Trump Tests The Constitution. The Constitution Must And Will Prevail.

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Trump Tests The Constitution And Challenges Our Founders. The Constitution Must And Will Prevail.

Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer

President Trump showed again this week that he believes he has dictatorial powers.

In the course of two days, Trump improperly interfered in the Executive and Judicial branches of our government. This followed his long-running obstruction of Congress, including the impeachment process.

More than 200 years ago, the Founders saw Donald Trump coming. They wrote a Constitution with a system of checks and balances to protect against the exercise of dictatorial powers.

Trump is testing the Constitution the Founders created. The Constitution must and will prevail.

The mission of the Justice Department is “to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.” Trump ran right over that mission when he attacked the sentencing recommendation made by career DOJ prosecutors for his crony Roger Stone. Meanwhile, in an unprecedented act, Barr had the recommendation withdrawn and replaced. This was quickly followed by a Trump tweet congratulating Barr for “taking charge” of the case.

As Donald Ayer, former deputy attorney general in the George H.W. Bush Administration told Politico, “With Bill Barr, on an amazing number of occasions … you can be almost 100 percent certain that there’s something improper going on.”

Democracy 21 has filed four complaints against Barr with DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility challenging Barr’s biased actions on behalf of Trump and his repeated abuses of office.

This week, Trump also attacked Judge Amy Berman Jackson who is scheduled to sentence Roger Stone on February 20. Trump was clearly attempting to bully and intimidate Judge Jackson into giving Stone a light sentence. This is not only a direct attack on Judge Jackson’s judicial independence but also an indirect attack on the independence of the entire judiciary.

Trump is a clear and present danger to our constitutional system of government and to the rule of law. Democracy 21 will join with concerned citizens and organizations to fight this threat posed by Trump every step of the way.

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