Being a legal analyst in this rage-filled age often invites criticism, particularly if you challenge widely held narratives. I rarely respond to such stories, which falls into the category of complaining about the weather in Washington. Unfortunately, even stories that I view as manifestly distorted, tend to be replicated on hostile sites. In that vein, I thought that I would respond to a misleading story at Mediaite, which suggested that I recently changed my view of Donald Trump’s call to Georgia. (The site was founded by ABC Legal Analyst Dan Abrams). The article by Alex Griffin compares my comments this week with a tweet that I sent out on January 2, 2021. The suggestion is that my view of the call evolved after Trump was indicted. The original story omitted the fact that I stated the current position the next day when the transcript became available and that the tweet was based on an erroneous article in the Washington Post. I have maintained the same position since the release of the transcript.
I have repeatedly criticized Trump for both his Ukrainian and his Georgia calls. I did so this week. I have long disagreed with the former president’s rhetoric and I am still critical of the call to the Georgia election officials, which included disproven allegations of voter fraud.
I was not contacted before the article ran and could have corrected the factual claims.
The tweet cited in the article was from Jan. 3, 2021 based on the Washington Post account, which indicated that Trump told the officials to just “find” the votes. The transcript presented a sharply different context and meaning. The next day, I gave interviews on those differences and I then ran a column stating that the transcript shows a clear alternative meaning. Indeed, I continued to write about the errors in the original Post account of the calls. To its credit, the Post admitted the errors in its original story. I stated, as I have continued to state, that reasonable people can disagree on that meaning.
I continued to criticize the call (as I did this week) but stressed that the transcript offers a viable and compelling defense. I made that observation the same week as the cited tweet. There was no change or recent evolution of my views on the call. I actually later wrote a column on the errors in the Post account of the calls.
Putting aside my statement the next day in light of the transcript, there is also a difference between criticism of the language and the view of language as part of a criminal case. After reading the full transcript, I concluded that that defense is strong and that Trump was referring to what he needed to overcome the deficit in votes. Any “evolution” that occurred was limited to the span of a few hours between the erroneous Post article and my view of language in context in 2021. (Notably, there was no article on how the Post’s view of the call “evolved”). I have maintained the same position on the call after my first response to the original (later corrected) Post article.
I reached out to Mediaite and I appreciate that Alex did get back to me soon after I saw the article. I explained that the article is in error and creates a false impression. However, I did value the opportunity to respond, if belatedly. I am told that Mediaite is considering a change to the article, which I also appreciate. However, I wanted to post this response to have a contemporaneous and corrected account.
I’m okay with the fact that Professor Turley won’t hesitate to critisizes Trump, it adds to his credibility as a commentator. He calls balls and stikes as he see’s them. I don’t think of Professor Turley as a Trump supporter, I do think though he has been great at pointing out the unfairness of all these prosecutions. I myself consider these prosecutions to be a total mis-use of the criminal justice process . The cases are flimsy beyond belief, they seem to lack evidence, they don’t seem to follow the law (or precedents), or constitutional principles either. It’s like a group of juniors in high school put together these indictments. I don’t support politcians using the criminal justice system to go after politicains they don’t like, or to settle scores. I think the criminal justice system should treat everybody the same, but the criminal justice system – led by Bragg, and Willis, and Smith – seems to be unfairly targeting Trump – chraging him with stuff nobody ever get charged with. These prosecutors seem to be doing the bidding of the Democrats and the media with these indictments. I can’t believe any serious prosecutor would take CNN or MSNBC seriously, the journalism these stations do is right out of comic book. I am ignoring these indictments, the won’t impact my vote at all because they are not legitimate.
For not being a Trump supporter, Turley sure sounds exactly like one. He parrots every pro-Trump talking point, he downplays every bad thing Trump does, and ignores what he can not downplay. Other Republicans get similar treatment, and Democrats get the opposite.
For not being a homersexual, Sammy sure sounds exactly like one
Welcome to being presumed to be against “them”. You will be lucky if your kids aren’t indicted by Affirmative Action Fanny.
