RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT - 2019 EDITION
Strange,
but true.
There are Republicans in Congress who actually still have integrity
and the courage to speak the truth - although you can count the number on the fingers of one hand (with several fingers left over).
“Here
are my principal conclusions:
1.
Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Mueller’s report.
2.
President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct.
3.
Partisanship has eroded our system of checks and balances.
4.
Few members of Congress have read the report.
I
offer these conclusions only after having read Mueller’s redacted report
carefully and completely, having read or watched pertinent statements and
testimony, and having discussed this matter with my staff, who thoroughly
reviewed materials and provided me with further analysis.
In
comparing Barr’s principal conclusions, congressional testimony, and other
statements to Mueller’s report, it is clear that Barr intended to mislead the
public about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s analysis and findings.
Barr’s
misrepresentations are significant but often subtle, frequently taking the form
of sleight-of-hand qualifications or logical fallacies, which he hopes people
will not notice.
Under
our Constitution, the president 'shall be removed from Office on Impeachment
for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and
Misdemeanors.' While 'high Crimes and Misdemeanors' is not defined, the context
implies conduct that violates the public trust.
Contrary
to Barr’s portrayal, Mueller’s report reveals that President Trump engaged in
specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for
impeachment.
In
fact, Mueller’s report identifies multiple examples of conduct satisfying all
the elements of obstruction of justice, and undoubtedly any person who is not
the president of the United States would be indicted based on such evidence.
Impeachment,
which is a special form of indictment, does not even require probable cause
that a crime (e.g., obstruction of justice) has been committed; it simply
requires a finding that an official has engaged in careless, abusive, corrupt,
or otherwise dishonorable conduct.
While
impeachment should be undertaken only in extraordinary circumstances, the risk
we face in an environment of extreme partisanship is not that Congress will
employ it as a remedy too often but rather that Congress will employ it so
rarely that it cannot deter misconduct.
Our
system of checks and balances relies on each branch’s jealously guarding its
powers and upholding its duties under our Constitution. When loyalty to a
political party or to an individual trumps loyalty to the Constitution, the
Rule of Law—the foundation of liberty—crumbles.
We’ve
witnessed members of Congress from both parties shift their views 180
degrees—on the importance of character, on the principles of obstruction of
justice—depending on whether they’re discussing Bill Clinton or Donald Trump.
Few
members of Congress even read Mueller’s report; their minds were made up based
on partisan affiliation—and it showed, with representatives and senators from
both parties issuing definitive statements on the 448-page report’s conclusions
within just hours of its release.
America’s
institutions depend on officials to uphold both the rules and spirit of our
constitutional system even when to do so is personally inconvenient or yields a
politically unfavorable outcome. Our Constitution is brilliant and awesome; it
deserves a government to match it.”
