Andrew McCabe is not a Ham Sandwich
I am not a lawyer, but I think lawyers agree that grand juries are a pointless relic of the middle ages. There’s nothing to be done, because they are mentioned in the 5th amendment, but they are silly. Over here east of the English Channel they don’t exist. Decisions about possible indictments are made by judges.
One problem with grand juries is that the prosecutor is the only lawyer allowed in the room (unless a witness happens to be a lawyer). Also, since there isn’t yet a defendant, targets or possible future targets can’t present their case. So, the cliche is that a commpetent prosecutor could convince a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. There is, it seemed, no limit to the feebleness of a case sufficient to enable a prosecutor to convince jurors to indict. Note the past tense of “seemed”.
Thus my interest in the extremely boring case of former sometimes acting FBI director Andrew McCabe (they guy who was fired 2 days before his pension vested). He is accused of being other than frank when discussing the possibility of misconduct which harmed Hillary Clinton. This makes him a minor player in Trump’s deep state fantasy in which everyone who has anything to do with any investigation of Trump is alleged to be an anti Trump criminal based on any alleged misconduct (which is usually misconduct harmful to Hillary Clinton because there was a whole lot of that).
The DOJ has just announced that the investigation is closed and that no charges will be sought (note the difference from the Comey press conference about how no charges against Clinton would be sought even though she dd not meet James Comey’s exalted ethical standards and respect for rules [other than the one he was breaking by calling a press conference]).
I found this sentence in Matt Shulman’s TPM post on the topic concise and very interesting.
Later in 2018, reports revealed that prosecutors were using a grand jury to investigate McCabe’s actions. In September 2019, prosecutors were authorized to seek an indictment. But none came.
So it seems that a grand jury didn’t go along with prosecutors. Again, I am so not a lawyer, but I wonder if any actual lawyers can think of a precedent. It seems to me that (long before Barr) Trump’s DOJ was exploring new frontiers of prosecutorial excess.
Also, of course, McCabe should thank Roger Stone, because without the Stone scandal he would still be waiting to find out if he would be charged. Today’s announcement is another attempt to put lipstick on the DOJ pig.
Honest to God, I had just posted and surfed over to Wonkette and read this
Michael Fesser of Portland, Oregon, just received $600,000 in the cash settlement sweepstakes, but this isn’t another upbeat lottery story. The city of West Linn, Oregon, negotiated the settlement because Fesser, who’s black, was the target of an “unwarranted racially motivated surveillance and arrest.” Former (thank God) West Linn Police Chief Terry Timeus used his own officers to put the smackdown on Fesser as a “favor” for a fishing buddy.
The case against Fesser rightly went nowhere, and it didn’t scare him away from suing Benson in 2017 for racial discrimination. Benson pressed his cop buddies to put the screws to Fesser. He was
indicted
on first-degree theft charges, based primarily on grand jury testimony from Benson and Reeves, and statements from “shady and dirty” witnesses. Fesser had done nothing wrong.
So I am a recovering lawyer and while I agree that grand juries are not dripping with due process—you get that later—they are useful investigative tools as are John Doe proceedings at least in Wisconsin and the ham sandwich does not always get indicted. That being said while I do not think grand juries should be consigned to the Black Plague and the harpsichord, there is no question that William Barr deserves a special place in hell that even Jefferson Davis Sessions does not deserve. To say that that the United States has abandoned the rule of law is an understatement and I only hope that some of the worst offenders experience the frustration that comes with the facts and truth not mattering
Terry:
I am not an attorney, do not wish to be, and yet I had become well acquainted with jury trials and subsequent appeals. I agree with you on your perspective. I am assuming JackD will have the same remarks to make also.
It is good that McCabe was not indicted as it should be clear he did nothing wrong. Neither did Comey. But the whole point of these “investigations” is to put out in the press charges that they may have done something wrong. A lot like getting Ukraine to announce an investigation against Hunter Biden. It is not the real investigation that matters to Team Trump but the Talking Points.
PGL:
Nothing like rumors which the sychopants pick up and spread.
But the whole point of these “investigations” is to put out in the press charges that they may have done something wrong.
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The point of the firing and demonizing Comey and Mccabe is to convince the rubes that the deep state was out to get Trump and wanted to sink his 2016 campaign. If that narrative falls apart Trump is toast.
The purpose is to obscure and distort the real facts which is these guys and the news media and the rest of the deep-state swamp helped trump get elected in 2016
The fact that the FBI did considerable damage to Clinton and helped trump win are an existential threat to trump’s political future. These facts must be expunged for Trump to survive, The thing that gets Trump the necessary votes to be elected and reelected is the belief by enough voters that Trump is waging a war against the sinister deep state which can only be won with the assistance of the voters.
Personally, I think these memes like trump is a populist and/or is fighting the deep state that people cite as reasons why his supporters are so loyal is just a smokescreen.
Trump is just the end result of 50 years of the Southern Strategy. He has gathered such a loyal base due to his unabashed racism. That is his entire schtick. Populism and the deep state are just a sideshow so he, and his voters, can say he is not all about the racism.
Course, like everything he says, that is a lie.
Racism may well be why some of trump’s base is loyal, but his base cannot produce enough votes to get him elected — not even close.
The reason Trump won in 2016 and will win again in 2020 is because he is regarded by many voters as a comic book hero fighting comic book villains.
And that is not a meme. That is a carefully crafted image.
Jim,
I beg to differ. Trump’s base is the Republican Party base. They’ve just grown louder since a black man became President.