Category: Media

Turley To Appear On CBS Face The Nation [Updated]

download-2I will appear on Sunday as a guest on CBS Face The Nation with moderator Margaret Brennan .  While I have done the show previously, this appearance holds special meaning because it will be the final Sunday for the show at its old location at 2020 M St. N.W.  CBS has been moving into its new building next door and then this long-standing CBS bureau will be torn down.  Despite being my birthday, I wanted to see the old girl one last time on M St. Update: It turns out that a second former student, Kelly Anne Conway, was also on Face the Nation, making this a thoroughly GW saturated line up.  Here is the clip: Face the Nation.  Conway was in my class in the first year of my teaching at GW and was always a standout in her class — as was Michael Avenatti in his class.

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Corey Lewandowski Threatens To Sue New York Magazine Over Reported Unlawful Entry By Reporter Olivia Nuzzi [Updated]

imagesFormer Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has, through counsel, sent a intent to sue letter to New York Magazine over an alleged home invasion by reporter Olivia Nuzzi.  Nuzzi in March admitted that she entered his home without permission — an act that certainly would be a crime as well as a tort. Update:  There is an interesting twist (and potential defense) to the potential criminal or tort case involving the “home” of Lewandowski, which also happens to be the office of Turnberry Solutions, a lobbying firm started a close Trump campaign associate.  Continue reading “Corey Lewandowski Threatens To Sue New York Magazine Over Reported Unlawful Entry By Reporter Olivia Nuzzi [Updated]”

John Dean Calls Leaking The Questions A Possible Basis For Obstruction Of Justice

E0398-03APresident Nixon’s White House counsel John Dean claimed that if the Trump administration leaked questions from special counsel Robert Mueller it could qualify as obstruction of justice.  Once again, I disagree with such sweeping interpretations of the crime of obstruction of justice.  Leaking such questions or topics would not be a crime under any case that I am aware of in defining the crime of obstruction.

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Trump Denounces Leaked Questions As “Disgraceful” and Dowd Denies Being The Source

440px-Official_Portrait_of_President_Donald_TrumpPresident Donald Trump lashed out at the leaking of the questions that Special Counsel Robert Mueller wants to ask him in an interview as “so disgraceful.”  In the meantime, various news organizations (including Fox News) pointed fingers at former counsel John Dowd.  Since the New York Times said that the leak did not come from “current counsel,” Dowd instantly became the leading suspect.  Dowd however has denied the allegations and maintained “I was not the source.” Continue reading “Trump Denounces Leaked Questions As “Disgraceful” and Dowd Denies Being The Source”

Comey v. Comey: How New Disclosures Could Put Just One Week Between Comey and Perjury

Former FBI Director James Comey continues to market his book – and himself – as a lesson in “ethical leadership.”  However, the historical record is proving increasingly at odds with Comey’s account and image. After months of spins and swerves by defenders, a consensus is emerging that Comey is indeed a leaker.  The most damaging evidence, however, comes not from Comey’s critics but Comey himself.  Indeed, Comey v. Comey could be the most telling conflict in this still unfolding scandal.  However, at issue, is not simply whether Comey will be viewed as a leaker or a liar, but a perjurer.

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Finding #44: Did James Clapper Leak Information To CNN Before Accepting A Media Deal?

220px-James_R._Clapper_official_portrait200px-Cnn.svgBelow is my column in the Hill Newspaper on the finding by The House Intelligence Committee with regard to the allegation that Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper may have leaked information on the Steele dossier.  The record is still surprisingly muddled on what Clapper is saying about his media contacts during this period. At best, it appears that he may have confirmed elements of the dossier after leaving office on January 20, 2017, but his comments have been (as described by the Committee) “inconsistent.” At worse, he could be accused (again) of perjury.

Here is the column:

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Europe’s Invasive Species: We Should Keep Macron’s Oak And Send Back His Speech Limits

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U.S. House of Representatives

Below is my column in The Hill on the speech by French President Emmanuel Macron and his calling for the United States to join France in a crackdown on “fake news.” Our members were either clueless or complicit in this thinly veiled call for speech regulation on the Internet. However, there is growing pressure from Europe for the United States to abandon its long commitment to free speech — a call that is being heard by a rising number of academics and politicians.  I love the oak (which has disappeared) but the advice in far more invasive for this country.

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Federal Judge Rules Against Berkeley In Victory For Free Speech

Seal_of_University_of_California,_Berkeley.svgI have previously criticized the University of California at Berkeley for its highly biased history in dealing with conservative speakers who come to campus.  Now, federal judge Maxine Chesney has agreed with the Young America’s Foundation (and the U.S. Justice Department) in rejecting a motion to dismiss by Berkeley — forcing the school to deal with its policies and priorities on the exercise of free speech.  The president of the University of California system is Janet Napolitano, former  United States Secretary of Homeland Security under President Barack Obama.

