[Whataboutism.com] Charging Trump Over Hush Money Payouts Implicates Congress In The Same Behavior

jcf · Dec 15, 2018

Os Trigonum said: ↑

those who live in glass houses I guess . . . interesting article

excerpt:

"According to the Chicago Tribune, members of Congress have a 'taxpayer hush money fund,' where claims for sexual harassment, discrimination and other workplace issues are settled and paid out with money supplied by the U.S. Treasury. Unlike the payments in Trump’s case, which were seemingly made using personal funds, congressional settlements and payoffs used taxpayer funds. More importantly, if prosecutors take the position that hush-money payments made to protect a person’s reputation and family should be deemed campaign related expenditures (because they might affect an election), the precedent could be very problematic and far-reaching.

"For example, what should happen to those in Congress? Would prosecutors be compelled to pursue those members in Congress who have also made such payoffs? If Trump’s payments are deemed to be campaign-related expenses for the purpose of impacting an election, should each and every House or Senate member who has engaged in such conduct face criminal charges?

"According to The Daily Signal, 'Last year, it was reported that Congress has secretly paid out over $17 million to settle close to 300 cases by staffers claiming sexual and other forms of harassment and discrimination.' If prosecutors failed to pursue charges relating to each of these individual claims and payments (normally these are made in secret and the identities of the parties are withheld unless suit is filed), would they be applying the law arbitrarily and unfairly?

"It is evident that some Democrats want to find a way to remove Trump from office. If, for example, they can create a narrative that Trump committed a crime and violated campaign finance rules, they believe that the American public would more favorably support impeachment proceedings and possibly criminal charges.

"Although some legal scholars have openly stated that the payments in Trump’s case do not appear to have violated campaign finance rules, Mueller, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York and congressional Democrats should think long and hard about the precedent they are attempting to set. While their eyes are set on one particular person, the potential impact could end up netting many others who have engaged in similar (or worse) conduct."

http://thefederalist.com/2018/12/14/charging-trump-hush-money-payouts-implicates-congress-behavior/
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Why would the problem be limited to those charged? Seems like everyone who voted to set up this system or failed to disclose it when learned of it was complicit in a conspiracy to hide pertinent facts from the public.

Also, the idea that "they were already elected" is off because most of these politicians are constantly running to keep or upgrade their position.

Fascinating.

jcf · Dec 15, 2018

Pizza_Da_Hut said: ↑

Hi there, Trump was sold to a minority of the American population as the anti-establishment figure who was coming to drain the swamp. If he is just as bad as the other members of the swamp, why did they elect him? Again, whataboutism cuts both ways. As I've asked a thousand times before, doesn't Trump have to be better than Hillary Clinton to legitimize his election? Doesn't he have to be less corrupt than what he purported she was? How can you drain the swamp when it's your feeding ground as well? This constant bombardment of "But Obama did X which is just as bad" or "But Hillary did Y" or "Someone else did Z" is hilarious. Trump can't be as bad as the liberals or even the swamp dwellers, because he ran a campaign saying he wasn't.
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Seems like a world of difference between saying a candidate broke his/her campaign promise to be ethical and "drain the swamp" and the idea that individual should be impeached or criminally prosecuted.

If status quo for Congress is to secretly pay hush money (why secret? Protect their reps? Protect their marriages/family? Help re-election? All. Good for trump), their ability to go forward against trump on this ground seems compromised by hyprocisy.

None of this has to do with any collusion with Russia if it exists, but this pay-off investigation has seemed a tad overzealous to me.

DaDakota · Dec 15, 2018

Trump is a crook and should be in jail, or shot as a traitor.

DD

across110thstreet · Dec 15, 2018

the bottom line is that Trump will continue to lie about this to the people of this great country.

Is this really what will bring Trump down and is he really going to die up there on that hill?

Will he ever just have a press conference in which he ADMITS to the affairs and subsequent payoffs?

Wouldn’t this be endearing to his sycophantic followers?

What else is the President hiding?

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