The “memo” should not be released.
What we want is for the guilty to be indicted, arrested, tried, convicted, and punished. Releasing a Republican staff memorandum authored without minority staff participation cannot accomplish any of these things, and, what’s worse, could taint any future prosecutions to the point that the bad guys get off scot free.
And the Watergate precedent is not a precedent at all. Whatever you think about Nixon’s engineered removal, the Congress elected in 1972 had every right to investigate a sitting President for the purpose of determining if the high crimes and misdemeanors standard had been met,
But Congress by its nature is not a law enforcement body. Congress cannot convene a Grand Jury, cannot issue indictments, cannot arrest citizens charged with crimes, cannot prosecute them in Federal or state courts, cannot pass sentence, etc.
And, if this memo is released, the minority staff will scream bloody murder, as we would do if the circumstances were reversed. And they would be right to do so.
I do not believe this coup attempt is over, and I believe it will wind up having to be ended by force. But Congress is no good at that, either.
If law enforcement can deal with this, it will, If it can’t, we need the USMC. But in either event, Congress should sit down and shut up. They can’t do anything useful.
I could not possibly disagree more. Relying on the federal government to investigate and indict itself for illegal activity ignores the very essence of our constitutional form of government, which Abraham Lincoln referred to as a government “...of the people, by the people and for the people.” Do you really trust the DOJ and FBI to investigate and prosecute themselves?
1. The indictment, arrest, trial and conviction of the guilty would have to be undertaken by the DOJ and FBI - the very same department and agency that concocted this entire mess; the role of the Intelligence Community has yet to be determined, although we’re certain that ADM Rogers notified President-elect Trump of the illegal surveillance on November 17th of 2016.
2. The President’s only reliable support at this point comes from We the People - Democrats and Republicans alike - and not from Congress, with the exception of a few people like Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan, etc. Releasing the memo, which doesn’t have a damned thing to do with national security or intelligence sources and methods, will energize Trump’s base and all but force even Democrats to support further action.
3. If the memo refers only to agencies and not the specific individuals involved, it would be pretty difficult to argue that a jury is tainted.
4. Watergate is both a precedent and an apt comparison. This is one helluva lot bigger than Watergate and, according to my sources, it’s only the beginning. Congress investigated Nixon and they can investigate this - whatever it becomes and, like Watergate, they can and should release everything.
5. You’re correct about Congress’s role. However, Congress does have oversight responsibility for the federal government and when, in the course of performing that oversight, Congress discovers gross misconduct of a federal entity, it has the responsibility to refer its findings to the proper authority to take action. In this case, however, the proper authority is the very agency(ies) that are under investigation. Sure, it’s a constitutional crisis, but one we need to face head-on.
6. “And, if this memo is released, the minority staff will scream bloody murder, as we would do if the circumstances were reversed. And they would be right to do so.” Seriously? What haven’t the Democrats lied about, misrepresented and screamed about since Trump was elected? Do you really want the Republican leadership to continue to think that the Democrats will negotiate in good faith and that the media will like them?
7. I completely agree. I do think we can avert any violence by releasing the memo and all of the upcoming information that results from what’s going on right now; let the American people see what their government has done, let them bring holy hell on their elected representatives and let the chips fall where they may. Maybe then we’ll rekindle our former healthy distrust of big government.
The guilty won't be indicted until we have an AG, a Deputy AG or a Special Prosecutor who will indict. We don't have that now.
The release of this memo will give Trump the political capital he needs to reconfigure the DOJ, so that we do get somebody who will prosecute.
There is no other path to prosecution.
Nunes is Trump's most trusted guy in Congress. If Nunes wants the memo released, then I think Trump wants it released as well.