Below is my column on Fox.com on the new disclosures of secret orders targeting now FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. It is only the latest example of the abuse of the investigatory powers by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Here is the column:
Former Special Counsel Jack Smith has long operated under Oscar Wilde’s rule that “the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.” Over the last few months, the public has learned of a wide array of secret orders targeting members of Congress, Trump allies, and others. Now, the Administration has learned that FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Susie Wiles were also targeted by Smith in 2022 and 2023 when they were private citizens.
Smith was a controversial choice as Special Counsel because of his history of excessive legal arguments and tactics, including his unanimous loss before the Supreme Court in tossing out the conviction of former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell.
His tendency to stretch the law to the breaking point also did not play well with juries in high-profile cases, as in his case against John Edwards, which ended in acquittal.
Despite such criticisms, Smith immediately returned to his past pattern of tossing aside any restraint or caution. Even Democrats this year expressed objections to his targeting of Republican members of Congress, including former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Smith told carriers not to tell members of Congress that their calls were being seized. Not only did such records reveal potentially confidential sources, ranging from journalists to whistleblowers, but Smith’s gag order prevented Congress from responding to check the abusive demand.
Now, the Administration is alleging that Smith and the prior Administration effectively buried the targeting of Patel and Wiles. It took a year into the new Administration for these orders to be uncovered.
The early accounts of the orders contained equally disturbed elements. Reuters reported that “in 2023, the FBI recorded a phone call between Wiles and her attorney, according to two FBI officials. Wiles’ attorney was aware that the call was being recorded, and consented to it, but Susie Wiles was not.”
It is astonishing to hear of a lawyer agreeing to the FBI recording of an attorney-client meeting as a general matter. However, to do so without informing your counsel would be a breathtaking invasion of such protected communications.
There is much we still do not know.
On its face, these orders appear consistent with the earlier abusive demands. Smith had virtually no basis for targeting Republican members and Trump allies. It was a fishing expedition in which Smith simply compiled lists of every well-known ally of President Trump.
There are also concerns over the response to this controversy. There are reports of 10 FBI employees being fired. Agents often carry out the orders of superiors in such investigations. The Administration should assure the public that these agents were afforded due process before being ousted due to their work on orders.
The recently disclosed files from these investigations are an indictment of Smith himself. He was given a historic mandate to investigate a former president. Rather than exercise a modicum of restraint to show the public that this was not a partisan effort, Smith yielded to his worst temptations in targeting a long list of Republicans.
In his prior testimony, Smith offered little to justify these orders beyond a shrug that such secret orders routinely occur. However, he was targeting a “who’s who” listing of top political opponents to President Biden and the Democrats.
To make matters worse, Smith struggled to release damaging information (and even schedule a trial) on the very eve of the 2024 presidential election. Every action that Smith took only magnified his agenda to influence the election. He became a prosecutor consumed by his antagonism toward Trump and his unchecked power.
Nothing was sacred for Smith. His demands in the investigation from the courts included a wholesale attack on free speech values.
Ultimately, these files are not only an indictment of Jack Smith but also of former Attorney General Merrick Garland, who failed to exercise his authority to oversee Smith and protect core constitutional values.
It is essential that Congress and the Administration fully investigate Smith’s surveillance demands. Smith has long demanded accountability for others while evading such accountability for his own actions.
If past orders are any indication, the Patel and Wiles orders were likely based on sweeping generalities and demands for absolute secrecy. That is the signature of Jack Smith. Indeed, Smith appears to have replicated his increasingly infamous record with the collapse of two high-profile cases and lingering questions over his judgment and actions.
He has again yielded to his temptations, and the public has paid the price.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the author of the New York Times bestselling “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
Here comes the judge. Trump warned Iran over and over. Now, he’s blasting them.
Smith is faithless to the Constitution, not a “Jack of all trades” but a “Jack of all traitors.”
Kash Patel Was Named In Classified Documents Case
From October 24, 2022:
Prosecutors are trying to force a longtime aide and ally to Mr. Trump, Kash Patel, to answer questions before a grand jury about how the documents were taken to Mar-a-Lago and how Mr. Trump, his aides and his lawyers dealt with requests from the government to return them, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Mr. Patel was designated by Mr. Trump this year as one of his representatives to the National Archives and Records Administration to deal with his presidential records, particularly in relation to materials from the investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign had ties to Russia.
Shortly after the F.B.I. executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago in August to reclaim the classified documents, Mr. Patel publicly proclaimed that the former president had declassified the records before leaving office. But Mr. Patel refused to answer many questions this month before a grand jury in Washington hearing evidence about Mr. Trump’s handling of the documents, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Earlier in 2020, former Attorney General William P. Barr wrote in his memoir, Mr. Trump sought to name Mr. Patel the deputy director of the F.B.I. Mr. Barr recounted telling the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, that appointing Mr. Patel — someone he considered unqualified — would happen “over my dead body.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/24/us/politics/justice-department-trump-documents.html
…………………………………………..
Isn’t this interesting! Kash Patel, the current FBI Director, was an aid to Donald Trump handling classified documents when Trump left the White House back in 2021. Yet Patel had to take the Fifth Amendment several times when answering questions before a grand jury regarding all those documents that wound up at Mar-a-Lago. And this is the same Kash Patel who fired 10 FBI staffers this week for investigating the classified documents case.
Note that last paragraph regarding former Attorney General William Barr. Barr considered Patel totally unqualified to be ‘Deputy’ Director of the FBI. That’s the same William Barr that Johnathan Turley once praised as a very dear friend. Yet Turley made no mention of Barr in today’s column.
my buddy makes 0ver $22164💸 a m0nth doing this and she c0nvinced me to try. Single M0m Reveals How She Earns 75k/Yr W0rking 10 Hrs/Week From H0me The p0ssibility with this is endless…………………………… https://goto.now/QiHYA
This certainly would concern me personally if I was part of a group conspiring to replace the slate of electors with a fraudulent slate by using a massive riot to sack the Capitol building while also looking to attack or kill members of Congress or the Vice President of the United States. If I had laid those plans I would be very worried about a trail of phone calls between me and other conspirators, including the main instigator who had claimed, even before the election, that the election was rigged, and then claimed that the voting machines had been rigged, and that illegal immigrants voted, and that China had submitted false ballots, and so on.
