Truth, Justice, and the American Way<\/p>\n
(thank you Superman)<\/em><\/p>\n Michael Cohen, the personal lawyer for the President of the United States, was served with search warrants yesterday.\u00a0 His home, office, and hotel room (where he is staying while his home is renovated) were searched.\u00a0 Records, computers, and cell phones were taken.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 In order to \u201cpierce the veil of lawyer\/client privilege,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 While the information that led to the searches emanated from the Mueller investigation team, it did not meet the criteria of Mueller\u2019s mandate as Special Counsel to investigate matters pertaining to Russia, and was handed off to Berman.\u00a0 Just as the law said it should.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a big deal.\u00a0 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 \u201crant\u201d about the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys \u2014 a good man. And it\u2019s a disgraceful situation. It\u2019s a total witch hunt.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Trump went onto talk about the Mueller investigation.\u00a0 He stated again and again that there was \u201cno collusion.\u201d\u00a0 He missed the fact that this wasn\u2019t part of that investigation.\u00a0 And then he commented:<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it\u2019s a disgrace. It\u2019s, frankly, a real disgrace. It\u2019s an attack on our country, in a true sense. It\u2019s an attack on what we all stand for.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n This raises the question:\u00a0 what does Donald Trump think the United States stands for?\u00a0 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. \u00a0The uniforms and stars surrounded him.<\/p>\n President Trump confuses the Presidency with the country, just as he confuses the flag with the military.\u00a0 The United States is a nation of laws, ones that he as President has taken an oath to uphold.\u00a0 The law holds that the confidentiality of a lawyer and his client is one of the few legal secrets.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 This is a different team than the one doing the investigation..<\/p>\n Preserve, Protect and Defend the Constitution:\u00a0 one of only two parts of the Presidential oath (the other \u2013 faithfully execute the office of President.)\u00a0 The Constitution is the law, and \u00a0the careful actions of the Department of Justice were lawful.\u00a0 But President Trump assaulted the law yesterday, claiming that the Mueller investigation was a witch hunt, biased, unfair, and conflicted.<\/p>\n His only legal defense is to claim \u201cno collusion;\u201d four times over.\u00a0 But his real defense is to attack the integrity of those investigating him, over and over again.\u00a0 He demands that this is a Democrat versus Republican fight to the death, and that even the long defeated Hillary Clinton is still involved:<\/p>\n \u201cDemocrats all \u2014 or just about all \u2014 either Democrats or a couple of Republicans that worked for President Obama, they\u2019re not looking at the other side; they\u2019re not looking at the Hillary Clinton \u2014 the horrible things that she did and all of the crimes that were committed. They\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n To him, it\u2019s all about taking sides.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what he projected in his rant, letting his base know that THEY are being attacked when HE is being attacked.\u00a0 When he say s “everybody is very angry” that\u2019s the everybody he means.<\/p>\n There is no reason the President should be happy about the investigation.\u00a0 It represents a serious threat to him, and certainly a constant distraction.\u00a0 But the President of the United States has an obligation, swore an oath, to defend the Constitution.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n Like Superman\u2019s cape, President Trump is wrapping himself in the flag and the military; using them as props behind his statements that erode American values.\u00a0 Truth, Justice, and the American Way:\u00a0 that\u2019s what Superman, and the President, should stand for.\u00a0 President Trump\u2019s rant to the nation yesterday showed once again that his allegiance is to himself over his duty and country.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"