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The United States has never had a president go to prison. Neithera sitting president, nor a former one. Arguably there are a few who should have although that's another matter.

Donald Trump couldchange that. Perhaps that's not surprising: Trump will already be remembered by history as the first president to be impeached twice, the first president to refuse to accept losing an election, the first president to lack any prior political or military experience and one of five presidents to be elected without winning the popular vote. He has rackedup questionable distinctions like Tom Brady winsSuper Bowl rings.

Now Trump may facejail timefor alleged financial crimes in New York or his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, or his speech to the Jan. 6 rioters. Given his pattern of ethically iffy business dealings and ripping off the taxpayers, as well as his shady actions in Russia and Ukraine, something completely unforeseen could also arise during current investigations that lands him in jail.

At any rate,if Trump goes to prison, it will be a first in the history of this country. What, if anything, does that say about the state of our democracy?

We can start by looking at the closest equivalents to Trump's situation, which occurred shortly after the Civil War. Without question the most volatile such case was the potential trial of Jefferson Davis, who had been president of the Confederacy and intended to arguethat he did nothing illegal by siding with Mississippi once it seceded. (Whether the Confederate States of America counts as a real nation, and Davis as a real president, is a contested question.) Given that the Civil War had ended only a few years earlier, it is entirely conceivable that Davis' trial would have sparked violencewhether he was convicted. Fortunately for him, President Andrew Johnson pardoned Davis and other former leading Confederates forthe crime of treason, so we don'tknow how such atrial would have played out.

A lesser known case involving an authentic, no-doubt president is that ofJohn Tyler, who was president from 1841 to 1845, following the death of William Henry Harrison. No one ever accused Tyler of dishonesty, but he sided with hishome state of Virginia when it seceded from the Union, in 1861,servingin various Confederate legislative bodies. Tyler died of a stroke early in 1862, three years before the Civil Warended, sohe was never held legally accountable for his actions and there's no way to know how events would have played out. Tyler offers, however, the only clear example of a former U.S. president committing treason. (Until now, some would say.)

Around the same time that Jefferson Davis faced an uncertainlegal fate, the president who pardoned him, Andrew Johnson,became the first president to beimpeached, in his case by a Republican-controlled Congress that opposed his lenient policies toward the conquered South. But Johnson was charged with no crime after leaving office, whereas Richard Nixon who resigned before he could be impeached probably would have been had Gerald Ford not pardoned him. Bill Clinton, the second president to be impeached, was accused by his enemies of all kinds of imaginary crimes, but never faced any serious threat of criminal prosecution for any aspect of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

So American historyprovides no clear oruseful parallels, and we have to cast the net more widely still without finding any obvious similar instances. One thing we can say is that a criminal conviction wouldn't necessarily end Trump's political career, and another is that the chances of an actual head of state literally winding up behind bars appear very low. Former Italian prime ministerSilvio Berlusconiwas convicted of tax fraud in 2013 also one of Trump's more plausible crimes and served his "prison sentence" by doing unpaid community work because of his age. Despite hisconviction, Berlusconi remains a powerful figure on the Italian right andeventually returned to politics, winning election to theEuropean Parliament in 2019.

One case very much in the news isIsrael, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuhas held power for the last 12 years(after also serving as prime minister in the late '90s). Hewasindicted in 2019 for accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust but has refused to leave office, clinging to power through several indecisive elections thanks to the loyalty of the Israeli right. With a new coalition government reportedly emerging this week that could end Netanyahu's tenure, the danger of conviction and prison time is now real.

Former French prime ministerFranois Fillon could well be heading to prison but even in France, this isn't a huge story. (In the French political system, the president holds executive power and the prime minister is perhaps closer to the House speaker in the U.S.)An old-school center-right conservative,Fillon was allied with formerPresident Nicolas Sarkozy and was was briefly seen as the frontrunner in the 2017 presidential election (eventually won by Emmanuel Macron). After Fillon wascharged with embezzlement,his political fortunes collapsed, and last year he was finally convicted of fraud and misusing funds. He was sentenced to five years in prison, with three of them suspended, and is currently appealing his sentence.