Massive riot?? After being turned down by Democrats for 10,000 National Guard for that day!! AND protestors infiltrated by 100’s of undercover agents!!
Hillary STILL claims the election was taken from her. She thinks she won; but only GOP gets in trouble for those kind of claims? ANON???
indeed
Recall when Trump asked the Russians to release information about Hillary and a few days later the Russians released information about Hillary? A release that cast the possibility of lengthy investigations that soon turned out to be a nothing burger, but not until after the election when all those claims evaporated?
Turned down by Democrats? Oh, right, the cause for rape is that the victim didn’t fight back. Trumplicans all have the same “It’s not my fault for being evil, it’s their fault for not stopping me.”
“Human Rights Watch and other NGOs called for the RTLM* signal to be jammed by the US and
UN, (saving hundreds of thousands of lives) but the US government refused to do so, claiming that it would be a violation of free speech (p. 51).”
*Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), a station established in 1993 that regularly called Tutsis “cockroaches” and encouraged people to “cut down the tall trees”, in reference to Tutsis.
Woke convinces themselves Trump is evil personified. Compared to Clinton, he’s Saint Donald.
HAHAHA. Yeah right.
NGO are known for stealing.
Idiot
I would not be worried as I didn’t participate in a conspiracy nor have close ties to those who did.
I expect that in any criminal investigation of a conspiracy that the sandwich shop that gets called every Tuesday would have it’s phone records examined on the off chance it is used as an information drop.
OT, far-left lunatics always look the same, even in Alabama:
https://1819news.com/news/item/dog-sh-t-grifters-tpusa-student-group-harassed-by-university-of-south-alabama-professor-video
Typical of libs. Hate and anger, it’s all they have.
Typical dustoff, stupidity reigns eh
. A telephone conversation isn’t evidence of anything now because of voice synthesizer technology. Only a few seconds of anyone’s voice and that voice can be reproduced. An FBI agent can use it and call a suspect. The agent can pose as your attorney and you’ll talk. It’s recommended to play background noise when talking on a phone at all times. A radio on in background can confuse synthesizers. Synthesized voices will have errors in pronunciation commonly. Radio programs such as Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity are synthesized.
There are other problems /crimes in Smith’s case and should be addressed all the way up to Biden with his poor memory but a nice old man. These are criminals of the 1st order.
^^^ Reference Beck and Hannity is IMO.
Questionable Terminations At FBI
FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the firing of at least 10 staffers at the agency who were involved in the federal investigation into President Donald Trump’s mishandling of classified documents, according to multiple reports on Wednesday, continuing a broader crackdown on officials who were involved in federal prosecutions of Trump before his second term.
The FBI Agents Association, which represents active and former agents, condemned the firings in a statement: “The FBIAA condemns today’s unlawful termination of FBI Special Agents, which—like other firings by Director Patel—violates the due process rights of those who risk their lives to protect our country,” the association said. “These actions weaken the Bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining trust in leadership and jeopardizing the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruitment goals—ultimately putting the nation at greater risk.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2026/02/26/kash-patel-fires-10-fbi-staffers-involved-in-trump-classified-documents-probe/?
DOJ Had Already Fired Many For Trump-Related Investigations
From July 12, 2025:
The Justice Department has fired additional lawyers and support staff who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions of President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The overall number of terminations was not immediately clear but they cut across both the classified documents and election interference prosecutions brought by Smith, and included a handful of prosecutors who were detailed to the probes as well as Justice Department support staff and other non-lawyer personnel who aided them, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel moves that have not been publicly announced.
The firings are part of a broader wave of terminations that have roiled the department for months and that have targeted staff who worked on cases involving Trump and his supporters. In January, the Justice Department said that it had fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on prosecutions of Trump, and last month fired at least three prosecutors involved in U.S. Capitol riot criminal cases.
https://apnews.com/article/jack-smith-justice-department-fired-trump-af94503d10143f5464559fb503425f4f?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share
………………………………………..
The FBI and DOJ keep firing anyone who ever worked on a Trump-related investigation. Though Johnathan Turley would have us believe that ‘only’ Jack Smith should be held accountable for the classified documents case. Nowhere, and I mean ‘nowhere’, does Turley suggest for a second that Donald Trump or Kash Patel should answer for this case. Within the rightwing bubble, any suggestion that Trump should answer for anything is absolute blasphemy!
^ Chinese Communist Party bot (not human). Ignore. ^
OT, breaking: 39 people including Don Lemon indcited for attacking and terrorizing a church during its worship service.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/02/27/breaking-dozens-more-arrested-cities-church-invasion-case/
. . . these files are not only an indictment of Jack Smith but also of former Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Yup, Merrick Garland was the most corrupt AG in American history (tied with Eric Holder). He was the person who sicced his secret police on concerned moms at schoolboard meetings, traditional Catholics whose only crime was likeing the Latin mass, and dads praying with their kids near abortion clinics. Whatever you think of Mitch McConnell, he will always be remembered for having saved us from a “Justice Garland” (makes me shudder). Trump’s overwhelming electoral victory in November 2024 has been a much needed antiseptic to cleanse the rot and corruption of the Democrats when they weilded power. The job has begun but it is far from over.
The Democrats willingness to lie, cheat, break any law and resort to violence to gain and hold power should be upset everyone. The Democrats threats to harm those that politically disagree with them should alarm everyone.
Wait, so the elite left has been exploiting the TDS afflicted for their own gain?
they created their own useful idiots.
