With the unprecedented indictment of Donald Trump, you have a chorus of Republicans crying foul. They are claiming this, and the multiple other legal battles being waged against him, are nothing more than political prosecutions. They are trying to claim that, since Trump is running for his old job in 2024, all investigations should stop while the voters decide whether his actions warrant legal action.
The thing is, many of these cases have been on hold as the Department of Justice held to the long standing policy of not pursuing indictments on a sitting president. It was the primary motivation behind his 2020 run, and the reason he encouraged the January 6th insurrection. Had he won a second term, the statute of limitations would have expired on several pending cases.
It’s also the reason he is running again. If he were to win, it could be argued that any current, or future indictments, be put on hold, likely resulting in some of the potential prosecutions being shelved as the clock runs out on the time for charges to be brought.
Republicans want you to believe that, simply by declaring himself a candidate in 2024, all pending cases go into a legal limbo. They claim that doing anything else would amount to giving any potential opponent an unfair advantage because they could use these legal issues as a sign that Trump is unfit for office.
And they would surely know what is and what isn’t politically motivated when it comes to legal matters. Their past, and present, actions are evidence of this. They were well aware of Hillary Clinton’s political aspirations when they held the Benghazi hearings.
The Whitewater investigation looked into potentially shady real estate dealings by then President Bill Clinton. It morphed into the Monica Lewinsky scandal which ultimately led to his impeachment for lying to Congress about the affair.
Republicans aren’t stopping there. They are currently waging a revenge campaign because of the dual Trump impeachments. They are investigating President Biden’s son Hunter, who is not in any way involved in any sort of governmental function, in the hope any hint of impropriety will reflect negatively on the president. Yet, they are silent regarding lucrative deals made by White House insiders, and Trump's daughter and son-in-law due to their positions as advisers to the president.
They want Biden investigated regarding the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, but conveniently ignore the fact the wheels to this fiasco were set in motion by the previous administration. That hasn’t stopped the lunatic fringe of the party from demanding Biden be impeached, or even that he resign because of this disorganized pull-out.
And then there is the embarrassing Committee to Investigate the Weaponization of the Justice Department. This committee, headed by loudmouth Rep. Jim Jordan, was formed to look into alleged politically motivated investigations, such as the January 6th investigation and the classified documents at Mar a Lago case by claiming they were nothing more than politically motivated witch hunts.
Thus far, this committee has only uncovered wrongdoing by the Trump administration. Other “witnesses” who have been called to testify have made damning, but unsubstantiated, allegations only to be dismissed without the opportunity to be questioned by Democratic members of the committee.
To date Republicans, primarily the poorly named Freedom Caucus, which represents the lunatic fringe of the party, have proposed impeaching President Biden no less than fourteen times. It should come as no surprise that many of these attempts have been proposed by Cruella deVille wannabe Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Had she been in office at the time there is no doubt Greene would propose articles of impeachment for Barack Obama’s tan suit.
When it comes to politically motivated investigations, Republicans certainly know what they are talking about. The problem is, they have it all wrong. Simply declaring you are a candidate should not be a get out of jail free card. It should not put a stop to any ongoing investigations and should definitely not be used as a fundraising tool.
Let the legal system, as slow as it is, decide what is and what isn’t a witch hunt. Let justice prevail.
No one is above the law!