Republicans are now trying to get Hunter Biden and the whistleblower to testify in the House’s ongoing impeachment inquiry, the latest indication that they are attempting to muddy up the process to Donald Trump’s benefit.
Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner pulled out the federal criminal code on live television Saturday and read one statute that he says the Republicans are violating.
“They know that crimes against the United States have been committed,” Kirschner said. “That’s really no different than just hiding the president in the basement of their house to try to keep law enforcement from rightfully getting their hands on the president.”
Kirschner read the one sentence that nails Republicans:
“Whoever, knowing that an offense against the United States has been committed, receives, relieves, comforts or assists the offender in order to hinder or prevent his apprehension, trial or punishment, is an accessory after the fact.”
Video:
.@glennkirschner2 says Republicans are violating the law by protecting Trump from facing accountability for his crimes. #ctl #p2 #amjoy pic.twitter.com/4wNlFkMQiB
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) November 9, 2019
Kirschner said:
The point is a distraction and sideshow, trying to do anything to deflect the attention away from the crimes that the president committed that are impeachable. All this conjures up a notion of all of these Republicans, senators in particular, who are basically aiding and abetting in President Trump’s crimes because they’re trying to bury them. They know that crimes against the United States have been committed and, real quickly, one sentence from this big old blue book that you and I have talked about before, this is the criminal code that has all of our federal laws in the country and accessory after the fact is one sentence and here’s how it reads, Joy. It says, “Whoever, knowing that an offense against the United States has been committed, receives, relieves, comforts or assists the offender in order to hinder or prevent his apprehension, trial or punishment, is an accessory after the fact.” And, you know what, every politician who stands up knowing that the president committed a crime against the United States and says the president did nothing wrong, they lie to the American people. That’s really no different than just hiding the president in the basement of their house to try to keep law enforcement from rightfully getting their hands on the president. Now, you might say well, it’s hyperbolic to say all of these Republicans who lie to the American people and say the president committed no crime, it’s too much for us to get our arms around. Too many crimes are being committed, and it’s a lot like littering or speeding. Well, I would say, you know, not that it’s too much crime to get our arms around. It’s too much crime not to get our arms around. This is something that we have to wrestle to the ground.
Trump committed at least two crimes in his Ukraine pressure campaign
Much of the media focus has centered on a so-called quid pro quo in Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. But as Glenn Kirschner also pointed out on Saturday, that phrase almost serves as a distraction from the simple reality that Trump committed two crimes during his Ukraine pressure campaign: bribery and extortion.
More importantly, everybody seems to agree that this took place – that the president of the United States shook down a foreign power for non-existent election dirt on a potential 2020 opponent.
Where the two parties diverge is in their responses to this criminal behavior.
Almost immediately after learning of Trump’s extortion-bribery scheme, Democrats announced a formal impeachment inquiry meant to gather more facts and hear from witnesses. Weeks later, they already appear to have an ironclad case for impeaching the president.
Republicans, however, have taken a different approach. Many of them acknowledge Trump’s crimes, but they refuse to act to hold him accountable, making them accessories after the fact.
The president and party that claims to represent law and order are now on the record committing and burying criminal behavior.
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