Those hoping that Donald Trump will be held criminally liable – again – for his alleged misconduct will have to lower their expectations. As my MSNBC colleague Jordan Rubin explained, the Republican’s election victory will effectively end the pending cases against him.
Similarly, in the wake of the election, NBC News reported that Justice Department officials “have been evaluating how to resolve the two federal criminal cases” before Trump takes office, “to comply with the department’s long-standing policy that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted.”
Time will tell whether Special Counsel Jack Smith will resign before Inauguration Day — the president-elect has already promised to fire (and possibly deport) the prosecutor — but either way, it appears his cases won’t move forward, despite their merits.
It was against this backdrop that Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina issued a message of sorts to Smith via social media the morning after Election Day. It said:
“It’s time to look forward to a new chapter in your legal career as these politically motivated charges against President Trump hit a wall. The Supreme Court has substantially rejected what you tried to do, and after tonight it is clear that the American people are tired of the practice of law. Put an end to these cases. The American people deserve payback.”
So a few things.
First, as the sycophantic senator probably knows, there is literally zero evidence to suggest that Smith’s cases are “politically motivated.”
Second, if Graham believes that the Supreme Court’s ruling — written entirely by Republican-appointed justices — immunizing presidents from liability is worth celebrating, I would encourage him to take another look.
But even putting these pertinent details aside, it is also worth realizing how far this differs from the position Graham has taken in the recent past.
For example, in 2017, when Trump sought to oust then-special counsel Robert Mueller, it was Graham who told reporters that if the then-president removed the then-special counsel, it “could be the beginning of the end of the crisis.” Trump presidency.”
The South Carolinian added that the system needed “a check and balance here,” and the senator even approved legislation that would prevent a president from acting unilaterally to remove a special counsel.
Months later, Graham also said it would be “corrupt” for Trump to remove a special counsel investigating him, adding that a president shutting down an investigation without cause “would be a constitutional crisis.”
Sure, there’s one relevant detail that’s different — Mueller didn’t indict Trump, and Smith did — but Graham’s evolution on this speaks volumes about his partisan perspective.
This message updates our related previous reporting.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
