Rounds: Trump could be criminally prosecuted after leaving office, “the president of the United States misled very, very good, honest, patriotic Americans”

@SoDakCampaigns

Via Twitter:

In the article, Rounds notes:

“When the story of this last 90 days is told, they will clearly lay out that the president of the United States misled very, very good, honest, patriotic Americans by telling them time and again that the election was stolen,” Rounds said.

“I believe that history will hold him accountable.”

Wow!

48 thoughts on “Rounds: Trump could be criminally prosecuted after leaving office, “the president of the United States misled very, very good, honest, patriotic Americans””

    1. Someone should ask him if Kristi Noem is also responsible for misleading Americans also.

      4 or 5 states did not follow their own laws passed by the legislature. All of the conspiracies are not what I’m talking about but it is a fact that these states MI, WI, PA, GA all changed laws to go against what the legislatures had passed.

      1. She is. She also lied about backing the challenge to Amendment A, so we know lying is par for the course for her and her team.

        As for this nonsense about election law, what a load of hogwash. Court’s have repeated ruled elections were held appropriately. If you haven’t noticed, there’s a pandemic with 400k dead. All of the goalposting shifting just shows how feckless the GOP is.

  2. No, Senator Rounds, you will be held accountable. Just sad that it has to wait five years. Sorry i ever voted for you. I can’t believe this statement. If there was no fraud, the officials would welcome an audit. Several states now want an investigation.

    And I resent being told that i dont know my own mind. I stood for the principles of conservatism long before Trump, and these same principles are those he believes in. To say millions of patriotic Americans, especially those you are supposed to represent, were misled about the election, duped is very sad. I really expected more from you.

    1. Every “swing state” that y’all complain about held recounts and audits. Every one of those states certified the final results. While there may be a few loudmouths calling for “an investigation”, there are no – ZERO – states “calling for an investigation”.

      You were lied to. Again and again. And now you believe those lies with all your heart. Step out of your bubble and breathe the free air.

        2. Even if that were fact, why haven’t any court cases in those states result in a Trump victory or new election?

        3. Exactly! Is there ANY behavior in a state’s electoral process that would NOT meet with the approval of Congress?? ANYTHING? Obviously, not following its own constitution isn’t enough…

          1. Harry,

            You raise a very good issue.

            First, the Constitution gives the States and the courts oversight over elections. Congress and the Executive have limited review on this.

            Second, despite the Trump campaign and RNC promising they had all the infrastructure, protocols, procedures, etc. in place to protect election integrity and evidence, they didn’t have squat. In my mind THEIR failure on this front is malpractice and will be judged harshly in history. The affidavits are insufficient because there is no physical evidence of wrongdoing. Now the only thing to do is review where controls and procedures might be insufficient (reasonable with the avalanche of mail-in ballots) and NEXT election do a better job at having infractructure, etc. in place.

    2. “could” and “should” are two different words.
      anybody can be prosecuted for anything,

  3. No, this is legally incorrect. Should Trump pardon himself, which looks quite likely, it will not be possible to bring federal charges against him. State charges yes, but D.C. is not a state.

    1. Impeachment is the process for removing an elected official from office. There is no legal basis to impeachment, after one has left office.

      1. I like to point out when people are wrong because they do not know what the process is.

        Trump has already been impeached by the House of Representatives, twice now. It is up to the Senate now to convict the President, which can happen whenever because he has already been impeached.

        I usually loathe when people declare themselves experts on issues, but I find this enriching because Mr. Beal is on the other end of this one.

        1. There certainly isn’t much legal precedent for it, and it would only serve to further divide the country.

          According to The Washington Post, there isn’t a total consensus on this issue from academics or constitutional scholars. That’s because there simply isn’t much of a precedent for even trying to impeach a former president.

          But many experts told the Post that EVEN if it were possible, a court battle would be necessary in order to rule more definitively on this issue, and no court has previously addressed this possibility. This uncertainty, along with the fact that impeachment is a costly and time-consuming process, makes it unlikely Democrats will pursue Trump’s retroactive impeachment.