Selected Bee headlines:
– Politicians on Epstein list grilled by other politicians on Epstein list
– Hillary Clinton says she only recalls meeting Epstein that one time when she murdered him
– Bill Clinton tells Epstein Committee it depends on what the definition of ‘child trafficking’ is
– Detroit police chief vows to fire any officer caught enforcing laws
– To increase television ratings, winter olympics will add women’s beach volleyball
– Genius dad joins TikTok causing teenage daughter to think it’s lame
– Iran says it will rain death and destruction on US if it is bombed two more times
– Cruel: Trump admin strips funding from gas-station daycare center with 20,000 students
– Devastating: Black New Yorkers unable to shovel driveways as none of them have ID
– Congress confused by SOTU address by president who can talk
– Weird: guy injected with Bill Gates’s new vaccine suddenly thinks Internet Explorer is the best web browser
– Wife finally off the hook for forgiving husband as he leaves locks on the floor for 491st time
Special feature: Cheer up Canada, here are seven things you’re still better at than the US:
– Pouring gravy all over your fries for some reason (actually sounds good to me)
– Being kind of French but not totally French
– Celebrating Thanksgiving in the wrong month
– Apologizing
– Euthanasia (bravo for killing your sick, elderly, and disabled)
– Embracing communism (giving Cuba a run for its money)
– Hockey (oh, wait . . .)
Oldman
I just heard the news on the radio from Bill Clinton. He said Trump had nothing to do with Ebsten and young girls.
Depends on what the meaning of ‘nothing’ is, dusty.
*lets crunch the numbers .. .
Dustoff, WTF does that have to with the article?
Dustoff was responding to OMFK, nitwit.
Worried I see.
Former President Bill Clinton told members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that it’s “for you to decide” whether to call up current President Donald Trump to testify in the panel’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation, Chair James Comer told reporters Friday.
“[He] went on to say that, ‘President Trump has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved and he met with Epstein,’” Comer, a Kentucky Republican, recalled Clinton telling the committee during his deposition.
“I know there’s a lot of curiosity about President Trump,” Comer continued. “I thought that was an interesting thing that President Clinton said.”
– Politico
Babylon Bee is fake news. The opposite of the truth.
“IT’S TIME TO STOP TALKIN’ AND START CHALKIN'”
– Chick Hearn, Lakers Sportscaster, 1961-2002
___________________________________________________
I hear the women’s hockey team is going to play the men’s actual hockey team to end the discussion and establish who the real genuine world champion hockey players are.
That true?
You make a claim, you FAFO, right?
Question: If women are real, dominant hockey players, why do they have front teeth?
Don’t let Turley let you forget that everyone that Smith was investigating participated in the first attempted coup in US history. No one is immune from investigation for that.
. . . first attempted coup . . .
Hallucination. There was no attempted coup. It was a political protest in favor of the government in power staying in power. Moron.
I other words an attempted coup.
Any action to try to keep the “government in power staying in power” after they actually lost is by any definition an attempted coup.
Glad you agree
Don’t agree. It was a political protest favoring who they believed was the true winner based on the actual vote, in light of widespread fraud. The only significant violence was committed by the police. You’re hallucinating. Take your meds.
The “actual vote”, as you put it, showed that Trump lost.
You may not like that, but nevertheless that is the “actual vote” confirmed by the official results submitted by the states.
If you try to change that by protest, then by any definition, that is a coup.
You are just playing with words.
No, the fraudulent vote showed that. You are the one playing with words. The protesters were not looking to alter a valid election but a fraudulent one – at the very least one they thought was fraudulent. They were trying to oppose an insurrection brought about by fraud. You are the one playing with words.
And Trump tried to have the National Guard restrain the crowd, but Nancy Pelosi is on record vetoing that attempt.
You really don’t have the facts or the law on your side. It’s clear you are just waving a shiny object around to try and distrct from the utter failure of your party.
You really do live in a magical wonderland of MAGA delusion.
Unfortunately, your delusional thinking that the results were fraudulent is nothing more than that. Delusion.
Just because you believe that the results were fraudulent does not make it so.
Nancy Pelosi did not veto deployment of the National Guard. She has absolutely no authority over the Guard. That is simply another MAGA fantasy that has no relationship with reality.
The DC National Guard is the only one of the 54 Guard units that answers directly to the President, and he has full authority over its deployment. No one can veto his orders to the Guard.
You should perhaps consult the website of the DC National Guard which states the following:
“the Commanding General of the D.C. National Guard is subordinate solely to the President of the United States”
“The D.C. National Guard is the only National Guard unit, out of all of the 54 states and territories, which reports only to the President.”
https://dc.ng.mil/About-Us/
Nancy Pelosi has absolutely no power to activate the National Guard and absolutely no power to veto any orders of the President, who is solely in command of the Guard.
You live in a bizarre fantasy world of delusion, totally untethered from reality.
Jan 6 was an attempted coup. It is really that simple.
debunked by every lefty hoping it will stick. it won’t because there is too much evidence of lefty cheating in every way from lies and lawfare and russia russia russia. nothing the left says is credible because it’s ALL been debunked. YOU repeat lies here daily in order to further that illusion but Trump is President because you failed to convince back then. You are in the tiny screeching minority now.
Just repeating that what the “left” says has been debunked, does not make it so.
It is just more magical delusional MAGA thinking.
The evidence for your delusional thinking is your persistent belief that Nancy Pelosi somehow had veto power over the President of the United States, who is SOLELY in command of the DC National Guard.
The idea that the leader of just one of the legislative branches can veto the orders of the leader of the executive branch is totally absurd. It would be a huge separation of powers issue. This belief is a delusion.
The fact that you cling to this delusion about Nancy Pelosi, that is clearly disproven and debunked by the National Guard website, simply proves that you are delusional and everything you say is the result of your delusional thinking.
“Just repeating that what the “left” says has been debunked, does not make it so.”
Correct – reality does.
“The evidence for your delusional thinking is your persistent belief that Nancy Pelosi somehow had veto power over the President of the United States”
No one has claimed that – what they have CORECTLY told you OVER and OVER is that the capital area is under the control of the speaker of thee house NOT the president.
The president does have control f the DC NG – he does NOT have control of the Capital area.
Why do you think there is separate capitol police from the DC metro police ? From the Park rangers who control the areas near and including the WH.
