West Point graduate and Army infantry officer Spenser Rapone has been drummed out of the military after receiving an “other than honorable discharge” from the military. He caused a stir with a posted photo of his West Point cap with the words “Communism will win” written inside. He also displayed a Che Guevara T-shirt underneath his uniform jacket. Rapone is clearly a dedicated socialist, but the action raises the issue of whether being a communist or socialist is disqualifying. His removal is widely tied to a letter sent by Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fl.). Rapone is scheduled to be a featured speaker at the conference “Socialism 2018” in Chicago this year.
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The State Department was eager to brush over miffed feelings connected to the G-7 meeting, particularly with Germany. Perhaps a bit too eager. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert was striving to list examples of our close historical relationship and included the D-Day invasion. It is true that that was a key moment in our “relationship” but it was hardly a positive one.
There has been continued controversy over the penchant of President Donald Trump to pardon celebrities or political figures or, most recently, 
Rudy Giuliani has often strayed far beyond his brief as a lawyer representing the President in the Russian investigation. These include controversial comments about Korean nuclear negotiations where he was criticized widely in falsely predicting an imminent change. Most recently, while in Israel, Giuliani told the world that Kim Jong-un “got back on his hands and knees and begged” for the United States to revive the Singapore summit. Now, Giuliani is not being contradicted by a foreign leader but the first lady. Giuliani, also during the Israeli trip, declared on the Stormy Daniels scandal that the First Lady “believes her husband, and she knows it’s untrue.” That led to the rare push back from the First Lady’s office from her spokesperson and East Wing communications director Stephanie Grisham that “I don’t believe Mrs. Trump has ever discussed her thoughts on anything with Mr. Giuliani.” In Washington talk, that is a take down. The First Lady rarely issues statements and this statement would never be released absent her consent.
Below is my column in USA Today on the assertion of President Donald Trump that he can pardon himself. Since such an act would be the most profoundly disgraceful moment in the history of the American presidency, it is chilling to have a president to even engage in such a public debate. However, I believe that such a power does exist in the Constitution. It is a long and unresolved debate that turns on how you interpret silence. Since the Constitution is silent on any bar against a president benefitting from this power, I believe that a self-pardon is indeed constitutional, even if distasteful. 
I will be testifying today in the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management. The hearing is entitled 
In a major development, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Schecter has ordered that President Donald Trump must 
In what must be a particularly awkward move for the former acting FBI Director, Andrew McCabe has 
Just days after President Donald Trump was seen as sending a message to Mueller targets that he could still help them with pardons, Special Counsel Bob Mueller could be sending a message of his own: your future may belong to the President but your present belongs to me. In a major move, 
Below is my column in USA Today on one of the lines of inquiry by Special Counsel Robert Mueller: the stated desire of President Donald Trump to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his poor public criticism of the Attorney General for recusing. That inquiry has become more damaging with recent disclosures of an effort by Trump to convince or coerce Sessions to reverse his decision to recuse himself. Despite renewed calls for obstruction charges or impeachment counts, there is a clear defense emerging for Trump based on recent comments. Indeed, it may be the only viable defense that accepts these facts while rejecting the claim of criminal obstruction (other than the untested claim that Trump is effectively immune from such a charge).
In yet another contradiction from the Trump legal team, the recent letter to Special Counsel Robert Mueller included the notable admission that Trump “dictated” the statement that is at the center of the obstruction investigation. Previously, Trump lawyers, particularly Jay Sekulow, categorically denied that Trump had drafted the letter. Once again, these are continuing unforced errors produced by either a failure of attorney-client communications or a lack of due diligence. Either way, it is an example of how much of his investigation has been fueled by sheer blunders.
The recent disclosure of a memo from former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe on a conversation with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on an alleged “cover story” demanded by President Donald Trump for his memo on the firing of McCabe’s boss James Comey: I have already said that the memo may shed more light on the mindset of McCabe than Trump. It is most likely that Trump was asking (as he did with everyone of these individuals) for a statement that he was not a target of the Russian investigation. That is not a cover story. However, the memo does raise the question of why Rosenstein has not recused himself.