'The gravest circumstances': Political scientist urges Justice Department to prosecute Donald Trump

The U.S. Dept. of Justice should prosecute Donald Trump for his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, says a political scientist and Bloomberg opinion writer.

Jonathan Bernstein, who has a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University, says “it’s just not that hard a choice. Trump’s crimes are too important, and too dangerous, to ignore.”

After offering up a string of reasons why DOJ should tread lightly, he stresses that the “Justice Department says that it investigates crimes, not people, and that’s the way it should be. Nobody should want the Justice Department to be turned against the leaders of out-parties for offenses that would never have been charged against anyone else.”

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Bernstein adds that prosecuting a former president is “something that should be reserved for the gravest circumstances,” and he apparently concludes that Trump’s actions qualify.

“Experts seem to believe that the evidence is there and that conviction is likely for Trump’s efforts to pressure election officials to falsify results, to gin up slates of fake electors and to provoke the Capitol mob,” he explains, noting that “to this day, long after the election, [Trump] continues to try to overturn the legitimate result.”

“Prosecutors should take it into account if a person constantly takes to the biggest stages and in effect brags about his crimes and promises to commit them again if he has the chance.”