Here are two basic reasons why I think criminal trials against senior officials from the Obama administration are unlikely:
Criminal trials would occur in the District of Columbia, which means the political view point of potential jurors is roughly similar to that of delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Obama and Clinton got over 90% of the vote in recent presidential elections, and all it takes is one partisan hack on the jury to prevent conviction no matter what the evidence.
Actual criminal trials establish the precedent so that all future administrations will face criminal trials when the opposition takes control of the White House.
If you think this is ridiculous consider what has already happened with former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe: McCabe lied under oath in fully recorded and transcribed interviews with the Inspector General for the DOJ. He was informed of the purpose of the interview, and he had had the benefit of counsel. He knew he was the leaker. McCabe even lied about lying. He lied to his own agentsāwhich sent them on a āwild-goose-chaseāāthereby making his lies āmaterialā and an obstruction of justice. Yet, remarkably, Attorney General Barr declined to prosecute McCabe for these offenses.
My prediction is that, while there may be one or two prosecutions of lower-level officials, the main way of getting justice will be civil lawsuits. Here are some factors that favor civil suits:
Several Obama officials have made public statements that are contradicted in sworn testimony and documents that have been released to the public. People who have been defamed by the false statements may have a basis to file a successful lawsuit.
Some of the officials were employed as āexpertsā by news media. The media can also be parties in any civil suits.
Civil suits can be filed practically anywhere in the country so the potential judges and juries are much more likely to give the case a fair hearing.
Defendants can be forced to testify since fifth amendment protections against self incrimination only apply to criminal penalties.
Do you agree that actual prosecutions of senior Obama officials are unlikely?
if by āweā you mean freedom and liberty loving people, we can start by stop electing democrats. then stay stocked on ammunition, and stop watch airport news
Public awareness. We may not be able bring em to justice but we can prevent them from gaining anymore power. But we need both liberals and Conservatives to come together.
It will always get worst unless enough people are willing to overthrow the existing goverment, even then there is no guarantees. In the end it can strengthen the authoritarian state.
But what we can do is to slow the powers of state to bare minimum. Reason goverment rarely if ever relinquish powers back to the peopleā¦or give up any of their existing powers.
For that we need liberalsā¦ones that believe in actual liberal philosophy.
The 2nd is just a tool, and even then there is no guarantees. In our case if 2nd is used itās too lateā¦it might just accelerate the authoritarian state.