Some Americans on Thursday found themselves expressing envy after seeing elites in both the United Kingdom and South Korea face legal consequences for their actions.
First, former Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of inciting an insurrection with his failed bid in 2024 to seize power by declaring martial law.
According to The Guardian, the court justified sending the 65-year-old Yoon to jail for the rest of his life by noting his lack of contrition for his actions, which were described by Judge Jee Kui-youn as sending the military to the national assembly “to blockade the assembly hall and arrest key figures, including the assembly speaker and party leaders, thereby preventing lawmakers from gathering to deliberate or vote.”
In the UK, law enforcement officials arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the one-time Duke of York, amid scrutiny over his ties to late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The New York Times reported that the former prince was taken into custody over “suspicions of misconduct in public office after accusations that he shared confidential information with Mr. Epstein while serving as a British trade envoy.”
After seeing legal accountability for foreign elites, American politicians and commentators called for the same to happen in the US.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who along with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) forced the release of the Epstein files last year, said it was time for the US Department of Justice to prosecute powerful people implicated in Epstein’s trafficking of underage girls.
“Prince Andrew was just arrested,” wrote Massie. “This was the metric I established for success of the Epstein Files Transparency Act that Ro Khanna and I got passed. Now we need JUSTICE in the United States. It’s time for Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to act!”
Massie’s argument was echoed by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who posted a link to news about the Mountbatten-Windsor arrest on social media and commented, “This is exactly the kind of accountability we need from the Department of Justice.”
Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) argued the Mountbatten-Windsor arrest showed that “if a prince can be held accountable, so can a president.”
President Donald Trump, who is featured prominently in the Epstein files, was indicted in 2023 on charges related to his attempts to illegally remain in power after losing the 2020 election, but that case was dropped after Trump triumphed in the 2024 presidential election.
MS NOW host Joe Scarborough said the Mountbatten-Windsor arrest showed that European countries at least still have a sense of shame that is currently absent in the US.
“At least they have shame in Europe if somebody was hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein, there are consequences,” he fumed. “No consequences here!”
CNN commentator Bakari Sellers argued that the actions taken in Korea and the UK showed how far the US has fallen in upholding the rule of law.
“Amazing how many other countries get it right,” he observed. “Watching ex-South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol, sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of insurrection and Prince Andrew being arrested for his involvement with Epstein. We counting to ‘preach’ western values but are a laughing stock around the world.”
Journalist Dave Levitan also described the lack of accountability for Trump and other powerful people implicated in the Epstein scandal as a national embarrassment.
“Getting shown up in the arena of elite impunity by the British monarchy is an incredible ‘America at 250!’ achievement,” he wrote.
Writer Julian Sanchez pointed the finger at the US Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling that granted presidents total immunity for official acts related to the office as poisonous to the rule of law.
“So SCOTUS, with its fabricated-out-of-thin-air immunity doctrine,” he wrote, “has actually made American presidents less accountable than LITERAL royalty.”
