The stench from the Sussmann verdict – The Spectator World
These essential elements of stable democracy are encompassed by two words: trust and fairness. For democracies to thrive, citizens must trust the four core elements of their government: the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and the bureaucracies which pass and implement most of the day-to-day rules. A crucial element of that trust is the belief that each individual gets a fair shake. That means he won t be arrested or fined because of the color of his skin or his religion. If he has to go to court, it means he ll get a fair trial, with an even-handed judge and a jury of his peers. He won t be pilloried by a biased judge who doesn t like his politics. His case will be decided by a jury that weighs the evidence without prejudice. The public also has a right to see that trials are handled fairly, without bias.
Every one of those basic tenets was violated in Michael Sussmann s trial for lying to the FBI. We know now that a Washington, DC jury has found him not guilty, though it is still unclear whether they believed he didn t lie, or the government didn t prove it, or it didn t matter to a politically biased FBI, which was determined to investigate anything connected to Donald Trump. We also know something more: the whole case is drenched in the sulfurous smell of the Washington Swamp.
DC jury. That’s how it goes.