The Trump Administration has released disturbing emails from the FBI and Justice Department leading up to the unprecedented raid on Mar-a-Lago. Internal communications confirm that some were expressing doubts about both the basis for probable cause and the need for a raid within the departments. The newly disclosed material also shows how some in the Biden Administration appeared hellbent on carrying out the search even as agents objected that it might not be necessary. Continue reading ““Damn … the Optics”: Newly Released Documents Show Officials Brushed Aside Concerns Over Mar-A-Lago Raid”
Category: Justice
The House Oversight Committee is investigating the use of the autopen by Biden officials as allegations grow that President Joe Biden had little idea of some of the actions taken under his name, from executive orders to pardons. Now, the Committee has disclosed that at least one senior official warned that he had “no idea” what the parameters were for Biden’s blanket pardons and that the public was being misled about the pardons only applying to non-violent individuals. Continue reading ““I Have No Idea”: Justice Department Official Raised Objections to Ill-Defined Biden Pardons”
Consider this story: An outgoing president and his top officials are told that there is no evidence of Russian collusion or influence in the national election. The White House then moved to suppress the intelligence assessment and reverse the conclusions, while false claims were leaked to the press.
That is not just a major but a Pulitzer-level story, right? Continue reading “Silence of the Lambs: The Media Ignores Declassified Documents on the Manufacturing of the Russian Conspiracy”
As Hunter Biden continues to unleash profanity-laden attacks on Democrats, George Clooney, and others, it appears that former special counsel David Weiss is doing his own unloading. In a recent closed-door interview, Weiss said that he faced obstacles in his effort to prosecute the former President’s son, including a virtual boycott from DOJ attorneys in joining his team. Continue reading ““A Drought”: Weiss Unloads on Lack of Support from Justice Department on Investigation of Hunter Biden”
This week, New York Judge Mary Rosado issued an opinion in Council of City of N.Y. v. Adams. The court is blocking the city from allowing the federal government to maintain office space at Rikers Island. The reason is that Rosado agreed that Mayor Eric Adams had a conflict of interest and likely bargained away the access as part of a quid pro quo arrangement to get the Justice Department to drop criminal charges against him. The opinion is quite extraordinary and, in my view, fundamentally flawed. The opinion generated more heat than light on the proper handling of a conflict of interest.
The Justice Department has filed an anti-discrimination case against the owners of the Jerusalem Coffee House in Oakland, California. Fathi Abdulrahim Harara and Native Grounds LLC are accused of violating Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin in places of public accommodation. The matter is also the subject of a private lawsuit by the Anti-Defamation League and other groups. Continue reading “The Justice Department Sues California Coffee Shop Over Discrimination Against Jewish Customers”
“For posterity’s sake.” Those words from President Joe Biden sum up the crushing impact of the leaked audiotapes from the interview between then-President Joe Biden and Special Counsel Robert Hur. Not only did they remove any serious doubt over Biden committing the federal crimes charged against President Donald Trump, but they also constituted what is akin to a political racketeering indictment against much of the Washington establishment. Continue reading ““For Posterity’s Sake”: Why the Biden-Hur Tapes is a Virtual Racketeering Indictment”
For Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the weaponization of the criminal justice system has always followed a certain Casablanca pattern. Like Claude Rains as the venerable Captain Louis Renault, it is simply a matter of “rounding up the usual suspects.” Grassley released FBI whistleblower records on Thursday showing that an anti-Trump figure, former FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault, previously found to have violated the Hatch Act was a key factor in pushing the election charges brought by former Special Counsel Jack Smith. Continue reading “Rounding up the Usual Suspects: Grassley Releases Familiar Name in the Origins of the Trump Investigation”
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump stated that the roughly 1500 pardons and commutations for J6 defendants issued Monday night are not the final resolution of cases. The President indicated that some commutations may be converted into full pardons. What is now clear is that the executive action includes violent offenders. That is wrong regardless of any excesses in the handling of these cases. Continue reading “Trump Pardons and Commutations Included Violent Offenders Who Assaulted Police Officers”
The release of the first part of Jack Smith’s report at midnight was the special counsel’s version of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision: we had seen it before. Putting aside the public filings where Smith fought to get this information out before the election, there was little new in the report. What the report did not contain is an explanation of how Smith destroyed his own cases against Trump. However, one notable element was Smith’s reliance on a dubious concurrence by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the subject of a prior column on what would be an interpretation that was too clever by half. Continue reading “Jacksonian Obstruction: Smith Explains How He Was Planning to Circumvent the Decision in Fischer”
Yesterday, I was notified by the Justice Department confirming that a recent swatting indictment includes the person or persons responsible for my own swatting a year ago. One of the defendants, Thomasz Szabo, was arrested a couple weeks ago. Continue reading “Justice Department Indicts Alleged Swatters of Turley, Members of Congress, and Others”
It appears that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan and Special Counsel Jack Smith are not done yet in releasing material in advance of the election. In a previous column, I criticized the release of Smith’s 180-page brief before the election as procedurally irregular and politically biased, a criticism shared by CNN’s senior legal analyst and other law professors. Nevertheless, on Thursday, Judge Chutkan agreed to a request from Smith to unseal exhibits and evidence in advance of the election. Continue reading “Adversarial Process or Oppo Research? Judge Agrees To Release More Trump Material Before the Election”
Below is my column in The Hill on the concerning record of Attorney General Merrick Garland on a variety of recent matters, including a frivolous privilege claim to withhold the audiotape of President Joe Biden during the Hur interview. There is a certain corruption of judgment that is evident from this and other decisions by Garland since he became Attorney General.
Here is the column: Continue reading “The Corruption of Merrick Garland”
“Conscience doth make cowards of us all.” Those words from Hamlet captured the moral dilemma for many of us as we face the costs of conscience.
For each of us, there often comes a moment when our principles are put to an undeniable and unavoidable test. It may be as simple as cheating on a test, shoplifting a product, or admitting to a wrong. It is natural to want to avoid such moments, particularly when we cannot even admit to ourselves that we may not be the person we have long claimed to be. Continue reading “Garland’s Moment of Truth: With the Perjury Referral, the Attorney General Faces a Clear Choice Between Principle and Politics”
We have been discussing the dubious constitutional basis for President Joe Biden withholding the audio tapes of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur. I have previously written that the claim of privilege makes little sense when the transcript of the interview has already been released. It seems curious that Biden is claiming to be the president “who cannot be heard” in withholding the audio version. It just got wackier as the Justice Department seeks to create a new type of “Deepfake privilege” that would effectively blow away all existing limits on the use of the privilege when it comes to audio or visual records of a president. Continue reading “The Deepfake Privilege? The Justice Department Makes Startling Claim to Withhold the Biden-Hur Audiotape”