Donald Trump’s endgame is spiraling out of control

| 10:30 am EST December 11, 2020
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The lengths to which some are going to protect Donald Trump are simply astounding. The man lost the election, yet he and his Republican cronies continue pushing ridiculous cases before the courts. The case filed by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton is likely the most ridiculous.

Paxton’s suit requests delaying the electoral votes in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to “allow investigations of voting issues to continue.” There is one problem: Paxton has no standing. Tom Goldstein, an attorney in Washington, D.C. who frequently argues before the Supreme Court, told NBC: “This case is hopeless. Texas has no right to bring a lawsuit over election procedures in other states.”

While SCOTUS does typically hear disputes between states, the moving party must show that no other forum can resolve the dispute. Given that the Texas case is merely a conglomeration of claims already heard and dismissed in lower courts, Paxton is merely trying to get a second bite at the same rotten apple. Paxton’s move is nothing more than his attempt to ingratiate himself with Trump for a pardon on the securities case that remains pending against him. In Paxton’s case, this ridiculous move is self-serving, but what about the charges leveled against Robert Redfield of the CDC?

According to Politico, someone from the CDC advised congressional investigators that Redfield instructed staff to delete an email from the Trump appointee who sought to gain control over the CDC’s reports on the pandemic. Congress was already investigating the Trump White House’s response to coronavirus, including their interference at the CDC, and the concealment of evidence of Paul Alexander’s interference makes Redfield complicit. Charlotte Kent, MMWR editor, told investigators that she was instructed to delete Alexander’s email, but when she looked for it, the email was already gone. Kent understood the directive to come directly from Redfield. Why in the world is Redfield trying to shield Trump?

Trump blew his own cover when he spoke to Bob Woodward, admitting that he downplayed the seriousness of the virus to the American people. This “watering down” of CDC reports was part and parcel of that attempt to defraud the public. Defrauding people over money is one thing but doing something that could lead to even more deaths is despicable. Jim Clyburn wrote to Redfield and Alex Azar that deleting this email is not only unethical but violates federal record-keeping requirements. The legacy of deception created by the Trump administration is unlike anything in modern politics.

Redfield, like most Trump appointees, blatantly lied to a Senate Committee on September 16 when he claimed that the scientific integrity of MMWR had not been compromised and would not be compromised “under [his] watch.” Yet, he followed that directive to the letter, including delaying a July report on the spread of coronavirus at a Georgia summer camp. Fortunately, these despicable people will soon be relieved of their duties, but the toll they have taken on the American people will last long into the future.