American Politics: Yesterday and Today
July 22 2019 By Abiodun Karim Giwa
American politics is loved and hated all over the world. There is hardly anyone in the world who lacks the knowledge that American politics revolves around Democracy, government by the people and for the people, occasioned by powerful struggle between the two major political parties to control the central government. And that such a struggle culminated in the Watergate scandal and crime.
The hydra-headed political struggle is also the cause of the recent allegations of the Russian interference and allegations that the winning party in 2016 may have colluded with some Russians to win the last presidential election.
But the Robert Mueller investigations into the alleged Russian collusion with the President Donald Trump's campaign has been voided with Mueller's pronouncement that no single American colluded with the Russians, though the Russians interfered in the elections to thwart the democratic Party's candidate and helping the Republican Party to victory without the connivance of the campaign or any American.
As Mueller prepares to go before the Democratic Party controlled Congress for a testimony about the existence or non-existence of obstruction of justice against President Trump, it is timely to look at the similarity between the Watergate and the Russian collusion, the drive by the Democratic Party to hang President Trump for the party's loss .of the presidential election in 2016 and the search for obstruction of justice in the absence of a crime.
There were crimes committed by political party big players in the Watergate scandal, unlike the allegations of the Russian collusion with the Trump campaign and in which the Trump Campaign has been absolved of wrongdoing. According to Wikipedia, "The scandal led to the discovery of multiple abuses of power by members of the Nixon administration, the commencement of an impeachment process against the president, and Nixon's resignation. The scandal also resulted in the indictment of 69 people, with trials or pleas resulting in 48 being found guilty, many of whom were top Nixon officials. The affair began with the arrest of five men for breaking into the DNC headquarters at the Watergate complex on Saturday, June 17, 1972. The FBI investigated and discovered a connection between cash found on the burglars and a slush fund used by the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), the official organization of Nixon's campaign. In July 1973, evidence mounted against the president's staff, including testimony provided by former staff members in an investigation conducted by the Senate Watergate Committee. The investigation revealed that Nixon had a tape-recording system in his offices and that he had recorded many conversations. After a series of court battles, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled that the president was obligated to release the tapes to government investigators (United States v. Nixon). The tapes revealed that Nixon had attempted to cover up activities that took place after the break-in, and to use federal officials to deflect the investigation. Facing virtually certain impeachment in the House of Representatives and equally certain conviction by the Senate, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974, preventing the House from impeaching him. On September 8, 1974, his successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned him."
The Watergate scandal began with a burglary by five men at the Democratic Party National headquarters at the Watergate Complex in Washington DC and President Nixon's subsequent attempt to cover up his administration's involvement. But after the five burglars were arrested,, the Nixon administration resisted investigations and that led to a constitutional crisis. Wikipedia further revealed Watergate involved dirty tricks and bugging of offices of political opponents and people of whom Nixon or his men and women were suspicious.
Note here that it is the same suspicion that created the Russian interference and the allegation that the Trump administration colluded with the Russians by the President Barack Obama administration, following Hillary Clinton loss of the election. Just like the Republicans and Trump apologists have been saying that the preceding government before the current government used the Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as political weapons, it was exactly the same crime that the Nixon administration committed.
In the case of Mueller's effort to satisfy the wish of the Democratic Party controlled Congress to establish a case of obstruction brings about a similarity between the Democratic Party of the Nixon's era and today's Democratic Party. And if you like, American politics yesterday and today - the hard struggle for power at all cost for their own political survival and one that led to Nixon's fall.President is standing because Mueller pronounced him and his campaign innocent. He cannot now erase his statement of trump's innocence and replace it with a pronouncement of guilt.
The truth is that the Democratic party has refused to learn form history. Though, the Republican Nixon was accused of having used the FBI, the CIA and the IRS to target political opponents, recent reports had also pointed to political power holders using the same agencies to target political opponents. And the Republicans are already pursuing the possibility of investigating the development. The Democrats pursuing Trump also have their past leaders sitting on a keg of trouble
Let us all wait and see what will be the outcome of Mueller's testimony at the Congress, the Congress and the Republican Party's position, and Trump's response to attempts by his political opponents to tarnish him. The Mueller Report has given Trump a solid ground that he is standing that Trump or his campaign has committed no crime. Mueller cannot now begin to turn like a Barber's chair saying he would have prosecuted Trump if not for a particular FBI standing rule that you cannot prosecute a sitting president.
After you have absolved an accused of a crime, what would you prosecutor has to prosecute the accused for? If there is no crime, how can there be obstruction? What is then to be obstructed? There must be a motive to obstruct. If there is no crime, there can be no obstruction. It is here that the Watergate differ clearly from the accusation against President Trump. If Mueller has said Trump has committed a crime,Trump would have longed seized to be president.
