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Trump’s Legal Tweets Are Not Good
President Trump is tweeting once again about the Roger Stone trial and the need for a retrial. I suppose he thinks he’s clever because he is just quoting noted bonehead Andrew Napolitano. It’s bad for two reasons:
First, Barr has asked him to knock it off. If Barr ends up leaving over this it is all over – any chance of getting to the bottom of the Russia story is done. There is no Plan B at this point.
Second, Justice Department guidelines forbid prosecutors from tweeting or talking about cases outside of the pleadings and court proceedings, except in very general ways. The President, who oversees DOJ, should be abiding by the same rules.
The President has been fortunate that his enemies have made so many mistakes and consistently overreached because of their blind hatred. But the President’s lack of discipline and impulsiveness creates its own problems.
There are plenty of things the President can, and should, tweet about. This is not one of them.
Published in General
I see the title of my post was changed when promoted to the Main Feed from Not Good to Trump’s Legal Tweets Are Not Good. I wrote the post in the specific circumstances of the President’s recent tweets regarding the Stone case and Barr’s comments. While in general I’d prefer the President to stay away from commenting on legal proceedings I’m not prepared to say as a blanket matter he should do so in all circumstances. I don’t remember what he was tweeting about the Mueller investigation while it was ongoing but as he was a target and, at the time had no one at DOJ to defend him, tweets may have been appropriate.
I do not believe that every Trump tweet is some 3D chess move in a multi galactic universe. Sometimes POTUS just makes a stupid mistake. So, what’s new about that? From absolutely day one of my determination to support Trump I have known there would be cringe-worthy moments. He has not disappointed. What I didn’t know from day one was how many good things he would do and how much vile antagonism and treachery he would have to absorb and/or fend off. If tweeting is his release, then I have to cut him slack, knowing that nothing he could do would change the attitude of his totally disloyal opposition in any event.
This assumes the Article III courts are not already politically loaded and already acting against President Trump and the voters who got out of their place and voted for him.
Having dealt directly with Federal judges I can assure you Trump’s recent tweets are not going to sit well with many in the judiciary regardless of political views.
I agree with everything you’ve said. My concerns here have nothing to do with changing the attitude of the opposition.
Does Trump know he can pardon Stone? Why make a fuss over sentencing if he can just pardon him. I was going to write Trump is being impulsive but when is he not impulsive. In this instance it’s not serving him well.
In positive news Trump is out this afternoon praising Barr as a straight shooter and admitting that he does make Barr’s job harder.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/18/donald-trump-praises-ag-william-barr-says-i-do-make-his-job-harder/4795212002/
Good move!
In the Venn diagram of my life, President Trump’s tweeting remains stubbornly disjoint with the domain of my influence — and it isn’t for want of trying on my part.
I wish he’d tweet less; I’m no longer confident that I know when his tweets are helpful and when they’re harmful. I guess I’ve grown to doubt the degree to which my own sensibilities overlap those of my compatriots.
I’ll vote for the guy in November. I expect him to continue to alternately please and frustrate me for another five years.
As Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit posted or quoted someone 5 days ago — before the complete cowardly McCabe sham:
“On the other hand:
‘You know what would stop Trump tweeting about the DOJ? Throw someone in ******* prison already. We can see you Deep State ********.’ — Twitter user, The OG Hillbilly”
Barr’s Justice Department is now almost as big a disgrace as the the FBI. I’d like to see how brilliant Mr. Barr is going to try to patch this Hindenburg-sized mess…
[ I also have bumped up against our Editors’ preferences vis a vis post titles. I actually changed it twice, before being told that the Editor really preferred his (her?) own formulation. I gave up, though I still disagreed. — H. ]
And when he isn’t going to prosecute someone who should be breaking rocks for 20 years (McCabe).
Trump uses tweets as a weapon, and when his own people make questionable decisions? Well, you shoulda known better before you took the job . . .
Yes. And that should cause them do do a bit of introspection. What have they done to police their own ranks? This is just another section of the Aegean Stables that need a high pressure wash.
Good for President Trump, reminding us of how the Constitution actually works. There is no such thing as an independent power or authority in an Attorney General. The president is our chief law enforcement officer, and he is the one who is held accountable by Congress and the voters.
By “the resistance” you mean “the stonewallers,” right?
I was trying to post the video of Trump’s impromptu news conference, but Jager has it posted:
In positive news Trump is out this afternoon praising Barr as a straight shooter and admitting that he does make Barr’s job harder.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/18/donald-trump-praises-ag-william-barr-says-i-do-make-his-job-harder/4795212002/
Trump sounds like someone who knows exactly what he is doing. I hope so. Bill Barr does not seem like someone who faints with a small breeze. I think he and Trump are on the same page. The wheels of Justice grind slowly, especially when it’s the swamp being investigated. We all would like to see Barr in an accelerated mode.
Just like the MSM, where the headline doesn’t always match the content of the article.
