On August 1, 2023, Trump’s former Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, issued one of his surprisingly bold statements since the news of Trump's previous and latest (third) indictments.
Pence, a Republican, Christian conservative from Indiana stated that “Today's indictment serves as an important reminder: Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”
Pence noted that while former president Trump “is entitled to the presumption of innocence but with this indictment, his candidacy means more talk about January 6th and more distractions.” Trump has since declared he wears the indictments “as a badge of honor.”
Pence does not agree, arguing that “As Americans, his (Trump) candidacy means less attention paid to Joe Biden's disastrous economic policies afflicting millions across the United States and to the pattern of corruption with Hunter (Biden).”
The Senate Majority Leader, a Democrat from New York, Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also from New York, took a a more harsh characterization and criticism, insisting that "The third indictment of Mr. Trump illustrates in shocking detail that the violence of that day (January 6) was the culmination of a months-long criminal plot led by the former president to defy democracy to overturn the will of the American people.”
They remind Americans that "This indictment is the most serious and most consequential thus far and will stand as a stark reminder to generations of Americans that no one, including a president of the United States, is above the law."
Noah Bookbinder, President of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), makes the case that Trump’s third indictment “is the big one because Donald Trump has been criminally charged for attempting to stop the peaceful transfer of power, and the charges come from the very government he tried to take over by force.
Donald Trump committed the ultimate offense against our republican form of government when he attempted to keep himself in power after the American people voted him out, ultimately inciting a violent mob to attack the Capitol to facilitate this plan. Had he succeeded, it would have been effectively the end of our almost two-and-a-half-century experiment in democratic self-governance.”
Even for the proverbial cat with nine lives, Trump’s documented truck loads of troubles, allegations of criminal and unconstitutional actions have placed him in very slippery, vulnerable and dangerous position.
Huffing and puffing will not and cannot be a viable legal strategy. Casting aspersions and insults do Not seem like a reasonable and sufficient basis to avoid the possibility and consequences of potentially being found guilty.
Soon, American jurors and American courts will decide the complexities of the cases!
* Dr. Chido Nwangwu, author of the forthcoming 2023 book, MLK, Mandela & Achebe: Power, Leadership and Identity., is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston. He has appeared as an analyst on CNN, ALJazeera, SKYnews, and served as an adviser on Africa business to Houston’s former Mayor Lee Brown. Follow him on Twitter @Chido247