Thread by @DrRJKavanagh

It is amazing to me how many people take the leap from “there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump conspired with Russia” to “he didn’t do it.”

Especially the cable news pundits.

Watching CNN last night, @AC360, @donlemon - the prevailing theme was, this is a good day for America because our president did not conspire with Russia.

I mean, what the hell?

At a very basic level, do people not understand that prosecutors do not establish truth?

That someone can kill someone but there may not be enough evidence to charge them with murder? Or manslaughter or even a crime?

But at broader societal level do intelligent thinking people really believe that the criminal justice system is about truth?

I'm gonna keep this simple cause it's Twitter, but, if they do, then they must believe that Black & Brown people smoke marijuana at a rate higher than White people, because 90% of arrests and prosecutions for weed in NYC are of Black & Brown people.

But we KNOW that's not true - we know that Black and Brown people smoke weed at exactly the same rate as White people. So the reason they are arrested and prosecuted at that rate has nothing to do with truth and everything to do with racism.

And like I said, I am keeping it simple. That racism infects the criminal justice system at every level, so that 67% of our prison population is Black and Brown people. But it's too complicated for a thread to explain those disparities here.

The other part of this is reflected in what @donlemon said ast night - the Mueller report, together with Michael Cohen & Paul Manafort being convicted & even Michael Avenatti being arrested - is proof that no one is above the law. That the American legal system works.

Not only does this ignore that the system does not work because of all the Black & Brown people who shouldn't be caught up in the system, it ignores the fact that those people were only arrested & convicted because of their connection to the president.

And that the president himself, subject to so many other criminal investigations, wouldn't be, but for being president. The system does not work and many many people are above the law.

May I suggest, @CNN @AC360 @donlemon, that you have more criminal defense attorneys as commentators. As far as I can tell you only have prosecutors. Prosecutors believe the criminal justice system works. That's their entire world view and it colors their commentary.

It's not even a question of bias, it's a question of factual accuracy. Back to my first tweet - Donald Trump may well have conspired with Russia. It's incorrect to say otherwise.