Speaking of Roger Stone, after the 2016 election, I remember watching countless videos of election night coverage to see how different people reacted to Trump’s 2016 victory. Roger Stone was convinced or acted like he was convinced that the election was going to be stolen through election fraud.
I think Roger Stone was as surprised as anyone else that Trump won.
I think this is part of what I watched later: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrtfTn4un40)
Those trying to take Trump out of his elected office.
The fact is Gumby that the jury is still out on Barr.
He has not produced. Yet. Maybe he will. But maybe he won’t.
Barr was directed to declassify reams of documents at his discretion which would have informed the public of the unbelievable criminal behavior of our senior government officials at the FBI,CIA and DOJ.
He has to my knowledge not declassified one document. How can this be? If Barr had declassified the vast majority of these documents that pertain to the assault on Trump, his job would have been much easier, but no he has chosen to remain silent which gives the impression that there is really nothing wrong when there are monumental wrongs being perpetuated in his own department under his authority.
The illegal frame -ups of all of Trump advisors, the illegal behavior of the FBI,CIA and DOJ, the spying on the American People and the President , the fraudulent FISA warrants, and the conduct of all these judges in virtually every one of these trials is a huge almost indelible black mark on our Justice system.
To be complaining about Trump’s tweets in the face of all this government criminality is like pissing in the ocean to put more water in it.
While Stone and Flynn are being tried in a courtroom, Trump is being tried in the court of Public Opinion. Hardly anyone appointed to his administration in this regard has defended Trump under the most vicious, unwarranted and illegal assault- no -attempted coup in our history. Trump has a right to defend himself and a duty to let the public know when our government has run afoul of the law which it most definitely has. I would be very upset if Trump didn’t tweet about the duplicitous and illegal behavior of Barr’s DOJ. Stone and Flynn are being unjustly tried . Barr has to take responsibility for these phony show trials. They are on his watch. Damn you Gumby for complaining about Trump standing up for Justice. To hell with these criminally inclined judges.
The fact is that Barr has a difficult choice to make. He can either choose to follow the Constitution and prosecute the mountain of criminality in the DOJ,FBI and CIA or he can cover it up with some sort partial prosecutions here and there that don’t reveal the extent of the all the crimes against Trump and the American People. He seems unfortunately to be trying to find a way to thread the needle to do the second option, which he should be forever damned for if he tries it.
There is no right or wrong. Only winning and losing.
Why do you care what he tweets? Do you use tweeter.
My Faux friend, no, I began and ended my Twitter presence in 2008.
I care what he tweets for the same reason I care what he says and does: because I want us to win — us meaning Republicans and conservatives — and I want him to make it as easy as possible for us to do that. Every good tweet helps; every bad tweet hurts. That’s why I care.
Trump’s the boss, but he definitely does not need to put his AG in the mood to simply walk away because he’s being treated in the same way Trump treated Jeff Sessions (and where, after today’s actions involving Blago, Kerik and the others, you know Stone’s getting a pardon from Trump before he leaves office, and probably after the November election’s over. So he’s just making Barr’s life tougher here for the fun of stirring shirt up with the Democrats and the media, and there are about 50 other ways he can do that every day).
Below is a summary of the points frequently made as to whether President Trump should or should not tweet on the Department of Justice, federal judges, and trials under litigation. The points don’t apply to tweets on other topics. Take your choice. I’m in the SHOULD NOT camp.
President Trump SHOULD continue to tweet on the Department of Justice (DOJ), federal judges and trials under litigation.
President Trump SHOULD NOT continue to tweet on the DOJ, federal judges and trials under litigation.
Al, this isn’t really the point being argued or defended. It’s more like: President Trump should continue to tweet when it’s justified, or he shouldn’t refrain from tweeting just because the subject is DOJ, federal judges, trials under litigation, as if he has no legitimate authority or justification to do so.
It’s the best way for him to communicate period. Tweeting allows him to set, alter, and maintain the national conversation without heed of gatekeepers. He’s right: without Twitter he wouldn’t be where he is and the conversation could be shaped by the legacy MSM as it used to be. That includes communicating important double standards, injustices, and weaponization of law and public function quite beyond the specifics of Roger Stone.
This is neither justification for nor argument against tweeting. It’s yet to be determined whether Barr is aggressive enough or too slow. So far we’ve heard a lot if talk and seen hard passes on real opportunities to press consequences (Comey and McCabe). Perhaps bigger us yet to come. Perhaps. We’ll see.
This too has nothing to do with Tweeting. However, it’s true in many senses, and it’s only mentioned in response to arguments that Trump needs to follow the rules (which rules?) and arguments supporting DOJ (or state department or Pentagon or whoever) telling the president how things must proceed. Of course he should listen to counsel, but it’s his call in the end.
I honestly don’t see what one has to do with the other and I don’t see anyone making this argument. 1) Yes there is pessimism about seeing real consequences for some of the biggest scandals in our history. 2) What Trump tweets is important politically as it sets and alters the conversation in the news cycle, but it really doesn’t and shouldn’t impact the rulings of a judge.