The hydra-headed political struggle is also the cause of the recent allegations of the Russian interference and allegations that the winning party in 2016 may have colluded with some Russians to win the last presidential election.
But the Robert Mueller investigations into the alleged Russian collusion with the President Donald Trump's campaign has been voided with Mueller's pronouncement that no single American colluded with the Russians, though the Russians interfered in the elections to thwart the democratic Party's candidate and helping the Republican Party to victory without the connivance of the campaign or any American.
As Mueller prepares to go before the Democratic Party controlled Congress for a testimony about the existence or non-existence of obstruction of justice against President Trump, it is timely to look at the similarity between the Watergate and the Russian collusion, the drive by the Democratic Party to hang President Trump for the party's loss .of the presidential election in 2016 and the search for obstruction of justice in the absence of a crime.
There were crimes committed by political party big players in the Watergate scandal, unlike the allegations of the Russian collusion with the Trump campaign and in which the Trump Campaign has been absolved of wrongdoing. According to Wikipedia, "The scandal led to the discovery of multiple abuses of power by members of the Nixon administration, the commencement of an impeachment process against the president, and Nixon's resignation. The scandal also resulted in the indictment of 69 people, with trials or pleas resulting in 48 being found guilty, many of whom were top Nixon officials. The affair began with the arrest of five men for breaking into the DNC headquarters at the Watergate complex on Saturday, June 17, 1972. The FBI investigated and discovered a connection between cash found on the burglars and a slush fund used by the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), the official organization of Nixon's campaign. In July 1973, evidence mounted against the president's staff, including testimony provided by former staff members in an investigation conducted by the Senate Watergate Committee. The investigation revealed that Nixon had a tape-recording system in his offices and that he had recorded many conversations. After a series of court battles, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled that the president was obligated to release the tapes to government investigators (United States v. Nixon). The tapes revealed that Nixon had attempted to cover up activities that took place after the break-in, and to use federal officials to deflect the investigation. Facing virtually certain impeachment in the House of Representatives and equally certain conviction by the Senate, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974, preventing the House from impeaching him. On September 8, 1974, his successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned him."
The Watergate scandal began with a burglary by five men at the Democratic Party National headquarters at the Watergate Complex in Washington DC and President Nixon's subsequent attempt to cover up his administration's involvement. But after the five burglars were arrested,, the Nixon administration resisted investigations and that led to a constitutional crisis. Wikipedia further revealed Watergate involved dirty tricks and bugging of offices of political opponents and people of whom Nixon or his men and women were suspicious.
Note here that it is the same suspicion that created the Russian interference and the allegation that the Trump administration colluded with the Russians by the President Barack Obama administration, following Hillary Clinton loss of the election. Just like the Republicans and Trump apologists have been saying that the preceding government before the current government used the Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as political weapons, it was exactly the same crime that the Nixon administration committed.
In the case of Mueller's effort to satisfy the wish of the Democratic Party controlled Congress to establish a case of obstruction brings about a similarity between the Democratic Party of the Nixon's era and today's Democratic Party. And if you like, American politics yesterday and today - the hard struggle for power at all cost for their own political survival and one that led to Nixon's fall.President is standing because Mueller pronounced him and his campaign innocent. He cannot now erase his statement of trump's innocence and replace it with a pronouncement of guilt.
The truth is that the Democratic party has refused to learn form history. Though, the Republican Nixon was accused of having used the FBI, the CIA and the IRS to target political opponents, recent reports had also pointed to political power holders using the same agencies to target political opponents. And the Republicans are already pursuing the possibility of investigating the development. The Democrats pursuing Trump also have their past leaders sitting on a keg of trouble
Let us all wait and see what will be the outcome of Mueller's testimony at the Congress, the Congress and the Republican Party's position, and Trump's response to attempts by his political opponents to tarnish him. The Mueller Report has given Trump a solid ground that he is standing that Trump or his campaign has committed no crime. Mueller cannot now begin to turn like a Barber's chair saying he would have prosecuted Trump if not for a particular FBI standing rule that you cannot prosecute a sitting president.
After you have absolved an accused of a crime, what would you prosecutor has to prosecute the accused for? If there is no crime, how can there be obstruction? What is then to be obstructed? There must be a motive to obstruct. If there is no crime, there can be no obstruction. It is here that the Watergate differ clearly from the accusation against President Trump. If Mueller has said Trump has committed a crime,Trump would have longed seized to be president.
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