• Gigan@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Now, why wasn’t Bush charged with any crimes? For the same reason nothing will happen to Putin in Russia.

    Trump is being charged with crimes

    • JBar2@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Trump is being charged by the US and state governments with violation of US and state laws

      That’s a far different scenario than an international court attempting to charge and arrest a US president (current or former

      • Gigan@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Bush lied to congress and the American people. I don’t believe there were no crimes committed by doing that.

        • meco03211@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          But did Bush knowingly lie to a degree provable in court?

          He would have had to have known it was a lie and for that to be proven in court. With trump, his crimes were so egregious there were devout party line adherents backing out and explicitly stating just how illegal what they were doing is. Trump had been told multiple times, in multiple ways that what he was doing was illegal and he went for it anyways.

          • Bumblefumble@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Another point to add. It is not illegal for anyone to lie, so unless he was testifying under oath, Bush could lie as much as he wanted without legal repercussions.

            • kbotc@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Not quite. The constitution has a cutout for official duties of the office. The president must faithfully carry out the duties of the office. So knowingly lying can fail that test.

              If you want someone to blame for the US invasion of Iraq, blame Italy, their Intelligence apparatus, and Nicolò Pollari in particular. He submitted the “Iraq is buying Yellowcake” to the CIA twice, who figured out it was a forgery before setting a private meeting with the vice president who did not know the CIA had already ruled it out.

              • Bumblefumble@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                It’s not illegal to not do that. The legal framework to deal with that is impeachment and trial by Congress.

                • kbotc@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Not quite. Trump is currently being charged in federal court for his part in lying to overturn the election. They used “knowingly false” 32 times in the indictment for a reason. His defense is not that the president is allowed to lie, but rather that he truthfully believed he was telling the truth, so I’m not sure where you assertion is coming from: It is illegal to lie in furtherance of breaking the law, even for the POTUS.

                  • Bumblefumble@lemm.ee
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                    1 year ago

                    Trump is not being put on trial for lying per se. The lying however is part of the furtherance of a criminal conspiracy, which is illegal. So with regards to Bush, he can’t be charged with lying to the American people. It can however be used as evidence against him if it was part of furthering a criminal conspiracy.

        • Archpawn@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          It’s not illegal to lie to the American people. And it’s practically a requirement for office.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Well he’s been at it since the 80s and so far it’s been the only thing he’s ever been mostly right about for an extended period…