Counterpoint: Unwarranted Charges Demonstrate Two-Tiered Justice System
For an alternate viewpoint, see “Point: The Indictments Fit the Crimes.”
Since leaving the White House in January 2021, former president Donald Trump has become public enemy No. 1 in the eyes of the Department of Justice and several district attorneys.
To date, Trump has been charged with 34 felonies by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for falsifying business records. The 45th president faces more than 40 felony counts in the investigation concerning classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. And, he has been charged with four felonies by Special Counsel Jack Smith regarding his role in the January 6 incident. Trump is also expected to be charged for his role in the supposed plot to overturn the Georgia election results.
If convicted on just a few of these charges, Trump will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
First, it should be mentioned that Trump is the only former (or current) president to be charged with criminal activity. Coincidentally or not, Trump is the only president to be impeached twice.
Second, a strong argument can be made that most of these charges are political in nature.
Consider, for example, the charges levied by Bragg, who boasted during his campaign that he would leave no stone unturned in his quest to charge Trump. In fact, the case Bragg is prosecuting was not pursued by his predecessor or the Federal Election Commission.
In his two years as district attorney, Bragg has gone out of his way to ensure that violent criminals are treated with kid gloves. Moreover, Bragg has downgraded 52 percent of felonies to misdemeanors. Over the period, he has also emptied New York City’s prisons even as violent crime has soared throughout the Big Apple. Yet, while appearing before the media to announce the Trump indictment, Bragg said, with a straight face, “These are felony crimes in New York state, no matter who you are. We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct.”
The same dynamic applies to the case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has a long history of mishandling investigations into prominent politicians, including a conviction on bribery charges levied against former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell that was overturned by the Supreme Court.
Third, and perhaps most significant, while the Justice Department and district attorneys pull out all the stops to put Trump behind bars, they conveniently downplay and slow-walk investigations against Trump’s political opponents.
Over the years, Justice has refused to seek charges against Hillary Clinton for deleting 33,000 government emails or her attempt to smear her 2016 opponent, Trump, with the totally false Steele dossier.
Most incredibly, Justice has refused to investigate appropriately Hunter Biden and his father, President Biden, aka the Big Guy, even as the evidence of Hunter’s shady deals with foreign governments — including China, Russia and Ukraine — increases daily. In fact, according to recent whistleblower testimony, the Justice Department intervened and prevented a robust investigation into a bevy of alleged crimes perpetuated by Hunter and, possibly, the Big Guy.
And, lest we forget Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop, which allegedly documents a litany of crimes committed by the Biden family? Unbelievably, the laptop remains in FBI custody while Hunter was recently offered a sweetheart plea deal in which he would avoid a single day of jail time.
Meanwhile, the GOP-led investigation into the Biden family’s misdeeds reveals more than 170 suspicious activity reports pertaining to banking transactions from foreign oligarchs to Biden-family bank accounts. This comes on top of bombshell testimony by Hunter’s business partner, Devon Archer, who acknowledged that then-Vice President Biden was involved in Hunter’s overseas business deals with members of the Chinese Communist Party and the widow of the mayor of Moscow, who allegedly sent Hunter $3.5 million.
Fortunately, the American people see through this charade. Recent polls show that the vast majority of Republicans, and a slight majority of all Americans, believe that the wave of charges against Trump is “politically motivated.”
On the other hand, polls also show that most Americans believe Hunter Biden, and possibly Joe, are being given preferential treatment.
The U.S. justice system has been corrupted and weaponized. Donald Trump is just one example. This should be disconcerting to all Americans, regardless of political affiliation. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Justice cannot be for one side alone but must be for both.”
