Michelle Malkin/Town Hall: At this unique moment in American history, liberals and conservatives have something in common: an abhorrence of government prosecutors run amok.
Republicans are livid at the federal fishing expedition known as the Mueller investigation. Bit players have been dragooned into an endlessly politicized probe. The media has taken sides; nonstop leaks have tainted the process. And the lead witch-hunter wields enormous and unchecked power to trump up (pun intended) charges against marginal campaign figures that have nothing to do with alleged Russian collusion.
Monday’s split jury verdict in lobbyist Paul Manafort’s trial on fraud charges (guilty on eight, hung on 10) will be hyped by the collusion truthers as proof positive of Putin-flavored pudding. But Manafort’s actual financial crime convictions have nichego to do with any imagined campaign conspiracy with the dreaded Reds.
There’s another truth that should be obvious to government watchdogs from all parts of the political spectrum. However shady Manafort’s activities (and they were swampy with a capital “SWAMP”), they were simply a means to Mueller’s end of twisting the screws on a potential snitch to bring down Donald Trump. Manafort’s dealings (stretching back to 2004) largely predated his flash-in-the-pan stint in 2016 with the campaign. The feds were aware of his foreign dalliances under the Obama administration, but chose to do nothing — nichego — until Trump took office.
Put aside partisan politics for a moment and let’s be real: For every honest and principled prosecutor working in the courts, there are obsessive Captain Queegs in office searching for political wins (strawberries!) instead of seeking the truth.
On the opposite side of the aisle, left-leaning criminal justice reformers understand this reality well — and have fought hard to educate the public about the role official misconduct plays in wrongful convictions. Indeed, the National Registry of Exonerations run by the University of Michigan Law School, reported recently that nationwide in 2017, there were a “record-high 84 official misconduct exonerations — or exonerations given because of official misconduct committed by those vested with the power of the law, such as police officers, prosecutors, and governmental officials.” That’s a stunning 60 percent of exoneration cases last year alone. MORE HERE
I think he’s a goof that probably killed a few wives. But, out of control prosecutors, look no further than what happened to Drew Peterson.
Citizens!
Never take the plea deal. Make them take it to court. That’s when you discover that it’s all about stealing your money. Plea deal means you pay the fines, plug yourself into the system for future exploitation while taking it to court means the state has to pay the court costs. I don’t care if they nail you with 4 ounces of meth and no drivers licence. Tell em’ to suck it.
If you’re involved in a high profile case, talk smack in public about the prosecutor. The goal is to take the prosecutor down with you.
“… liberals and conservatives have something in common: an abhorrence of government prosecutors run amok.”
Uh, i don’t think so, Michelle. Liberals don’t mind “prosecutors run amok” when the target is conservatives. See Mueller, Robert.
Out of control prosecutor? Look no further than Mike Nifong, Duke Lacrosse “rape” case.
I also disagree with the thought that liberals have a desire to stop out of control prosecutors. Hell, if it wasn’t for the court system the majority of the liberal agenda would be dead in the water. Don’t ever be convinced that we have anything in common with the libs. They will never be on our side.
Liberals only get up in arms about prosecutors when there are different races involved. Or muslims.
Fitzgerald and Nifong are two good examples of scuzzy and corrupt prosecutors and only Nifong paid a price for his actions. Now we have Mueller, a true scumbag that’s going after the biggest prize of all with a viciousness that’s startling. I believe he’s doing so for two reasons, one to protect the swamp but secondly he knows that he’s in deep trouble because of his own illegal actions that could send him away for a long time.
There is no Constitutional basis for Qualified Immunity. Indeed the Framers argued that nobody was above the laws that govern everybody. Qualified Immunity is an invention of the Judiciary branch to shield their own, similar to cops closing rank around their own bad apples.
Because I have been a conservative since Barry coined the term in ’64 Michelle and Julie Kelly are my 2 favorite reporters.
they report REAL NEWS not FAKE NEWS.
Prosecutors have sometimes been crooks for decades, maybe forever. They are lawyers!
Let us, the livestock, bray together about the wolves… that the owners’ hire to kill us… so they can insist there is no blood on their, elected, hands. Isn’t she special! I sure hope she’s hot. Because, well… smart wolves don’t whistle, that leaves witnesses.