“The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” ― Abraham Lincoln

By Glen Reaux

On Late Tuesday afternoon, September 2^nd, the Inspector General responsible for oversight of the Trump-Pompeo State Department sent a letter to 8 Congressional committees.  The committees are the Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Appropriations and Oversight in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.  Regardless of the fact that Congress is out on recess, Inspector General Steve Linick requested an immediate meeting to discuss urgent matters relative to the current Ukraine scandal. The request by IG Linick is unprecedented and is an indicator that our democracy is in danger and under attack from within.  The Ukrainian scandal is a result of so-called President Trump’s attempt to extort Ukrainian President Zelenskyy by requesting outside interference in the upcoming 2020 election.  Trump unwittingly confessed to several crimes via the release of an official transcript memo of the telephone call between the two of them.  The scandal also features Attorney General William Barr and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who appear to be co-conspirators.  This forced the House of Representatives to launch an impeachment investigation into Donald Trump who appears to present a “clear and present danger” to our national security, your constitutionally mandated rights to a free and fair election and other liberties.  To fully comprehend why your liberties and rights are being violated, you must understand the circumstances surrounding “Trump Barr Pompeo Ukraine and Why We Have Checks and Balances” also known as congressional oversight and separation of powers.

Nearly 250 years ago, the founding fathers ratified the Constitution of the United States just 12 years after declaring our independence from England and the tyranny of King George III.  To protect against tyranny, the founding fathers decided upon a new and unique approach to government.  That approach was to prevent all powers of government from being given to one individual or branch of government.  Thus, the separation of powers which divided our government into three co-equal branches, the Executive Branch, Legislative Branch and Judicial Branch was created.  While the current Electoral College elected President Donald Trump believes and is attempting to brainwash you into believing that being president makes him all-powerful, he is not.  The current Ukraine scandal involves the President and members of his cabinet committing impeachable crimes without regard for the constitution.  These crimes involve campaign finance law violations, abuse of power by extorting a foreign leader, solicitation of foreign interference in the 2020 election and conspiracy to cover-up these crimes. These crimes left unchecked could lead to the first American dictatorship. Hence, the founding fathers reason for the separation of powers and the need for checks and balances.   This novel approach to government gives Congress oversight power over the Executive Branch and its current leader, so-called President, Donald J. Trump.  However, Trump claims that the constitution gives him the right to do whatever he wants.

Trump’s hubris assertion that Article II^{1} makes him all-powerful and constitutionally above the law is ludicrous.  It shows a lack of understanding of the constitution, the powers of his office and a total disregard for the separation of powers and checks and balances.  Article II not only explains the powers of the president, but it also explains several constitutional powers of Congress designed to keep the president in check by limiting many of his powers through mandating congressional approval.  Excerpts from Article II state:

Section I

“The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years,”

“Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:–“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Section II

“The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States;… and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”

“He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States,”

Section III

“He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient;…he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.”

As stated in Article II, Trump is not all-powerful and does not “have the right to do whatever I want as president.”  Thanks to the founding fathers, the separation of powers define the abilities and limits of the Executive Branch, Legislative and Judicial Branches which prevents Trump from becoming a tyrant.

The checks and balances provided by the separation of powers give each branch of government the ability to prevent corruption or abuse of power by the other branches.  The power to write laws and check the president through oversight and impeachment lays with the Congress.  The power to enforce laws and the ability to check Congress through veto power lays with the Executive Branch.  The ability to declare the laws of Congress to be unconstitutional and orders of the President to be illegal lays with the Supreme Court.  This limits the powers of each branch of government and makes them equal and responsible to each other or co-equal.  This is the founding fathers safeguard against tyranny and their way of guaranteeing your rights and liberties under our democracy.

Recently, a “clear and present danger” to these checks and balances has emerged in the form of a Republican-controlled Senate, Judicial Branch and Executive Branch under the leadership of Donald J. Trump.  This “clear and present danger” threatens to convert our government from a democratic republic to one of fascism.  According to Adolph Hitler’s ally, Mussolini, the fascist leader of Italy during WWII:“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.” America has experienced this merger due to Republican-controlled Supreme Court decisions over the past 40 years and the passage of laws favoring corporations over people by this and prior Republican Congress’s. In 2017, Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act became a prime example of fascism. Fascists believe that democracy is obsolete and regard the complete mobilization of society under a totalitarian one-party state as necessary. Prior to the 2018 midterms, Republicans controlled the House, Senate, Judicial Branch and the Executive Branches of government making America a one-party state.

Since taking office in 2017, the Trump administration has exhibited an escalating animosity towards the constitution, open defiance to Congress and a refusal to enforce the oath of office of the presidency.  He has broken almost too many laws to count.  And, in violation of Article II, Section 3 which states “he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” he has employed the office of the Attorney General to openly attack and seek to defeat in court, the Affordable Care Act aka Obama Care.

Most recently, Trump has sought through extortion, the aid of a foreign power to help him defeat Joe Biden, a political opponent and his greatest threat to re-election. The aid sought by Trump would have forced the Ukrainian government to fabricate evidence on his opponent Joe Biden and his son.  In this nearly year-long conspiracy, he has not only broken numerous laws, but he has admitted to it and stated that he did nothing wrong.  An element of these crimes includes, abuse of power by withholding funds appropriated by Congress for Ukrainian defense.  Under our system of checks and balances, Congress writes the laws, appropriates funds and controls the budget.  In 2014, Congress passed the Ukraine Support Act which by law, Trump has to enforce.  Instead of enforcing the law, starting in June of 2019, he withheld funds from Ukraine and only agreed to release them after the July 25^th, extortion attempt became public.