Just how honest do you think the next election will be in todays “win at all costs or the Boogy Man Trump will get ‘ya!”
“The tweet cited in the article was from Jan. 3, 2021 based on the Washington Post account, which indicated that Trump told the officials to just ‘find’ the votes. The transcript presented a sharply different context and meaning.”
So the blame is either with the WaPo for publishing a misleading article, or with Turley for naively trusting a media source that is WELL KNOWN for biased and/or erroneous reporting concerning Trump.
Hmmm. Trusting the WaPo for accurate reporting is like trusting Bill Clinton to keep it zipped or tell you what the meaning of “is” is.
At any rate, this dispute can be easily settled in the fashion of the times, same as the dispute between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, by having a highly-publicized, overly-hyped, pay-per-view tickle fight at the Colosseum in Rome. I have it on good authority that the venue is available:
https://www.sportskeeda.com/mma/news-elon-musk-says-zuck-declined-italy-s-colosseum-offer-reveals-facebook-ceo-s-excuse-get-alternate-showdown-palo-alto
There’s really not a “sharply different “ meaning to the call to Raffensberger at all. Meadows and Trump called him directly and kept insisting that there were issues with the counting of votes, especially in Fulton County, and Raffensberger kept saying that they had rechecked them and found no discrepancies. But, Trump and Meadows kept insisting, and Raffensberger stayed firm—after this came the comment about “finding “ enough votes to award Georgia to Trump. Turley is spinning the facts to paint the call any other way—-and, directly calling the Secretary of State and insisting that you won the election without any evidence is not the proper procedure to challenge the legitimacy of the election. And, this call came AFTER Trump lost a court challenge to the Georgia vote counting.
Hey Gigi Do you still think Texas makes electricity from crude oil???
Best stop cutting and pasting from your daily democrat talking points email.
Texas Electricity by type
Natural gas 46%
Wind 23%
Coal 18%
Nuclear 11%
Solar 2%
No matter what, our sacred Banana Republic remains strong! And our esteemed Two-Tiered System of Justice will withstand the shameless attacks by the profane Constitutionalists, with their dangerous obsessions with freedom, liberty, and an obsolete one-tier system of justice.
What country is this? His opponents destroy subpoena classified docs while he is tried constantly in the media with no DISCOVERY even permitted thus far. And 75 million lose their voice in the process. Selective justice is communism
https://amzn.to/3I1xrvZ
I loved reading this entire thread. Tom: hat tip to you Sir. In a Battle of Wits they came unarmed. Check out my book The Fear Responses of a Union Ironworker ( an unusual collection of short stories about controversial topics. Available on Amazon.
repeating the lies is Dem stock in trade. The have precious few facts they can use to support their narrative, so misquoting is routine.
Glad you are setting the record straight – it’s a trifle piece of journalism – which will pass by tomorrow’s morning.
I did purse the comments, it’s quite amusing to see that there are an equal amount of Trolls on Their side to match Our side.
The Troll Tug-of-War is on going. Daren should be delightfully pleased. 👍
Yes, but Prof.Turley would have done himself (& America) a far-better service by just clearly admitting that he did make an initial error here: when he gave immediate reaction to yet another Fake News Narrative that his simple research quickly proved wrong.
Instead, Prof. Turley proffers an “it wasn’t my fault” admission, clouded with far-too-much detail; which most busy people won’t take the time to read through.
A better response would have just included a truthful Headline they couldn’t ignore, eg: “Yes, I made the big mistake of immediately believing a Fake News Narrative. After actually reading the Call Transcript, it was quickly clear to me that Trump’s Georgia call will provide Trump with a strong defense, and I immediately retracted.”
Cindy, I’ll bet he sank the Andria Doria as well. And he hates orphans and single moms. Did he cause Covid? I know one thing he certainly. Caused. The day he left office a gallon of gasoline was $2.38 nation wide. Yes, I do miss him.
Me too, Bob!
