Do you remember that movie Airplane when people lined up to correct the hysterical woman?
I'd opt for that.
In a piece in Slate, Zasloff said that Trump's targeting of law firms is "extortion" and, while it's illegal, he won't have his own government prosecute him.
Trump issued executive orders targeting some law firms that he considered had acted against him, including two with ties to the Mueller investigation that pointed to Russian interference in the 2016 election. The orders stripped security clearances, blocked government contracts, and barred lawyers from federal buildings actions condemned as violating the First Amendment and intended to intimidate lawyers representing Trump's opponents.
"The good news is, he doesn't have to," wrote Zasloff referring to Trump's reluctance to order prosecution of himself. "Holding him legally accountable doesn't require prosecution. Trump's actions open up him and his aides to a powerful form of civil liability that will make clear that they are, in fact, criminals: civil RICO."
RICO, or Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, is the law that makes it ''unlawful for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise … to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity," cited Zasloff.
The court considers an "enterprise" as "any individual, partnership, corporation, association or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact, although not a legal entity."
In this case, it would mean that Trump and his aides, including Cabinet officials and those under them. A "pattern of racketeering activity" is two or more acts, he said.
He went on to list three actions that could lead to civil charges for Trump, filed by the law firms that he's targeted.
First is extortion. His "threats against and coercion of law firms, as well as universities," fall under state laws, Zasloff said.
Second, is bribery and solicitation. Trump marketing his own personal meme coin gives a unique opportunity to "[funnel] money directly to the Trump family and to the president himselfas if the buying up of suites at the Trump Hotel, or the paying of millions of dollars to sit near him at Mar-a-Lago, had not already done so," said Zasloff.
He noted that the $400 million gifted jet from Qatar is a more recent example.
Third is obstruction of justice. Zasloff cited 18 USC Section 1503, which makes it a felony to try and "influence, intimidate, or impede" any officer of the court, including a judge. However, it also includes a larger clause, making the obstruction of the "due administration of justice" a criminal offense.
An example is the U.S. Supreme Court's order to "facilitate and effectuate the return of Kilmar brego Garca," a Maryland immigrant who was accused of being an international gang member, taken by the Department of Homeland Security and shipped to a prison in El Salvador without a trial.
Zasloff cited top aide Stephen Miller, who recently threatened that if judges didn't "do the right thing," Trump would suspend habeas corpus, the constitutional mandate that no person could be unlawfully detained without a trial.
In his closing, Zasloff said that filing a civil RICO case against "the racketeer in chief" could be part of the efforts to stop Trump's "dictatorial aspirations, which are coming closer to reality every day."
