It was historic, first-ever ex- or sitting president charged, criminally charged. He’s charged with 34 felonies. And he also has been impeached twice. But talk about what he did get charged with and what he didn’t.
RALPH NADER: Well, it was historic in the sense it was massively overdue. Let’s start with Donald Trump’s notorious statement in 2019, which lays the basis for his lawlessness day after day as president. He said, quote, “With Article II, I can do whatever I want as president,” end-quote. Really? But he went on to prove it, before 2019, when he made the statement, and after. And so, the broader frame of reference here is that he turned the White House into a daily crime scene. John Bolton, who was his special assistant, in his memoir, said, “Obstruction of justice in the White House was a way of life.” That’s a serious crime. In the Mueller report, they outlined 10 major obstruction of justice against law enforcement in a very crude manner. There wasn’t any subtlety about it.
But what Trump has done, openly, brazenly — there’s nothing furtive, like Nixon, about Trump — is that in the White House, he set a historic record for defying over 150 congressional subpoenas. That’s criminal contempt. He got away with it.
He shoveled around billions of dollars from one program to another, most notoriously from military housing projects to extend the wall on the Mexican border. That is a violation
— source democracynow.org | Apr 05, 2023