The president can and Did order the DC NG to be prepared to go to the capital on J6,
This is unbeleivably well documented.
It is also well known BEFORE J6 that the offer to provide the DC NG had been made, and that the House seargent at arms at the direction of the Speaker had REJECTED the DC NG.
It is well known and well documented that the DC NG was – at the Direction of the president at the DC armory in BUsses at 7am on the 6th waiting for authorization to proceed.
It is well documneted thatafter 2pm peolsi finally notifed Sgt. Sond and he contacted Ast Sec def, who contacted JCS and every single step from Sond to the deployment of the NG is incredibly well documented.
Futher it is documented many times. The military does nothing better than documents its orders, But all of these people testified under oath in 3 separate procedings.
You left wing morons may only be familiar with the narative shilled to you, but the FACT is Trump did NOTHING on J6 that resulted in the NG showing up – he did not have to, he had ALREADY given the order to Miley in front of Sex DEf and others days before to have the NG ready and deploy them the moment sgt. Sond asked for them.
Sond himself has testified repeatedly that he asked over and over days before and on the day of and while the conflict was going on for permission to call in the NG, and until after 2pm he was denied over and over.
All the testimony all the documents are all publicly available – even the left wing nuy J6 committee has them – they just did not release them – because that did not fit the story they wanted to tell.
Regardless, MOST of this was documented including a time line – within days of J6 and long before the J6 committee existed.
You have been lied to repeatedly and you are still coming back for more.
You were lied to about Russian collusion.
You were lied to about alpha bank
You were lied to about the pee tape,
You were lied to about hunter Biden
You were lied to about Joe Biden.
You have been lied to so may more times, all day mostly the same people
Why do you keep believing people who ALWAYS lie to you ?
Trump did not order the NG to the capital on J6 – because he had ALREADY several says before order them to be ready to go to the capital on request,
and they were not requested until J6.
Nor was the request sent to the WH,
it was sent from Sgt Sond to the asst sec def and then to Miley and JVS and then down the chain of command to Gen Walker.
Regardless, the president can not send the NG to the Capital area on SOLEY his authority – he Mist have permission from the Sgt at arms who must have it from the house speaker.
2 U.S. Code § 1961 – Policing of Capitol Buildings and Grounds
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/2/1961
Even the MPD can not act on the capital grounds without permission.
The Capital grounds are outside the Jursidiction of the executive branch.
“who is SOLELY in command of the DC National Guard.”
Mostly true, The president can and did delegate control of the DC NG to the house sgt. at arms as is required by law for any forces except the CP to operate on the Capital grounds
“The idea that the leader of just one of the legislative branches can veto the orders of the leader of the executive branch is totally absurd.”
Not at all – The Capital Grounds are under the excludive control of Congress, That is done to preserve separation of powers. That precludes the president from ever sending the NG or military to the capital without the permission of congress, If he were to do so – the Military would not obey an illegal order.
“It would be a huge separation of powers issue. This belief is a delusion.”
If would be a separation of powers problem if Congress did not control its own buildings and grounds.
I linked to the law.
“The fact that you cling to this delusion about Nancy Pelosi,”
Not a delusion – it is the law. Most issues regarding the Capital grounds fall under the Architect of the Capital
who is answerable through a committee to the speaker of the house – the speaker of the house is a formal position in the constitution. The Senate majority leader is NOT. The senate is loosely run by the Vice president and the President of the Senate Pro Temp. While the speaker of the house is generally responsibile for the fascilities The Speaker of the house is 3rd in line to the presidency.
“that is clearly disproven and debunked by the National Guard website, simply proves that you are delusional and everything you say is the result of your delusional thinking.”
The NG website is NOT the law, was never intended to be the law is just general information, it does not cover separation of power issues.
I have cited the law to you – the executive branch has no jurisdiction over the capital grounds THAT is because of separation of powers.
The Same BTW is true of the Supreme court – they control their own grounds and have their on police if they need further assistance they must ask for it.
You are absolutely correct that separation of powers is THE issue – it is also why you are wrong.
Jurisdiction over the Gapital Grounds is exclusively legislative, jurisdiction over the supreme court grounds is purely judicial, Forces of the executive can only operate on the capital or supreme court grounds under the direction of the legislative or judicial branches respectively.
John Say
Another completely incoherent, incomprehensible psychotic rant.
Classic disorganized thinking (a DSM-5 symptom) of the circumstantial variety, otherwise described as CIRCUMSTANTIALITY.
“Anther completely incoherent, incomprehensible psychotic rant.”
No just the actual verifiable facts and law.
I linked to the law – did you bother to check it ?
Not only can the NG not enter the Capital area on the order of the president, but if and when they do have permission to do so, while there they operately under the direction of the House Sargent at arms.
You are correct there is a major separation of powers issue – but you completely misunderstand it.
The capital area is under the jurisdiction of the Speaker of the House to the house sargent at arms, to the capital police.
The president has less ability to unilaterally deploy the NG to the capital area, than he does to another state.
“Just because you believe that the results were fraudulent does not make it so.”
Correct – following the law, and allowing challenges where the laws was not followed allows us to determine whether the results were fraudulent
It is idiots on the left and terrified of another Trump term – which hyou have gotten anyway, who refused to allow meaningful challenges to the election.
There is little doubt at this point that There was significant actual fraud in Fulton County GA.
But beyond that there is also little dounbt that Fulton County GA is not capable of counting votes correctly.
They did so 3 times, got 3 different results, that varried by more than 20.000 votes,
And that is just ONE of the many many problems in FC.
Some are demonstrable fraud.
Some are just gross incompetence.
NORMALLY incompetnce does not swing an election. That is because error usually swings both ways, but if you have massive error in a place that leans heavily one way and you have an overall close election it is unpredictable what the effects of error will be.
“Nancy Pelosi did not veto deployment of the National Guard. She has absolutely no authority over the Guard. That is simply another MAGA fantasy that has no relationship with reality.”
Incorrect, Nancy Pelosi had authority over the Capitol area, AND any forces within it.
