U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York has rejected the effort of President Donald Trump to block a subpoena of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., for his tax returns. As I noted when the action was filed, the position of the President that he cannot be subject to any criminal process of any kind while in office is extreme and unsupportable in the Constitution. The full opinion is below.
Continue reading “Federal Court Rejects Trump Effort To Block Release Of Tax Returns”
Below is my column on the curious footing of the impeachment “inquiry” against President Donald Trump. The failure to hold a vote of the full house has left many of us wondering what Speaker Nancy Pelosi was actually announcing in her press conference. The Judiciary Committee had been calling their proceedings an “impeachment inquiry” for weeks but Pelosi held a press conference with great fanfare to announce the commencement of an inquiry. Now Pelosi has finally responded to criticism and said that she may still hold a floor vote — again fueling questions of what the press conference was about to being with.
Continue reading “Casual or Cowardly? Pelosi Takes Dangerous Road To Impeachment”
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) recently stated what many have observed in the wake of the Ukraine call disclosures — the push by President Donald Trump for Ukraine (and now China) to investigate his political rivals is unacceptable. The response from President Trump was both personal and perplexing. He denounced Romney as a “pompous ass” and seemed to call for his impeachment — even though there is not only no impeachment provision for a sitting U.S. Senator and Utah does not even have a recall provision. Sen. Susan Collins (R, Maine) has also made measured but critical comments recently.
Continue reading “#IMPEACHMITTROMNEY: Trump Appears To Call For The Impeachment Of Mitt Romney In Tirade of Personal Attacks”
Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on the allegations that Attorney General Bill Barr is now somehow “implicated” in the Ukraine controversy because he spoke with counterparts in England, Italy, and Australia about assisting in the investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham. If those calls were truly about the Durham investigation, it would be entirely proper for Barr to ask for such assistance. I have always maintained that the Congress has a legitimate interest in investigating the Ukraine controversy. However, the chorus of recriminations on the Barr matter reveal the hype triggering much of the hypoxia.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Mischief or Misfud? Barr Calls Reveal Ongoing Investigation, Not Incrimination”
Ali Abdel Aal, Egypt’s parliamentary speaker, triggered an outcry after he used Adolph Hitler as a model for infrastructure leadership. Abdel Aal explained “Hitler had his mistakes, but what allowed him to expand eastward and westward was that he created a strong infrastructure.” Well, that and a combination of war crimes, genocide, and wanton destruction. Most people do not start with the good roads on that list of notable elements of Nazi rule.
Continue reading “Egyptian Speaker Cites Hitler As Model For Infrastructure Leadership”
The New York Times is reporting that, based on interviews with more than a dozen White House officials involved with a meeting in March, President Trump suggested shooting migrants in the legs to slow them down. When cabinet members told him that his some of his proposals were illegal, Trump reportedly yelled “You are making me look like an idiot!. I ran on this. It’s my issue.” The paper also alleges that Trump suggest a moat filled with snakes or alligators. The sheer number of sources is illuminating in this story. There has always been a surprising number of leakers in this White House but the numbers appear to be growing.
Continue reading “Report: Trump Allegedly Suggested Shooting Migrants In The Legs And Building A Moat”
In a continuing failure to respect the spirit and letter of the whistle-blower law, President Donald Trump said on Monday that he was “trying to find out” the identity of the whistle-blower who accused him of using military aid to pressure a foreign government to investigate his political rival. Once again, there is no need for such a highly inappropriate effort. This is part of an impeachment inquiry, and the witness is likely to appear before Congress. However, the whistle-blower law — and good policy — protects the identity of such staff members. Trump previously had compared the whistle-blower to a spy — an accusation that was clearly threatening and improper.
Continue reading “Trump “Trying To Find Out” Identity Of Whistleblower Despite Federal Law”
Former Vice President Joe Biden has been hammered for the windfall contracts given to his son, Hunter, in Ukraine and China when Biden was making critical trade and aid decisions. Now, in an attempt that should have resulted in a chorus of condemnation (but barely registered in the media), the Biden campaign asked the networked to stop allowing Giuliani on the air. It makes considerable hubris to make such a request and it should have been denounced. However, just last week, MSNBC cut off a press conference of President Donald Trump because it declared that he was just going to lie.
