Below is my column in the Hill Newspaper on the latest “smoking gun” of obstruction in the form of Trump tweets. There continues to be a categorical refusal of many to acknowledge the implications of the interpretation being advanced to implicate Trump. There is also a failure to acknowledge that the Clinton campaign received more information was Russian sources, including Russian intelligence figures. The difference is the Clinton people were smart enough to use a cut out in the form of a former British spy.
While advocates continue to maintain that agreeing to go to a meeting to review promised evidence of crimes is a federal election violation, no case like this has ever resulted in a conviction that I know of. Indeed, I do not know of any case remotely similar to this case as being brought. The First Amendment implications should bar any such prosecution.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Criminal Tweets: Trump Critics Should Not Respond To Acts Of “Fake News” With Fake Law”
We spent our second day on beautiful Kauai was visiting beaches on the South shore. We started in the morning at the aptly named Shipwreck Cove where the waves were huge but the under current quite dangerous. We went in briefly before going down the shore to 
We left Oahu on Tuesday after a glorious visit to island hop by plane to the island of Kauai, which is actually the oldest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is only 562 square miles but it is far less developed. It is roughly five million years old and often called the “Garden Island” for its pristine beaches and rain forests. 
Whatever becomes clear after Rick Gates finishes his direct and cross examination is that Gates and Paul Manafort truly deserved each other. On the stand on his first day of testimony, Gates a
This week, the City of West Hollywood council joined in the gratuitous insults and derogatory that has come to characterize our politics on both sides. The city council unanimously voted to ask Los Angeles and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to remove 
Some headlines just write themselves. Carlton Henderson, 54, died this week after jumping out of a freezer and threatened employees with a knife while screaming “Away from me,Satan!” After he was tackled and the knife taken away, 
Day five on Oahu could be simply called turtles, turtles, and more turtles. One of the reasons that I was interested in staying on the North Shore rather than Waikiki was the abundance of green see turtles. Today we enjoyed watching these magnificent animals at various beaches, including their daily visit at a beach for sun and a feast of sea grass. It was a great way to spend the last full day on Oahu. 
Below is a slightly longer version of my Hill column on my recent hike in the Cleveland National Forest outside of Santa Ana, California. It was the beginning of the heat emergency that is still gripping the area with massive fires and dangerous conditions. I have stayed in contact with my new friends at the Orange County Fire and Rescue and they were kind enough to send some pictures of the rescue. I am told that their biggest problem is that people often do not want to be rescued because they are afraid to be hit with a bill for the rescue. They do not charge. They just want people out of harm’s way and safe.
Day Four of our trip to Hawaii started early with a trip to the Diamond Head crater. This was my second hike up the crater, but the first such venture for the family. We then had a great lunch at Duke’s restaurant in Waikiki and journeyed on to Pearl Harbor. We finished the day with an evening dip back on the North Shore. It felt wonderfully decadent. 
For over a year, there has been an ongoing debate over the constitutionality of the appointment of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel. The claim is that Mueller constitutes a “principal officer” who should be nominated by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate. Instead, defenders claim Mueller is an “inferior officer” who does not require such a process. Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia just gave Mueller an impressive legal victory in an opinion that swept aside this and two other fundamental challenges to the Special Counsel. The decision came as part of the 
A A new discovery may have solved the long-standing mystery of who stole a Willem de Kooning painting worth more than $100 million. The theft in 1985 was a brazen crime by a man and a woman who cut out “Woman-Ochre” from its frame in November 1985. The painting was found a year ago at a home in New Mexico belonging to Jerry and Rita Alter. A newly discovered picture not only puts the couple in Tucson the day before the heist but it shows a striking resemblance to the suspects.
Below is my column in USA Today on the most recent claim that the tweets of President Donald Trump concerning the Special Counsel are acts of obstruction. Once again, there is a blind eagerness to claim a prime facie criminal case against Trump. However, the implications of such a charge are enormous. It would mean that a subject or target of an investigation could be criminally charged for publicly denouncing the prosecutors or their investigation. While it is certainly true that a president is not just any investigatory subject and has powers that do mean a menacing meaning to such tweets, it would radically extend the scope of obstruction into more ambiguous areas. In the end, this is still the exercise of free speech in this context.
Our third day in Oahu was spectacular. We started by driving to the magnificent the Waimea Valley and the Waimea Arboretum and Botanical Garden. We then walked to the nearby Waimea Beach where kids jump off a high rock into the surf. It was a great day of hiking and just lying on the beach.
We arrived at 6 am (ET) in Oahu, Hawaii and were pretty beat but had to rent a van and drive to the North side of the island. We are staying in Turtle Bay between Protection Point and Kuilima Point on the