Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the implications of the testimony of Michael Cohen last week. This weekend, House and Senate Democrats publicly claimed to have evidence of obstruction and collusion, though the most important news is that all of the Committees are issuing a storm of subpoenas.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Cohen Gives Democrats Roadmap For Collateral Crimes”
The Trump Administration has long had a troubling pattern of referencing Trump properties or products, including ethics warnings being given high-ranking officials. Other complaints, including those filed in federal court, allege that use of Trump properties like the Trump Hotel in Washington constitute unconstitutional emoluments. That history makes President Donald Trump’s recent tweet pitching the Trump golf course in Scotland all the more baffling, particularly when it made a direct reference to the golf course between great for the “U.K. relationship” with the United States.
Continue reading “Pitchman or President? Trump Under Fire For Tweet Boosting Trump Golf Course”
Below is my column in the BBC on the growing threats to President Donald Trump from allegations of collateral crimes after the testimony of Michael Cohen.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Congress and Cohen Build The Case For Collateral Crimes”
There is a deeply troubling story in the New York Times concerning the long fight over President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’ security clearance. After a long refusal to give him a top secret clearance, Kushner was finally cleared and President Trump indicated that he played no role in the decision and that it was made by the intelligence officials. There is now a report that intelligence officials refused to change their position and maintained that Kushner should not be given a clearance. Trump then reportedly overrode the opposition from both his national security and legal staffs in ordering that Kushner be given the clearance. The order was sufficiently alarming that both Trump Chief of Staff, (former Gen. and Homeland Security Secretary) John Kelly, and his White House Counsel Don McGahn, wrote internal memos on their objections as a record. As someone who has worked in the field with a top secret special intelligence clearance since the Reagan Administration, I find this report to be chilling. It is exceptionally rare and the further highlights the problems caused by nepotism in government. Congress has also objected that the White House has not cooperated into its oversight investigation into the matter.
Continue reading “Report: Trump Ordered Kushner Clearance Over Objections Of Intelligence and Legal Staff”President Donald Trump shocked many around the world on Thursday by declaring that he believes North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is innocent of any knowledge of the mistreatment of American Otto Warmbier that led to his death. That statement smacked of willful blindness to the guilt of a man who routinely orders the execution of officials and makes others transcribe copious notes to be sure that he continues to exercise tight control over the country. The comment rekindled memories of Trump saying that he believed Vladimir Putin on Russian meddling in the election and rejected the views of American intelligence on North Korea in favor of Putin’s assurances on that country’s missile program. It also reminded many of Trump’s continued opposition to hold the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia accountable for the murder of a Washington Post journalist in Turkey despite the contrary findings of U.S. intelligence. Update: Warmbier’s parents have issued a scathing rebuke in response to the President’s statement.
Continue reading ““I Will Take Him At His Word”: Trump States That He Believes Kim Jong Un Had No Knowledge Of Warmbier’s Mistreatment”
I will be testifying this morning at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties. The hearing will be on the National Emergencies Act of 1976 and the current controversy (and litigation) over President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration on the southern border. The hearing will be on C-Span and will start at noon at 2141 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515.
Continue reading “Turley To Testify In House Judiciary Committee On Trump Declaration”
As expected, the House of Representatives passed a resolution to terminate President Donald Trump’s national emergency proclamation. The vote was 245 to 182 with 13 Republicans voting against the President. The matter now goes to the Senate where Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Maine Sen. Susan Collins have indicated that they will likely join Democratic members to rescind the order. However, even if passed, there is a need for a supermajority to override the promised veto from President Trump.
Continue reading “House Votes To Rescind Trump Border Emergency Declaration”
Just when you thought that the politics in Washington, D.C. could not get more grotesque, it does. In a shocking tweet, House Oversight Committee, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, tweeted out a clear threat to Michael Cohen that his appearance before Congress just might lead to the disclosure of affairs with multiple women. It is clearly highly inappropriate and, even as one of Cohen’s longest critics, it is outrageous to threaten the release of immaterial personal dirt on a witness who is reportedly ready to implicate the President in wrongdoing.
