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Trump’s Illegal Attack Revisited

The president and his advisers don't think these questions are worth answering.
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Bob Bauer points out the problems with how Trump fired Comey:

The Administration, in short, has shown little regard for thoughtful process in law enforcement that is key to the maintenance of the integrity of the legal system, and of public confidence. Mr. Trump and his DOJ leadership have jumped ahead of the Inspector General’s inquiry, moving suddenly to put their views on record on the same issues the IG is addressing. They have failed to explain why they did so [bold mine-DL], when the alleged misconduct to which they appeal is no different from that which generated the IG inquiry and was widely known when the President took office. The AG was involved in this decision when recused from any matter involving the Russia investigation—again with no explanation [bold mine-DL]. The Deputy AG could not have weighed the matter carefully in 14 days, some part of which he spent writing the short memorandum: which means he reached his conclusion in less than those two weeks. So with whom did he consult—and on what factual record, developed in what way and by whom, did he depend? Again: no explanation [bold mine-DL].

The failure to explain these things is consistent with the administration’s overall carelessness when it comes to providing justifications for some of its more high-profile actions. As I was reading Bauer’s post, I was struck by the similarity to the administration’s failure to provide an explanation for its illegal attack on the Syrian government. The attack Trump ordered last month in Syria was clearly illegal under both domestic and international law, and the administration has made no attempt to present an argument to the contrary. One reason why an explanation hasn’t been forthcoming is that there is no credible explanation available, and another is that the president and his advisers don’t think these questions are worth answering. The problem isn’t just that the administration does outrageous things, but that Trump and his officials don’t feel the need to justify what they’ve done. The depressing thing is that there is no comparable clamor for Trump to provide an explanation after he ordered illegal military action against another government, which is at least as dangerous and alarming an abuse of power as anything Trump did this week.

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