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1/N A couple of what-ifs have been buzzing in my mind lately about the administration that comes after Trump. I will unpack them in a thread because John Bolton's evident contempt for the public interest has prompted me to discuss them.
2/N First, a little historical context: the Obama administration caught flak for not vigorously pursuing/prosecuting bankers who (a) defaulted on their fiduciary duties and caused the '08 financial collapse and then (b) used their TARP bailout funds to pay themselves bonuses.
3/N If Biden wins the presidency, he and his administration (chiefly his DOJ people) will likewise decide whom to pursue in/adjacent to this administration. There will be pressure on a new administration to "look ahead, not backward," as there was on the Obama administration.
4/N Declining to prosecute provable corruption would, IMO, be a mistake. These prosecutions might/might not deter public corruption, but, even if they don't deter, they enhance public perceptions of fairness of the justice system - that it's not only poor/POC who get prosecuted.
5/N Corruption prosecutions are important, but they will be challenging for a new administration. IMO, Trump's is unprecedentedly opaque. Mnuchin's announcement that it won't disclose who got 1/2 TRILLION DOLLARS in PPP money is typical of this Unitary Executive Dumpster Fire.
6/N Plus, the administration is negligently and/or intentionally bad at record-keeping. @CREWcrew sued FEMA for records of the destinations of PPE, and FEMA said IT DIDN'T HAVE ANY RECORDS. This could be a lie, but it could also be true.
7/N Further, I think we can reasonably expect numerous shredding-parties in various federal departments by political appointees as they leave. The administration's behavior to date supports a prediction that it will want to hide what it's done, wherever and however it's done it.
8/N A new administration will also confront the optics of pursuing the Orangerie's corruption: former officials - and their allies in the media - will accuse the new administration of "political" prosecutions, regardless how legally justified any given prosecution might be.
9/N So, prosecutions by a successor administration amid the residual smoking debris of this incompetent and corrupt administration won't be easy. Any prosecution will have to be meticulously developed, carefully reviewed, and fully explained and justified to the public.
10/N I hope the law-enforcement component of the Biden campaign is already thinking hard about this if Biden defeats Trump and takes office in January. This Klepto-kakistocracy will present a complex, multi-faceted law-enforcement problem.
11/N Finally I fervently hope the Biden camp believes it owes its voters - taxpayers - a thorough accounting of Who Did and/or Stole What.
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