Tuesday, January 12, 2021

DC Attorney General Looking Into Arresting Trump and Others — Jonathan Turley

District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine has declared that he is considering arresting President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks with inciting the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol. He noted that, while the Justice Department does not believe you can charge a sitting president, he can do so in a matter of days. Ironically, I believe Trump can be indicted immediately as a constitutional matter but that his prosecution would ultimately collapse on free speech grounds....

Courts have decided that freedom of speech is not an absolute right but a conditional right that is balanced with responsibilities. See "shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater."

Is Jonathan Turley correct here? We may find out.

Jonathan Turley
DC Attorney General Looking Into Arresting Trump and Others
Jonathan Turley | Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University

12 comments:

lastgreek said...

Go after Trump as a private citizen. There is enough there to keep Trump tied up in the courts for a very, very long time. Really, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy ;)

Tom Hickey said...

Go after Trump as a private citizen. There is enough there to keep Trump tied up in the courts for a very, very long time.

This is going to happen. It would have happened without the incident and some speculate is was a reason in Trump's clinging to office in the first place. Much has to do with pre-presidential behavior.

Regardless, impeachment or removal using the 25th or 14 (3) amendment should also be brought to bear because "precedent" as Bernie astutely observed.

The Democrats have to avoid looking like they are politicizing this (even through that are and that's natural in politics).

The biggies now are first the challenge to the orderly transition that threatens the democratic republic, secondly, suppression of speech, and thirdly, political polarization in a power struggle.

The priority is the first and the second and third should not be allowed to distract from it.

Suppression of speech is greatly complicated by the digital media environment. It has been clear for awhile now that things were getting out of hand but there was no great incentive to jump into that mud. Now there is no choice.

The present danger is that TPTB decide not to let a good crisis go to waste when it presents and opportunity to solidify control.

Suppression of speech needs to be dealt with immediately after dealing with the power grab. It's not going to be easy to deal with and won't happen overnight. The danger is that it will be put off and left unresolved or else addressed with a quick patch that is just a veneer over the underlying rot.

Regarding the political power struggle, politics is about power and asymmetrical power leads to power struggles.

The challenge now is distribution, social (status), political (power) and economic (wealth). The asymmetry in all three areas has become a danger to liberal democracy and threatens the rise of authoritarianism, either that of the existing social, political and economy elite or a group that seizes power, either in opposition or in coalition. This is going to be the greatest challenge in the longer term in US politics.

Oh, and at the same time, the incoming administration has to deal with a pandemic, an economic contraction, and a world situation destabilized by the outgoing administration, which is aiming at further destabilization before it leaves power.

Peter Pan said...

Go after Trump for his money laundering. The establishment has had 4 years to charge him with violations of free speech.

Matt Franko said...

Tom’s the new Qanon....

Matt Franko said...

Bison hat dude climate nutter:

https://thenationalpulse.com/exclusive/capitol-antagonist-climate-change/

Tom Hickey said...

Bison hat dude QAnon nutter

There, fixed it for you.

The follwing is just one of the many references.

A QAnon promoter stormed the Capitol. Now, he's upset people are saying he's 'antifa' - Katie Dowd - SFGATE

Matt Franko said...

Same thing..,,

Matt Franko said...

https://twitter.com/raheemkassam/status/1349221171020107776?s=21


https://twitter.com/david__bb/status/1349226511442829313?s=21

Peter Pan said...

He's got my vote!

lastgreek said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lastgreek said...

Today's weather forecast for the Washington D.C. area:

50 degrees F
scattered clouds
and a 100% chance of a Trump impeachment

Matt Franko said...

Dupe:

https://twitter.com/TrueCanuck11/status/1349394425315733507?s=20