What lessons have we learned about the prospect of Donald Trumpending up in a prison jumpsuit? Pretty much none. Trump is perhaps vaguely similar to the examples ofBerlusconi,Netanyahu andDavis in that he has a passionate following, and leadsa movement that is unwaveringly devoted to him as an individual. As with Berlusconiand Netanyahu, hissupporters are unlikely to abandon him even if he is indicted or convicted. If anything, a criminal trial might turn him into a martyr, and increasehis followers'sensepersecution,emboldening them to do who knows what.

John Tyler, Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton never commanded that kind of slavish devotion. Nothing even close.

Consider also that there's no legal or constitutional impediment toan eligible citizenrunning for president while incarcerated.Trump could orchestrate apolitical resurrection from a prison cell, being "restored" to what his followers deem his rightful placeeither by legitimately being elected or (far more likely)because the recent wave ofvoter suppression laws enacted by Republicanscreate a situation where he can't lose. Much as Hitler proclaimed his ascension to power as a vindication of the nine months he served in prison aftertheBeer Hall Putsch, Trump's miraculous election-from-prison would be embraced by his followers as proof that it was all worth it. Most of them would shy away from the Hitler parallels, of course but some, if QAnonrhetoric is to be believed, may not.

If Trump is actually put on trial, it will become a spectacle unlike any otherin American history. Anypossible verdict acquittal, conviction or mistrial will be received by his supporters as a great victory. No matter what happens,such a trial wouldserve as a flashpoint for a far-right, anti-democratic movement the likes of which has never before existed in this country. On balance, that sounds really bad.

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What happens if an ex-president goes to jail (hypothetically speaking)? It wouldn't be pretty - Salon

Alex Brandon/AP Former President Donald Trump in March 2020 spoke about the coronavirus, calling it the China virus." The media called it a fringe theory but are now embracing.

This weeks Liberal Media Scream features a top critic of the Trump years, ABCs Jonathan Karl, who finally said out loud what supporters of President Trump already knew: The White House press corps had such contempt for the president that they dismissed everything he said.

Or, in Karls words, some things may be true even if Donald Trump said them.

Karl on Sundays This Week grudgingly conceded Trump may have been correct in pointing to a lab in Wuhan, China as the source of COVID-19. He blamed Trump, not journalists, for ignoring the lab as the source because of how Trump used racist terms in describing the virus.

During the roundtable segment on Sundays This Week, after host Martha Raddatz suggested some people have egg on their face for being so dismissive of the possibility the COVID-19 virus came out of a lab in China, Karl said:

Yes, I think a lot of people have egg on their face. This was an idea that was first put forward by Mike Pompeo, secretary of State, Donald Trump. And look, some things may be true even if Donald Trump said them. And there was - because Trump was saying so much else that was just out of control, and because he was, you know, making a frankly racist appeal talking about kung-flu and the China virus, his notion that he put forward that this may have, or he said flatly that this came from that lab, was widely dismissed, but actually there is some real reason -- we dont know, by the way, we still dont know, we absolutely dont know, but now serious people are saying it needs a serious inquiry.

Media Research Center Vice President Brent Baker explains our weekly pick: Karl said out loud what everyone already presumed: So many in the Washington press corps had such contempt for President Trump that they dismissed anything he said they could characterize in their minds as coming from foul motives. Thus, journalists proudly rationalized putting their prejudices first. But that meant the media failed in its basic duty to inform the public of the best information available about the source of a pandemic which has killed 3.5 million worldwide.

Rating: FIVE out of FIVE screams.

Tags: Washington Secrets, Donald Trump, ABC This Week, Coronavirus, China, Wuhan lab

Original Author: Paul Bedard

Original Location: Liberal Media Scream: 'Some things may be true even if Donald Trump said them'

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Liberal Media Scream: 'Some things may be true even if Donald Trump said them' - msnNOW

These shenanigans came after Mr. Barr was revealed to have written a memo for Mr. Trump while a private citizen, a long document that concluded that, yes, you guessed it, the president was not guilty of obstruction of justice.

The Justice Department is the one cabinet agency that has a value in its name justice. Its iconography a blindfolded Lady Justice underscores the idea that everyone has to play by the same rules. Mr. Barr appears to have desecrated that cardinal principle. The public has a right to know what he and his Justice Department lawyers did and why they did it.

