An oddity of the current eventosphere is that political junkies are all breathlessly awaiting the progress of various criminal investigations. There's the January 6 investigation which has already resulted in charges against more than 400 people. Given that the Republicans will never allow an investigation by an independent commission, that's probably all we're going to get on that front. Will it overturn the rock to reveal the evil mastermind? Only time will tell.
However, there is more clarity about investigations focusing on specific prominent individuals. As I have made clear, I avoid prognostication and I try to be cautious in drawing conclusions, but let's review what we do know. I'll take them in alphabetical order, which happens to also be in order of importance, I think.
Andrew Cuomo faces two categories of bad trouble: inappropriate behavior toward women, and malfeasance in office. I do not think he should be governor of New York, and many politicians have resigned over less than what we already know, but Cuomo is hanging tough, and so far the voters, inexplicably, are sticking with him. Although the Attorney General is investigating at the behest of the legislature, the piggish behavior for the most part does not seem to rise to the level of criminality. I believe there is at least one exception in which there could be a claim of assault, but there's no corroboration and it probably wouldn't be prosecutable. This would be a personnel matter and in this case the only controlling authority is the legislature, which has shown no inclination to impeach and remove him.
He is also accused -- well more than accused, he did it -- of issuing misleading statistics about nursing home deaths from Covid-19, and of letting VIPs and cronies jump the line for tests and vaccination. Yeah that's bad and in fact it might arguably have led to some people, you know, dying. However, it's very hard to make a criminal case out of official acts, unless there's a quid pro quo, i.e. bribery; or violation of a very specific statute. That doesn't seem to be the case here so again, any consequences are up to the legislature and they don't seem interested as long as the voters mostly don't care. So what are you gonna do?
We come now to Matt Gaetz. So far, no charges of course, but published reports make it sound awfully bad for him. However, the real question is whether the investigation leads to other Florida politicians and political donors. That could be deep doo doo indeed. We can only wait and see.
Next on our list is Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. He's an idiot, to begin with, and this is likely a counterintelligence as well as a criminal investigation. Don't hold your breath, however. There is a whole lot of underbrush to wade through as they litigate a special master to identify any potentially privileged material in the 18 or so confiscated devices, and then process the evidence. Again, the real question is not the fate of Rudy per se, but where else this may lead. I will only note that attorney-client communications are not privileged when they constitute a criminal conspiracy in themselves. Make of that what you will.
I will discuss the letter T next time.
Oh for chrissake: I'm sorry to have to say this, but people who do not have at least a tenuous connection to reality are not allowed to post comments here.
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