There is an interesting fight brewing this week after CBS News reported that the White House is refusing to release a photo of President Donald Trump signing a bill overturning an Obama-era regulation restricting certain people from buying guns. I was previously critical of both the Bush and Obama Administrations in withholding photos for purposes political purposes. These photos are the property of the American people and should not be withheld from the media because the White House does not like the imagery. There is a valid journalistic interest in the photo, which should have been released to CBS.
Category: Media
Given my column strongly disagreeing with the premise of a recent New York Times column suggesting that House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes could be charged with obstruction of the memo released by the Committee, I am reluctant to raise yet another Times column. However, the Times yesterday ran a piece that highlights the growing angst over every costume and image as a possible act of “cultural appropriation.” In an article entitled “Who’s Allowed to Wear A Black Panther Mask?”, the newspaper interviews experts on whether white children should be allowed to wear the costume of the popular character. While the verdict was that white children could wear the outfits, it was not without trepidation and the need for some pre-playtime exploration of the racial, socio-economic, and political implications for the children.
In case you thought that the greatest threats to free speech in Latin America is coming from the leftist Maduro regime, Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez is showing that such repressive policies can be found on either end of the ideological spectrum. The Trump Administration supported Hernandez in his contested election despite widespread questions of election irregularities. Faced with various sites discussing these allegations, Hernandez’ government is pursuing a new and chilling law to criminalize any “hate campaigns” on the Internet. This is one of our closest allies in Latin America and it has set itself on the course of criminalizing political speech.
I have previously criticized Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg for her continued political comments in speeches to liberal and academic groups. While not unique on the Court, Ginsburg is something of recidivist in abandoning the long-standing avoidance of political discussions by justices. Despite repeated controversies in speaking publicly on political issues, Ginsburg is clearly undeterred. Ginsburg was back this week holding forth on political issues that justices have historically avoided in maintain the integrity of the Court. As in her 2017 speech, Ginsburg again repeated her view that sexist voters prevented Hillary Clinton from being elected president.
Continue reading “Ginsburg (Again) Holds Forth On Politics, Hillary Clinton, and Sexism”
Recently, the Utah Law Review published a study of sexual harassment at universities and there are a growing number of cases involving students coming forward with accounts of prior misconduct by professors. Notably, this movement has even extended to China, which is not known for its enforcement of sexual harassment laws. In the meantime, Congress is considering legislation entitled “Federal Funding Accountability for Sexual Harassers Act” that would make it more difficult for academics to avoid responsibility by moving to other universities. [For full disclosure, one of the cases this month concerns a former GW colleague, Ezra Wasserman Mitchell, who changed his name from Larry Mitchell before leaving for China.]
Below is my column on the ongoing controversy over the majority and minority memos from the House Intelligence Committee. President Donald Trump has sent the Democratic memo — which is much longer and detailed — back to the Committee for revisions. He accused of the Democrats of intentionally loading up the memos with classified information to argue that the White House was withholding embarrassing information. This column below argues for disclosure of not just as much of these memos as possible but underlying material.
Continue reading “In The Case Of The FISA Memos, Transparency Is National Security”
President Donald Trump’s successful career on reality television has been much discussed during his presidency. The controversial inclusion of Omarosa Manigault Newman on his staff was a reminder of that history. Newman was fired on The Apprentice but later became a supporter of Trump for president. She was then made the director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison. Her rocky tenure in the White House came to an end when she was fired. She immediately went on the air to heavily imply that she had damaging information on the Administration. Now she is back on reality television and dishing on how the Trump White House was a nightmare. As an example, Omarosa has declared, when asked if she would vote again for Trump, “God no. Never. Not in a million years, never.”
Continue reading ““It’s Not Going To Be OK”: Omarosa Dishes On Trump On Reality Show [Updated]”
The University of Washington has been sued by the schools College Republicans after it demanded the payment of $17,000 in security fees for the planned speech of Oregon activist Joey Gibson of the Patriot Prayer group. The lawsuit raises an important free speech question in whether schools can effectively bar conservative speakers by insisting that free speech is not free in a financial sense. The imposition of prohibitive costs on groups like the College Republicans is facially neutral but potentially discriminatory in practice based on the content of speech. It also creates a system that indirectly supports “the heckler’s veto.”
