Fully Prepared To Break Law as Jehoshaphat Orders

 

I've been doing my best to forget who Dan Bishop is ("peach of a guy"), but Donald J. Trump has thrust him upon us again as his nominee to run the Office of Management and Budget as its deputy director. Bishop's willingness to break the law for Donald J. came out in his testimony before two Senate committees  and provoked this recitation of detail out of Paige Masten:

Former Rep. Dan Bishop has had plenty of opportunities to say that he will follow the law if confirmed as a member of Donald Trump’s administration. You’d think that would be an easy question. But it’s one that Bishop has struggled to answer. 

The first opportunity came last week, when Bishop testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.... 

During that hearing, he was asked what he would do if Trump told him to do something that violated the law. He wouldn’t give a direct answer. 

The second opportunity came Tuesday, when Bishop again testified regarding his nomination, this time before the Senate Budget Committee. At one point, Bishop said he would commit to following the law. But that answer seemed to change when Sen. Patty Murray mentioned that appropriations passed by Congress are also law, and the Trump administration has seemingly violated that law by not using federal funds as directed. 

Murray asked a simple question: Will you follow the law and use the funds as directed? 

Bishop responded by saying that he shares Trump’s view on impoundment, which is a process in which the president refuses to spend funds appropriated by Congress. Trump believes he has the power to do that, despite the fact that the Constitution is quite clear about the fact that spending authority lies with Congress. 

Murray pointed out that there is a law known as the Impoundment Control Act, passed by Congress in 1974, that says impoundment is illegal. Does that mean Bishop won’t follow that law? 

Bishop acknowledged the law’s existence, but said he believes it is unconstitutional. But, as another senator pointed out, it remains the law of the land until a court overturns it, regardless of how Bishop personally feels about its constitutionality. And that means that Bishop, and everyone else in Trump’s administration, must follow it in the meantime. Bishop, however, said it’s not up to him to decide that. 

“I’m not a lawyer,” Bishop responded, before correcting himself to say, “I’m not a lawyer in this administration.” ...

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Dan Bishop has never been coy. "He was also asked whether he still believes the 2020 election was rigged. Bishop said that he does." If he believes that, he's an idiot. If he says he believes that as a strategic alignment, then he's already a lying sack of shit before he gets to defy the law for Donald Jehoshaphat Trump. Any lying sack of shit will break the law to suck up to a mob boss.