The last thing that President-elect Joe Biden wants to do is be inundated by crimes committed by the previous administration. Biden is a “worker,” looking forward toward a future that repairs relationships with the international community, fixes regulations, revives government agencies and, hopefully, bring public servants back to fill positions. There’s just one problem, however, Donald Trump.
Writing in the Washington Post on Tuesday, Philip Allen Lacovara, a former counselor to the Watergate special prosecutor, explained that Biden may not have any options. It’s a sentiment, Andrew Weissmann, former senior attorney to special counsel Robert Mueller, agrees must happen.
In the case of former President Barack Obama, he was facing the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. Prosecuting former President George W. Bush, Gina Haspel and others for the violent torture conducted on prisoners of war wasn’t a priority. In the case of former President Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford said he hoped to end the “long national nightmare” that was the Watergate scandal. Weissmann argued Biden has no other option but to uphold the power of the special counsel. Lacovara agreed, saying Biden shouldn’t repeat the same mistakes as previous presidents.
“Biden and some of his advisers may believe that the best way to close the book on the Trump presidency, with all of its corruption, abuse and mendacity, is simply to forget the past four years,” wrote Lacovara. “In virtually any other presidential succession, this course might be prudent and consistent with our history of peaceful transitions without recrimination, vindictiveness or rummaging around for criminality.”
Trump is in a category by himself. “One need not embark on a malicious hunt to identify serious criminal abuses by Trump and many of his closest aides,” said Lacovara, explaining that the conduct by him and his administration showed a pattern of disregard for public order, “including those embedded in federal criminal statutes.”
In Watergate, a special prosecutor was appointed because “no person is above the law,” even a president. With Nixon, the interview with David Frost revealed the former president’s attitude was “when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.”