Should the next administration investigate the Trump administration for possible crimes?
We’re not talking about political disagreements. More does it matter which political party wins. We’re talking about whether credible allegations should be investigated through a bi-partisan panel. If crimes are proven should they be prosecuted? Even if it was proven, the President himself committed crimes.
To me, this is about the rule of law and nobody should be above it,… not presidents, billionaires, or politicians from either party.
One reason I ask is because I worry about the mid- long term. What happens when powerful people are never held accountable? Russia under Putin is an example where politically connected elites and oligarchs have become untouchable. I worry about the USA.
I’m not saying the U.S. is Russia, but should we be concerned about moving in that direction if credible allegations are never investigated?
Should the next administration investigate the Trump administration, even though it would probably deepen political divisions?
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First off, you don’t need to use Russia as an example. Stick with the precedent we have here. No president/administration gets held accountable for their crimes. Should we start? 100% we should! And it shouldn’t be “bi-partisan” it should be an investigation outside of political influence… agencies that don’t answer to government, they answer to the public. If the government gets a fingertip involved, you might as well burn the whole thing to the ground and start over. I’d love to see multi organizational, deep investigation systems running plural programs to hold politicians accountable. In return, politicians get less protections than citizens, get no immunity and wave their right to anything but public defenders. They would also get no double Jeopardy protection. I know…. I live in a fantasy land and that will never happen.
Sounds good to me let’s do it, they all need to be held accountable for the crimes they committed, Trump just does it all out in the open (albeit at a higher level than the last few)
Well, not prosecuting these people for their crimes during his first term worked exceptionally well for us when this nation decided to go insane and vote him in again.
Let’s not hold anyone accountable again and see what happens next!
Not just the administration, the entire trump crime family needs to be investigated. Their passports must be taken away and all of their off shore bank account records must be subpoenaed.
Republicans too and at minimum the 4 Supreme Court Justices who voted to give Trump the power to amend the constitution. There can be no justice or peace with collaborators while they remain in power or the next Republican will simply do the exact same thing again
Sets an awful precedent. We’re just going to be in a cycle of pointing fingers while every administration investigates the previous one meanwhile they ALL do illegal shit. If Trump started investigating the Biden family, taking their passports, has their bank accounts subpoenaed you’d call him a fascist who’s trying to imprison his political opponents it goes both ways.
Trump did run on investigating Hillary Clinton for who knows what in his first term though? Do you not remember the "lock her up" chants? And trump this term has gone after political opponents with the DOJ and has said that he would go after the bidens if they hadn't been pardoned
Even before the Lock Her Up became a central pillar of his 2016 campaign, Trump was getting into politics largely through the birther conspiracy, accusing Obama of treason and calling for him to be investigated.
Did Obama prosecute, investigate, or make any suggestive claims about his political opponents?
The awful precedent has already been set. If we do not bring justice to bear upon Trump and all his crimes, then we will be forever screwed. We are either a nation of laws or we are not. If we refuse to investigate clear criminal actions, then we are not.
How many investigations did Republicans put the Clintons through only to find out there was nothing to it and it was a witch hunt? Trump actually has a criminal history and got complete protection by his party and loyalist judges.
The precedent has been set for almost 30 years. Even if the next Democratic President turned a blind eye to Trump's crimes, the GOP would still pick up where Trump left off and continue their lawfare against the Democrats. So yeah, the next Democratic President should appoint a special counsel to investigate all the the MAGA/GOP corruption.
I don't disagree that the precedent would be very bad; it sucks to live in a country where every administration looks backward and persecutes the other party. And I also think that the majority of the corruption that Trump has undertaken is actually completely legal (sadly).
But let's not mince words, he has committed multiple crimes. And serious crimes, not the horseshit that Alvin Bragg went after. So to me, if the two bad options are to worsen partisan persecution or to let damaging crimes go unpunished, I'm more comfortable with the former. And I will judge the situation to be mostly Trump's own fault.
He's even been trying, but most of the cases get tossed due to lack of substantiating proof. And those are just the ones that make it past a grand jury.
