Representative Nancy Pelosi Tried To Commit Blackmail Against Newt Gingrich
Most of us probably didn’t think about Pelosi committing blackmail when it happen. She hadn’t demanded money from Gingrich. That is the way we think in terms of blackmail but it isn’t always the fact. This article explains it.
House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi recently said that if Newt Gingrich is the Republican nominee, she will disclose what Americans do not now know about him out of confidential House Ethics Committee investigations. Newt noted that this was an ethical violation itself, which caused Pelosi to back off her earlier threat, but there is more at issue than just House Ethics Committee rules.
The House Democrat Leader may well have committed blackmail. Consider the common-law definition: "Blackmail is gaining or attempting to gain anything of value or compelling another to act against such person's will, by threatening to communicate accusations or statements about any person that would subject such person or any other person to public ridicule, contempt or degradation." Is not that precisely what Pelosi did?
We are accustomed to think of the related crimes of blackmail and extortion producing a monetary payoff, but that is not always the case. Not only is obtaining sex by means of threats to reveal hurtful or embarrassing information considered blackmail, but the consummation of that sexual payoff may also be rape. What must be demanded is "anything of value" or "compelling another to act against such person's will." Those phrases encompass much more than cash.
Surely, compelling someone to drop out of a political race falls under that definition of blackmail. Can House Democrat Leader Pelosi blackmail people with impunity because of her high federal office? No. Blackmail is a federal offense under 18 U.S. Code §873, and it is considered a more serious crime if committed by a federal official. What if a House Ethics Committee staff member called Pelosi up and threatened to reveal information about her unless she decided not to run for re-election? Is that blackmail or extortion? Sure.
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