Now the Professor should write a follow-up article explaining precisely why he (or anyone else) should give a flying fig about what a troll-infested cesspool like Mediatite writes. It’s not as if that’s a serious site to be taken seriously by serious people. One might more-productively complain about an unflattering caricature in Mad Magazine.
Stage three, “bargaining”, Ralph. I hope the professor reaches stage 5 quickly and can finally see what people outside the DC bubble already see.
“Now the Professor should write a follow-up article explaining precisely why he (or anyone else) should give a flying fig about what a troll-infested cesspool like Mediatite writes.”
Turley thinks enough of MEDIAITE to publish there often.
Or are you saying tht Turley’s views aren’t worth ‘a flying fig? If so, why are you commenting here?
Huh? As a defense attorney, Trump might have a viable point but the call, effectively asking for a recount, should be criticized, anyway? How does that square, Doc?
Even when defending Trump, Turley NEVER misses an opportunity to take a shot at him. It’s almost as if all of his Trump-related colums could begin with the same opening sentence: “Trump is an unprincipled, unsophisticated, gangster lowlife, BUT …”
I guess the old saying is true: You can take Turley out of the democrat party, but you can’t take the democrat party out of Turley.
Agreed.
Regarding Trump’s Call,
Professor Turley Writes:
It is telling that many politicians and pundits refuse to even acknowledge that obvious alternate meaning.
……………………………..
Here Professor Turley claims that Trump’s call to Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger may have been just a mere exercise to point out that a few missing votes could make a difference in the outcome.
Turley then goes on to scold politicians and pundits for not giving Trump the benefit of doubt here. As though losing candidates make these calls after every close election.
No, Professor Turley, these calls are NOT routine! Trump stayed on the line for more than 40 minutes talking in circles; constantly repeating that all he needed 11,800 votes.
No Secretary of State in ‘any’ state should ever get a call like this from a losing candidate. If a case can be made that certain votes went uncounted, that’s a matter for courts to decide. As a law professor Turley should certainly know these things. If Turley doesn’t know this, he shouldn’t be teaching law.
. If a case can be made that certain votes went uncounted, that’s a matter for courts to decide.
The President of the United States is the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the United States. Asking a State to investigate is well within his plenary powers.
A person taking a high school civics course would know these things.
IN this case Big Don was not only Chief LEO, but was also the apparently losing candidate.
Conflict of interest, no?
Unfortunately, civics is no longer taught. New citizens know more about America than our natural-born high school kids.
Professor, of all the commentators I read or to whom I listen, you are the last who needs to explain anything. Consistency is your virtue. That brings me to the second point. It is ironic that people like Abrams and his fellow travelers in the media would publish anything aimed at hurting your credibility when there is no one on God’s green earth who fights harder, on a daily basis, for people like Abrams to be allowed to say whatever it is they want. If they had any integrity they would not need you to ask for a correction. It would have been volunteered before your first call ended.
This just in from Dan Abrams: “Former President Donald Trump has been named a ‘person of interest’ regarding the sinking of the Titanic. While it is true that President Trump was born in 1946, 34 years after the tragic event, questions linger about his involvement.”
Professor Turley, the calls to Ukraine and Georgia were perfectly appropriate. If one believes there is strong evidence of election fraud, how do you propose one is to contest the results? As for Ukraine, President Trump has been proven correct based upon this year’s Congressional investigations. So, how do you now defend your position?
Dan Abrams claimed that he wanted to create an unbiased news site (Mediaite) and an unbiased tv channel , Newsnation. But he is a Trump-hater and long has been. . His site and his tv channel both bubble over with anti-Trump, anti-populist, anti-conservative bias.
MediaShite is a hive of scum and villainy…
Kemp’s only comment, The Georgia election wasn’t stolen.
What does that have to do with massive abuse of power by one of your AGs?
Think this looks suspicious?
Think it implicates you?
The longer you don’t set it right the more guilty Kemp and Raffensperger look.
You can’t make any logical, unbiased arguments with these people. They are propagandists, plain and simple.
