We earlier discussed the dropping of the highly dubious charges brought against Stormy Daniels in Columbus, Ohio. The arresting officials insisted that they were at the Sirens strip club on an undercover mission entirely separate from the appearance of Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels. Emails now appear to contradict that account — raising not only the question of selective enforcement but political bias. There is also the question of the false statements allegedly made to investigators. Continue reading “Sirens: Emails Appear To Confirm That Stormy Daniels Was Selectively Targeted By Ohio Detective And Her Uncover Teams”
Category: Politics
The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said that “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” That distinction may have been lost in the editing of the controversial press conference in Helinski with President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Arguably the most important and most reporting part of the press conference was a question and answer involving Putin, where he admitted that the Russians wanted Trump to win the presidential election. An official transcript of the press conference, however, by the White House omits the key controversial part of the question by Reuters reporter Jeff Mason. Additionally, the White House videotape omits the same information. The discrepancies have been raised with the White House but no change has been made. This is a serious problem given the fact that this is an official record being released to the public. In fairness to the White House, some news organizations also omitted the language and, as noted by the Atlantic, the clarity of the question was muddled due to cross talk and movement. It could indeed be due to “feed issues.” The Atlantic cites two news organizations with the same editing:the Federal News Service and Bloomberg Government. Nevertheless, the question was clearly stated by Mason but edited out of the transcript. If this was (as claimed) a transcription or feed error, then it should have been corrected. It has not. Continue reading “White House Under Fire Over Editing Of Transcript and Video Of Press Conference In Helinski”
CNN landed a major news coup with the airing of one of the conversations that Michael Cohen secretly taped with President Donald Trump. The tape is not the best in terms of the audio quality but it contains some troubling portions. Notably, this was clearly not a telephone conversation but sounds like an actual meeting where Cohen is sitting and meeting with Trump. I just posted a column on the implications of this secret recording by an attorney. While Rudy Giuliani insists that the tape is clearly exculpatory, the tape could prove more damaging than beneficial to a defense. Clearly, both sides can read negative or positive elements into this tape. While some have insisted that Trump sounds like a mobster, there is not a clear crime being discussed on this tape. There are reportedly more tapes, but this tape has good and bad elements for the Trump team. However, the tape can be used to show that Trump was informed of the deal before the election and participating in the strategy to silence Trump’s alleged former mistress Karen McDougal. However, Trump has not spoken to investigators (as a basis for some false statement prosecution) on this issue. Continue reading ““Our Friend, David”: Newly Released Tape Shows Trump And Cohen Discussing Purchase of McDougal Story”
The economic meltdown under the moronic Chavez-Maduro government in Venezuela is now moving toward an impressive milestone: hitting an estimated inflation rate of 1,000,000% by the end of the year. According to the International Monetary Fund, the hyperinflation devastating the country will continue — making the currency little more than decorative elements in an economy reduced to a barter system. Socialists have now taken one of the most successful economies in the region and returned most people back to a subsistence existence. Continue reading “IMF: Venezuela To Hit 1,000,000% Inflation By End Of 2018”
Many civil libertarians long objected to the reliance on local policy on money and property seized in drug stops and raids. I have previously written about drivers being stripped of any cash that they cannot clearly account for in highway stops and the windfall such seizures represent for some departments. The federal government has been repeatedly criticized for its seizures, which are shared with local departments. Now this program is at the heart of a controversy in Gwinnett County where Sheriff Butch Conway used money from the federal program to purchase a Hellcat muscle car for use as his official car. However, the story gets much, much worse in my view after Conway’s department cited the other use of the car beyond transported Conway in Knight Rider fashion. Continue reading “Georgia Sheriff Suspended From Federal Program After Using Funds To Buy Hellcat Muscle Car”
I have the honor of giving a keynote address to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference in Anaheim, California this morning. The presentation at 10:30 am at the Marriott Anaheim is entitled “The Rise and Fall of Free Speech In the West.” Continue reading “Turley To Address The Ninth Circuit Conference”
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the lingering questions left from the Strzok testimony. While it may seem like a thousand years after Helsinki and the Cohen tape, the testimony of Strzok was shaped by highly dubious instructions from the FBI not to answer core questions. It is highly doubtful that a majority of these refusals would be upheld under judicial review — starting with the first question asked of Strzok.
