Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

babylonsister

(171,066 posts)
Wed Aug 22, 2018, 01:47 PM Aug 2018

Cohen's guilty plea underscores congressional Republicans' total abdication of responsibility


Michael Cohen’s guilty plea underscores congressional Republicans’ total abdication of responsibility
There’s a lot more worth investigating in Trumpworld.
By Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesiasmatt@vox.com Updated Aug 22, 2018, 10:04am EDT

snip//

The key thing to remember about the Russia investigation is it exists not because it’s the only aspect of Trump’s conduct worth investigating, but because it’s the only worthwhile investigation that congressional Republicans were willing to pursue.

There’s a small clutch of devoted GOP Russia hawks, and though party leadership doesn’t share their passion on the issue, the leadership does share policy preferences. And the Russia investigation has been a semi-successful way of bludgeoning the president into, against his clear personal desires, mostly following an orthodox conservative approach to the US-Russia relationship.

But there’s plenty of other stuff they could be looking into.

After all, the president is openly using his hotel in downtown Washington to accept direct payments from people, corporations, and foreign states with lobbying interests before the United States government. Meanwhile, he’s doing the same thing with more secrecy at his golf clubs in New Jersey, Virginia, and Florida.

And we really have no idea what’s happening with the rest of the sprawling network of shell companies he and his family control. Nor have we taken a good look at the very real possibility that his fake charitable foundation was a form of illegal tax evasion or that he bribed the attorney general of Florida to prevent scrutiny of his fake university or the women who’ve accused him of sexual assault.

And it’s not as if Trump’s track record places him above suspicion. Very early on in his casino career he avoided bankruptcy only with the help of an illegal loan from his father.

From Trump’s empty-box tax scam to money laundering at his casinos to racial discrimination in his apartments to Federal Trade Commission violations for his stock purchases to Securities and Exchange Commission violations for his financial reporting, he has spent his entire career breaking various laws, getting caught, and then essentially plowing ahead unharmed.

When Trump was caught engaging in illegal racial discrimination to please a mob boss, he paid a fine. There was seemingly not much inquiry into whether this was a repeated pattern of violating racial discrimination law, and certainly no desire to take a closer look at his various personal and professional connections to the mafia.

Trump even paid out a $25 million civil settlement to make fraud claims against his fake university go away. And, remarkably, the fact that his university was fake wasn’t even the fraudulent part.

Rather than look into any of this, congressional Republicans are whistling past the graveyard and have plunged the country into a constant state of constitutional crisis.

more...

https://www.vox.com/2018/8/21/17766412/michael-cohen-guilty-plea-congressional-republicans
1 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Cohen's guilty plea underscores congressional Republicans' total abdication of responsibility (Original Post) babylonsister Aug 2018 OP
They are doing nothing because of their involvement duforsure Aug 2018 #1

duforsure

(11,885 posts)
1. They are doing nothing because of their involvement
Wed Aug 22, 2018, 01:57 PM
Aug 2018

And their campaign election corruption has been discover by putin and one of numerous illegal activities he now has on them , and why they're doing nothing. If I were a member of Congress , and took a dollar from putin , or did anything illegal I'd be scared to death , because they will be exposed, and held accountable . Justice is coming for them now.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Cohen's guilty plea under...