Tag: Trump continues abusing power

Trump Teases a Gettysburg Convention Speech. Experts Say It’s an Ethics Breach.

New York Times logo If he accepts his nomination at the Civil War battlefield, the president will be conducting partisan business on federal property.

After repeatedly throwing a wrench into plans for the Republican National Convention this summer, President Trump on Monday tried to offer something tantalizing about the upcoming gathering, saying that his renomination speech would take place either at the White House or the Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pa.

“We will announce the decision soon!” Mr. Trump teased in a Twitter post.

It was perhaps a predictable move by the first president to be credited as an executive producer of a network reality show while sitting in office. Continue reading.

Pelosi: Trump abused his power in weighing in on Roger Stone sentencing

Pelosi says matter should be investigated but doesn’t mention possible impeachment articles

President Donald Trump again abused his power in weighing in on the Justice Department’s recommendation on Roger Stone’s sentencing, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.

In using the phrase “abuse of power,” Pelosi referenced one of the charges the House used to impeach Trump over the stalled military aid package to Ukraine. The Senate acquitted him of the abuse of power charge, as well as a separate charge of obstruction of Congress.

Pelosi did not mention additional impeachment articles when asked what Congress can do to address this latest instance of Trump allegedly abusing his power.  Continue reading.

‘He doesn’t give a f—‘: Trump is making a fool out of every Republican senator who said he learned his lesson from impeachment

When Republican senators voted to acquit President Donald Trump last week, several said they believed he had learned his lesson from the impeachment process.

“We’ve put our statements out there, and he’s been through an impeachment,” said Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, who had long said Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine was inappropriate. “It’s all of our responsibility to figure out what we think is the right way to do it. For me, it was speaking out.”

“He was impeached, and there has been criticism by both Republican and Democratic senators of his call,” Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said in an interview with CBS News. “I believe that he will be much more cautious in the future.” Continue reading.

Former federal prosecutor: ‘No one is safe’ if Trump can use DOJ to ‘prosecute’ his enemies and reward his ‘inner circle’

AlterNet logoSome of the conservative Republican senators who are often described as “moderates” and voted to acquit President Donald Trump on two articles of impeachment — including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — claimed that the experience of going through an impeachment trial would inspire Trump to be more careful going forward. They were wrong: Trump set off yet another scandal when the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) dramatically reversed its sentencing guidelines on veteran GOP operative Roger Stone following an angry tweet from the president. Someone who once worked in the DOJ as a federal prosecutor, University of Alabama law professor Joyce White Vance, addresses the Stone scandal in a February 12 op-ed for Time Magazine — and stresses that Trump is becoming even more of a threat to the rule of law.

“If a president can interfere in the way professional prosecutors conduct prosecutions, enforcing allegiance to him and stifling dissent, we no longer have a system of justice,” Vance warns. “No one is safe. Ultimately, a president could prosecute people he wants to jail and prevent prosecutions or lengthy sentences for his allies.”

On Monday, February 10, the DOJ released a sentencing memo recommending a prison sentence of seven to nine years for Stone. But the following day, after Trump’s angry tweet, the DOJ released a new sentencing memo urging a much more lenient sentence. This, according to Vance, is “such a sharp departure from the norms that it has caused anger and, in many corners, a sense of sorrow and grief among current and former prosecutors over what is happening at the Department (of Justice).” Continue reading.

Trump says he has the ‘absolute tight’ to tell the Justice Department what to do

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump says he has the “absolute right” to direct the Dept. of Justice in who and how it prosecutes, but claims that he didn’t, despite his furious tweet overnight attacking the DOJ and calling prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation of Roger Stone a “miscarriage of justice.”

Trump also called the 7 to 9 year recommendation of jail time for Stone, his ally, confidant, and former campaign advisor, an “insult to our country.” Trump often conflates himself and the nation, as if he is the country.

Saying he did not speak to anyone at DOJ Trump then said, “I’d be able to do it if I wanted I have the absolute right to do it.” Continue reading.

GOP senators say Trump shouldn’t weigh in on pending sentences

The Hill logoSome Republican senators said on Wednesday that President Trump shouldn’t weigh in on pending sentences after he publicly criticized an initial recommendation from the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the case of Roger Stone.

The comments come as senators are facing an onslaught of questions over DOJ’s decision to lower its sentencing recommendation for Stone, a Trump associate, overriding front-line prosecutors.

“I don’t like this chain of events where you have a … proceeding, a sentencing, a recommended sentence, the president weighs in and all of the sudden Justice comes back, says ‘change the deal.’ I think most people would look at that and say ‘hmm, that just doesn’t look right.’ And I think they’re right,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters. Continue reading.