Well, if this is not enough to get your blood boiling on the day before Election Day I don’t know what will do it.
Yesterday in Miami, Florida, credibly accused sex offender and alleged child rapist Donald Trump took to the rostrum to apologize, on your behalf, on my behalf on the whole damn country’s behalf to Congress-critter Matt Gaetz, who has NOT been cleared of accusations that he transported underage girls across state lines to engage in sexual activity but rather has skated because prosecutors have declined to charge him thinking the sleazeballs he hung out and were ready to dime out on him may not make credible witnesses.
What trash.
“In his second rally of the weekend, Donald Trump spewed his typical racism and election lies, but he also issued an apology “on behalf of the country.” The apology was to Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, who for many months was under investigation for alleged sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl, bringing women across state lines for prostitution and obstructing justice. The twice-impeached former president seems to believe he has the authority not only to speak for the country that voted him out of office but to apologize to an alleged sex trafficker on its behalf.
“A man who is a fantastic person, gets a little controversial on occasion, but there is nobody better than this guy — and he has been through a lot,” Trump said of Gaetz…
… But perhaps Trump should be apologizing on behalf of himself. Because when Gaetz asked him for a preemptive pardon before he left the White House, Trump did not give him one. According to congressional testimony by John McEntee, who served as director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office under Trump, Gaetz complained that the Department of Justice was attempting to “make his life hell.” It would be “great” if Trump could issue him a pardon, Gaetz said, according to McEntee. But Trump did not pardon him.
Greenberg eventually pleaded guilty to six charges, including sex trafficking of a minor, and agreed to cooperate with law enforcement in their investigation of Gaetz. But late last month, prosecutors recommended against charging the congressman in the matter due to questions about how credible two key witnesses would appear to a jury.”
One wonders why Gaetz was so eager to obtain a pardon, acceptance of which is tantamount to admitting guilt, else why would it be needed, if he were indeed innocent?
If he had been aware at the time of this DOJ’s aversion to indict sitting, or even defeated politicians, he could have rested easy without one.
Some reactions from Acyn’s followers on Twitter:
Treasonist citizens have no right to speak on behalf of the country.
— Wilma Fine (@WilmaFine4) November 7, 2022
Well, yeah.
What Gaetz put minors through is just terrible.
How "on-brand" for Trump to apologize to a predator.
— Eli (@Eli_Fit1) November 6, 2022
Yup
Poor Matt Gaetz pic.twitter.com/Bky9YEzfgt
— Mz. Cabibi (@SoulofDemocracy) November 6, 2022
👍
"Who among us hasn't engaged in child sex trafficking using verified payment apps on our cell phones and been vilified for it?"
— ProLib | Resist Fascists 🌊🌊 (@prolibshow) November 6, 2022
Almost every one of us.
Pedophiles defend pedophiles- no surprise
— Ashley (@HeyAsh89) November 6, 2022
Yup
Who is that loser to apologize on our behalf?
I am starting to think this drumpf guy might just be an a$$hole.
This just reminds me of how furious I am that Gaetz is getting a pass for being a pedophile. Also reminds me of how R’s try to frame D’s as pedophiles. As with all things R – project what you are actually doing on to the opposing party.
When it comes to them, every accusation is a confession.
“If he had been aware at the time of this DOJ’s aversion to indict sitting, or even defeated politicians, he could have rested easy without one.”
Um, did you forget your OWN words earlier in *your* article? As YOU wrote, Gaetz “has skated because prosecutors have declined to charge him thinking the sleazeballs he hung out and were ready to dime out on him may not make credible witnesses.”
Do you SERIOUSLY not understand how courtroom procedure works? When you take a case–ANY CASE–to a court of law, your evidence must be 100% absolute with all the relevant proverbial “i’s” dotted and “t’s” crossed. AND your witnesses must be ABSOLUTELY CREDIBLE to present to the jury. This isn’t hard to fucking grok if you’d put your mammal/human brain into action instead of letting your reptile brain do all your thinking.
Juries are a VERY unpredictable bunch but the one thing they all share is that they must be ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED OF A PERSON’S GUILT. And part of determining that guilt is based on the EVIDENCE OF THE WITNESSES. If a witness’s testimony appears coached or forced, a jury will likely disregard it. If the witness doesn’t seem fully believable or seems to be hiding something, a jury will like disregard the testimony.
A prosecutor who tries a case and relies on witnesses who may not prove “credible” to the jury is likely to lose the case and the defendant goes free.
You only have to dot “i’s” and cross “t’s” if you want to have your case stand the scrutiny it will eventually face when under the microscope of a state s.c. or the federal s.c. Prosecutors get convictions with a lot less. More to the point, prosecutors get admissions of guilt with even weak circumstantial evidence all the time. Now, that would be unlikely, extremely unlikely, in Gaetz’s case but we all know it happens frequently.
So you’re saying rather than RISK the culpret going free you should set him free in the first place You must be a Trump appointee like the judge hearing this case who the prosecutors know will bog them down like the judge did with that twerp Brandon what’s his face.
The various and sundry justice department’s in this country are not doing what they were created to do. WHEN this country becomes an anarchist hell-hole, they will bear a great deal of the blame for that state of affairs.
It flat-out stinks that Gaetz won’t be tried. Federal Prosecutors are notorious for caution when it comes to rich and/or high profile people. Sometimes it seems like even with a pile of documents, hours of video of the crime(s) being planned and committed and the actual defendant on video and later outside wherever they gave their video statement telling the newsies “Yeah – I did EVERYTHING that I’m charged with. I knew it was illegal before I did it, when I did it and STILL know it’s illegal!” federal prosecutors are hesitant to take their case to court.
But seriously, cases like this are tough for any prosecutor. Because at some point prosecutors need to call a victim(s) to testify. Most sex crimes go unreported. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know why. But for a number of reasons or combination of them victims don’t want to get police involved. They want to try and forget, or in some cases (not nearly enough) get counseling and/or take part in support groups to help them learn to deal with what happened to them. Of the relative handful who do want to press charges many won’t even see police do enough to get prosecutors (even local ones in communities all over the country) to seriously consider filing charges, much less follow through and arrest the perpetrator. They know what they will face and not just in the courtroom.
Now, imagine that scrutiny, the ripping apart of a victim’s life and even that of their family and friends by a defense attorney AND the media in a high profile case. We’ve seen it again and again. Now imagine a political figure like Gaetz with the ENIRE GOP attack machine primed and ready to go. AND now the prospect of the crazies out there who, once the victim(s) gets doxxed literally hunting them!
I ask anyone reading this to, even if they don’t respond to be honest with themselves about whether they’d put their proverbial heads on the chopping block!
As I recall a victim (now of course an adult) who was once thought to be a good witness refused to cooperate. She made that decision even before the rhetoric of the last six months. I’m pretty sure that other victims have looked at the odds of going through the ordeal of testifying and having it lead to a conviction against someone with Gaetz’s resources said no. And again, THAT was before the environment got so toxic that tesytifying meant risking their lives and perhaps that of their loved ones.
As I said, it stinks but political figures, especially the sleazy ones know all too well how to dance close to the line but not cross over into making threats or “suggesting someone else ‘do something'” that violate witness intimidation statutes. As is so often the case, the law can be manipulated to protect criminals as much and sometimes even more the victims of crimes. This would seem to be one of those cases.
These upstanding Rep snot rags won’t be gone untio the GOP voters get their sanity back, but don’t hold your breath!