The legal description of conspiracy is: An agreement
between two or more persons to commit a crime at
sometime in the future. It is not required that any
steps have to be taken to put the plan into effect.
note: repentance by one or more persons involved
does not affect liability, but may reduce sentence time.
I bring up the matter of conspiracy because it is what
brought the Nixon White House down in 1974, not that
long ago. What began as an innocuous break-in by five
men at the Democratic National Committee headquarters,
in the Watergate Hotel, on June 17, 1972, to bug the offices
and garner information on the Democratic presidential
campaign. After the five perpetrators were caught with
money in their possession from the Republican Presidential
slush fund, the depth of the conspiracy began to unravel.
Ultimately, sixty-nine persons were indicted, and forty-eight
were convicted.
Among the high-profile figures in the Nixon White House
were:
E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, both members of
the intelligence community, and referred to as the 'plumbers'.
Hunt was convicted of burglary, conspiracy, and wiretapping.
Liddy was convicted of burglary, conspiracy and refusing to
testify before the Senate. Both spent time in federal prison
John Mitchell, United States Attorney General, was convicted
of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury. He spent time
federal prison.
H. R. Haldeman, White House Chief of Staff, convicted of
conspiracy and obstruction of justice, he spent time in prison.
John Ehrlichman, Assistant Domestic Affairs Officer, convicted
of obstruction of justice and perjury, he spent time in prison.
Charles Colson, White House Counsel, convicted of obstruction
of justice, he spent time in prison.
And who can forget baby-faced, John Dean, the White House Counsel,
on the witness stand, his wife, with her little pearl earrings, sitting
in court, so stoic. They both looked so young. Dean, who was the
'master manipulator' of Watergate, pled guilty to obstruction of
justice, and agreed to testify. As a result, he received a lighter
sentence, and he was disbarred.
While all these men had their sentences reduced, they all spent time
in federal prison for felonies.
Articles of impeachment were being drawn up against President
Nixon on one count of Abuse of Power, however, he resigned
before they could go to the Senate for trial.
As Yogi Berra once said, "It's deja vue all over again." It now appears
the necessary requirements for a conspiracy have been met, even if
there are only four participants: Donald Trump, William Barr, Mike
Pompeo, and Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani began the process by convincing
the president that the Ukraine, not Russia, was responsible for the
interference in the 2016 election, and that somehow, they had information
on the whereabouts of the Clinton e-mail server. The President then
made an unscripted call to the Ukrainian President-elect, and it is
purported that the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, was listening in
on the call, a fact that he first denied to the press, and later confirmed.
During the call, President Trump asked the President-elect of the Ukraine
to 'do him a favor'. The favor entailed getting dirt on Trump's 2020 election
rival, Joe Biden. That, in itself, would be a problem. But the President's
staff, realizing that the phone call might pose a problem, decided to put
the transcript of the call in a hyper-secure data base, hence the cover up
begins.
It is unrealistic to believe that there are only those four participants
involved, as we've seen, the President's staff participated in the
cover-up. At this juncture, Attorney General, William Barr, is in
the EU soliciting help to try and dispute the Mueller Report. He
is introducing United States Attorney, John Durham, who will
be leading the investigation of the investigation, hoping to discredit
the intelligence services; the FBI and the CIA. So far Barr, has been
to the UK, Italy and Australia. It is widely felt, by the Democrats in
the House, that Trump is again using the powers of the Presidency
for personal retribution of his adversaries. Is that abuse of power yet?
The House has requested that former Ambassador to the Ukraine, Marie
Yovanovitch, who was brought home early, as Trump tweeted that she
a 'joker', Kurt Volker, Deputy Assistant Secretary, George Kent, EU
Ambassador, Gordon Sondland, and State Department Counsel, Ulrich
Brechbuhl, testify before them in the next two weeks. So far, only
Kurt Volker, who resigned his position in the State Department, has
agreed. The House has also subpoenaed documents from Barr's
office. Barr has said that those State Department people do not have
to appear, citing harassment. If so, they will be subpoenaed, forcing
them to testify under law. Is that obstruction of justice yet?
As it appears this impeachment inquiry bears a strong resemblance
to the Nixon inquiry. Nixon believed his popularity would help him
ride out any notion of impropriety, that and the destruction of the
tapes that implicated him in the conspiracy. He was wrong, in the
end, the Republicans saw the gravity of the actions of the President
and put the country ahead of their party loyalty. Nixon also put
the country first, and rather subject the country to an impeachment
trial that he most likely would lose, Nixon resigned. Donald Trump
will never resign, he is a man obsessed, first with the fact that he
did not win the popular vote, he was confirmed by the electoral
college, not by a vote of the people. Second, his popularity has
never reached the fifty-percent mark, and third, he is running behind
all three of the top candidates in the polling for the Democratic
nomination.
Trump's ego will not let that stand, he is Captain Ahab and his
'White Whale' is the 2016 election, and he will replay it until
he is satisfied that he actually won it, on his own, with the
most votes. And like the white whale, it will be his downfall.
But his minions had best remember 1974; Nixon walked away
to that waiting helicopter, waved to the cameras, and flew off
to his home in California, while his staff walked thru the gates
of the federal prison. I hope they think it's worth it.
I'm just sayin'.
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