Here is the column: Continue reading “On Contempt: The FBI Has Congress’ Number”
There is a difference between resistance and ridiculousness. That line was crossed, again, by Trump critics in Washington after a D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC 4C) announced a petition to pull the Trump International Hotel’s liquor license. The grounds? D.C. law only allows individuals of “good character” qualify for a liquor license. The petition pushed by Zach Teutsch, ANC Commissioner 4C is an example of how leaders are misrepresenting frivolous, meaningless efforts as valid legal arguments. Continue reading “No White Russians To Be Served At Trump Hotel? D.C. Advisory Group Petitions To Pull Trump Liquor License”
In another attack on journalists, President Donald Trump called the “fake news media” the “real enemy of the people” yesterday. The tweet is in response to uniformly negative coverage, including on Fox News, of Trump’s handling of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since the vast majority of reporters described the summit as a debacle, it put most reporters in this category. The tweet caused even Fox reporter John Roberts to remark that he must also now be an “enemy of the people.” The White House is still reeling from Trump’s disastrous news conference with Putin and various Republican leaders (and Trump’s own intelligence figures) have made varying levels of corrections or outright contradictions of his words. I have repeatedly criticized the media for unfair coverage of the Trump investigations and related subjects. However, these attacks on the media are as unfounded as they are dangerous for American society. The President often has a point on slanted coverage but his use of such inflammatory and unjustified language should be rejected by all citizens.
Continue reading “No, Mr. President, The Media Is Not The “Real Enemy of the People””
I have previously questioned the environmental and economic sense of President Donald Trump pushing the United States into greater coal consumption with the rest of the world developing alternative energy sources. We seem to be pushing a buggy-whip economy as the world and markets pass us by. My greatest concern is the hostility shown by the Trump Administration to new energy sources. A touchstone of the industry is Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis (LCOE) which was used by investment bank Lazard to evaluate the current costs and prospects of different energy investments. It found (as we have previously discussed) that alternative energy costs are plunging and solar energy is now half the cost of coal. Continue reading “Report: Solar Energy Now Costs Half That Of Coal In North America”
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the most recent indictment of Russian military intelligence figures for hacking the computer systems linked to the Clinton campaign and the Democratic party. Once again, the indictment seems straightforward in what is says and what it does not say. Yet, the Washington spin machine quickly put forward highly distorted accounts, including media reports that worked hard to avoid acknowledging obvious elements of the indictment.
Here is the column: Continue reading ““O Goody Ruskies”: Mueller Finds Witches But Which Witches Are We Hunting?”
Over the course of the last year, I have been highly critical of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for his selection of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel and his failure to recuse himself from the Russian investigation. However, the most recent effort to impeach Rosenstein is unwarranted and unwise. According to news reports on Friday, Reps. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio are preparing articles of impeachment to subject in the coming weeks against Rosenstein.
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on continued claims about undocumented immigrants and their legal status. There is a growing misrepresentation of the status issues that are deeply concerning. While undocumented status can be treated as a civil matter, it is also a criminal matter when a person enters the country illegally. Some politicians and commentators have been stating simply that all undocumented persons are non-criminals while others have suggested that persons are “perfectly legal” if they claim asylum even if they entered illegally. The point is that not all such persons should be treated criminally, but rather these statements can be dangerously misleading for families considering an illegal crossing. The Trump Administration has shifted enforcement toward greater criminal than civil enforcement. As for asylum claims, they are not the majority of illegal entries but the numbers are clearly rising. We are required under international law to consider such applications, but that does not mean that the entry was lawful or that such cases cannot raise risks of criminal enforcement. With so many lives at risk, we need to be more accurate in how we describe the legal realities of illegal entry.
Here is the column:
Continue reading ““Perfectly Legal”: The Perilous Rhetoric Of Immigration Politics”
We previously discussed the irresponsible proposal to abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) by a rising number of Democratic members and leaders. It is the Democratic version of the equally irresponsible proposal from Republicans to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This type of pandering, demagogic call however was answered this week when the Republicans called the bluff of three members and actually put their bill to abolish ICE on schedule for a vote. Reps. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, Parmila Jayapal of Washington, and Adriano Espaillat promptly declared the vote a stunt and said that they would vote against their own bill. Continue reading “ICE, ICE, Maybe: Democratic Members To Vote Against Their Own Bill To Abolish ICE”
We discussed the arrest of Stormy Daniels this week and the curious Ohio laws making any touching between strippers and customers a crime, even the touching of clothing. The arrest was part of an operation with four undercover officers. The later dropping of the charges only deepened questions over the need for the string operation and the arrest of Daniels, who real name is Stephanie Clifford. Continue reading “Daniels Charge Dismissal Deepens Doubts About Police Sting Operation In Columbus”