In her column for the Washington Post, conservative Jennifer Rubin said Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden should let anyone who worked or is still working for Donald Trump --and who has committed a crime including ignoring subpoenas issued by Congress -- know that they will be subject to prosecution should he win in November.
Using comments made by constitutional law scholar Laurence Tribe as a jumping-off point ("It’s well past time for Congress to lose its subpoena inhibitions, now that the Roberts court has unanimously rejected the administration’s claims of absolute presidential immunity in a ringing reaffirmation of the principle that no executive official is above the law,") the never-Trumper said every official in the current administration who engaged in criminal conduct should face the music after the president is ousted.
"There has to be a penalty, even a possibility of penalty, hanging over these officials’ heads, both to discourage continued wrongdoing and to hold accountable those who have cooperated with Trump’s ongoing obstruction of Congress and willful violation of laws," she argued, adding that Biden should make that clear during the campaign while stating it will be up to whomever he nominates as his attorney general to decide which investigations need to be opened.
According to the columnist, there is a wealth of investigations that need to be opened looking at top Trump advisers like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
Pointing out that Trump has spent over three years threatening to “lock up” political adversaries, Rubin said the Biden Justice Department should pursue actual criminality and provable "lawlessness" and the Democratic nominee should make that clear.
"Biden should address the lawlessness in the Trump administration, the criminal convictions of so many of Trump’s associates, investigations into his own financial activities, his profiting off the presidency, his refusal to condemn lawbreaking by police and white supremacist groups, and efforts to conceal Russian meddling from Congress," she advised.
