Democracy dies if we drop the case of Trump, Egypt and $10 million in cash [View all]

A credible allegation of a $10 million Trump bribe from Egypt is swept under the rug as bribery is increasingly legal in America.[/

by Will Bunch | Columnist
Published Aug. 4, 2024, 12:13 p.m. ET
America’s Founders were a little unclear about a lot of stuff — we’re still arguing after 233 years about just what the heck they were saying about guns in the Second Amendment — but they seemed very adamant about one idea.

Bribery is bad for democracy.

In fact, the impeachment clause of the U.S. Constitution spells out bribery as first on its list of things for which a corrupt president or other federal official can be removed from office, ahead of treason and other high crimes and misdemeanors. In case that was too ambiguous, the framers also wrote up the Emoluments Clause, using an anachronistic term to essentially bar the president and other officeholders from accepting gifts or payments from foreign countries or their rulers.

It seems pretty clear, yet over the course of the 21st century something has gone awry. A corrupt Supreme Court, aided by a flawed system of criminal justice that gives every possible break to white-collar crooks while cracking down on the underprivileged, hasn’t quite legalized bribery, but made it a lot easier to get away with. James Madison and Alexander Hamilton must be spinning in their graves over some of the recent developments.
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/trump-sisi-egypt-10-million-bribe-20240804.html?utm_source=social&utm_campaign=gift_link&utm_medium=referral