Truth, Justice, and the American Way
(thank you Superman)
Michael Cohen, the personal lawyer for the President of the United States, was served with search warrants yesterday. His home, office, and hotel room (where he is staying while his home is renovated) were searched. Records, computers, and cell phones were taken.
The searches were conducted by the FBI, acting under the jurisdiction of the United State Attorney for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan), Geoffrey Berman. Berman was appointed to the position by President Trump, and was a former partner in the law firm that included Rudy Giuliani. In order to “pierce the veil of lawyer/client privilege,” a US District Court Judge has to rule that there is substantial and convincing evidence that the lawyer and client were engaging in criminal or fraudulent activity.
In addition, the top leaders of the Justice Department, the head of the Criminal Division, the Deputy Attorney General (and potentially the Attorney General), had to sign off on the warrants. While the information that led to the searches emanated from the Mueller investigation team, it did not meet the criteria of Mueller’s mandate as Special Counsel to investigate matters pertaining to Russia, and was handed off to Berman. Just as the law said it should.
It’s a big deal. Not surprisingly, President Trump was more than upset. Talking to the press at the beginning of a National Security meeting to determine what to do about the Syrian use of chemical weapons, he want on a long “rant” about the situation.
“So I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys — a good man. And it’s a disgraceful situation. It’s a total witch hunt.”
Trump went onto talk about the Mueller investigation. He stated again and again that there was “no collusion.” He missed the fact that this wasn’t part of that investigation. And then he commented:
“And it’s a disgrace. It’s, frankly, a real disgrace. It’s an attack on our country, in a true sense. It’s an attack on what we all stand for.”
This raises the question: what does Donald Trump think the United States stands for? He was sitting at a table, surrounded by the leadership of the American military, the Vice President at one side and his new National Security Advisor on the other. The uniforms and stars surrounded him.
President Trump confuses the Presidency with the country, just as he confuses the flag with the military. The United States is a nation of laws, ones that he as President has taken an oath to uphold. The law holds that the confidentiality of a lawyer and his client is one of the few legal secrets. It takes an incredibly high standard to even begin to breech it, and even when evidence is gathered, a separate team of lawyers go through it first to guarantee all legal communications remain confidential. This is a different team than the one doing the investigation..
Preserve, Protect and Defend the Constitution: one of only two parts of the Presidential oath (the other – faithfully execute the office of President.) The Constitution is the law, and the careful actions of the Department of Justice were lawful. But President Trump assaulted the law yesterday, claiming that the Mueller investigation was a witch hunt, biased, unfair, and conflicted.
His only legal defense is to claim “no collusion;” four times over. But his real defense is to attack the integrity of those investigating him, over and over again. He demands that this is a Democrat versus Republican fight to the death, and that even the long defeated Hillary Clinton is still involved:
“Democrats all — or just about all — either Democrats or a couple of Republicans that worked for President Obama, they’re not looking at the other side; they’re not looking at the Hillary Clinton — the horrible things that she did and all of the crimes that were committed. They’re not looking at all of the things that happened that everybody is very angry about, I can tell you, from the Republican side, and I think even the independent side. They only keep looking at us.”
To him, it’s all about taking sides. And that’s what he projected in his rant, letting his base know that THEY are being attacked when HE is being attacked. When he say s “everybody is very angry” that’s the everybody he means.
There is no reason the President should be happy about the investigation. It represents a serious threat to him, and certainly a constant distraction. But the President of the United States has an obligation, swore an oath, to defend the Constitution. That document set out the standards that no one is above the law, and that we have a system of courts to insure and administer justice.
Like Superman’s cape, President Trump is wrapping himself in the flag and the military; using them as props behind his statements that erode American values. Truth, Justice, and the American Way: that’s what Superman, and the President, should stand for. President Trump’s rant to the nation yesterday showed once again that his allegiance is to himself over his duty and country.