Continue reading “Biden Campaign Pressures Networks To Silence Giuliani”
We have been discussing the Hunter Biden Ukraine deal and the concerted effort to avoid the question of whether there was profiteering by family members during Joe Biden’s term as vice president. While I do not agree with President Donald Trump that the evidence suggests that Joe Biden pushed to fire the prosecutor to protect his son, there remains the legitimate question of the windfall contract given to Hunter Biden by a figure widely viewed as corrupt in the Ukraine. To make matters worse, Joe Biden declared to the media that he has never, ever, discussed any foreign business deal with his son Hunter, including the Ukrainian deal. Hunter himself said that was untrue in recalling discussing the Ukrainian deal with his Dad. Now this photo shows Joe Biden golfing with Hunter and Devon Archer, who served on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings with Hunter. Did Hunter never explain the working relationship to his Dad? One can understand why the Biden campaign has been pressuring networks to refuse to air Rudy Giuliani and his allegations against Biden. The deal is a legitimate matter for inquiry and Biden has made it worse with his categorical denial.
Continue reading “Joe Biden Shown Golfing With Son and a Partner In Ukrainian Deal”
This is not helping. President Donald Trump continued a tweet tirade against the impeachment investigation today, including quoting a highly controversial pastor in his warning that removal of Trump would spark a “Civil War.” Equally disturbing was Trump’s call to have the whistleblower brought to him and for Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff to be questioned for possible treason.
Continue reading “Trump Warns Of “Civil War” And Calls For Schiff To Be Questioned For Treason”
Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on the prospect of a Senate impeachment trial for President Donald Trump. While Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that she is “heartbroken” and “prayerful” over the prospect of impeaching Trump. Whether those are crocodile or heartfelt tears, Pelosi may have to worry more about another possibility: this could be the trial that Donald Trump has long wanted, including the prospect of calling Joe Biden as his first witness.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Lord of War: A Senate Trial Could Be Exactly What Trump Needs”
“FOX & Friends” took on a WWF feel this week when FOX News correspondent Geraldo Rivera said that he would like to give a beating to the whistleblower behind the Ukrainian story: “I would love to wap him, but that is another story.” Silly Wabbit, beat downs are for kids.
Continue reading “Geraldo: I Would Love To Beat The “Rotten Snitch” Attacking “This Poor President””
Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on the implications of the still developing Ukraine story. The testimony yesterday and release of the information on the complaint still lacks the critical nexus needed for a public corruption crime. If you establish the basis for such a crime, then the use of the separate server becomes a serious problem as covering up a crime. But you still need a crime. Otherwise, Trump can argue that he had been the victim of leaks about diplomatic calls and they took the step to better control access to such information. So, if you want impeachment, find the quid.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “You Want Impeachment? Find A Quid To Go With The Pro Quo”
Yesterday, there was an extraordinary — and defining — moment on MSNBC when host Nicole Wallace cut off coverage of President Trump’s press conference on the basis that the network did not agree with what he was saying about Joe Biden and his son’s controversial windfall contract with a Ukrainian energy company during the Obama Administration. Wallace simply declared Biden was cleared and that Trump was lying so there was no need for viewers to listen. It ignored any semblance of covering the news and MSNBC appears perfectly okay with a host regulating what viewers believe based on her view of what is true.
Continue reading “MSNBC Cuts Off Presidential Press Conference Because “The President Isn’t Telling The Truth””
The release of the transcript of the conversation of President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy falls a quid short of a pro quo but still raises troubling questions. As I have discussed on CBS and BBC, the transcript shows that Trump never expressly tied military aid to the “favor.” However, he does push his counterpart to reopen the investigation and even promises to put together a call with his private counsel Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General Bill Barr. However, the Justice Department has released a statement that Barr was not informed of the call by Trump and never spoke with the Ukrainians. While Republicans have called the release of the transcript as a mistake, I believe credit again should be given for the waiver of executive privilege. As with the Mueller report, the White House erred on the side of transparency and that should be noted. There remains a serious question for Congress to investigate but the transcript does not establish the quid pro quo that is practically needed for a compelling case of impeachment.
Continue reading “Transcript: Trump Asks For “Favor” in Investigating The Bidens But Stops Short Of A Quid Pro Quo”