The family of the late Democratic National Committee Staffer Seth Rich has sued Fox News for intentional infliction of emotional distress and related torts in the airing of allegations of a conspiracy involving Rich and Wikileaks. Despite my great sympathy for this family in the loss of Seth Rich, the complaint (below) is in my view without serious merit. The causal connections are too attenuated and liability would undermine first amendment protections for the free press.
Category: Politics
I have previously written how Trump personal counsel Michael Cohen has left himself utterly exposed ethically in his effort to protect the President from the brewing scandal involving porn star Stormy Daniels. Cohen has struggled to deny any connection of the payoff to Daniels to the President or Trump organization. It is for that reason that a new document released by Daniels’ counsel (and my former research assistant) Michael Avenatti is so curious. The arbitration documents include the listing of Trump Organization Vice President and lawyer Jill A. Martin. Martin is listed as counsel for Essential Consultants LLC, a shell Delaware company formed by Cohen to help disguise the payment of the $130,000 to Daniels (whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford). The arbitration documents in Orange County, California were signed on February 22 — less than a month ago. It is bizarre that, given the huge effort to insulate Trump and his organization from this payment, Martin would effectively intervene in this way.Continue reading “Trump Org Lawyer Tied To Effort To Gag Stormy Daniels In Arbitration Proceedings”
I recently wrote a column about the expected finding of the Inspector General that former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe misled investigators about a leak to the media. The finding raises the question of consistency in criminally charging Michael Flynn for the same alleged act. There is now a report that the IG is recommending not a criminal referral but that McCabe be terminated, even though he is literally days from retirement.
Continue reading “Report: Sessions Considering IG Recommendation For The Firing Of McCabe”
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the effort of the Trump legal team to reach deal to have the President sit down with the Special Counsel in exchange for certain conditions or concessions. The problem is a matter of timing. As has been a repeated problem, the Trump team seems a couple steps behind the unfolding controversy.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Trump Offers To Meet With Mueller, But Is It Too Late For Damage Control?”
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, used the annual SXSW festival in Austin to join other European leaders in calling for tech companies to censor hate speech and be subject to government regulations for fines for violations. Khan read hateful messages against him to support the need for a crackdown — ignoring the free speech implications of such government regulation.
Continue reading “London Mayor Joins Call For Censoring and Fining Internet Companies”
Like many people, I was highly critical of the awarding of the Nobel Award to President Barack Obama in 2009 before he had done anything as president. Now the ex-Secretary for the Nobel Prize Geir Lundestad has admitted that Obama did not deserve the prize but rather they thought the award would strengthen Obama. It is a maddening admission that the committee bypassed a list of worthy candidates with proven contributions to humanity to give a boost to someone that the Committee simply liked. That would seem grossly unethical but Lundestad merely acknowledged that it did not seem to work.
Continue reading “Ex-Nobel Secretary Admits Obama’s Prize Was A Mistake”
Today is an important anniversary for former intelligence chief James Clapper. No it is not his marriage anniversary or conventional milestone. Clapper can celebrate the running out of the statute of limitations on his alleged perjury before Congress — five years and Clapper is now beyond the reach of the law.
We have been following the controversy over the claim of Native American ancestry by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and the continued criticism from President Donald Trump who continues mock her as “Pocahontas”. Recently, we discussed Warren’s surprise speech doubling down on her claim and whether Warren would simply take a DNA test to put the matter to rest. The suggestion was echoed by the media in Massachusetts like the Berkshire Eagle For $100, the question is why let the matter simmer. Warren answered that question this weekend and the answer is no.
While people of good faith can still debate whether Hillary Clinton and her staff received considerably deference in the criminal investigation into the email scandal, there remains troubling cases where the Justice Department has shown no such deference or restraint told less powerful individuals. The most glaring example was the ridiculous treatment of former Navy sailor Kristian Saucier. Saucier was sentenced to a year in prison for simply taking pictures on a nuclear submarine without any intention of compromising national security. Last week, 
Hong Kong movie star Jackie Chan has long been known to harbor authoritarian and anti-free speech views. Now, the action movie star is calling for other artists to be arrested for art that is deemed insulting to China, particularly in advancing favorable images of the Japanese. Chan and his 37 other members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference called on then government to punish fellow artists who insult “national integrity and dignity.” The call follows Chinese artists who wee criticized for showing the Japanese in World War II in a positive light. This by the way was part of the propaganda issued by the U.S. government against the Japanese. The racist elements are quite evident and shocking. Hollywood was a critical part in our propaganda efforts during the war. Now, over 50 years later, Chan and other artists and authors however are seeking to criminalize speech that is viewed as sympathetic or favorable to the Japanese.
There is an interesting lawsuit in Oregon where Tyler Watson is suing Dick’s Sporting Goods for age discrimination after the store (and Walmart) declared that they would no longer sell guns to people below 21 years old. Since he is entitled to buy guns under state law, he is claiming that the store policy discriminates against him on the basis of age in refusing to sell him a .22 caliber Ruger rifle.
Yesterday, there was a troubling story in the New York Times that President Donald Trump had two conversations with witnesses in the Mueller investigation about matters touching on their statements to investigators. Both former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and White House CounselDonald F. McGahn II reportedly were the subjects of inquiries by Trump that raised concerns over witness tampering and, in McGahn’s case, eliciting a false public statement. As I explained this morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe program, I do not view the accounts as establishing witness tampering violations but the conversations were clearly inappropriate and ill-advised. Moreover, they can be legitimately pursued by the Special Counsel and fit a narrative that is being advanced by critics. The failure to respect legal and ethical boundaries has been a constant and continuing problem for this White House. Nevertheless, there is an obvious defense to such charges and, as I explained on MSNBC, people are again ignoring the actual criminal elements to this offense. Putting that aside, there should be concern that this is yet another tripped wire that should have been avoided.
Continue reading “Report: McGahn Refused To Issue Statement Denying Trump’s Desire To Fire Mueller”
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the reported determination of the Inspector General that former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe misled investigators about a leak to the media. There may be a question of consistency in criminally charging Michael Flynn for the same alleged act. People continue to spin this issue by noting (as the piece states) that Flynn agreed to this false statement crime as part of a plea bargain with more serious potential crimes. However, that misses the point. Prosecutors are required to apply the criminal code evenly. They are not allowed the luxury of a criminal charge that can be easily applied to a wide array of people at their discretion. It makes it very difficult for people to contest a criminal charge when prosecutors can simply criminalize any inaccurate or misleading statement while ignoring the same conduct in others. It is particularly concerning when the favorable parties are fellow prosecutors or government officials. My argument is not that we should have more false statement charges. Rather, there has long been a problem in the use of this provision which has been applied in an arbitrary manner.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “If Andrew McCabe Lied, Could He Be Charged Like Michael Flynn?”
I previously wrote about how the payments to both a former porn star and a former Playboy bunny could prove a greater threat to President Donald Trump than the still unsubstantiated collusion allegations that led to the appointment of the Special Counsel. Now, one of those woman is formally in court after Stormy Daniels (AKA Stephanie Clifford) filed an action against President Trump. I have previously criticized counsel for both Trump and Daniels for bizarre actions in this controversy and this lawsuit is no exception. The lawsuit introduces new facts including the allegation that President Trump’s lawyer used a fake name for the President, David Dennison, as part of this effort to pay what the complaint calls “hush money.” After differing accounts by Daniels, she has not only stated that she did have a year long affair (something Trump’s counsel has denied) but stated it in a court filing as opposed to a tabloid newspaper.
Continue reading “Stormy Daniels Sues Trump Over “Hush Money” Agreement”