WSJ Sees Hypocrisy Among Trump's Critics

'Wall Street Journal' editorial says his opponents are trampling constitutional norms
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 3, 2019 10:21 AM CDT
Editorial: Trump's Critics Trampling Norms of Their Own
President Trump speaks during a news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto at the White House on Wednesday.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal sees an "irony" at play in the current DC turmoil: "In the rush to impeach Mr. Trump for his real or imagined violations of political norms, his opponents have no problem violating norms themselves," declares an editorial. The editors take note of the repeated leaks to the media of President Trump's phone calls with foreign leaders, going back to his very first days in office. All those leaks have brought us to a disturbing question: "Can a whistleblower inside the intelligence bureaucracy override a President's right to executive privilege merely with an accusation?" That isn't just about violating political norms, it's about violating constitutional norms, write the editors.

Democrats are now demanding that the transcripts of more Trump calls to foreign leaders be made public, based on a whistleblower's complaint about the Ukraine call. This is a dangerous precedent, theoretically putting every presidential call up for congressional review. What's more, in the Ukraine case, White House officials are accused of engaging in a cover-up by going to extreme measures to keep the conversation private, but couldn't that be seen as a reasonable response to repeated leaks? At this point, "any bureaucrat who hears about a conversation can file a complaint that overrides a President's ability to speak with foreign leaders with the expectation of privacy," write the editors. "In the urgency to oust Donald Trump, anything goes." Read it in full here. (More Trump impeachment stories.)

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