hief NY Times White House correspondent, who has covered the past five presidents, including both Donald J. Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr:
The revolutionary hero Patrick Henry knew this day would come. He might not have anticipated all the particulars, such as the porn actress in the hotel room and the illicit payoff to keep her quiet. But he feared that eventually a criminal might occupy the presidency and use his powers to thwart anyone who sought to hold him accountable. “Away with your president,” he declared, “we shall have a king.”
That was exactly what the founders sought to avoid, having thrown off the yoke of an all-powerful monarch. But as hard as they worked to establish checks and balances, the system they constructed to hold wayward presidents accountable ultimately has proved to be unsteady. Whatever rules Americans thought were in place are now being rewritten by Donald J. Trump, the once and perhaps future president who has already shattered many barriers and precedents. The notion that 34 felonies is not automatically disqualifying and a convicted criminal can be a viable candidate for commander in chief upends two and a half centuries of assumptions about American democracy.
And it raises fundamental questions about the limits of power in a second term, should Mr. Trump be returned to office. If he wins, it means he will have survived two impeachments, four criminal indictments, civil judgments for sexual abuse and business fraud, and a felony conviction. Given that, it would be hard to imagine what institutional deterrents could discourage abuses or excesses.
Newsweek - During a Saturday interview with MSNBC's The Weekend,
Cohen, who served as a key witness for the prosecution in the case and
is a Trump critic, spoke on the possibility of a jail sentence for
Trump, adding that he is concerned that if the former president is
sentenced to jail he will "give away" America's secrets. "I'm
afraid of him going to jail, not for him, not for his safety, that's on
him. I'm more concerned for you and for all of us and our families and
for the American people because this clown had four years of being
debriefed on national security issues. On top of that, if he becomes the
Republican nominee he gets debriefed again, starting now, think about
this," Cohen said.He
added: "You have now a Republican-leading candidate who is a felon who
is going to be debriefed on national security issues knowing how loosely
lipped he is...My concern is, in a prison situation, he's willing to
give away these secrets for a bag of tuna or a book of stamps and he
will do it because he doesn't care. If America turns against him he
rather see America burn to the ground and that's who Donald Trump is."
Telegraph UK - Donald Trump supporters are trying to identify and have threatened violence against the 12 jurors who convicted the former president in Manhattan last week. Their identities have been kept under wraps for their safety and in March Judge Juan Merchan issued an order banning the publication of the jurors’ names and addresses. But this has not stopped Trump supporters trying to track them down. According to Advance Democracy, a non-profit organisation, social media is swirling with posts threatening violence against members of the jury, as well as the judge and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
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