The NG can not enter the capitol area without Peolosi’s permission, and once they do enter they are under her control.
“The DC National Guard is the only one of the 54 Guard units that answers directly to the President, and he has full authority over its deployment. No one can veto his orders to the Guard.”
Correct – but the President can not deploy the NG to the capital area. He has jurisdiction over DC generally but NOT over the capital area. No president can order the NG to enter the capital area.
Trump ordered the NG to be available on Request several days eariler – and they were on the Bus at the DC armory at 7am on J6 because of Trump’s order.
They were not allowed to leave until Pelosi directed the sargent at arms to go to DOD -= which was waiting for his call and ask for them.
This is incredibly well documented.
“You should perhaps consult the website of the DC National Guard which states the following:”:
Doesn’t matter what a web site says – the capital area itself is under the EXCLUSIVE control of Congress and specifically the speaker of the house.
“Nancy Pelosi has absolutely no power to activate the National Guard and absolutely no power to veto any orders of the President, who is solely in command of the Guard.”
Correct – Trump activated them dsays before, and ordered them to be ready should the House sargent at arms request them.
The house sargent at arms spent several days begging polosi to be able to ask for them, which did not occur until J6 well after everything went ut of control.
“You live in a bizarre fantasy world of delusion, totally untethered from reality.”
Look in the mirror.
You are the one completely clueless about the FACTS.
Every single order from Trump through all of DOD to Gen Walker as well as all exchanges between DOD and the house sargent at arms and Pelosi’s exchanges with the sargent at arms are incredibly well documented.
As is the LAW.
No president can sent forces to the capital area without the permission of the speaker of the house.
FULL STOP
“Jan 6 was an attempted coup. It is really that simple.”
Nope.
. By whom is the capitol building secured? In addition can mayor of DC request NG? Presumably after having been asked if NG was needed the8r response was it’s under control?
The mayor of DC can request the NG – TO THE CITY – not to the Capital area. Tthe capital area is its own separate jurisdiction controlled by the legislative branch of the federal government – the speaker of the house.
The MPD can not operate in the capital area without the permission of the House Sargent at arms – It is my understanding that the House Sargent at arms did get assistance from MPD throughout the day.
The DC mayor had also requested the NG on J6 and there were more than 100 NG in DC very near the capital but NOT in the capital area,
Jurisdiction in DC is divided all over the place. The area around the Supreme court has their own independent police controlled by the Supreme court. The capital area is controlled by the Capital Police. The area arround the WH as well as numerous monuments and federal parks are controlled by the National Park Service and the Park Police.
The Remainder of DC is controlled by the Metro Police.
. As speaker Pelosi has oversight of the Board of security. Michael Stenfer and Paul Irving, sargents at arms for the House and Senate respectively secure the capitol as do capitol police. President Trump can deploy NG as an emergency anywhere if requested or by his authority.
Michael Stenger passed away one year later in 2022, heart attack. RIP.
SCOTUS just gave an opinion about NG in Chicago v. Trump. 🤦♀️
Ta ta
You just cited the recent Trump Vs. Illinois which says the OPPOSITE of your claim – it held that the president can not deploy the NG anywhere for the purpose of law enforcement simply by declaring an emergency.
I do not think Trump Vs. Illinois would be applicable to the Capital area, it is NOT applicable to DC outside the capital area.
Regardless, the president does NOT have any jurisdiction over the capital area. He does not even have the jurisdiction he has over a state. The capital area is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the legislature.
…and the left is playing with illegitimate votes. “then by any definition, that is a coup.”
touche’!
We have no idea what the actual vote showed – it is evident the counted vote just in Fulton county varieed by 20.000 votes from one count to the next. One count has more votes than people who voted.
You have no idea what the legal count of qualifed voters is – and unfortunately no one does.
One of the reasons that we have proccesses to challenge elections is to assure that we count all legal ballots by qualified voters and only legal ballots.
This covers just SOME of the shennaigans that went on in Fulton County.
Note BoterGA sued FC in dec, 2020, they were doing we until they were denied standing – later the US supreme cour reversed lower courts and sain – nope they have standing. The US supreme court has now confirmed that candidates and voters have standing – so that means most of your so called 70+ court cases were improperly stopped.
“the counted vote just in Fulton county varieed by 20.000 votes from one count to the next. One count has more votes than people who voted.”
Never happened.
This is extremely well documented – it is a matter of public record.
The “coup” and “insurrection” lies have been thoroughly debunked. Only crazy, deranged zealots like you keep peddling that lie, actually believing it to be true. Get over it.
Debunked? We all saw it on TV. The Trump attempted coup is a historical fact.
We saw a protest on TV, but your characterization as a coup or insurrection is debunked. I guess I’m no longer surprised I have to explain something that basic to such a low-IQ commenter.
Every lie you leftards tell about Trump is an attempted coup. You’re just really bad at making stuff up. NONE of it is believable, but, ironically, and it came from leftoid imaginings, it’s eveything I’ve come to expect of radical left-behinders. It’s in YOUR head man!
Hence President Trump 2.0 kicking left ass.
No it is a hysterical lie.
No disproven by the actual facts.
You are getting dangerously close to publicly discovering and therefore exposing your ignorance of the reasons for the controversy discussed here…who’s side are you on?? every commie now wants to cancel you, you were not supposed to say that it’s outside party guidelines. You have to be more vague. and get a clue. Confederate dems were the only attempted coup in US history but of course you leave that one out and make up another.
NO a political protest that you do not like is not an attempted coup.
No “Any action to try to keep the “government in power staying in power” after they actually lost is by any definition an attempted coup.”
Are you retarded ?
Would streaking for Trump be a coup ?
A coup requires the use of FORCE. If the J5 protestors showed up with 15,000 AR-15’s that would be an attempted Coup.
You left out the whole “violent” and “illegal” part. The fake electors and tying to get Pence to illegally throw out EC votes alone makes it an attempted coup.
The Democrats employed the same alternate electors strategy in a prior election. It is not illegal.
