Only hypocrites as blatant as the Senate’s Judiciary Committee Republicans would dare to falsely paint Ketanji Brown Jackson as “soft on crime” – at a time when their own cult is led by a criminal.
I won’t waste your valuable time parsing their decision to slime the future Supreme Court justice – Marsha Blackburn told Jackson, “You believe that judges must consider critical race theory when deciding how to sentence criminal defendants,” which Jackson has never said or believed – because to do so would merely amplify their lies. What does interest me is that they have the shameless moxie to pose as crime-fighters when in fact their leading candidate for the ’24 nomination is walking crime scene.
Rest assured, none of them will utter a peep about Mark Pomerantz’s resignation letter. Pomerantz, in case you’re unaware, is the former Southern District of New York federal prosecutor (ex-director of the SDNY criminal division) and white-collar crime expert who came out of retirement at age 70 to help run the Manhattan DA’s probe into Donald Trump’s notorious finances. Pomerantz and a fellow senior prosecutor were deep into presenting damning evidence to a grand jury – only to be undercut by the new Manhattan DA, Alvin Bragg, who (for reasons unknown) decided to slam the brakes on indicting Trump.
Pomerantz told Bragg on Feb. 23 that he was quitting. His resignation letter surfaced yesterday in The New York Times. Care to sample some of its tidbits?
“I believe that Donald Trump is guilty of numerous felony violations of the Penal Law in connection with the preparation and use of his annual Statements of Financial Condition. His financial statements were false, and he has a long history of fabricating information relating to his personal finances and lying about his assets to banks…The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes – he did.
“…You have reached the decision not to go forward with the grand jury presentation and not to seek criminal charges at the present time. The investigation has been suspended indefinitely…I believe that your decision not to prosecute Donald Trump now, and on the existing record, is misguided and completely contrary to the public interest.“
Should I continue? Or do you need more time pulling your head from the toilet bowl?
“I and others have advised you that we have evidence sufficient to establish Mr. Trump’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and we believe that the prosecution would prevail if charges were brought and the matter were tried to an impartial jury…I am convinced that a failure to prosecute will pose much greater risks in terms of public confidence in the fair administration of justice.
“…I fear that your decision means that Mr. Trump will not be held fully accountable for his crimes. I have worked too hard as a lawyer, and for too long, now to become a passive participant in what I believe to be a grave failure of justice.”
Just for the record, DA Bragg’s office said yesterday that the Trump probe is “ongoing,” a basically worthless remark. But I’m duty bound to say, for the record, that Trump is innocent until proven guilty, even if the DA refuses to prosecute the strong case that Pomerantz described. So it looks like Trump has wriggled free yet again.
But wait! We have fresh news of another crime scene.
One of Trump’s post-election conspirators, House Republican Mo Brooks, broke ranks yesterday and said in a statement: “President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency. As a lawyer, I’ve repeatedly advised President Trump that Jan. 6 (the tallying of the Electoral College results) was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permit what President Trump asks…I told President Trump that ‘rescinding’ the 2020 election was not a legal option. Period.”
There you have it. A Trump acolyte has ‘fessed up that Trump wanted a criminal coup – to “immediately remove” Biden and stage a “special election” – but, as Brooks pointed out yesterday, “per the Constitution and U. S. Code,” there are no provisions whatsoever for an immediate removal or a “special election.”
And yet, the Senate Judiciary Republicans who indulge Trump’s criminality – and who exonerated Trump in two impeachment trials – have the gall this week to call Judge Jackson “soft on crime.”
Once again, I have to wonder whether Martin Luther King was right when he declared that “the universe is on the side of justice.”