“The tweet cited in the article was from Jan. 3, 2021 based on the Washington Post account …”
That was your first mistake, Professor. How long does one have to follow political news in order to realize that the WaPo is NOT a trustworthy source, or that once you say something, the garbage media will NEVER let you un-say it?
As sophisticated as you seem to be I was surprised that you believed the media. It seems as if anything the media states is an inversion of the truth. Indeed we seem to be living in the time of inverts. One might reconsider the basic stance of a true liberal, and think back to the Constitution and what is ultimately important for mankind. The republican liberalism the Founders created was not the kind of welfare liberal of today. The original republican liberal was for liberty!
When Trump has been in the right and correct in his statements so many times one might also consider the percentages that anything said against him are most probably lies. Surely one must understand by now that Trump really is a defender of the Constitution and those against him do not respect the constitution nor do they care about the country in any way. There is no such thing as a living constitution. It either is or it is being destroyed. The founders were extremely well read/educated and were brilliant, more so than any Harvard or other Ivy League professor I ever conversed with. Many of them seemed to be so shallow that they are not equipped to understand what they are losing. Many did not study the classics, history, literature, the Greek and Roman forms of government, Cicero, and others. They have been known to scoff at the humanities, the classics, and the great ideas of western civilization.
The far left liberal of today is an anti-American and wants the power to control other humans. Even if you don’t like Trump surely you are a big enough person to overlook human short comings and to promote and to help the good cause, that is the saving or our country, the rescue and re-establishment of the most extraordinary country found in the history of mankind. Plato would add for the betterment of mankind. It took thousands of years for mankind to develop to the level we had achieved when the country was unified in traditional western culture up until the 60’s.
Professor Hurley, people like you are needed to set the record straight.
Thank you for your essays and for your insights. Good men are often fooled because they don’t realize the depths of vileness to which others will go to. Please do not be deceived by the inverted press out there which is ready to pounce on a good man and destroy him if possible.
Those greedy for power will take the last bite of liberty even while it chokes them.
“As sophisticated as you seem to be I was surprised that you believed the media.”
I’ve no clue what it was I wrote that gave you the impression that I “believed the media.” If I wanted to waste the next 30 minutes, I could tax my memory and list most or all of the “news” sites (left and right) that banned me from commenting over the last 16 years for posting my unvarnished opinions of them in their own comment sections. I’m as likely to believe that Bigfoot asked the Loch Ness Monster to the prom as I am to believe anything printed in ANY mainstream media outlet or a large chunk of the minor league media.
But I’ll give you an upvote for recognizing my undeniable sophistication. I wish my parents were still alive to read that, because I suspect that they might argue the point (and win the argument).
My impression was that Betty’s comment was directed at Professor Turley.
That was my impression also — and that she mistakenly posted it as a reply to me, wherefore I took the opportunity presented and ran with it.
But I’ll give you an upvote for recognizing my undeniable sophistication. I wish my parents were still alive to read that, because I suspect that they might argue the point (and win the argument).
😂😂😂
Well done Ralphy! It is gonna be hard for you to top that but knowing you, you will!
Excellent post, Betty!
My dear old Dad, God rest his soul, used to affectionally refer to the Washington Post as the Washington Compost and not fit for a poor helpless bird’s cage floor. Now a free-thinking adult, I can’t disagree with that opinion.
Turley, sorry to say, but you have brought this on yourself.
Gigi and I are not “the same troll”–Fishwings
Hey Gigi Do you still think Texas makes electricity from crude oil???
Best stop cutting and pasting from your daily democrat talking points email.
Texas Electricity by type
Natural gas 46%
Wind 23%
Coal 18%
Nuclear 11%
Solar 2%
You have accused me of being a troll, but are promising to attack me every time I post something on this blog. Who’s really the troll?
And, you dispute the information about Texas using petroleum products to generate electricity— my information came from a reliable source— does that make me a liar?
