The Scoundrels!
Those Scoundrels!! Russian President Vladimir Putin and other high ranking officials of his government interfered in our 2016 Presidential election more than either the Democratic or Republican National Committee. Aggravating the meddling were the daily contacts between those Russian operatives and Donald Trump and his minions.
This, of course, is so-called fake news. Assume, however, that it is 100% true. What, then, is the next step? How can it be undone and prevented from recurring?
How about another election with Trump excluded as a candidate? To be fair though, Ma Clinton would be barred from running again because of all the allegations of her compromising security material.
Who could be candidates does not matter anyway, because there is no legal provision for a repeat election. The only legal ways to remove our President from office are death, resignation, and impeachment.
There is no way we can impose death or resignation. Some members of Congress, however, are pushing Articles of Impeachment against our President. If they took a moment to look at the Constitution under which they work, they would find that impeachment is limited to treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors (Article Two, Section 4).
Currently, there is not even a hint of any crime on the part of our President. Does that mean that the members of Congress on the impeachment hype consider contact between a Presidential candidate and a foreign official is treason? If so, they may want to consider the pay to play relations of Ma Clinton with foreign officials through the Clinton Foundation.
The involuntary removal of Our President from office thus seems impossible at the moment. So how about criminal charges?
What law has Putin broken? Oh, that’s right. The question is irrelevant. Putin is not subject to our laws. Even if he were, the chances of extraditing him for trial here are nil.
Maybe we could file charges against him in the International Court of Justice for interfering with our election. That, however, may be a more perilous route than trying to punish Our President under local laws for colluding with foreign interests before he was elected.
If interfering in foreign elections becomes a crime under international law, all of our living former Presidents may have to go into hiding. Assuming there would be no statute of limitations on the crime, Presidents Carter, George H. W. and George W. Bush, and Obama would be added to the Most Wanted list of Interpol.
Anyone who thinks there has not been American influence and meddling in elections in West Germany, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and many other independent nations is living in another world.
Now assume that the statements in the first paragraph about collusion between Putin and Our President are proven to be true. What would be the effect?
If there is a law that prohibits candidates from talking or associating with foreign officials, it has not been made public. If there is such a law, when does it kick in? Does it apply to everyone who might be thinking of becoming a candidate? Does it apply only after a candidate has officially filed for office? Does it apply to all candidates in a large field of primary candidates, or does it apply only to those who win a party nomination?
What level of contact is prohibited? Does it apply, for example, to contact with a city councilman, or the equivalent, from Minsk? How about contacts with cabinet members of Canada or Mexico?
Does collusion between foreign operatives and a Presidential candidate who loses the election require the same investigation and action as that of the winning candidate? If not, why not?
So here’s the perspective.
The purpose of the nonsense to this point is to illustrate the monumental waste of time and money of the Mueller Investigation.
As illustrated, the most that can be expected from this waste is some minor indictments like those against General Flynn.
And why is it taking so long? Mueller, acting alone, should have been able to spend four or five hours with each witness so far and had time for lengthy vacations between each session.
What is the huge staff involved in this purely political probe costing the American taxpayer?
Just wondering.
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