Which "Official Acts" should Brandon "Commit" before leaving office?
Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2024 6:00 pm
Under current American law, old Brandon can commit any crime he likes for any reason he wants as long as there isn't long enough left on his tenure for the two houses to put together a coherent indictment and conviction. Once he leaves office he is protected by a shield of absolute immunity for "Official Acts" irrespective of any corrupt intent.
Anything that is remotely connected to his role in government, either as the guy in overall charge of law enforcement at the federal level, or the Commander in Chief of the armed forces will fall either within the scope of his enumerated powers or else within the ill-defined "outer perimiter" of his official duties. Even personal he shit he gets up to is covered by a limited assumption of immunity on the grounds that for some reason, nothing he does, says or writes under any capacity of his office will be usable as evidence of his criminal intent even if the crime itself is deemed to be outside of that outer perimeter.
So what is the best crime he can get away with? One option might be to fire the Chair of the Federal Reserve (offical act), appoint Hunter Biden to the job under a recess appointment to evade Congressional approval, and then print himself a billion dollar bank note, or sell the US gold reserves to the Emir of Kuwait in return for an enormous bribe. The difficulty with such a heist of course is that the heist would fail, nobody would go to jail, but nobody would get rich either.
Alternatively, he could commit onof those "Official Acts" that's justified by some "greater good". Perhaps he should wait until 5 days before the election and then just casually share some CIA/NSA documents with a few friendly journalists. If the documents expose Trump and his relatives corrupt dealings with a foreign government that should do the trick to swing the election.
This is similarly protected as all the other crimes a president might commit in office. The leaking of state secrets aspect is openand shut, can't be prosecuted. And even though such election interference contravenes multiple statutes, almost certainly including felonies, it probably can't be prosecuted either, even though lection interference would be a personal act rather than an official one. If the means used to commit those crimes are part of the presidents core responsibilities, then no inference of motive (for mens rea) can be drawn from them.
So what sort of crime do you think Brandon should do on his way out? One of the boring "Greater Good" ones to save democracy from the Gog The Demagogue, or can you cook up a proper get rich quick scheme where the money doesn't get taken away on Jan 21st?
Anything that is remotely connected to his role in government, either as the guy in overall charge of law enforcement at the federal level, or the Commander in Chief of the armed forces will fall either within the scope of his enumerated powers or else within the ill-defined "outer perimiter" of his official duties. Even personal he shit he gets up to is covered by a limited assumption of immunity on the grounds that for some reason, nothing he does, says or writes under any capacity of his office will be usable as evidence of his criminal intent even if the crime itself is deemed to be outside of that outer perimeter.
So what is the best crime he can get away with? One option might be to fire the Chair of the Federal Reserve (offical act), appoint Hunter Biden to the job under a recess appointment to evade Congressional approval, and then print himself a billion dollar bank note, or sell the US gold reserves to the Emir of Kuwait in return for an enormous bribe. The difficulty with such a heist of course is that the heist would fail, nobody would go to jail, but nobody would get rich either.
Alternatively, he could commit onof those "Official Acts" that's justified by some "greater good". Perhaps he should wait until 5 days before the election and then just casually share some CIA/NSA documents with a few friendly journalists. If the documents expose Trump and his relatives corrupt dealings with a foreign government that should do the trick to swing the election.
This is similarly protected as all the other crimes a president might commit in office. The leaking of state secrets aspect is openand shut, can't be prosecuted. And even though such election interference contravenes multiple statutes, almost certainly including felonies, it probably can't be prosecuted either, even though lection interference would be a personal act rather than an official one. If the means used to commit those crimes are part of the presidents core responsibilities, then no inference of motive (for mens rea) can be drawn from them.
So what sort of crime do you think Brandon should do on his way out? One of the boring "Greater Good" ones to save democracy from the Gog The Demagogue, or can you cook up a proper get rich quick scheme where the money doesn't get taken away on Jan 21st?