Except they did not. They never have. No other VP has ever tried to throw out EC votes and no state has previously submitted fake and fraudulent EC votes. And it is very illegal. It is an attempted coup.
Except that Yes they have. If the question is “Tried” it happens all the time.
Democrats have challenged on state or another election every-time a republican had been elected in my lifetime.
Even if the criteria is succeeded – in 1877, Congress delayed Certification, reached a back room deal switched the slate of electors they counted for 3 sates, flipping the election from Tilden to Hayes, and as part of the deal, Union Troops were withdrawn from the south.
In 1961 Nixon selected the alternate electors in Hawaii, giving the state to Kennedy.
So Yes a VP has picked a different slate of electors before.
When a states certification is challenged in Congress – which is attempted in pretty much EVERY election, congress has 3 choices.
Accept the state certified results,
Reject them and do not count the state
or accept the alternate electors.
To do that there MUST be an alternate slate of electors.
Hawaii
I(f you were correct – that STILL would not make it a coup.
The electors were not “fake” they were alterante. That is what the Supreme court said long ago as the means to challenge the certified state electors in congress.
In 1876 Congress picked the alternates from 3 separate states to change the outcome of a disputed election.
In 1961 VP Nixon counted the alternates from Hawaii rather than the originally certified electors. The original vote count gave HI to Nixon, but a court challenge changed the count and alternate electors were appointed, voted and rushed their vote results to the Capital in time for HI to be counted by VP nixon for Kennedy.
Yes the bold strategy to take down the USA with no armaments or weapons to enable said coup. and even biden says you can’t! cause he’s got fighter jets to beat you back. you think they brought no weapons to a fighter jet fight?
However plenty of coup material from the left, I JUST read about some somewhere, OH YEAH! this very article! It’s all smoke and mirrors and word changes with you for-hire birthday clowns. Honk Honk
Gigi once pointed out that some of the protesters brought bear spray. I guess that would’ve defeated the entire US military.
Anonymous 3:08PM-That all depends on your definition of “coup”-“riot”, “insurrection”, “sleepover”, “democratic wet dream”, “Valerie Jarrett and Susan Rice in the same room”, “The democrat’s ghost Benghazi rescue mission”. Definitions are important you know.
GEB
You are a perfect illustration of the magical delusional thinking of the MAGA cult.
What you are essentially saying is that words have no fixed meaning.
And that words can mean whatever you want them to mean in any given situation.
Your concept of “definition” is completely fluid and allows you to drift around in a sea of delusional thinking, all the time believing that the meaning of words is always subject to the whims of your ever evolving delusional thoughts.
What GEB is saying is that for those on the left words have whatever meaning they want for thee moment
The first and ONLY attempted Coup was the Collusion delusion.
John Say the Demented
Wait, Wait, Wait !!!!!!
At 7:26pm above, you state the following:
“A coup requires the use of FORCE”
And you also say that Jan 6 could only be considered a coup if the “protestors” showed up with 15,000 Ar-15’s.
And yet you also believe the “Collusion Delusion” was a coup.!!!!
Where was the “FORCE” in the supposed “Collusion Delusion” that you now consider a coup ????
Who was wielding the 15,000 Ar-15’s in the “Collusion Delusion” that would be necessary to define this is as a coup ????
This is a classic example of your truly demented, delusional, psychotic thinking.
In your profoundly psychotic state of mind you believe that words have no fixed meaning, and that their meaning is completely fluid depending on what you want them to mean in different situations, even when the meanings you try to affix are diametrically opposite to each other, and completely contradictory.
The ability to hold two contradictory opinions simultaneously in your mind as true, without experiencing cognitive dissonance, is unequivocal evidence of mental illness.
This is profoundly psychotic thinking, and absolute evidence that you are profoundly mentally impaired, as I have recently been trying to point out in several comments.
You have finally provided absolute, unequivocal proof of your profound mental illness.
Beat that straw man to death!!!
““A coup requires the use of FORCE”
And you also say that Jan 6 could only be considered a coup if the “protestors” showed up with 15,000 Ar-15’s.”
No I said That would be a coup. And that probably is inaccurate – it would be an attempted insurrection or revolution but not a coup.
“And yet you also believe the “Collusion Delusion” was a coup.!!!!
Where was the “FORCE” in the supposed “Collusion Delusion” that you now consider a coup ????”
The participation of the Outgoing president of the United state using the FORCES of the United states – such as the FBI, and IC.
This is very close to a CLASSIC Coup orchestrated by those Inside Government against the legitimate government – that happens all the time. Just never before in the US.
Please learn critical thinking.
John Say the Demented
You are EXACTLY making my point for me.
You are simply playing with words, which to you have no fixed meaning. Your definition of the words you use is in a constant state of flux depending on what psychotic thoughts are flittering through your delusional mind at any given moment.
In your first comment, a coup was something that required FORCE. And you elaborate as to the nature of that FORCE by saying it would require people to show up with 15,000 AR-15’s. In that definition you clearly say that a coup necessarily involves the FORCE of physical violence and weapons.
Now all of a sudden that is not a coup, but an insurrection or revolution.
Then you suddenly find a new meaning for the word FORCE that is completely different from the way you used that word in your first comment.
Now all of a sudden, the meaning of FORCE as it refers to a coup, is not physical violence, but rather the FORCES of the United States, which you now believe to be the FBI and the IC.
This is EXACTLY the point I am making.
You use words loosely and incoherently in ways that are completely untethered from reality. To you words have no fixed meaning, and you rant incoherently in ways that simply confirm your profoundly psychotic state of mind.
You live in a delusional fantasy land of profoundly psychotic thinking.
You are profoundly mentally ill.
If the heinous state criminals below were not Drawn and Quartered for the most abject crime against the nation ever, no individual will be prosecuted or even censured in this case.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”
– Barack Obama
____________________
“We will stop him.”
– Peter Strzok to FBI paramour Lisa Page
_____________________________________________
“[Obama] wants to know everything we’re doing.”