Continue reading “Trump Ally Under Fire For Appearing To Threaten Cohen With Disclosure of Affairs”
President Donald Trump’s long opposition to the release of his tax records has been a legitimate matter of concern for people on both sides of the political aisle. Such records are routinely disclosed by modern presidential candidates and the information could prove relevant to some of the allegations facing the President regarding his personal financial interests as well as past business practices. Moreover, the President’s long excuse that the taxes are subject to ongoing proceedings with the IRS (and being withheld by the advice of counsel) seems dubious at best. However, while vociferously demanding such records from the President, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has steadfastly refused to release her own. Indeed, Chief of Staff Drew Hammill virtually mocked the suggestion of such transparency in the public interest. Hammill dismissed such suggestions and said that Pelosi “will gladly release her tax returns if and when she runs for president.” The problem is that Pelosi succeeded in running for Speaker of the United States House of Representatives which not only gives her great ability to advance her own financial interests but puts her just one slot (after the Vice President) from becoming president in an emergency.
Continue reading “Goose Meets Gander: Pelosi Refuses To Turn Over Tax Records”
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the effort in New York to change constitutional protections against double jeopardy to allow prosecutors to charge former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort with state offenses. The effort is to guarantee that Manafort goes to jail if President Donald Trump gives him a pardon. The sight of politicians campaigning on the pledge to jail Manafort raises serious concerns of this highly selective effort. Moreover, the effort to change New York constitutional protection to get Manafort could give Trump precisely the basis for a pardon that Democrats are preemptively trying to deter. I have repeatedly said that a pardon for Manafort would be inexcusable. He has more than earned any sentence that a court chooses to give him and the New York effort should not change that. However, if the Democrats tailor their constitutional protections to get Manafort, they are giving Trump the ability to say that he is responding to selective targeting of Manafort to guarantee that he is not punished twice for the same underlying conduct. More importantly, New York should not sacrifice its commendable protection against double jeopardy to get Manafort. He is not worth it.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Are Democrats Giving Trump An Excuse To Pardon Manafort?”
I have previously expressed my outrage at the position of the Trump Administration in failing to hold Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman accountable in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year. The evidence is overwhelming that the Crown Prince (who has a blood-soaked reign in the Kingdom) ordered the savage murder. Now, the Crown Prince is doing a world tour and assembling fawning leaders to show that he is effectively immune from such quaint notions as murdering journalists. Countries like Pakistan have accepted billions from the Kingdom and are now pandering to the Crown Prince, including giving the accused murderer a gold-plated submachine gun.
Continue reading “Putting The Capital Back Into Capital Murder: Saudi Crown Prince Gathers Fawning Leaders To Prove His Immunity”
It seems increasingly common for me to find myself utterly confused by American politics. I have admittedly always liked Bernie Sanders and I liked his interview on Vermont Public Radio where addressed the upcoming presidential campaign. He said “We have got to look at candidates, you know, not by the color of their skin, not by their sexual orientation or their gender and not by their age. I mean, I think we have got to try to move us toward a nondiscriminatory society, which looks at people based on their abilities, based on what they stand for.” If that would seem like an unassailable and uncontroversial statement, guess again.
Continue reading “Bernie Sanders Attacked For Calling On Candidates To Be Judged On The Merits Not Their Identity Groups”
With the ruling of Judge Kenneth A. Marra of Federal District Court in West Palm Beach on the obscene plea deal with Jeffrey E. Epstein, it is time for Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to resign. Marra found, as many of us have long argued, that the deal cut by Acosta violated federal law and allowed the infamous financier to get a disgracefully low sentence. Many of us objected to his nomination by President Donald Trump and condemned the Senate for confirming him. It is now time for him to resign.
Continue reading “IT IS TIME FOR ACOSTA TO RESIGN”
There are various arguments for the death penalty from deterrence to retribution to efficiency to morality. However, Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, offered a particularly unique defense: if it was good enough for Jesus, the death penalty is good enough for everyone else.
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I recently wrote about the constitutional questions raised by the wealth tax proposed by Elizabeth Warren given countervailing constitutional dictates and standing precedent. One of the early advocates of such a tax has been Yale Professor Bruce Ackerman who assured Warren that such a tax would be constitutional. In a Slate column entitled “Constitutional Critiques of Elizabeth Warren’s Wealth Tax Proposal Are Absurd,” Ackerman dismisses any possible constitutional challenge as not “serious” and “absurd.” Putting the hyperbole aside, I wanted to respond to the substance of the column since it makes reference to my earlier Washington Post column. As I have previously said, there are good-faith arguments on both sides of this issue and the outcome is likely to be a close vote. However, Ackerman’s reduction of countervailing arguments to absurdity not only omits key arguments but creates an incomplete account of the case against such a wealth tax.
Continue reading “The Warren Wealth Tax: A Response To Professor Bruce Ackerman”