Trump Hits Back

Yes, Col. Vindman, Right matters in America. Unfortunately, that truth has been obscured temporarily by the onslaught of lies, corruption and cowardice unleashed by this administration and its collaborators in the Senate. But be assured, your bravery on the battlefield and in the political arena will be remembered long after the defacers of our democracy have been relegated to the dust bin of history.

Getting At the Truth, Protecting the Future Post Impeachment

Republicans  have made clear that  Mr. Trump's conduct, though it may be wrong, was in their view neither criminal nor impeachable. House Democrats now should announce that they will consider legislation which will explicitly make such conduct, seeking the assistance of a foreign government to besmirch a political rival, and to use the powers of office to coerce such assistance, a federal crime and an impeachable offense. The House should also explore legislation requiring the production of documents and witnesses in aid of any investigation conducted by Congress for oversight, legislative or impeachment purposes notwithstanding a claim of executive privilege.

In furtherance of that legislative consideration, the House should subpoena Messrs. Bolton, Mulvaney, Pompeo, Barr, Cipollone and others whose testimony would be appropriate in informing the need for and parameters of such legislation. By doing so, the public will get to hear the facts concealed by Republican stonewalling and put in place safeguards to deter and punish future misconduct.

The "Odd" Argument of Alan Dershowitz

Did we really just hear Alan Dershowitz argue, during the question and answer period of the impeachment proceedings, that Donald Trump’s demand for a foreign investigation to aid his re-election might not evidence a corrupt intent because Mr. Trump may sincerely believe that his re-election is in the national interest? Whatever credibility Mr. Dershowitz might have retained, after his recent misdescription of the Constitution’s impeachment requirements, he has now forfeited any claim to be a serious scholar and defender of the Constitution.

The Dershowitz Strategy

Now I understand Alan Dershowitz and we owe him an apology. He figured out that the only way to end the Trump Era and restore sanity to our government was to pose as an ally, become the prized guru of the Right and, as a principal defender of Mr. Trump, make absurdist arguments to excuse the president's corruption and abuse of power. Then, when Republicans inevitably acquit Mr. Trump, they will be exposed as spineless, mindless sycophants who put retention of power above protection of country, by signing on to Mr. Dershowitz' patently preposterous pronouncements. 

In this way, Mr. Dershowitz will have demonstrated to the American people and the rest of the world the true nature of today's Republican party and the danger it poses to constitutional standards and basic morality. Thanks to this ingenious stratagem, Mr. Trump and his senatorial loyalists will be swept from power in the next election and Mr. Dershowitz will have saved our democracy from the brink of destruction.

Dershowitz' Defense of Trump

Alan Dershowitz is right that in this country every person , however vile, corrupt or criminal, is entitled to a defense. It is also true that lawyers have a professional and ethical obligation to represent an accused however unpopular or guilty. Nevertheless, an attorney may not knowingly elicit false testimony and has a responsibility to inform the court when a client has committed perjury. An attorney may not conspire with nor assist a client to commit a crime.

The duty to defend a criminally accused client does not extend to enabling that client to continue to hold the office of president of the United States. Mr. Dershowitz, who has inexplicably altered his past assessment of what constitutes an impeachable offense, has lost sight of the gulf between his professed defense of the Constitution and his constitutionally unsound excuses for Donald Trump's abuse of power. By arguing against the impeachment of this president, Mr. Dershowitz is not fulfilling some higher duty. Instead, he is aiding a fraud on the Senate and the American people and enabling Mr. Trump's continuing destruction of the rule of law. Indeed, he is putting at risk the civil liberties he claims to hold dear.

Dershowitz Joins Impeachment Defense Team

President Trump has chosen Prof. Alan Dershowitz to argue against impeachment in the Senate (front page and news article, page A17, Jan.18 ). Mr. Dershowitz accepted the assignment but wants it known that he remains a liberal who will be defending the Constitution, not Mr. Trump. He has reminded us that his concern for civil liberties has led, in the past,  to his representation of other unpopular clients including neo-Nazis, a rather apt comparison. It was his professed concern for civil liberties which also drew him to regularly join Sean Hannity in badmouthing Robert Mueller and his investigation, which documented Mr. Trump's multiple acts of obstruction of justice.

Now, purportedly prompted by his fear that Democrats are attempting to weaponize the impeachment power, to rid the  nation of a would be tyrant, Mr. Dershowitz  is expected to argue that the charge of abuse of power is too open-ended and constitutionally impermissible.  Although Mr. Dershowitz has conceded that an article of impeachment need not specify a particular crime, his planned contention ignores that Mr. Trump's proven conduct falls squarely within the crimes of extortion and coercion and those crimes are implicit in and delimit the parameters of the charge of abuse of power. Prof. Dershowitz's misguided, and legally mistaken defense of Donald Trump's "constitutional rights" makes him an enabler, wittingly or otherwise, of Mr. Trump's ongoing destruction of the liberties Mr. Dershowitz purports to defend.

Illegal Phones Expose Prisoners' Squalor

Buried on page 16 of the NYTimes  (1/17), is a story about the horrific conditions in Mississippi prisons as reported and documented by inmates on contraband cellphones. Just as outrageous is the response of that state's supreme court, which the article reports upheld a 12 year sentence imposed on Willie Nash, who was in jail on a misdemeanor charge and innocently asked a jailer if he could recharge his phone. The cowards on that court "noted that [the sentence] was 'obviously harsh' and 'seems to demonstrate a failure of our criminal justice system' " but inexplicably did nothing to alleviate the inhumane sentence nor to address the abhorrent injustice except to pay lip service. Another depressing example of justices who fail to do justice.