Below is my column in The Hill Newspaper on the most recent allegation of criminal conduct by President Donald Trump or his family. Added to the ever-lengthening list of clear crimes is now witness tampering despite the fact that it does not come close to any prior definition of that crime. Both Professor Lawrence Tribe and CNN Legal Analyst Norm Eisen (Eisen previously said that Trump’s conversations with James Comey could constitute witness tampering) have claimed that Trump’s dictating or contributing to the statement of his son, Donald Jr., on the Russian meeting establishes the basis for such a charge. I obviously disagree.
Here is the column.
Continue reading “Gambino-Lite: Accusing Trump Of A Half-Truth Does Not Constitute A Whole Crime”
A lawsuit has been filed by Rod Wheeler, a former Fox contributor, that alleges that Fox News Channel and Ed Butowsky, a wealthy Trump supporter (who hired Wheeler to investigate the murder — a story involving the alleged murder of the Democratic National Committee aide. The bombshell part of the complaint is 
In a remarkable departure from his own Chief Executive, the acting head of the Drug Enforcement Agency Chuck Rosenberg has repudiated the remarks of President Donald Trump that encouraged law enforcement officers to abuse criminal suspects. 
President Donald Trump has been widely criticized for his breaking an 80-year-old tradition in making political comments at the Boy Scouts National Jamboree in West Virginia. When asked about the controversy, however, Trump refused to apologize and instead said that there were no “mixed” views at the event. Rather, he said that the head of the Boy Scouts called him and told him it was “the greatest speech that was ever made to them.” 
Women’s Studies Professor Kevin Allred at Montclair State University is back in the news. Allred previously attracted national attention (while on the Rutgers faculty) after he was reportedly ordered to go through a psychiatric evaluation after students “felt threatened” by him following Trump’s election. Now, Allred (who teaches a course on Beyonce) posted a comment that he hoped someone would kill Donald Trump. As should come as little surprise to many who know my view of the First Amendment, I view this statement as protected speech and hyperbolic. However, it was reckless, hateful, and worthy of condemnation.
Below is my column in USA Today on the profane and shocking statements by the new White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. The staements were later defended as “an Italian thing.” The suggestion was that this was just a form of Italian venting. It was not. First, as someone raised in a Sicilian family, I would not have been able to sit for a month if I ever spoke like that to anyone. Indeed, we just celebrated the 90th birthday of my mother, Angela Piazza Turley, in Chicago. If she read such statements by me in the press, I would have been met with a cane at the door. Second, this was not venting. It was raving and seriously undermined both Scaramucci and the Administration.
Below is my column in USA Today on the possibility of a “Doomsday scenario” where President Donald Trump first fired (or forces the resignation) of Jeff Sessions and then moves to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. That scenario was reinforced yesterday with 
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), the former Democratic National Committee chairwoman, has been under intense criticism over her retention of Imran Awan as a technology aide. While other members severed connections to Awan after he was accused of wrongdoing months ago, Wasserman Schultz retained him.