Gigi
I dont dispute it, troll, the facts do. When you state wrong information as fact, it makes u a liar. You claimed that Texas use of crude oil was the reason gas prices spiked recently. You didn’t say, “I heard on the news that…”
This is but one example of the many lies you have told here. When you admit it was a lie, I will move on to the next.
“my information came from a reliable source”
And as if to make my point. You may want to consider that your echo chamber is not a reliable source. It took me 30 seconds to find the proof of your lie.
And yes, I admitted that I was going to combat your trolling lies by trolling you with your own lies until you admit to them. The sooner you do, the sooner we can move to the next one. There are plenty to keep us busy.
Darren, Is Tom’s current approach and response to every time Dennis, Gigi, and Fishwings make a comment a violation of the blog civility policy? Thanks.
Do you always practice sealioning or is it only on days your handlers pay you?
Best,
Estovir, It was an appropriate and legitimate question and no one is paying me to be here.
Same reply to you Anonymous.
“Same reply to you Anonymous.”
LOL, I took that as him replying to Estovir, for asking you a question he already knew the answer to…
Estovir,
Gotta confess, my favorite part is when the snowflake narrator refers to it as “harmful speech”. Spoke like someone who hasn’t really been harmed much in her sheltered life.
I believe that these three provacateurs are here for insinsere purposes. They have even admitted that there is no chance that their “arguments” are going to persuade a single person. They disrupt the meaningful conversation with relentless assaults on JT and the other members, presenting their opinions as fact without basis. They think that speakers should be shouted down if you disagree with them, and that is, in essence what I am doing to them. Only difference is, all they have to do is admit their lie to shut me up.
If their purpose here is not honest discussion, then that pretty much only leaves disruption as their motive. I feel their plan deserves to be disrupted.
Here are there MO’s
Dennis—Post a looooong winded OFF TOPIC tirade.
Gigi—-lick Dennis’ boot and then rattle off 8 or 10 provably false statements
Fishwings—-just say stupid sh!t like “Trumps gonna do time in GA prison with no AC”
*their
It’s called free speech Tom………….something Turley writes about, but doesn’t practice it.
“It’s called free speech Tom………….something Turley writes about, but doesn’t practice it.”
Yep, it sure is….
Hey Gigi Do you still think Texas makes electricity from crude oil???
Best stop cutting and pasting from your daily democrat talking points email.
Texas Electricity by type
Natural gas 46%
Wind 23%
Coal 18%
Nuclear 11%
Solar 2%
Gigi and I are not “the same troll”–Fishwings
OK, big mouth Dennis, we will start with this one…
“Democrats also support the use of force–but for quite different reasons–” —-Dennis
“The only guy who is inviting violence these days is DJT!” —-Dennis
Both of these statements were in a single post.
One of them is a lie.
This gets posted above and below every post you make until you answer to it, then I will move on to your next lie.
“It’s called freedom to act like a juvenile just because I can”—Fishwings
There, fixed that for you.
Glad to return the favor. Might be my strong suit.
“Only difference is, all they have to do is admit their lie to shut me up.”
What do the rest of us have to do to shut you up?
“What do the rest of us have to do to shut you up?”
That’s gonna be a bit more difficult. I suppose you could try to convince the 3 provacateurs to either answer for each lie as I call them out before they bother posting another lie, or perhaps to move on to more meaningful endeavors. Good luck either way.
Yes it is. They are considered personal attacks.
ATS
Reminding them of their lies is a personal attack???
All they gotta do is answer for their lie of the day. I’m happy to add you to the list if u like.
ATS
Or perhaps you’d like to be like Dennis and in a black-hole-like moment of self awareness, proclaim…”point out one of my lies, just try!” It took me 20 seconds to find one. I have your first queued up, co-conspirator #4.
And by the way, ever since I first came to this blog I have watched you claim OVER and OVER again that someone else’s post was a lie. Which makes them a liar. So don’t whine about being called a liar, please.
NBC news is not a reliable source.
A quick 15 second search provides multiple sources that debunk NBC.
I provided one yesterday.
Ha.
So much happening. A bipolar patient in full psychosis has more judicious restraint now than the demonic left.