As we reported earlier, President Donald Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment when he was questioned during a deposition in New York on Wednesday in a civil case being pursued by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“I once asked ‘if you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question,” Trump said in a statement. “When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.”
Folks on the left are already trying to spin that negatively against Trump. Even former prosecutor and lead impeachment counsel Daniel Goldman tweeted something that is just plain wrong. He should be ashamed he tweeted it and is misleading people who may not know better.
There are reasons we have rights. Lawyers particularly should be respectful of that — not putting down or denigrating the exercise of those rights or acting like taking the Fifth is a sign of guilt. Indeed, given all that has been leveled against Trump from multiple Democratic efforts, it is the intelligent and responsible way to proceed.
If Goldman and others want to play that game, perhaps they’d like to explain why Hillary Clinton’s IT guy invoked the Fifth 125 times during the email investigation?
Goldman is now running for Congress so perhaps he’s trying to appeal to the left with his tweet, but he’s just showing he has no principles with it.
We’ve seen it isn’t about guilt or innocence when it comes to Trump — it’s about getting him out of the way. They went after him even before he got into office with the Russia probe, they were talking about trying to impeach him before he’d done anything as president. The FBI even had a lawyer who filed a false statement against the Trump team in an application for a FISA warrant. We’ve now also seen the completely unprecedented move by the FBI, to raid Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
Trump would be foolish if he didn’t invoke the Fifth. It’s particularly wise in this case, given that James campaigned on the promise to get Trump. Pursuing the man, not any specific crime — a truly concerning approach.
Eric Trump, Donald Trump’s son, posted an ad with some of the statements that James has made about Trump in the past.
Why would you expect to get any kind of objectivity or fairness from someone who acts that way? Not to mention that’s wrong too when you’re supposed to be an objective attorney general.