If @willbunch wrote it, you should read it.© & I thread it:
"The story of the most serious White House bribe allegation in U.S. history can't be allowed to fall under the cushions of #JDVance's couch
Congress must probe what really happened with #Trump, #Egypt and the $10M - and make bribery a crime again. My column🎁"
🧵 1/...
2/ "Bribery is bad for democracy.
"The impeachment clause of the Constitution spells out bribery as 1st on its list of things for which a corrupt pres or other federal official can be removed from office, ahead of treason & other high crimes and misdemeanors. In case that was too ambiguous, the framers also wrote up the Emoluments Clause, using an anachronistic term to essentially bar the president and other officeholders from accepting gifts or payments from foreign countries or their rulers"
3/ "I’m sure you’ll be shocked, shocked to learn that two of the Supreme Court justices who voted to legalize a cut-and-dried form of bribery have been accused of improperly accepting gifts from billionaires with an interest in what happens at the nation’s highest court... At this point, one has to wonder: Where is rock bottom?
We may have just found it."
4/ "On Friday, the Washington Post broke a bombshell story about a credible allegation of bribery involving the 2016 election of Donald Trump, Egypt’s dictator Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and a mysterious $10 million all-cash withdrawal from an Egyptian state-run bank just five days before Trump became president — and adopted a more friendly aid policy toward the Middle Eastern nation."
5/ "This is the third major case — in addition to the allegations of a Trump cover-up in Mueller’s probe of 2016 Russian election interference, and the 2016 hush money to Stormy Daniels that eventually led to Trump’s conviction on 34 state felony counts — in which Barr is alleged to have put his finger on the scales of justice in a case involving the president who appointed him. That alone is worthy of a congressional investigation."
6/ "Before dropping out, Pres Biden kept telling us democracy is on the ballot in November. But what kind of democracy are we fighting for if bribery is becoming increasingly legal, or untouchable? The belief that everybody and everything is for sale in America has created the remarkable aura of cynicism that permeates our politics. One of the many ironies is that Trump, who may or may not have benefited from a $10 million bribe that makes the Watergate crimes of Nixon look like jaywalking.."
7/ "And yet the Post’s report of the most serious presidential bribery allegation in American history all but vanished from our wild political news cycle, like it fell between the cushions of JD Vance’s couch or whatever else we’re obsessing about on TikTok. It doesn’t have to be this way. If “freedom” is the new buzzword, America needs to be freed from bribery.
Do not let the matter of Trump, Egypt and the $10 million disappear."
8/ "Although it’s tragic that criminal statute of limitations expired, any alleged bribe can still be pursued as civil case. More importantly, Congress—for now, that means Dem-controlled Sen,—needs to open full-blown investigation, w efforts to subpoena Barr & other DOJ higher-ups to explain in publ why the case was dropped
What’s more, Dem candidates running to retake control of both houses in 2025 need to pledge they will strengthen fed bribery laws in the face of outrageous SCOTUS decisions"
9/9 "The other wrinkle is the recent, abysmal Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity for so-called official acts that would have made Trump’s pro-Egypt policies — the quo in this alleged quid pro quo — off limits. The next Congress must pass legislation that spells out a president is not above the law.
Anyone can talk about making America great again, but that’s not really going to happen until we make bribery a crime again."
Plz read the entire column.
@GottaLaff hey, just grease my palm – then you will not have any grease left: that is how we Make America Grate Again.