          But with the state of politics being what they are, I suppose we can’t rule out the possibility.

          However, if the Democrats proceed in their attempt to impeach a President who left his office at the end of his term, It will be very hard to persuade 2/3 of the Senate to convict on the basis of a “retroactive” impeachment, and the House will expose itself to criticism that it is abusing the impeachment power in pursuing it.

          https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/06/can-former-presidents-be-impeached/

    2. There is about as much chance of Trump’s “self-pardon” sticking as there is of him becoming president again.

  4. I am sorry I ever voted for Mike Rounds. The evidence, which no US court would hear, is there, you just need to look. Read the Navarro Report-36 page. It is unconscionable that someone who calls himself a conservative can make a statement like this. Expect to be primaried next cycle.

  5. “the president of the United States misled very, very good, honest, patriotic Americans”

    Well then Mr. Rounds………by this standard of determining criminal behavior I guess you,
    Thune, and Johnson can all be expecting to face criminal charges and prosecution when you all leave office?

  7. I’d be interested to see the legal theory where misleading about the results of the election is a crime. Then, even if it is, intent would come into play meaning Trump had to have known it had not been stolen and said with the intent to deceive the hearer. Maybe a lawyer could explain it to me but to me I can’t see it.

    To me it seems the stronger case is Trump intended to have the rally crowd commit an insurrection and his words (truthful or not makes no difference) inspired all or some of the people to act and commit insurrection.

    This all said, it is clear the Vice President and the Cabinet believe the President can discharge his duties for the remainder of his term so the 25th Amendment is not going to happen, I doubt the President will resign early, and I see no point in a impeachment trial to determine insurrection (if there is evidence of it, it should be resolved in the courts) after he has left office.

    There is a point in which it is best for the nation to look and move forward and not look to get revenge for past grievances. I think that point occurs on January 20th.

  8. Et tu, mike?

    I kind of read Mike’s support of fair elections as a hedge.

    Well, here we go I guess.

    Does Rounds know anything at all about what really happened at the Capital, in the Capitol?

  9. Such a disappointment you are. Dems have thrown out every norm over the last five years and crossed every imaginable line because OMB, but this is your “principled” stand?

    I swear that I will support any o your future primary challengers with everything I have, and if that fails, I will vote for your D opponent even though i have never voted for one in my life. At least they have the decency to admit that they hate us and our way of life.

    1. Test now is “is it an “R” behind your name or a “T”? Trump’s formed a cult, not a party, and handed our future over to the Leftists. We may as well petition to replace Britain in the EU.

      1. It’s not hard to imagine that there will be a non-ending series of attempts to bring Donald Trump into court again and again, probably for the rest of his life. Such is the vicious anger he has stirred up in his enemies for the simple act of winning the 2016 election and blithely ignoring the eight years of policies that came before him. I think the Senator is correct from the standpoint that Trump was more about himself and less about the future of the party in this final two months, and I think it’s plain to see Trump missed many opportunities to put the party before himself over his four years in office. It’s important to point out that the party itself was becoming more ineffective every day in terms of its ability to prevail against the Democrats, when Trump stepped up and took the initiative in rejecting the conventional wisdom that he had no chance to win.

        Trump taught valuable lessons to Republicans about standing up and waging a battle, but he had no lessons for us about our long term future where he’s not in it any more. Trump trained everyone to feel good at his rallies, and that’s about it. Where the party goes, where its members go for the future in this current climate, is a matter that requires deep and serious thought. The well-provisioned kleptocracy still stands.

  11. From an attorney Bud:

    Another fine example at tax payer dollars put to good use! 4 years and millions of dollars to destroy a movement and in the end, while they may have destroyed Trump’s political future, they will not have destroyed the movement and a second impeachment will only embitter and embolden those who worked to advance Midwestern middle class. Only hope is that the socialist wing of the progressive demo party will help destroy and tear apart the Demo party within the next two years to allow the movement to reorganize and find a new flag bearer.
    IE I Agree
    CBH

    The fact of the matter is Hillary Clinton actually managed her campaign more systematically flawed than Trump did leading to a Trump win in 2016 while the DNC scored huge points in certain States with zero ID checks and monumental ballot mailings in the latest election.

