Senator Mike Lee has spoken. He is against the rule of law.

After six weeks of testimony and presentation of various documents, a jury of twelve of our fellow citizens unanimously found Donald R. Trump guilty of 34 felonious acts. As a result, Mike Lee and seven other senators have signed a document stating that they will obstruct the proper functioning of the United States Senate for the remainder of the term except for matters of security and safety (whatever that means). Their rationale is as follows: “The White House has made a mockery of the rule of law and fundamentally altered our politics in un-American ways.”

This rationale is false in at least two ways. Neither the White House nor anyone in the federal government had anything to do with this trial. The trial was fully carried out within the rule of law of the state of New York. To say otherwise is to deny the rule of law.

The Manhattan district attorney of New York County evaluated the evidence that his office had obtained and believed the laws of New York had been violated. Therefore, he had the evidence presented to the Manhattan grand jury, who, after reviewing the evidence, voted to indict Trump on March 30, 2023. This was despite the fact that the Manhattan Federal district attorney had decided not to indict Trump, primarily because the case relied so much on Michael Cohen’s testimony. This was after successfully convicting Cohen of lying. The New York Supreme Court judge was careful to follow the rule of law in the proceedings and in his instructions to the jury, even going so far as to tell the jury that they could not convict solely on Michael Cohen’s testimony. His testimony was pertinent only if there was independent corroboration. Thus, Trump was convicted after carefully following the laws of New York even though the federal government chose not to pursue charges against Trump under the laws of the United States of America.

As usual, Mike Lee has gone off the deep end in his efforts to toady to Trump rather than evaluate things based on facts.

Winston Brundige

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