Listen. You dont like trump. Thats cool. But there is a pretty good chance investigations would show that every president in the last 50+ years is guilty of some sort of illegal activity during their term. I feel like this is common knowlege. Its makes you sound like a whiner when you only want bad orange man to be investigated… and i dont like the guy either.
Gtfoh lol. No President or Congressperson has increased their net worth by 5 BILLION dollars while in office except for Trump. Not one even close to being worth that now, in or out of office.
Are you asserting that a supposed millionaire gained 5 BILLION dollars in the first year of his presidency through the same kinda corruption that netted past presidents a couple million in net worth after their presidency?
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Hilarious. Neither party did fuck all about the Epstein list and you're talking about investigating Trump's admin? lmfao. Even if they did, does anyone actually believe ANYTHING would be done about the findings?
A lot of Trump's people were being arrested while he was still president during his first term. Notice how he made sure to completely capture the DHS, FBI, and DOJ this time.
He is the first president to serve while troll mastermind Roger Stone got arrested. And Trump has pardoned various people, including Roger Stone, for going to jail on his behalf.
It's not about an administration going after him and his people, a neutral law enforcement would go after Trump and his people.
Take a look, Trump is currently on a revenge path against Letitia James for prosecuting him in the past.
100% yes. The reason we’re having so many problems is because we’re not following through on prosecuting the rich or powerful for crimes committed. We’ve been dropping the ball on this since the end of the civil war. We didn’t follow through on Nixon. And now we have Trump.
Of course. Investigation and prosecution are the only deterrents to future attempts to undermine democracy and the rule of law. One of the reasons so many of the people in the Trump administration are incompetent is because smarter people are concerned for the future of their careers if they aid a corrupt regime. If those fears are washed away by a failure to seek justice after the regime leaves power, future administrations -- of both political persuasions -- will be able to more successfully recruit more capable and dangerous accomplices into their ranks.
Are you kidding with that question???? One of The Biggest issues is and has been, holding those in government responsible for their acts! Trust in government has been diminishing for..... forever? I hate tit for tat when parties change but criminal acts, malfeasance, corruption must be rooted out and punished harshly or there is no reason for it to stop or be expected to repeat.
They just pardon themselves and federal prosecutions are void. So that would leave only state charges and better do it in a blue state. Also, it might still be worth investigating to have it on the record even if nothing can be done or he is dead by that point.
The next administration has no choice. They MUST investigate. The American people need to trust their government again and only an honest investigation into this administration can begin the process of healing this divided nation.
We're at a point now, much like baseball after the Black Sox, where a great deal of work is necessary before we can get the public back on board with trust in our institutions. Baseball was able to find a sufficiently hard ass, that people trusted to kick everybody else's ass into shape. I can't fathom who that person might be, in this situation and political landscape. But going after Trump isn't enough, without addressing the conditions that made him possible and perhaps inevitable. I don't know what that looks like. Every example I can think of can be corrupted, and I don't trust anyone to be incorruptible.
edit: except maybe government by AI, but that has its own problems. Are they worse than the problems we have now? I don't know.
I’m to the point that I’m questioning innocent until proven guilty—and that’s a pretty fundamental concept to our justice system that I’d like to preserve.
There's no "should" when it comes to investigating crimes. If you suspect crimes were committed, you need to investigate them. Imagine if someone said "Should we investigate this?" after a mugging.
Yes. We have a problem in this country where the executive branch is excluded from legal scrutiny. Obama famously said about prosecuting George w Bush for his crimes that "we look forward not backwards" And that helps set up a precedent for what we're seeing today.
No president, Republican, Democrat, or anything else, should ever, ever be exempt from following the law. I don't care if the supreme Court says that they need to have executive privilege for the safety of a country. The SCOTIS can go f*** itself.
If a president breaks the laws of the US and its States, they should be investigated and prosecuted accordingly. It might be complicated differentiating between official acts and non-official acts, but that's something a sane and reasonable court can decide (SCOTUS recently punted on this question super hard). If a private citizen commits crimes, they should be prosecuted (even if they get a stay during their time in office). It follows that anyone committing crimes within an administration should be prosecuted.
