee he has decided was disloyal.

The strongest, and broadest, immunity from federal prosecution for Trump would come from a presidential pardon. President Gerald Ford offered Richard Nixon a blanket pardon for any crimes committed while in office, and President George H.W. Bush — with help from Barr, then also the attorney general — pardoned six people involved in the Iran-contra affair in 1992, stopping two ongoing prosecutions dating back to the Reagan administration dead in their tracks. However, since President-elect Biden has categorically stated that he will not pardon Trump, Trump would have to engineer that during the transition.

*snip*

[rso]

1. Trump

Needless to say, Trump has zero protection from prosecution by the NY AG and the Manhattan DA.

[LiberalFighter]

2. Enough of this talk about presidential pardons

and this other crap.

I also have doubt about what Asha Rangappa has to say about the workings of the FBI with her limited time there.

[Thekaspervote]

3. Agree! Enough is enough..he can't do a thing about what's going on in NY. He'll get at least

Some of what’s coming to him!

He can run but he can’t hide

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. Utter nonsense- once he is out of office, he is powerless to stop investigations and prosecutions

Memos can be shredded on January 20. Self pardons must be challenged in court. Even if a self pardon somehow withstood a legal challenge, Trump could be forced to testify, which he would surely perjure himself. Trump and family must be surveilled to guard against the deliberate or accidental revelation of classified information.

[Spazito]

5. Max Boot is still, at heart, a republican...

and leans very much to the right so I take opinion he puts out with skepticism, to say the least.

[WyattKansas]

6. The Democratic Party needs to learn new ways of investigating past corruption by Republicans.

Because the past playbook has failed repeatedly and only allowed the same corrupt players to keep screwing up the government.

Find new ways to expose the truth and evidence or keep expecting the same results.

[sarcasmo]

7. Tish James will take Trump down.