I get that there was basically no chance that a sitting president was going to jail. But it’s not like making him pay a fine would have caused a constitutional crisis.
About the only good thing I can say about this is that it’s at least being honest about the complete lack of consequences.
If he had been fined, do you think he’d actually pay it? And what then? You can’t stick him in jail to make him pay it.
I think this was the real reason behind the decision. Any governmental punishment is ultimately backed by a threat of jail/prison for non-compliance, but if you can’t do that to the president, then he can just ignore it anyway.
I get that there was basically no chance that a sitting president was going to jail. But it’s not like making him pay a fine would have caused a constitutional crisis.
About the only good thing I can say about this is that it’s at least being honest about the complete lack of consequences.
If he had been fined, do you think he’d actually pay it? And what then? You can’t stick him in jail to make him pay it.
I think this was the real reason behind the decision. Any governmental punishment is ultimately backed by a threat of jail/prison for non-compliance, but if you can’t do that to the president, then he can just ignore it anyway.