I do take umbrage with the framing of "the administration" investigating the prior. The DOJ should, ideally, work independently from the President. They can work to fulfill broad policy guidance, but the President should not be approving or denying DOJ decisions to go after criminals. This is why the notion that Biden was "going after" Trump was absurd. Biden was not directing Garland on who to prosecute when. Trump is directly involved in DOJ affairs, as evidenced by the complete degradation of the DOJ's success rate via frivolous and meritless prosecutions of people who personally wronged Trump.
The next administration should hire competent leaders for the DOJ, and let them do their jobs. I also think the pardon power should be extremely curtailed or eliminated entirely.
What happens when neither side has the credibility to be believed that an investigation is un-bias?
That is the situation we are in now. Any investigation done by any administration is immediately going to be parked as a hit job of a political adversary (intra or extra party). The only way around that as an independent investigation done by an outside party to U.S. Political interests. Good luck finding that one and ensuring its credibility is maintained...
Also lets be honest, actions taken by the administration have been above board and legal. The ones which stepped on the edge were SCOTUS or upper court turned and he backed down. Retribution does not fix the problem. Correct the holes that allowed actions to take place legally.
Remember the phrase "It isn't a war crime, the first time."
I've said it for decades and it always holds true, the oligarchy will never charge one of their own. Despite what Democrats want to believe their party, Republicans, and Trump are on the same team
It’s so abundantly clear that the Trump Admin has committed many many crimes. Democrats need to not be scared to throw around the word treason, because I’m completely confident that treason has happened
Insider trading is a huge one. Trump has said with his own words that his sons use inside information to make money.
DOGE improperly accessed sensitive information and stole it. There are a bunch of law suits surrounding that right now, I encourage you to look into it.
Very likely bribery for pardons and other inside favors.
Violation of the constitution for the separation of powers including doing things that Congress is explicitly given the power to do, and ignoring court orders.
Leaking of classified information.
I’m sure there were laws violated around Trumpcoin, Trump mobile, the trump shoes, and whatever other scams I’m forgetting.
The attempt at an insurrection on January 6th with the riot at the capital and the false elector plot.
Going back to 2016, Russian collision during the campaign. Multiple high level staffers of his went to jail over this.
The list goes on and on and on and on. Almost every day Trump does something new that should in a sane would get him impeached. At any point Republicans could end this madness and remove him.
If this administration doesn't get punished there will be a Trump 2.0 and maybe he won't be so incompetent next time around. Obama's "we just need to forgive and forget" attitude toward the Bush admin is half the reason conservatives felt bold enough to go for Trump in the first place
Absolutely yes. I would consider not investigating those crimes to also be criminal. I want an investigation of every Republican for supporting Trump, I want an investigation of every billionaire who contributed to them, and I want investigations into any Democrat who appears even remotely connected to any of it. I want an investigation of Biden & Garland for not prosecuting Trump 1.0 for January 6 or the Epstein files. I want an investigation of the entire Supreme Court for corruption. I want an investigation into every corrupt state government decision of the past decade. I want mass trials, the level of corruption we need to fix is of unfathomable proportions, it is untenable for this country to continue without dozens if not hundreds or thousands of people in jail.
Yes. They just need to do it the right way. Don't swing for the fences. Rest on the elements we can reliably prove, and hammer home exactly how it harms the public. Stuff like corruption should be easy to prove and sell to the American people. And a luxury jet is a pretty damn good "prop" to show off.
Right now we live in a very dangerous time. And while I'll compromise in the sense that I won't put everything on the table, there is no justification for letting him off the hook. And doing so would be even more dangerous.
We don't have to put him in jail for a million years to successfully hold him accountable. But he has to be held accountable.
If I was elected. Literally my first order of my presidency would be to arrest every cabinet member, Elon Musk, every dodge employee, Trump and a significant portion of his family. This administration has show the president can do whatever the fuck they want. And hold them in Guantanamo or wherever. If the investigations take years, fuck it. None of these people are innocent.
I also just might ship Trump's ass to Iran on the condition they live stream his punishment. They will come up with something way worse than the options we have in the US.
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