– Lisa Page to FBI paramour Peter Strzok
_____________________________________________
“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way he gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before 40.”
– Peter Strzok to FBI parmour Lisa Page
____________________________________________
“People on the 7th floor to include Director are fired up about this [Trump] server.”
– Bill Priestap
_________________
“I had a discussion with the case team and we believe there to be predication to include former President of the United States Donald J. Trump as a predicated subject.”
– Timothy Thibault to John Crabb, U.S. Attorney’s Office, D.C.
___________________________________________________________________
The Obama Coup D’etat in America is the most egregious abuse of power and the most prodigious crime in American political history. The co-conspirators are:
Kevin Clinesmith, Bill Taylor, Eric Ciaramella, Rosenstein, Mueller/Team, Andrew Weissmann,
James Comey, Christopher Wray, McCabe, Strozk, Page, Laycock, Kadzic, Sally Yates,
James Baker, Bruce Ohr, Nellie Ohr, Priestap, Kortan, Campbell, Sir Richard Dearlove,
Christopher Steele, Simpson, Joseph Mifsud, Alexander Downer, Stefan “The Walrus” Halper,
Azra Turk, Kerry, Hillary, Huma, Mills, Brennan, Gina Haspel, Clapper, Lerner, Farkas, Power,
Lynch, Rice, Jarrett, Holder, Brazile, Sessions (patsy), Nadler, Schiff, Pelosi, Obama,
Joe Biden, James E. Boasberg, Emmet Sullivan, Gen. Milley, George Soros, John McCain,
Marc Elias, Igor Danchenko, Fiona Hill, Charles H. Dolan, Jake Sullivan, Strobe Talbot,
Cody Shear, Victoria Nuland, Ray “Red Hat” Epps, Don Berlin, Kathy Ruemmler, Rodney Joffe,
Paul Vixie, L. Jean Camp, Andrew Whitney, Lisa O. Monaco, Fani Willis, Alvin Bragg,
Matthew Colangelo, Merrick Garland, Juan Merchan, Timothy Thibault et al.
Turley talks about what SHOULD ALARM us, and proceeds to attack Jack Smith and his “secret orders”, without disclosing that these were subpoenas limited in time–just before and just after January 6–and limited in scope–just the numbers called and numbers from which calls were received, which is information in the possession of third parties–cellular telephone companies. Smith was investigating January 6th, looking at evidence of a conspiracy, and Wiles and Patel were close associates of Trump. What was Smith supposed to do–ignore the insurrection, ignore the existing evidence of a conspiracy instead of the MAGA lie that J6 was just a “protest” that got out of hand? We know there was pre-planning–a British journalist was embedded with the Proud Boys and went with them on reconnaisance missions prior to J6, plotting the best way to get past the Capitol Police by creating distractions at one point to free up police at another point of entry–all to gain access to the Capitol and to try to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s victory. We know there were planning meetings at the Willard Hotel. We know all about how Trump tried to bully Pence into refusing his Constitutional duty to accept the votes, and the fake elector scheme and all of the lies that continue to this day.
Turley’s choice to leave out these critical details SHOULD ALARM us. Turley has gone full-MAGA, and MAGA has its shorts in a twist because they KNOW that Trump and Republicans are going to lose the midterms, they know Trump’s not going to stop lying, he’s going to keep up the tariffs because his ego needs to have corporate CEOs and heads of other countries crawling to him, begging for exemptions and giving him gifts, and that most Americans know that the economy is NOT “booming”. We don’t believe his lie about WHO pays for tariffs–we do–to the tune of an average of $1,700 more per family per year. So, the next best thing is to try to discredit Democrats. Oh, of course, they’re also trying to pre-rig the midterms. Trump thinks he can sign an Executive Order commanding that no state can allow mail ballots (even though he and Pence consistently voted that way for 4 years, and that despite numerous investigations, there’s no evidence of widespread fraud in mail ballots or voting machines), ban voting machines, and that ballots received after election day, even though they were postmarked on or before election day, cannot be counted. Also, he thinks he can require proof of citizenship just to vote. And, of course, these measures came after Trump tried to get red states to create more red districts–he just can’t stand to lose, but he’s still going to. All of this is calculated to prevent American voters from voting against Republicans. That SHOULD ALARM us.
Cry harder Gigi, we can’t hear you.
Okay dustoff we see you.
Talking to yourself?
See a doctor soon.
there was no link to your column
When did Jonathan Turley become a radical right wing extremist?
He did not.
The Democrat party got highjacked by radical far-left wing extremists who, by the new evidence, may have committed illegal activities at various levels. The good professor is just pointing that out.
There should be an investigation and IF in fact there was illegal wrong doing, then charges should be brought forth.
@Upstate
Have committed illegal activities at various levels? I would argue they’ve done it at every level possibly conceivable. That entire party is a construct, a sham, today. You are far too generous, IMO. I know there are smart voters on that side that simply don’t pay attention to anything whatsoever (seemingly for nigh on 30 years), but the party itself?: no, they do not get a pass, especially right now. They absolutely know better – this is all very, very much intentional.
When he came to realize the left was nuts and dangerous
John Say,
Okay. That made me laugh.
However, you are also correct. The good professor and many others such as yourself, OLLY et al. have noted the far-leftists are, in fact, not only nuts but dangerous with their calls for things like censorship, packing the SC, to undermine the Constitution and all the other stupid and crazy things they have said to ensure one party rule.
What made you laugh? Turley made no such indication. And to quote crazy olly, well says it all.
I don’t get it, Mr. Gadsden Rainbow flag.
Didn’t the “left” support immutably absurd, counterintuitive, irrational, and completely “political” homosexual marriage—as if that were possible or even conceivable for sane people?
Are you implying that you are now nondefective and conservative?
Hillary and Obama were both on record opposing it. But you are also making a false assumption based on JS’s avatar. He has spoken about his wife on this comment section.
So, what you’re saying is that, were the hypothetical above to be true, his reference would have been to a so-called “husband,” as in “he has spoken about his husband on this comment section”?
