“I’m falling back on what some of the standard protocols for politics are after victory. We in America should never prosecute defeated political enemies.” – Rush Limbaugh –
Germany – 1933- 1945 – Adolph Hitler creates a personal militia to “remove” his political enemies. Most Americans view these actions with disdain, but do not want to get involved in another war in Europe.
It would take a vicious attack in Hawaii in 1941 by the Empire of Japan to finally force President Roosevelt to wage war against the Axis Powers and protect our people and our Constitution.
The disdain of political prosecutions still exists within the minds of most Americans.
August – 2022 – The failed Supreme Court nominee and current Attorney General, Merrick Garland, proved to Americans that political prosecutions are acceptable under the current administration.
Recently, at the direction of Garland, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed a warrant, in search of evidence of a crime at President Donald Trump’s home.
These highly trained law enforcement officers had no choice. They were ordered to complete a task that the vast majority did not approve of.
This bold and reckless action is unprecedented in all of American history. Presidents who have risked impeachment or close, such as Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton, never suffered such a search. In fact, DOJ prosecutors have never indicted a former president with a federal crime.
Worse, Garland has done nothing to address the serious questions surrounding the search even though he admitted to authorizing it.
DOJ leaks claim that the search was for papers that Trump had kept in violation of the Presidential Records Act, which generally requires presidents to deposit all official White House documents to the U.S. Archives.
The glaring problem for Garland is that the Presidential Records Act is not a criminal law and has no penalties or enforcement.
Presidents in the past have taken documents with them and have even held classified information in an unauthorized manner. A recent example is when Hillary Rodham Clinton used a private computer network that transmitted and stored classified information while she was Secretary of State.
However, DOJ has never sent a large force of federal agents to conduct a broad, surprise search. Instead, DOJ and the FBI negotiated with lawyers for ex-presidents to reach an agreement on the return of the documents.
Now, former presidents cannot be above the law. But, the law provides former presidents with different treatment from regular citizens.
A president enjoys absolute immunity from private civil lawsuits for his official actions. Though they don’t benefit from the same immunity from criminal prosecution, prosecutors have generally left former presidents alone. That goes for Congress too, which generally has not demanded that former presidents appear before it for investigations or testimony.
The Supreme Court has recognized these immunities not to protect the presidents of the past, but to empower the presidents of the future. We do not want our chief executives to worry about future legal liabilities when they face difficult choices, sometimes involving life or death.
Garland does not appear to have even considered the damage to our country when future presidents believe that their successors may investigate them, order the search of their homes and offices, and even ultimately prosecute them for federal crimes.
Why did this happen? A dark side of human nature surfaced when Garland was nominated by Barrack Obama to serve on the Supreme Court. Garland believed that he would become one of the nine most powerful justices in the nation.
However, his arrogance, left wing philosophy, and the election of President Trump in 2016 derailed his ambitious plan. His vengeance against Trump has been well known. Now, we see how far Garland will go to harm a political opponent.
Conservatives and liberals need to pay close attention to Garland’s desire to investigate Trump. Garland and his minions in the Democrat Party undermine the very standards for equal justice under law. The damage they are doing to the institution of the presidency that has served this nation so well for more than two centuries significantly impacts the effectiveness of future presidents.
But, our nation is fortunate. Garland could have been confirmed by the Senate and become a lifelong Supreme Court justice. As Attorney General, his time, abuse of power and the Constitution is limited.
I humbly ask you to pray for our country and our citizens as we watch people like Merrick Garland seek revenge rather than reconciliation of our people.