Suppose the President of the United States accused you of a crime even though he had no real evidence? Suppose he ordered another part of the government, maybe Jeff Session's Justice Department for example, to dig up the evidence needed to prove you were guilty? What would you do? How would you defend yourself against the most powerful man in the world and the very agency that's supposed to protect your rights, not trample them underfoot?
This is pretty much what Trump did to Obama a couple of weeks ago when he accused the former president of "wiretapping" him. One of the tweets where this accusation was made called Obama "sick" and a "bad guy." It seems Trump is not saying that he was tapped legally in the course of a justified investigation because then it wouldn't make sense to call Obama "sick." Even though Trump recently took an oath to uphold the Constitution, which includes the right of American citizens to due process, he must have been publicly accusing the former president of tapping him illegally, of committing a crime that a person could go to jail for.
Naturally, Trump was asked for proof of his accusation, or even some reasonable evidence that it might be true. So far no proof or reasonable evidence has been forthcoming. Incredibly, when the Trump administration was asked for proof, it said that Congress should investigate and find the proof itself!
The House Intelligence Committee insisted the Justice Department turn over any evidence it had supporting Trump's claim. The documents were delivered Friday. Today the Republican Chairman of the Committee said they did not contain any evidence supporting Trump's accusation.
“Was there a physical wiretap of Trump Tower? No, but there never was, and the information we got on Friday continues to lead us in that direction,” Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said on “Fox News Sunday.”
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So the President of the United States accused an American citizen of a crime with no evidence and asked Congress to find the evidence for him. Fortunately for Obama he is famous, and he can hire lawyers if need be, and the press is sure to keep a close eye on this case.
But what if the presdent goes after private citizens like this? What if he goes after people who cannot hire lawyers? What if he goes after people who are not famous? What if he goes after people more quietly and the story is not covered by the press?
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Copyright © 2017 by Joseph Wayne Gadway
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