We already had one by-the-book official, the special counsel, Robert Mueller, try to apply regular principles to a deeply abnormal presidency, and we witnessed the result: a distorted impeachment and the nullification of potential criminal charges.

The problem for the new Justice Department is: What does it do now? Should it depart from ordinary rules because the last administration did so? If it doesnt appeal Judge Jacksons decision, isnt the department allowing a precedent to be set that private litigants can ask for and get all sorts of prosecutorial materials?

No. Good surgeons dont always operate, and good appeals lawyers dont always appeal. Here, Justice Department lawyers could have safeguarded the departments interests by saying they disagreed with the decision, but because it was a trial court decision, it was not precedential for other cases and not appropriate to appeal.

And the department then could have voluntarily released the memo without conceding that it was required by the Freedom of Information Act. When the Justice Department doesnt appeal a decision, that doesnt mean it agrees with it. Lawyers there decide not to appeal all the time for many reasons. In short, there were better solutions here that would have walked the tightrope between the publics need to know and the Justice Departments general need to protect prosecutorial interests.

In the end, there must be a zone of confidential government decision-making and privacy. Good government depends on it. But that zone is a two-way street: It also depends on government officials who behave as if they deserve to be there. The Justice Departments decision to appeal Judge Jacksons order treated this case like any other garden-variety case.

It wasnt.

Neal K. Katyal is a professor at Georgetown Law School, was an acting solicitor general in the Obama administration and wrote, with Sam Koppelman, Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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Opinion | Release the Barr-Trump Memo on Obstruction of Justice - The New York Times

Michael Cohen, the former fixer and personal attorney for former President Donald Trump, appeared on the Raw Story Podcastto discuss the latest development in criminal investigations into his former boss. Cohen, serving time on limited home confinement stemming from federal convictions on tax evasion and campaign finance violations, was asked about Trumps actual feelings about LGBTQ people.

Cohen shared his belief that Trump doesnt care if youre LGBTQ, cause you dont mean anything to him, and hes basically repulsed by the community. He then shared a story where Trump remarked that he knew someone who hates having a gay son.

Related: Trump supporter screams racist & antigay slurs at Joe Biden at ice cream shop

First, Cohen details his run-ins while taking a walk (allowed under the restrictions of his home confinement sentence) when he was verbally accosted by a Trump supporter in Central Park. He brushed it off at first, but then the same woman would approach him a few days later in the park.

Next thing I know, right back into my face is this lady again, her second time this time I was listening to Bohemian Rhapsody, Cohen recalled. The Queen song spurred Cohen to respond to the womans curses and negative remarks, and recorded her tirade.

This is typical of what Trump does to people, Cohen remarked. Its almost like she became empowered to act a complete asshole.

He added, [she] interfered with Queen, and thats just unacceptable.

Podcast co-host Shannyn Moore remarked, Virtually everything you have predicted over the last couple of years has come true. Youre sort of a Nostradamus on all things Trump-y. The host ask Cohen what he thinks will happen next to Trump and his associates, with New York City opening a criminal-investigative grand jury investigating the business activity of Trump.

Its going to be like the Olympics gymnastic team, Cohen remarked, theres going to be flipping all over the place.

Podcast co-host Mike Rogers then asks Cohen, What does Donald Trump think of the Central Park Five, [Barack] Obamas nationality, and the LGBT community?

Cohen answers that he wasnt working for Trump at that time since he was in junior high school, or high school at that time, but that its well-documented that Trump is a racist.

On Trumps predecessor, Cohen said that Barack Obama is a thorn in Trumps large ass. There is no other way to put it. He cites Obamas race, intelligence, and the fact he is really universally loved.

As for LGBTQ people, Cohen said, He thinks about them as much as he thinks about yknow, nothing. He doesnt care about the community. In fact, hes basically repulsed by the community.

Cohen cites a time Trump apparently told him, Oh, you know, a friend of mine has a son, whos gay, and you know, hes really rich his father hates it.'

So its not true. I happen to know the family. The father doesnt hate it, Cohen remarked. Now, would the father prefer him to be, you know, heterosexual? I dont know. I never asked him maybe yes, no, I dont know. Its none of my business, its between them. But Trump then puts himself into the dead center.

