Pay attention to this: the President and his allies are asserting that those officials who appropriately investigated conduct by Michael Flynn and others that posed real national security risks themselves did something scandalous and criminal. 1/7
washingtonpost.com/politics/seven…
washingtonpost.com/politics/seven…
No one seems to be disputing that applicable laws and procedures around "unmasking" were followed, and remember that the Russia investigation found a real attack on our elections and led to multiple indictments and convictions. 2/7
Still the President and his allies are yelling scandal and saying that senior officials should go to prison, though it's not clear for what. This is not just an attempt to distract from coronavirus headlines, this is dangerous authoritarian stuff. 3/7
politico.com/news/2020/05/1…
politico.com/news/2020/05/1…
If the President and his allies were to use the law enforcement powers of the federal government to investigate and prosecute political opponents without basis, that would seem like crossing a sacred red line in the American democratic system. 4/7
But this President and his Attorney General have already interfered with the criminal justice system to try to reduce the sentence of his friend Roger Stone and to move to dismiss charges against his political ally Flynn to which Flynn already pled guilty. 5/7
This President and his allies already abused the country's foreign policy and military authority to pressure a foreign government to announce investigations into a political opponent; the evidence of that was overwhelming. 6/7
What basis do we have in recent events to really be confident that the President won't hijack law enforcement authority to investigate and prosecute political opponents? This is scary stuff. 7/7