Pakistan continues to show the world that it remains on the course of Islamic extremism and increasingly intolerant of free exercise and free speech. Now the Pakistani government is warning media not to cover the increasingly popular Valentine’s Day celebrations. Islamic clerics have declared the Western holiday to be an offense to Islam. None of these clerics or government officials appear concerned that there is a far greater danger to Islam if it is threatened by people wanting to exchange Valentines or throwing parties.
The Philippines is viewed as having the most persistent poverty in Southeast Asia. Schools are underfunded and social programs spotty in many areas. For that reason, it is maddening to see the government of President Rodrigo Duterte pull a gratuitous publicity stunt by crushing two dozen valuable classic and luxury cars worth over $1.2 million. Rather than sell the cars and fund schools or hospitals, the Duterte officials stages a show in which a bulldozer destroyed the cars to send a message against tax evasion.
Continue reading “Duterte Government Destroys Dozens of Luxury Cars In Photo Op”
I have previously criticized the President for his use of Twitter to attack those conducting the Russian investigation and various critics. Many of these tweets are in my view clearly inappropriate and distinctly unhelpful to his legal team. Indeed, today the Hill posted a column where I criticize James Comey for adopting the same use of social media in lashing out at critics. Now, Trump is attacking Ranking Member Adam Schiff as a “liar and leaker.” I have recently criticized Schiff for his claims about the highly classified content of the recently released four-page memo. However, these attacks on social media — and name calling — only serve to undermine the President in this controversy. Presidents have long strived to maintain a dignified and deliberative position in addressing opposing allegations or critics. These attacks have not worked well for the President and fuel allegations that he is defensive and alarmed by these investigations. For those of us who have questioned the evidence of criminal conduct, the attacks are curious since they fit a narrative put forward by the President’s critics. I served as lead defense counsel in the impeachment of Judge Thomas Porteous — the last impeachment trial heard by the Senate. My opposing lead counsel was Rep. Adam Schiff, who I found to be a remarkably competent prosecutor and able opponent.
Continue reading “Schiff “Must Be Stopped”: Trump Attacks Schiff As “Liar” and “Leaker””
According to Stanford University students, one of these flyers is a public service and one is hate speech. There is a controversy at Stanford University reported by College Fix over the distribution of the flyer on the right — a satirical jab at posters encouraging students and faculty to report any ICE activity. It is clearly satirical and political, but some Stanford students declared it to be hate speech and filed complaints with the university that they now felt unsafe and threatened on campus. The flyers were removed by residential staff.
Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on the controversy over the four-page memo continues to simmer in Washington. The memo will not change the course of the Mueller investigation. It may lead however to new investigations. Indeed, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has referred the matter to internal investigators while members have called for a new special counsel. There remains considerable questions over representations on both sides in the dispute. For example, various Democrats have publicly stated that Deputy Director Andrew McCabe did not say that, absent the dossier, the FBI would probably not have received approval of its FISA application. What is clear is that someone is lying to the American people. Indeed, as the column below discusses, the public was already misled on the classified content of the memo.Here is the column:
We recently discussed the arrest of a Northwestern professor and Oxford official in a murder in Chicago. Now a prominent Oxford professor of contemporary Islamic studies has been arrested in France after two women accused him of brutal sexual assaults. Tariq Ramadan, 55, is a Swiss academic who is also the grandson of Hassan al-Banna (founder of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood movement). He denies the charges stemming from alleged rapes in two separate hotel rooms. One of the rapes is charged as a sexual assault on a vulnerable person because the woman was disabled. Both rapes allegedly occurred during academic conferences.
Continue reading “Oxford Professor Charged With Two Rapes In France”
I will be discussing the memo today in a column in the Hill as well as in the segment with Tucker Carlson. I fail to see the “grave” classified information that would put the national security at risk. Indeed, my column addresses the disconnect between the objections made by the FBI and Democratic members and the actual memo. The use of classification laws to prevent disclosure of embarrassing information is itself an abuse of federal law and standards.
The Republicans may have undermined their case by building up this memo as a smoking gun document. Portrayals seems to make this memo the virtual combination of the Pentagon Papers and the Zimmerman telegram. After all of the build up, anything short of a depiction of Hillary Clinton forcing a judge to sign a secret warrant at gunpoint would disappoint most readers. However, there is plenty in this memo that should deeply concern people.
Civil libertarians have complained for years about the tactical use of classification authority by the federal agencies. This seems a rare and important example of that problem. As to the specific factual representations, they raise clearly troubling questions that need to be addressed on the failure to disclosure information to the FISA court and the alleged heavy reliance on this dossier.
Below is the full memo: