There was a key moment in last Thursday’s debate that should have caught everyone else’s attention.
Donald Trump was asked about his political donations to Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and a bevy of other Democrats by U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) in a question that Trump deflected, and deflected well. His response?
Trump was asked about something he said in a previous interview: “When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do.”
“You’d better believe it,” Trump said. “If I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I’ve given to, just so you understand, a lot of money.”
The only complaints came from two candidates who yelled that they had received no Trump money. As Trump continued to talk, he was interrupted by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., complaining that Trump instead gave campaign contributions to Rubio’s Democratic opponent.
“I hope you will give to me,” said Gov. John Kasich of Ohio.
“Sounds good. Sounds good to me, governor,” said Trump.
Without missing a beat, the real estate tycoon continued: “I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And you know what? When I need something from them, two years later, three years later, I call them, and they are there for me.” He added, “And that’s a broken system.”
I hate to pull so much of Lee Fang’s excellent observations over at First Look’s The Intercept, but it encapsulates the point well.
Isn’t this honest services fraud?
Meanwhile, former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is still struggling to understand why the hell he is being dragged through the courts and staring down prison time:
McDonnell could file a petition asking that he remain free until the Supreme Court decides whether to take his case. But Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who closely follows the Richmond-based appeals court, said it’s likely that McDonnell will have to report to prison soon.
In its brief order Tuesday, the full 15-member 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said eight judges voted against reconsidering the panel’s decision to uphold McDonnell’s convictions. Seven others, “deeming themselves disqualified, did not participate,” the order said. No explanation was given for what Tobias called an unusually large number of recusals.
Please explain to the rest of us the dichotomy of a man who took gifts and yielded nothing staring down two years in prison, while the vast majority of the Republican POTUS field can sit around Trump like hungry puppies begging for a campaign donation — so that Trump (and others like him) can do whatever the hell he wants them to?
Trump was right that this is a broken system.
Problem is, when you have a system that cannot evenly impose the rules, or when the legal system is simply uprooted because words no longer mean things… well, it shakes the faith of a great number of people in the judicial system.
McDonnell deserves better, and so does the system of law that he spent a great portion of his life devoted to — at the expense of his own family and personal career. Given the gravity of the situation and the flimsiness — and quite frankly, the unevenness — of the conviction and who got caught and who walks free… the U.S. Supreme Court should hear this case, and then restore some sanity and faith in the legal process here in Virginia.
The bottom line here? Trump can freely engage in honest services fraud, and identified a number of people who took his cash (and even had solicitors onstage) and federal investigators don’t bat an eyelash. So why is McDonnell targeted and others who engaged in similar practices before and simultaneously simply walk away?
Those are the questions the rest of us are asking.