It’s so hard these days to keep anything straight, from my smart TV, flip phone, and desktop to the ever-changing nomenclature and lexicon of the defective and perverted freak show.
@John
You always cite law and precedent and it is very much appreciated; I enjoy your comments. I hope at some point you realize as well that this means exactly jack and sheet to the modern left, particularly the young and woke contingent. And if in power, they will show us that, and right quick. The rest of the, admittedly, perfectly sane portion of the argument means literally nothing to them. Zero. And things that used to be simple law or procedure will be relics of memory.
SF
Interesting question from an obviously radical Leftist, since you didn’t apply any objectivity at all to your reading of the article. If you think what Smith did was ok, then you are a big part of the problem.
I bet you yell at your bathroom scale when the poundage keeps rising.
JT didn’t become anything he wasn’t before. It takes an ounce of humilty to ask the most basic of questions: Is it you or me? His Democratic party went radically to the Left, which makes JT appear to have moved radically to the right.
What are you ingesting?
The natural and God-given freedom of ingestion is disclosed and established in the 9th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The Controlled Substances Act and drug laws are unconstitutional.
What is illegal is property damage, bodily injury, and threatening individuals with such through DUI, for example.
Truth, can you handle it?
MAGA oligarchs started making it worth his while financially, Turley turned MAGA. He’s not totally “radical”–he bows out of commenting on things that are indefensible, puts the MAGA spin on some items, like today’s piece about Jack Smith that omits critical details that put things into proper prospective, but he still harps on the theme of “rage”, like there’s something wrong with being outraged over Trump. It’s not normal for a President to constantly lie, to use the office of the President for personal gain, to openly use the DOJ and FBI to go after his perceived enemies, to cover up records of a massive sex trafficking ring involving a former best friend (the extent of his involvement, we don’t know–we want the records), to have a cabinet full of syncophants whose main qualification is to do what he tells them, to create a private army of poorly-trained masked thugs who tear gas and abuse peaceful people and even kill Americans who protest, to create a system of concentration camps, to illegally enact tariffs that are driving up the cost of goods…just a few examples. He has rolled back consumer and environmental protections, and those who bend the knee don’t have to worry about anti-trust litigation–like the current proposed purchase of Warner Brothers. Now, he’s trying to rig the midterms and make it difficult for Americans who don’t support him to vote against Republicans. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but it’s clear that Trump is for sale, that the US Presidency is all about his ego, need for affirmation and attention and to pay back wealthy donors and to keep power at any cost.
Gigi is off her meds.
When has she ever stopped?
When did the American Founders at the top of Professor Turley’s blog page become radical right-wing extremists?
More to the point, what the —— are you doing in their country?
Oh, of course, I forgot; you’re looking for all the largesse from other people’s money you can lay your grubby hands on, right, comrade parasite?
Interestingly, there is a good possibility that the Founders denied you citizenship and any right to vote in their immigration law, the Naturalization Acts of 1802.
The Founders, and some people’s Forefathers, gave actual Americans their Nation, their Law, and their Population, didn’t they?
You didn’t like it, but you’re here anyway.
Oops!
All of the Above! – Except for the Wealthy Anonymous (you know, the one being paid by the word).
>”When did Jonathan Turley become a radical right wing extremist?”
everytime a leftard disagrees with him. “radical right wing extremist” is YOUR description.
but I think you’re here because you know he’s right and so must be opposed, otherwise why bother?
Why hasn’t this man been indicted and arrested. This Stalinist lawfare has no place in the USA but it will continue to happen when Dems seize power again unless something is done. And no grand juries in DC where 99.9% of the jury pool will acquit a defendant even if he committed murder in the courtroom before their very eyes.
Because he did nothing wrong. Turley has not pointed out what laws he broke or what crimes were committed.
According to Turley; “The recently disclosed files from these investigations are an indictment of Smith himself.”
*unfortunately, no files have been disclosed as far as I can tell.
Civil
42 U.S. Code § 1983 – Civil action for deprivation of rights
Criminal
18 U.S. Code § 241 – Conspiracy against rights
18 U.S. Code § 242 – Deprivation of rights under color of law
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/242
John Say,
The accusations of ‘misconduct’ against Jack Smith fall apart upon legal scrutiny because they fail to identify a specific violation of the law. Calling for a prosecutor to be indicted for following standard federal procedures—such as issuing court-authorized subpoenas for third-party metadata—is legally baseless.
Turley’s argument relies on emotive generalities and unverified allegations precisely because the established facts and current case law do not support a claim of criminal overreach. If the investigative methods were truly illegal, they would have been suppressed by a judge during the two years of active litigation; the fact that they weren’t demonstrates that Smith was operating within the bounds of the Department of Justice’s Justice Manual.”
Furthermore, Turley’s characterization of ‘secret orders’ is a misrepresentation of 18 U.S.C. § 2705, a statute passed by Congress specifically to protect the integrity of federal investigations. These are not ‘secret’ in the sense of being extra-legal; they are court-authorized nondisclosure orders. To obtain them, Smith had to convince a neutral federal judge that notifying the targets—who were at the center of an investigation into the obstruction of justice and the January 6th insurrection—posed a specific risk of evidence destruction or witness intimidation. By framing these as ‘abusive,’ Turley is essentially arguing that prosecutors should be required to tip off subjects of an investigation before evidence can be secured, a position that contradicts decades of standard law enforcement practice.”
want us to use AI to see where you picked up “emotive generalities?”
Go right ahead. It won’t change the facts on the issue.
you haven’t stated any facts.
Or sourced it. George is a pathological liar.
Nice! Now let me hear you say, “whitewash!”
Everyone knows x is wrong. He makes all this stuff up.
Well, now hold on a minute there. I’m thinkiing it’ll probably take us, like, three minutes to come up with charges sufficent to jailing Jack Smith. And that we would have tremendous fun doing so! To begin, this guy wasn’t even a lawful prosecutor. And he violated the civil rights of many.
Because they are obvious. Now, we’re not going to explain it to you. Ask yourself WHY he was spying. You can do it.