Intimidation
We’ve all been through it one way or another. We’ve worked for a boss who violated company policy, and had to decide how important it was to speak out for what’s right. A lot of the time, we kept quiet: it wasn’t worth the hassle and harassment, the lost promotions and assignments. But sometimes things were so bad that we stood up and were counted.
It’s a quick way to find out who your friends are. Once, my Principal was left managing sixty teachers and over eight hundred kids alone. It was clear what the “District Office” was trying to do, drive him out of the job and into retirement. But several teachers stood up and demanded that he get the assistance he needed to effectively run the building. When we looked behind us, it was with surprise that many of our fellow teachers weren’t there. They were afraid of retaliation.
That was in a little school district in Pataskala, Ohio. What if it was the entire United States?
Gag Order
Roger Stone was just convicted on seven counts of felony perjury; witness tampering, and obstruction on Friday. Stone always, always has something to say. He held a press conference on the Courthouse steps after he was arrested, and he constantly spoke about the charges, and his “innocence.” But when he walked out of the Courthouse a convicted man, he was silent.
It’s not that Stone didn’t want to say anything. It’s that the judge imposed a “gag order” on both sides in the trial. This was after Stone posted a meme with the judge’s face on a target, and continued to threaten witnesses against him. The judge believed that the order was the only way to keep Stone from making it nearly impossible to find a fair jury, and get an honest trial.
Presidential Tweets
There are no such restrictions on the President of the United States. Mr. Trump attacked former Ambassador Yovanovitch on Twitter, while she was testifying. He attacked State Department employee George Kent and Ambassador William Taylor as “never-Trumpers” and “Deep Staters.” The latest Presidential target: Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Pence.
Tell Jennifer Williams, whoever that is, to read BOTH transcripts of the presidential calls, & see the just released ststement (sic) from Ukraine. Then she should meet with the other Never Trumpers, who I don’t know & mostly never even heard of, & work out a better presidential attack! – (Tweet from Donald Trump 11/17/19.)
Jennifer Williams worked for the Bush Department of Homeland Security, and joined the State Department for thirteen years. She became an aide to the Vice President in April of 2019. Her “failure” in the President’s eyes, is that she listened to the July 25th phone call with Ukrainian President Zelenskiy.
Williams confirmed that the word “Burisma,” the company that put Hunter Biden on their board, was mentioned in the call. That word is NOT mentioned in the White House released “memorandum” of the phone conversation. That leads to the obvious question – what else is missing from the so-called transcript?
Punishment by Death
The President is making sure that those who testify in front of the committee are threatened. Ambassador Yovanovitch went from representing the United States to the nation of Ukraine, to teaching fifteen students at Georgetown University. Colonel Vindman is being “cycled out” of the National Security Council. It is clear that testifying to the Committee is bad for your career, and potentially dangerous.
Mr. Trump demanded the “name” of the whistleblower. He publicly threatened the whistleblower with treason, and the death penalty. He tweeted about the whistleblower more than one hundred times (Mother Jones). His supporters threatened to “out” the whistleblower’s name, even though the whistleblower law guarantees anonymity. One supporter of the President, Fox News Commentator Joe DiGenova, equated the whistleblower with Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth.
“Obama supporters,” “Never Trumpers,” “Deep Staters,” and in the Yovanovitch and Colonel Vindman case, even “spies:” these are the insults thrown at the government employees who are committing the ultimate “sin.” They are telling the truth to the Intelligence Committee, and the world.
And the President of the United States is using the full power of his “bully pulpit” to intimidate them and others who might need to tell the truth. He claims that he is just defending himself, but as the most powerful man in the world and the chief executive of the nation, it’s not an even fight. It’s witness intimidation and obstruction of justice, and he’s doing it in public, in front of God and Fox New. But who can issue a “gag order” to him?
