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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs it extortion?
To threaten to fire someone under you, if they do not follow your orders to lie for them?
(Especially if it threatens the existence of our democracy)
elleng
(130,895 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)you 11,708 votes.
But it likely wont get trump indicted, almost certainly not inprisoned. It should, but it wont in this case.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Sounds like some kind of a threat but it doesn't seem to be :extorting' something.
kentuck
(111,089 posts)No money exchanged but it does sound illegal, in my opinion. (But I am no lawyer or expert on the law)
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)kentuck
(111,089 posts)"Criminal extortion: A person who threatens a person, or his or her property or reputation, to induce that person to act against his will to do an act or refrain from doing a lawful act commits a class 4 felony."
Sympthsical
(9,073 posts)You're referencing something in the news or on TV, but it's impossible to tell what based on the OP.
kentuck
(111,089 posts)...but related to the testimony of the former US Attorney that quit his job because he did not want to lie for Donald Trump and say the election was rigged.
Sympthsical
(9,073 posts)They serve at the President's pleasure. Firings and resignations of US attorneys happen out of political disagreement all the time. A President can do it for no reason at all.
What's salient is if he asked the person to do anything illegal. In this case, the answer is no. Trump never even spoke to Pak directly. It filtered down to him that Trump was all pissed off he wasn't opening investigations into voter fraud. He took that as a sign he might be fired. Since he was leaving before Jan. 20th anyway, he figured, "Nah, I'm out. Peace!" He didn't want the stain of it on him.
Opening an investigation isn't an illegal act, especially when tons of (false) fraud claims were flying around.
Trump was being the Asshole President, but being King of the Assholes isn't illegal.
kentuck
(111,089 posts)But was it opening a legitimate "investigation", or was it for more nefarious purposes? Either way, it would probably be difficult to prove in that instance?
Sympthsical
(9,073 posts)They shouldn't, but they do. Look at the DOJ. What they do and do not bother to investigate is often made with prosecutorial discretion. Congress does the same. There was nothing illegal about investigating Clinton's e-mails. It was just an asshole thing to do. All you need is a pretext. "We think something wrong happened here, so we're going to look into it."
Of course, we know it was politically motivated.
Still legal, though.