In 1984, Congress passed the Whistleblower Protection Act as a means of providing more congressional oversight over all branches of government which includes Congress.  The law was designed to encourage federal employees to report acts of corruption within the federal government thus helping Congress to become more effective in its oversight duties.  Under the law, whistleblowers are protected from retaliation by superiors and their identities are kept secret.  The law requires that whistleblower complaints be reported to Inspectors General of the different departments or agencies of government.  Furthering its oversight powers, Congress passed the Inspector General act of 1978 ^{2} which was signed into law by Democratic President Jimmy Carter.  The act established another level of oversight in over a dozen government departments and agencies.  The strength of the law resides in Section 3a:

“There shall be at the head of each Office an Inspector General who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, or investigations. Each Inspector General shall report to and be under the general supervision of the head of the establishment involved or, to the extent such authority is delegated, the officer next in rank below such head, but shall not report to, or be subject to supervision by, any other officer of such establishment. Neither the head of the establishment nor the officer next in rank below such head shall prevent or prohibit the Inspector General from initiating, carrying out, or completing any audit or investigation, or from issuing any subpoena during the course of any audit or investigation.”

This law gives Inspectors General (IG) broad investigative powers and placed the office outside of the jurisdiction or control of the Justice Department.  It also guaranteed that no one could interfere with or prohibited the IG from doing his job and reporting the results.  Under the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 ^{3}, provisions were added that insured more accountability, expanding IG offices to 31, ethics provisions and increased funding by Congress.

The exposure of the current Trump Ukraine criminal scandal would not have been possible if not for the Whistleblower Protection Act and the Inspector General Act of 1978 and 2008.  Although the Trump administration has tried to initiate a cover-up to shield Trump from oversight, it has failed.  Details of the scandal that were exposed by the whistleblower and subsequent reporting by news agencies have revealed the depth of a complicated conspiracy to defraud the American people of their rights to a free and fair election.  This criminal action on the part of so-called President Trump began in December of 2018.  During the course of this crime, either voluntarily or unwittingly, Vice President Pence, Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General William Barr, Acting Director of National Intelligence MaGuire and Trump’s personal lawyer Rudi Giuliani all played a part in this conspiracy.  Their roles are as follows:

1. On or about July 18th, Trump tells the Pentagon to freeze military aid to Ukraine.
2. On July 25^th, Trump in a telephone call initiated an extortion plot against Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Under pressure from Trump, Zelenskyy agreed to Trump’s proposal.
3. Throughout 2018, Rudy Giuliani traveled overseas on several occasions to meet with Ukrainian officials to discuss launching a phony investigation into Joe Biden and his Son.
4. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on the phone call when Trump implemented his extortion scheme.
5. Secretary Pompeo’s State Department facilitated the meetings between Rudy Giuliani and Ukrainian officials
6. Kurt Volker was involved in at least one meeting between Giuliani and Ukrainian officials.
7. Attorney General William Barr with the assistance of Trump has traveled around the world attempting to solicit the assistance of several foreign governments in an attempt to devise a scheme to nullify the fact that the Russians interfered in our 2016 election.  This is in contradiction to the fact that 17 intelligence agencies and a Senate report concluded that the Russians are guilty. The attempt by Barr if successful would discredit the Mueller Investigation and possibly lead to a lifting of economic sanctions against Russia.
8. Attorney General William Barr’s Justice Department issued a ruling to Acting DNI Maguire that stated that the whistleblower law did not apply in this case and need not be complied with.
9. Acting DNI Maguire broke the whistleblower law by refusing to turn the whistleblower complaint over to Congress in the designated time period in an attempt to protect Trump.
10. In an attempt to conceal the crime a conspiracy evolved within the White House. According to the whistleblower complaint: “White House officials told me that they were “directed” by White House lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored for coordination, finalization, and distribution to Cabinet-level officials. Instead, the transcript was loaded into a separate electronic system that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. One White House official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective.”
11. On September 1^st, Vice President Pence met with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. This was less than 6 weeks after the extortion attempt which Zelensky agreed to participate in.
12. On September 24^th, Trump released a memo of the transcript of the phone call to President Zelenskyy. The memo confirms the information in the whistleblower complaint and is a standalone confession of the crime.
13. On October 1st, Pompeo refused a subpoena from the House requiring 5 current and former State Department employees to give deposition on the Ukrainian scandal.  Pompeo’s refusal is a direct violation of federal law.

Under the Constitution of the United States, the crimes committed by Trump and all members of his administration that participated in this conspiracy are impeachable offenses.  The checks and balances of the constitution have been responsible for the discovery of these criminal activities.  Only through impeachment can Trump be removed from office at which time he will face criminal prosecution for these crimes.  Unlike Trump, the members of Trump’s administration and Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani are subject to criminal prosecution at this time.  A detailed explanation of the timeline surrounding these events and their importance is provided below.

https://www.gofundme.com/xplicit-news

Linked Sources and Documentation

1. Article II: https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleii
2. Inspector General Act of 1978: https://legcounsel.house.gov/Comps/Inspector%20General%20Act%20Of%201978.pdf
3. Inspector General Reform Act of 2008: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-110publ409/pdf/PLAW-110publ409.pdf

Copyright © 2019, Glen Reaux, all rights reserved