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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy Do Trumps Defenders Assume Hes Guilty?
Why Do Trumps Defenders Assume Hes Guilty?
With friends like these, the president should probably reconsider his messaging strategy.
David A. Graham 2:30 PM ET Politics
The presumption of innocence is essential to the American legal system. Sometimes prosecutors and the press need to be reminded of this. Its not as often that the allies of a defendant, or even a prospective defendant, forget.
Yet allies of President Trump have made some peculiar comments over the last few days, as Jonathan Chait, Josh Barro, and Orin Kerr note. Anthony Scaramucci says Michael Cohen would not flip on Trump because he is a very loyal person. Alan Dershowitz, enjoying a strange encore act as Trumps most prominent legal defender, told Politico, Thats what theyll threaten him with: life imprisonment. Theyre going to threaten him with a long prison term and try to turn him into a canary that sings.
Jay Goldberg, who represented Trump in the 1990s and 2000s, told Trump that he needs to be concerned that Cohen will not protect him. You have to be alert, Goldberg said. I dont care what Michael says. (The presidents armada of former lawyers, and Trumps reluctance to ever fully banish anyone, mean that sort-of-former lawyers keep popping up left and right, with advice solicited or not.)
Even Cohen, in his frantic effort to demonstrate his loyalty, has made the error. Id rather jump out of a building than turn on Donald Trump, he told Donnie Deustch.
Turn on him with what, exactly? As Chait and Barro write, these people are at least aspirationally standing up for Trump, and yet their comments have a clear subtext of guilt. They all start with the premise that Trump has something to hide. You cant flip on someone unless youve got something to offer prosecutors. Usually, the defenders of suspects in prosecutors cross-hairs loudly proclaim their innocence, and insist that the investigation will ultimately vindicate them. But Trumps chorus is singing from a different hymnal.
The same worry underlies agitation from the White House about Special Counsel Robert Mueller extracting a guilty plea and offer of cooperation from Rick Gates, the former deputy campaign manager, and about the pressure Mueller is putting on Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman. Since Manafort was the campaign chair, the only person Mueller could really want him to turn on is Trump himself; and since indictments against Manafort suggest a very strong case, the special counsel presumably doesnt need Gates to turn on Manafort, and wants his help in getting information on Trump, too.
The appearance of having something to hide also hovers behind Trumps threats to fire either Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein or Mueller. While there are Trump allies who can concoct claims of wrongdoing by either one, its clear that the real point is to restrict the special-counsel probe. Besides, Trump already fired James Comey and said it was because he was upset about the Russia investigation, so theres precedent. (Trump contradicted his own prior explanation this week.)
Implicit guilt also shadows rumors about Trump offering pardons to Michael Flynn, the former national-security adviser, and to Manafort, as well as the message-pardon granted to Lewis Libby last week. And when Trump seethes at Mueller investigating his financial affairs, and declares the Trump Organization to be on the wrong side of a red line, one wonders what he is so worried about.
more...
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/04/why-do-trumps-allies-all-presume-guilt/558422/
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Why Do Trumps Defenders Assume Hes Guilty? (Original Post)
babylonsister
Apr 2018
OP
They assume so, because of Trump's record of lying, cheating and screwing people over.
Doodley
Apr 2018
#6
Because the GOP has been using lies and propaganda for years and they have no values?
sharedvalues
Apr 2018
#7
Motley13
(3,867 posts)1. OMG, that is the best question!!!!!!!!!!
simple answer, he is
Beartracks
(12,816 posts)2. K&R
patricia92243
(12,597 posts)3. Excellent Post!
barbtries
(28,799 posts)4. they know him.
nt
uponit7771
(90,347 posts)5. K&R
Doodley
(9,094 posts)6. They assume so, because of Trump's record of lying, cheating and screwing people over.
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)7. Because the GOP has been using lies and propaganda for years and they have no values?
canetoad
(17,168 posts)8. Trump as a criminal
Has now been normalized!
Lucinda
(31,170 posts)9. KNR Thank you!
Pepsidog
(6,254 posts)10. The pretext of guilt consumes The Trump Criminal Crime Family
TheRealNorth
(9,481 posts)11. I think so
The past few years have led me to the conclusion that "winning" is more important to Republicans then anything else.
spanone
(135,844 posts)12. They know he's guilty as hell.