If Trump is NOT prosecuted for his crimes...

[Towlie]

Biden hopes to avoid divisive Trump investigations, preferring unity

Biden has told aides that he's concerned that investigations would divide the country but that he would leave decisions up to an independent Justice Department...

I think the problem of our divided country could be worse if Trump isn't prosecuted.

Consider Trump's Twitter account. It's under the name of Donald J. Trump, @realDonaldTrump, 45th President of the United States. All of that will remain true when he leaves office because it doesn't say anywhere that he's the current president. If Trump remains free to communicate with his supporters then they'll continue to follow him and he'll continue to post his lies, encourage them to violently protest, and preserve the division that he created.

Not good. Trump needs to be prosecuted and whatever his punishment is, it must include removal of his access to Twitter and the Internet in general, else the division of this country that President-Elect Joe Biden wants to avoid could continue for the rest of Trump's life.

[texasfiddler]

1. NY State will do its job and Biden will do his.

[Thekaspervote]

4. This! All Biden said was he didn't want his administration to be involved would let the AG and

NY state do their job!

[former9thward]

16. He never said he would let "NY state do their job"

Why do people say this? And there is no evidence NY state is investigating anything criminal.

[mzmolly]

18. See here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/nyregion/trump-taxes.html

[former9thward]

17. He never said he would let "NY state do their job"

Why do people say this? And there is no evidence NY state is investigating anything criminal.

[Phoenix61]

2. Biden may "reluctantly" because of so

much pressure from Dems allow Twitler etal to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

[mzmolly]

3. Biden would ..." leave decisions up to an independent Justice Department" ...

as he should.

[krawhitham]

10. +1

[ALBliberal]

5. The AG choice is huge!!

[Hoyt]

6. I think Biden is right unless there is concrete proof of a crime that people can understand.

Most of the crud trump has done -- or hasn't done like managing CV19 or uniting the country -- aren't crimes, just failures.

No jury will convict him of the type stuff in the Mueller report or in his impeachment trial.

If someone can prove he stole money while Prez, maybe. Treason would be tough. Maybe a state might get him for some crime before running for Prez, but that's questionable too. I think there will always be a juror or two loyal to trump who'll hang the jury, letting trump walk.

[question everything]

7. Nuremberg trials or "with malice towards none"

The more he betrays the country, the moral I inclined towards public trials.

[lettucebe]

8. Don't care about tRump, state courts will get him; the rest of em? Throw away key

Biden's Justice Dept. will go after those worthy (there' so many though it could take years). Someway tRump is going to try to win a pardon. If he tries to pardon himself it will ultimately fail (I'd bet all I own on it) but he will lose in state court. If he trusts Pence, maybe he'll pull a Nixon at the last minute. No matter because we all know he's committed tax fraud (that's obvious), probably money laundering (pretty obvious as well), and on and on. He won't escape NY.

[Cirque du So-What]

9. President Biden is correct in staying out of investigations

He doesn’t need to ride herd over the Justice Department, unlike the orange menace. His personal time is better spent on other endeavors. This is a task for prosecutors and grand juries - not presidents.

[Kablooie]

11. Trump may wangle a pardon for Federal crimes before he leaves.

He might pardon himself and SCOTUS will have to decide if that's kosher.
He could also step down a few hours before Jan 20 so Pence can pardon him. Pence seems to have drunk deep of the kool aid and will do anything Trump tells him to do. Alternatively Trump could bribe him with cash.
(Of course Trump is notorious for not paying his debts and if he didn't, Pence couldn't complain about Trump welshing on his bribe.)

If he's not pardoned I doubt that Biden will pursue any prosecutions.
Biden will have so many things to repair and restore that dealing with Trump will be very, very, very low on his list of to do items.

NY may be different, but I don't expect any Trump or Trump spawn Federal crime prosecutions even if extreme crimes are exposed.

[Jarqui]

12. What do Trump and the Republicans have to fear?

If Trump did nothing wrong, he has nothing to worry about.

The only thing he has to worry about is if he broke the law.
The Republicans need to answer why Trump is above the law.

I would also remind the Republicans of Trump's and Mike Flynn's chants
"Lock them up!" or "Lock her up!"

It was a mistake to not prosecute Richard Nixon.

[SoonerPride]

13. Trump would be pardoned either by himself or Pence

Biden knows pursuing federal charges would be pointless

As much as he should be prosecuted he won’t be.

New York State is a different matter.

But the federal crimes are never going to matter.

[Ferrets are Cool]

14. If he is not prosecuted for his crimes, we will lose the confidence of voters

because it will prove that Laws are only for the common folk. That must not happen.

[Zorro]

15. I hope Biden realizes the Republicans will continue their uncompromising divisiveness

so he may as well put the hammer down on the Trump criminal enterprise.