America needs to reinforce the purpose of the Constitution's 14th and 25th amendments

Echo opinion letter published in the Idaho Press:

Department of Justice (DOJ) must update rules about sitting presidents and criminal behavior.

(Maine Writer: In my opinion, the Constitution's 14th amendment's insurrection section* and 25th amendment's** competency statement, must be reinforced by the courts.)

Constitutional amendments are laws - big laws that make big changes. Amendments are laws that are added to the Constitution of the United States.

It’s time for the U.S. Department of Justice to change its “rule” about whether it’s all right to charge a sitting president of a crime. This was never an issue until President Nixon was suspected of crimes during Watergate. At that time, someone in the Attorney General’s office apparently decided a policy was needed to cover that possibility.

In the era of Trump and Trumpzism, the situation has changed. Now we got a former guy who actually boasted that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in New York without any consequences. Now that court rulings have been issued that he’s liable for criminal acts while in office, it’s a small step to making him liable during his service. Mechanisms are in place to remove and replace him if necessary. While we’re at it, let’s stop a president from pardoning himself, ❗if in fact that could (possibly❗❓)be thought to be legal.😢😡

From Walt Thode in  Boise, Idaho

*... banned those who “engaged in insurrection” against the United States from holding any civil, military, or elected office without the approval of two-thirds of the House and Senate.

**In case of the inability of the President to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the said powers and duties shall devolve on the Vice President, until the inability be removed.

Christian principles omitted in Trumpzism

In the Idaho Press echo opinion, the Christian in "Christian Principles" is conveniently ignored and omitted. 

The hypocrisy of Evangelical "Christian Principles".

Where are Trump's "Christian Principles"? Nonexistent!

So this wrong minded opinion was published in the Idaho Press.  (RE: Kendall Kemmer, 11/21/2023): 

But, omitted important information about Trump. The guy is a criminal; incited an insurrection with sole purpose of overthrowing our democracy: becoming a dictator. He’s already been convicted of fraud in business dealings. The 91 other charges against him are fact-based. Even the worst serial killer this country had hasn’t had that many felony charges.

The 14th amendment clearly states anyone who has taken part in an insurrection cannot become President. Trump’s supporters are condoning wrong doing (anti-democracy). They don’t belong in Congress and State Legislatures. Evangelical Christians: where are those “Christian Principles” you (falsely❗) brag about❓😖😞😒

Anyone thinking a civil war is a good idea; you’re out of your minds. The reality is: armed men taking over civilians homes; raping your daughters; forcing you into oppression (voiceless); brother killing brothers. We only have to observe what’s happening in other countries to determine we don’t want that here period. Trump wants to bring vengeance on everyone who opposes him. He’s fraudulently getting money for campaigning and spending it on lawyers.

From Judy Smith in Caldwell, Idaho 

Mueller report 101- Russia made ongoing attempts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election

An echo Idahoan point of view by Columnist Jim Jones.

Opinion published in the Idaho Press

Russia was listening! Debate about what the Special Counsel Robert Mueller Report concluded, with regard to Russian interference in the 2016 election, has only intensified since May 29, when Mueller spoke to the nation. In his sphinx-like manner, the special counsel summarized what he had found, declining to go beyond the confines of his written report.

Mueller was unequivocal on one point--the Russians engaged in “multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election.” He began and ended his presentation with that stark warning, apparently confounded by the fact that the U.S. has not seriously mobilized to stop it from happening again in 2020. Normally, there would be an all-hands-on-deck effort to warn off the Russians, prepare strong counter measures, and harden our election systems, among other things, but these are not normal times.

Because Mueller declined to give his personal views on the report findings, all sides have stepped forward to give their particular slant. The Attorney General has repeatedly claimed that the report found no “collusion” between the Russians and the Trump campaign. That is absolutely correct but beside the point. On pages 2 and 180 of Volume One of his report, Mueller clearly states that he did not look into the question of whether there was collusion.

Mueller’s inquiry was concerned with whether the Trump campaign committed the crime of conspiracy, which he describes at page 181 as “an agreement to commit any substantive violation of federal criminal law — including foreign-influence and campaign-finance laws.”

The report details over 140 Russian contacts with the Trump campaign in pages 66-173 of Volume One, concluding that Russia made offers of assistance to the campaign and that the campaign was receptive to some of those offers. However, Mueller said on May 29, that “there was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy.” At page 2 of the report he clarifies: “A statement that the investigation did not establish particular facts does not mean there was no evidence of those facts.” In other words, there was evidence of conspiracy, but not enough to support a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.

Proving criminal conspiracy is no easy task because of the reasonable doubt standard. During my tenure as Idaho Attorney General in the 1980s, I spent many hours trying to pinpoint price-fixing among gasoline dealers. It generally requires either court-approved electronic surveillance or a credible inside source to make a try-able conspiracy case. A phone tap won’t help if the conduct is not on-going, and credible inside sources are hard to come by, as Paul Manafort clearly demonstrated.

I often explained to the public that it was not a price-fixing conspiracy for gas retailers to charge the same price all over town. It was only an unlawful conspiracy when there was an agreement to set prices. In the case of the 2016, election, there would have had to be strong proof of an agreement between Russian actors and the campaign in order to establish a conspiracy. Mueller implies that such evidence existed, but he apparently was unable to obtain enough documents or credible inside witnesses to prove it.

A preponderance of evidence exists to support the Trump campaign's 2016 collusion with the Russians. Nevertheless, we may never know whether the Russian interference helped Trump win the presidency. The President hinted in that direction when he tweeted on May 30 that, “I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected.” He later denied that Russia helped him get elected.

What we do know is that Russia gave the President substantial help in the 2016 election. Putin admitted in Helsinki that he wanted Trump to win. All honorable and patriotic presidential candidates should loudly and clearly tell the Russians and every other foreign country that the United States will not tolerate interference in our elections in 2020 or ever. Indeed, Idaho's Congressional delegation should demand severe consequences for those who try to pervert our democracy.

Jim Jones’ previous columns can be found at https://JJCommonTater.com.