This is proof to Cohen that Trump doesnt have any regard for anyone. He doesnt care if youre Black, right? He doesnt like you. He doesnt care if youre white, he doesnt like you really, either unless, of course, youre a Trump supporter. Right?

He doesnt care if youre LGBTQ, cause you dont mean anything to him. Thats the problem, the man lacks any relationships. I mean, its why Donald Trump has no friends.

He then compares how Obama used to have friends from college and his pre-Presidential days that would visit him and be welcomed at the White House, to how Trump didnt have any friends or people he welcomed. People say to me, Im a friend of Donald Trump,' Cohen said, to which he replied, I know youre lying.

Cohen then expressed that while he wasnt completely ignorant about Trump prior to working for him in 2007 when he was the face of the top reality show on network television, The Apprentice, and half-owner of Miss Universe he didnt foresee what he would become and how his Presidential administration would turn out to become.

He stressed how he didnt . Yeah, I worked for a monster, Cohen admitted.

My wife, my children begged me, begged me not to take the job they begged me to quit, he recalled, admitting that Trump was disrespectful to my daughter in front of him. He still didnt have the wherewithal to quit.

I almost felt guilty its weird: the cult of Trump is a cult. Plain and simple, hes no different than any other cult leader, and he is the Jim Jones.

Cohen later said the low hanging fruits indictments against Barry Weisselberg and Allen Weisselberg will come first. Barry Weisselberg was the manager of Central Parks Wollman Rink, operated by the Trump Organization from 2001 to 2021, and Allen Weisselberg is the Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization.

Cohen then said he believes Trump will be indicted after that, before summer. That will be the first time in his entire life that he will be held responsible for his dirty deed, remarked Cohen.

Cohen said he believes Trump will face a hybrid form of punishment from the judicial system as opposed to a prison sentence, as sending a former President to jail is unprecedented and could cause complex issues, such as with Secret Service protection and sensitive national security information.

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Michael Cohen reveals what Donald Trump really thinks about the LGBTQ community - LGBTQ Nation

Former President Donald Trump has branded Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) "very weak" and questioned his ability to stand against President Joe Biden's agenda.

In an interview with One America News (OAN), Trump criticized GOP lawmakers who failed to push his claims that the presidential election was stolen from him through mass voter fraud to the extent he wanted them to, The Washington Post reported.

The former president added that there would be a "different president" in the White House had McConnell pursued his baseless claims about the 2020 election and fought for "election integrity."

"But other than fundraising, he's very weak," Trump said of McConnell. The Post reported that he later told OAN that Democrats can get "whatever they want approved," and said McConnell was "hopeless and he can't stop anything."

His criticism of McConnell follows a February statement in which he called the Kentucky Republican a "dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack" who was failing to deliver for the GOP.

"He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country," Trump wrote at the time. "Where necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First. We want brilliant, strong, thoughtful, and compassionate leadership."

He also attacked "wayward Republicans" who voted in favor of an independent commission investigation into the January 6 Capitol riots on Wednesday, further exposing divides between the populist and so-called moderate wings of the GOP.

Thirty-five Republican lawmakers voted with House Democrats on Wednesday to establish a commission that would investigate how the fatal Capitol riots began, and delve into the Trump administration's response.

Most GOP representatives opposed the commission plans, which Trump has dubbed a "Democrat trap" an an unfair partisan probe.

"It is just more partisan unfairness and unless the murders, riots, and fire bombings in Portland, Minneapolis, Seattle, Chicago, and New York are also going to be studied, this discussion should be ended immediately," Trump said. "Republicans must get much tougher and much smarter, and stop being used by the Radical Left."

In spite of the criticism Trump has thrown at him, Sen. McConnell has opposed the commission plans and indicated that Democrats won't win the 10 Republican votes needed to pass the measure through the upper chamber.

"There is, has been and will continue to be no shortage of robust investigations," McConnell said in the Senate. "The facts have come out and they'll continue to come out."

Newsweek has contacted Senator McConnell's office and the officer of the former president for further comment.

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Donald Trump Says Mitch McConnell 'Hopeless' Against Joe Biden: 'He Can't Stop Anything' - Newsweek