If His Mouth is Moving, He is lying.

I need to call people’s attention to the new book by Andrew Weissman, often seen as a legal expert on MS-Now. Andrew Weissmann was one of the most senior and prominent prosecutors on Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation (2017–2019), which examined Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential obstruction of justice by President Trump.

Heserved as Mueller's top deputy — effectively the lead prosecutor running day-to-day operations. He was the chief of the Fraud Section at DOJ before joining the Special Counsel's Office, with a reputation as one of the most aggressive prosecutors in federal law enforcement (a leader of the team that successfully prosecuted Kenneth Lay, Chairman and CEO of Enron) and many organized crime cases).

Hisbook (Where Law Ends, 2020) was sharply critical of Mueller's cautious approach, arguing the investigation pulled its punches — that Mueller should have subpoenaed Trump directly, pursued obstruction charges more aggressively, and been less deferential to DOJ policy against indicting a sitting president. He felt the investigation had the evidence to do more.

Mr. Weissman’s new book, called Liar’s Kingdom: How to Stop Trump’s Deceit and Save Democracy does more. It is extraordinarily clear and filled with factual data, that, to the shame of our news media, is not as widely known nor deeply understood as it should be.

While it’s ‘known,’ it’s not widely known that Trump, despite promising “a large, complex, detailed, irrefutable report of the election” has never presented a single piece of evidence supporting his claims of fraud. What he haspresented has been overruled or thrown out  of court by over 60 judges, both Democrats and Republicans.

Special Counsel Jack Smith detailed the evidence of Trump’s knowing lying in his 45 page indictment and 137 page final report (with 1, 889 pages of supporting testimony and exhibits.) Trump was told by senior lawyers at the DOJ, the Attorney General Bill Barr, two top attorneys Jeff Rosen and Richard Donoghue as well as his White House counsel, Pat Cippollone, who all told him there was NO EVIDENCE to support his claims. Chris Krebs, head of Trump’s Cybersecurity Agency stated publicly that the election ‘was the most secure in American history” and was fired and then prosecuted.

Yet the incessant repetition of this lie sent the J6 crowd to deface and shit in the Capitol, threaten to hang the Vice-President and attack and maim Capitol police. Because of the foot dragging of President Bidens Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Federalist Society’s stacked Conservative Supreme Court and Trump’s lawyers stalling until the election, the government never got  the opportunity to present its evidence to voters.

  Here’s the essential point we should concentrate on: It is a crime to lie to the FBI. It is a crime to lie to shareholders. It is a crime to lie to Congress, but it is not a crime to lie to the public. Lies to the public are not even subject to criminal liability. Saying that an election is stolen, even knowing otherwise, is not a crime.

“Because Trump has faced no legal accountability for his false claims about the 2020 election has permitted him to repeat them to this do, and to do so from the highest office in the land.” Consider the damage his lying has done.”

Voters should insist that willingness to create and foster legislation to make such lies illegal, is the single-most important litmus test we can query candidates about before we support them. It is time to separate the chicken-shit from the chicken-salad. Anyone who will not stand up for the truth does not deserve public office.

If it passed, this would be the stake through the vampire’s  heart. The Heritage Foundation et al will piss and moan about First Amendment Rights, as they did in ending the Fairness Doctrine which insisted that public examination of controversial issues be honestly fair and balanced. They demanded and received the right to lie. But if we allow the Constitution and the law to be used to dismantle the Constitution and the Law, we, not the perpetrators, should hold ourselves liable.

This could be the common-denominator  question to determine whether or not we live in a Nation of laws. Without truth, there’s no law. Without truth there is no common denominator of facts for public debate and policy questions. If Dems take the House and Senate in the Mid-terms, this could be the first order of business to fight for, and the fight should be played out before the public.