    1. Rounds has been silent on Russia, china but suddenly trump has mislead voters. Where has he been the last 5 years of russia collusion talk?

      I was fine with them voting to certify biden. Not fine with this.

  12. grudznick knows that Mr. Verchio, he of the liberal wing of the Hill City republicans, is serious about this. And when a Hill City liberal is mad, you know Mr. Rounds has gone over to the fluffy side.

    But let none of us deny that Mr. Trump is unhinged. Too late to vote for Rubio now.

  13. Smilin’ Mike rings a bit hollow here after four years of reliably enabling Trump, whose behavior over those four years has laid foundation for the absolutely foreseeable event at the Capitol.

    Fact is, the blood is on his hands too, along with Thune and Noem and anyone else who didn’t call him out *just once* over those four years.

    Too little too late Mike.

  16. I need to take a mea culpa. I responded without reading the article which I just did.

    Rounds didn’t assert Trump could be held criminally responsible for misleading about the election. I erroneously reached that conclusion on how Pat summarized/presented the article. My bad because now reading the article, I can’t even see how I jumped to the conclusion.

    In fact, Rounds seems to assert that this history (not the criminal justice system or even Congress) will be the ultimate judge of Trump’s handling of the post-election matters, including his role in the attack on the Capitol.

    And, on that I agree. On January 20th, Biden will assume the Office of President and Trump will vacate the Office. The nation is not served by political witch hunts from Congress or criminal like the Russia investigation.

    It is time to look forward.

    1) Investigate the accusations of election fraud and irregularities. Pursue where there are crimes, enhance procedures and controls where there are irregularities, etc. so all of us can have confidence we have fair and free elections.

    2) Begin today with strong candidate recruitment for national office. I’m convinced this election was close only because of Trump’s personal peccadilloes and the chaos regarding Covid. We have the right ideas and need good messengers in every corner of the country to win big in 2022 and beyond. Besides twice as much money, Georgia a good lesson for us. They also outworked us in the streets, beating us at our strength.

    I still live in the greatest country in the world under the greatest political system in the world fed by the greatest economic system in the world. Maybe more than anything, since most of the hardwork has to be done in other states, what we best can do is continue to highlight our low tax, low spend, strong economy, solid Covid management State to be an example to which others can aspire.

    God Bless America and South Dakota

  17. If liberals didn’t have double standards they’d have none at all.

    Why are you joining that club Mike? Have some intestinal fortitude.

  18. How can Senator Rounds make the claim there was no voter fraud when the courts and the media refuse to investigate? Did he not here there was an arrest in Texas. At least we have one state that is serious about having a fair election process.The FBI is now investigating the possibility that the breach was planned, so how can they argue that Trump’s speech was what incited the breach? Perhaps Senator Rounds should wait until the investigation is done and work to make sure the investigation goes after all actors, not just the Trump supporters.

  19. Maybe someone should tell Rounds that an antifal eader was arrested in Utah for planning the capitol damage.

  20. Such a big tough guy talking a big game. Knowing full well he won’t run for office again. He’s a total coward. It’s actually quite comical.

  21. He’s not running for a third term, is he? Noem versus Dusty in ’26: Order your popcorn now!

  22. That’s pretty funny! Seriously! With Trumps Amendment ( just signed) to the executive order written last November, any seditious sellouts invested in China has to divest any and all interest in China, and he includes pages of names , including banks and the Biden criminals, banks! 😂😂😂😂
    Not only, but they have a limited amount of time to do so, and he clearly states any monkey business trying to get around it, will result in arrest!
    Trumps a genius, that has the might and power of God guiding him!
    They never stood a chance! Now, to clean this up and get back to being America once and for all! God truly, Blesses America!

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