Guilty Republicans Need Trump to Pardon Them
Their hypocrisy isn't about politics — it's about self-preservation
Lindsay Graham, Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan, and other Republicans in Congress are worried. As soon as Trump was indicted, that worry became panic. That's because while we may not know everything they did to overturn the 2020 election, they know.
Their efforts to defend the indefensible and their insistence that the DOJ is being "weaponized" to persecute Trump are not based on their belief in Trump's innocence — they are attempting to protect themselves.
Republicans who pushed the Big Lie and are now attempting to subvert the law in a frantic effort to ensure that Trump is president again are doing so for one reason: they need Trump to take the oval so he can pardon them.
If Trump does not become president in 2024, there will be no one at DOJ to instruct district attorneys to cease their investigations into Republican lawmakers. Likewise, there will be no one with the power to quash federal cases against them — as former Attorney General William Barr did so successfully in the hush money case Michael Cohen went to prison for.
It's hard to believe the base has fallen for the lie that Trump did nothing wrong when his lackey went to jail for doing as Trump instructed — but critical thinking skills are not their strong suit.
Cyrus Vance admits that AG Barr ordered him to stop the hush money investigation into Trump
Sunday (4.2.23) on Meet the Press, former SDNY DA Cyrus Vance confirmed what reporters have been claiming since the Stormy Daniels case disappeared from the DOJ's radar: Barr told Vance to drop it.
Vance said his "respect" for the attorney general's office was the key to his decision to follow this directive, despite evidence proving Trump's guilt.
Michael Cohen, who went to prison for the crimes Trump has now been indicted for, is the primary witness for the prosecution in the upcoming case against Trump. Yet, in the documentation made public during Cohen's trial, Trump was not named, rather he was listed as "individual 1."
(Note: It is common practice to protect the identity of a person not yet indicted. We did not know at the time that Barr had instructed the SDNY DA to stop the investigation into Trump.)
Now, thanks to Vance’s interview on Sunday, we know that Vance made no attempt to determine the guilt or innocence of Donald Trump — and we know why. It's not that Vance didn't believe Trump was guilty — it's because the entire case against Trump was dropped at the behest of William Barr.
This also explains the seemingly inexplicable delay in indicting Trump once he left office — all prior efforts were focused on nailing Michael Cohen for the crime — none were focused on proving the guilt of the man behind it all.
Why is this the first case Trump is being indicted for?
Many people have complained about this because they want something meatier and less sordid to be the first indictment for Trump. The problem with that thinking is that criminals get indicted when the evidence has been gathered, and the prosecutor believes it's possible to win the case.
For all the hoopla over Garland being "political" and the complaints of delays, it makes sense to me that this is first because it happened first. And now that we all know the reason for the delays that prevented former SDNY DA Vance from moving forward with the investigation into Trump's participation in the crime, there is no reason not to indict now.
You can't have it both ways — you can't say this shouldn't be political, everybody should be treated equally according to the law, and then say Trump should be indicted for other more significant crimes first. Nor is it logical to blame the DOJ when a federal case for the same crime would allow for a potential pardon of Trump if a Republican takes office in 2024.
There is a reason the state case is going forward rather than the federal case — a future president will not be able to pardon Trump for a case brought by New York state.
You might think this thinking is a political decision, but I don't see it this way. It's the only way to ensure that Trump is held accountable regardless of who wins in 2024 (and beyond). That’s not politics; that's justice.