There is an interesting article in the Washington Post entitled “As A Prosecutor, Kamala Harris’s Doggedness Was Praised. As a Senator, She’s Deemed ‘Hysterical.'” The Los Angeles Times also described Harris’ style as prosecutorial in nature and referenced her skills in court examination. The articles raise a common comparison between court and congressional hearings in terms of questioning. When I served as lead counsel in the last impeachment, I constantly spared with Senators over the failure to follow basic rules of evidence or practice. The Senators would respond that such rules do not apply to them — which is technically correct though good practices are not always required practices.
Former Trump aide Jason Miller was confronted by USA Today columnist over his description of Harris as “hysterical” in the hearing. Her point is a valid one but the Washington Post suggests that this type of questioning would be considered praise worthy in a prosecutor. The comparison between actual litigation and congressional examinations is an interesting one. I have great respect for Sen. Harris and her experience. However, while her questioning began well, it quickly fell into improper questioning if viewed from a litigation viewpoint. As a criminal defense attorney, I can say that it would not only be viewed as improper but judges would immediately sustain objections to such badgering of a witnesses. Indeed, I was surprised watching the hearing as Democratic senators pummeled Sessions with questions and demanded rapid answers. Sessions had just been attacked for failing to fully and truthfully answer an earlier (and rather unclear) question from Sen. Al Franken. Now however they were giving him rapid questions and cutting off his answers. Harris was the most extreme in that respect.
It is the presidential version of death by cop. Recently, I wrote a 
Below is my column in The Hill Newspaper on the legal analysis surrounding the disclosure by former FBI Director James Comey that he leaked damaging information against President Donald Trump in memos to the press. I have been surprised by the analysis which has been both artificially narrow or outright erroneous on the underlying legal issues. There was an early effort, for example, to judge the lawfulness of Comey’s actions solely on the basis of whether it was a crime. If these memos were government property, a claim for criminal conduct could be made but it would be unlikely under existing precedent. However, that does not mean that Comey’s conduct was either lawful or professional. Neither is true. In the rush to lionize Comey, the media is ignoring the fact that others have been punished for releasing non-public information to the media. Moreover, Comey and the FBI was tasked with finding leakers in the Administration. Yet, after being fired and publicly insulted by Trump, Comey became himself a leaker (despite a readily available and lawful avenue for disclosing the memos in a matter of weeks). I have stated from the outset that criminal charges are unlikely (and in my view unwarranted) as the facts currently stand with regard to this one leak. However, the leak was in my view unlawful and unprofessional. Comey allowed himself to be baited by Trump and proceeded to discard his professional judgment to strike back through a third party. His conduct should not be judged solely on the basis of whether it might land him in jail. Moreover, if the FBI wanted to pursue the violation, it could drag Comey to court and seek various remedies outlined in the agreement that all FBI agents sign as a condition of their employment.
A Philadelphia reporter, Colleen Campbell, 28, is not only out of job but perhaps a profession after a video of her berating police officers went viral. Campbell is shown below in cuffs after being removed from the Helium Comedy Club on Sunday night. She was asked to leave for disrupting comedian Craig Robinson by her loud whispering. It then went from bad to worse (Warning: the video below contains foul language)
Donald Trump has made his selection for the replacement of former Director James Comey. He notably did not select an FBI career person but did go with a former Assistant Attorney General. He is Christopher Wray.
One can certainly understand if the media is a tad confused. This week, Presidential Counselor Kellyanne Conway chided media for taking President Donald Trump’s tweets so seriously and denied that tweets are one of his preferred methods of communication. Shortly thereafter White House press secretary Sean Spicer reminded media that Trump’s tweets are “official statements” and thus serious articulations of policy.
Albany Law Professor Stephen Clark
We have previously discussed how politicians often attack free speech and other rights to show that they are “tough” on terror after attacks. Prime Minister Theresa May however may have set a record. May did not hesitate in immediately blaming the Internet and calling for government regulation of free speech to combat attacks like the one in London. Of course, if these terrorists were connected to ISIS (or inspired by ISIS), their extremism was not caused by free speech on the Internet. Indeed, the Internet often allows security to track extremists on the web.
We previously discussed the proposal at Evergreen State College to have all white faculty, staff, and students leave campus for a day as part of a “Day of Absence” to raise awareness of the contribution of the black community. 
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