To Anna; Disagreement on the DOJ’s practice of selective disclosure to congress. Anna’s point; if the investigation is over and DOJ isn’t charging then all of the material should be disclosed to congress.
No, while in many, if not most cases that makes sense; here it does not. That investigation involved several, if not many, minor children (girls) that may have been victimized by Gaetz and his lecherous cohorts. For all of the flaws with law enforcement training and purpose, one of them historically has not been failing to maintain and care for minor victims. In my experience in the legal field, law enforcement laudably does an excellent job of protecting and respecting the confidentiality of child victims. The charging discretion in Mr. Gaetz case may actually be an example of that. Often such victims and their families elect NOT to change their entire lives in order to participate in the criminal process which (unfortunately but correctly) requires incredible exposure to embarrassment, ridicule, and stigma through the criminal trial process. By federal and state law, law enforcement and the prosecution have a duty to these victims and a much tighter seal on such confidentiality. This allows victims to decide whether to prosecute with all that entails or to heal and proceed with their lives. Conversely, Congress as we all know is an information seive and the DOJ knows that. In short the DOJ has a duty to respect that confidentiality and is not wrong for not disclosing sensitive material which would compromise that confidentiality. At times pre-eminent principles of our social contract means criminals are not prosecuted, and in this case it means there may not even be ethical consequences. That doesn’t feel good but it doesn’ mean that the decision is wrong or we should engage in a re-balancing of those important interests. We should respect the confidentiality of those young ladies. Much love and respect. t