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“Only A REAL INDIAN Can Defeat The Fake Indian”: Cambridge Building Inspector Orders Removal Of Bus Signs Of Challenger

Elizabeth_Warren,_official_portrait,_114th_CongressThere is an interesting legal challenge in Cambridge where an independent Senate candidate has alleged that Democratic city leaders have improperly used their authority to try to shutdown his campaign against Mass. Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren.  Specifically at issue is a bus featuring campaign slogans parked in the lot of an apartment building owned by Shiva Ayyadurai. Ayyadurai’s signs poke fun at Warren’s disputed claim that she is Native American. Ayyadurai whose family came from India has posted signs proclaiming “Only A REAL INDIAN Can Defeat The Fake Indian.”  City officials ordered the signs removed, though the basis for the action is hardly self-evident.  Ayyadurai has filed a free speech challenge in federal court.

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Justice Department Tells Court That Trump’s Own Admissions Undermine Claims Of Attorney-Client Privilege Over Cohen Material

160px-Official_Portrait_of_President_Donald_Trump_(cropped) I (and many others) have cautioned the President for over a year that his tweets and public comments are underlying his case (and litigation like the immigration challenges) in federal court.  Now the Justice Department has used the President’s latest comments in a call-in to “Fox and Friends” as eviscerating efforts to claim privilege over documents on his behalf in the review of the material seized from his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.  While opposing counsel like Democratic state attorneys general have used Trump’s comments against his Administration and the Justice Department has struggled to defend against such use, this is the first time that his own Justice Department is using the President’s comments effectively against his interests.  In the meantime, it was revealed yesterday that the FBI seized 16 different cellphones from Michael Cohen.

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Turley To Give The 2018 Thomas M. Kerr, Jr. Lecture At Carnegie Mellon University

Turley-600x287I have the honor today of giving the 2018 Thomas M. Kerr, Jr. Lecture on Law and American Society at Carnegie Mellon University.  My lecture will be on The Rise and Fall of Free Speech in the West and will be held in Gregg Hall (Porter Hall 100) on Thursday, April 26th from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.

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MSNBC Host Joy Reid Claims Hackers “Fabricated” Her Alleged Homophobic Comments

 

500px-MSNBC_2015_logo.svgMSNBC host Joy Reid is reported on the Daily Beast (where she appears as a columnist) to have reaffirmed her earlier claim that hackers “fabricated” old blog posts to make her appear homophobic.  The claim is alarming whether true or false. It true, archiving website The Wayback Machine was either compromised or a party to the deception.  If false, Reid has lied to the media in a major story involving her own conduct.  The company has issued a denial that it was in any way compromised or responsible for the comments.

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Erdogan Takes A Hostage: Authoritarian Turkish Leader Demands U.S. Turn Over Dissident In Exchange For American Pastor

Recep_Tayyip_Erdogan_2017We have followed the rapid destruction of the secular government and civil liberties in Turkey under the authoritarian rule of Erdogan. Erdogan used a failed coup to push his effort to create a de facto Islamic regime and to complete his work in arresting his critics, including forcing the resignation of thousands of secular academics, and suspending all civil liberties in a proclaimed state of emergency. Previously, Erdogan threatened the United States if it didn’t handIslamic cleric Fethullah Gulen over to him and that a failure to yield to his demands would be a “big mistake.”  Now he is taking hostages.  Erdogan is suggesting that he will not turn over pastor Andrew Brunson (who was arrested in 2016) unless we turn over Gulen for likely torture and execution.  Erdogan, who has destroyed the once free press of Turkey as well as secular institutions, is leaving no doubt as to his achieving tyrannical rule in the once modern Islamic nation.

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Liar, Liar, DOJ On Fire? Comey and McCabe Offer Sharply Conflicting Accounts

440px-Comey-FBI-PortraitAndrew_McCabe_official_photoI previously wrote that President Donald Trump has the curious skill of bringing out the worst in his critics.  In the last two weeks, two of Trump’s greatest critics have not only faced their own investigations into leaks by the Inspector General (and McCabe is now the subject of a criminal referral for prosecution), they are increasingly at odds with one another. It is clear that either Comey or McCabe is offering a false account of leaks from the Justice Department.  With McCabe now promising defamation lawsuits and the possibility of a prosecution, this could get much worse before it gets better.

 

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D.C. Council Member Who Believed That Jewish Bankers Control the Weather Leaves Holocaust Museum Tour Early After Bizarre Observations

Trayon_WhiteWe recently discussed the bizarre statement from D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8) that Jewish bankers controlled the weather.  White’s stupefying stupidity became an international sensation, which he did not help with his apology: “I have spoke [sic] to leader and my friends at Jews United for Justice and they are helping me to understand the history of comment [sic] made against Jews.”   Putting aside the need for a refresher, White sought to mollify his critics with a visit to the Holocaust Museum which has made the situation only worse with bizarre questions and an early departure.

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Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks