There is a question that has come up in the popular media, at least the admittedly limited left leaning media I frequent. The fact that the question is asked is terrifying. Will the Biden Department of Justice investigate and prosecute Donald J Trump?
To start, there are crimes that have already been thoroughly investigated. Several charges of obstruction of justice are cited in the Muller report and could easily be charged within hours or days of a Biden DOJ taking control. Then there are the criminal charges associated with the impeachment of Trump. Failure or success of impeachment and removal from office isn’t supposed to be related to criminal proceedings after that impeachment.
Considering the audience likely reading this, I don’t think I have to do much convincing that there are grounds to investigate Trump for potential crimes committed prior to and during his presidency. Note that I am being generous here; innocent until proven guilty.
But I have heard doubts expressed by notable commentators, for example by Rachel Maddow on her program of December 7, hinting that maybe it would be expected and understandable if the Biden DOJ just let all that go.
We do have a history of avoiding piercing privilege on the grounds of putting pain and embarrassment behind us. Ford let Nixon go. As Obama said referring to people in the George W Bush administration (including Bush himself?) who had engaged in torture and warrantless wiretapping:
“I don't believe that anybody is above the law. On the other hand, I also have a belief that we need to look forward, as opposed to looking backwards." https://www.npr.org/2020/08/13/901679755/one-tough-question-for-doj-if-biden-is-elected-whether-to-prosecute-trump
I have to use that line next time I get stopped for speeding. It should be in the repertoire of anybody that comes under scrutiny of criminal activity of any sort. “Yes, well, I might have shot that guy. But, shouldn’t we all just look forward, as opposed to looking backwards?”
How many thousands are in prison under trivial drug possession charges as privilege protects the worst of us?
We have a litmus test before us. Again. We have affirmed, time and again, that we are not a nation of laws, but one of privilege. Will we do that again? Will a Biden DOJ decide that we should all just forget about these last four years of crime? And what of the years before them? How can we look at the rise of the likes of Donald J Trump through tax fraud and money laundering, and of the unpunished Jeffrey Epstein and still claim that this is a nation of laws rather than of privilege?
It is not that Trump is the most vicious criminal this country has produced. Arguably, his crimes have not been especially grave in comparison to others. Rather, they have been transparent, brazen, and their impact magnified by the unwillingness or inability of our leaders and institutions to react in any meaningful way.
For a Biden DOJ to find a way to ignore all that Trump has done, for that DOJ to, as those before them, continue to avoid prosecution of the rich, famous and influential, will affirm that the United States is by no means a nation of laws, but of privilege. Nationally, that would be dispiriting. Internationally, it would further erode the little moral standing that remains.