Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on the Manafort trial and why Manafort is pursuing a high-risk litigation strategy over a plea deal. The strategy looks strikingly like a pardon pitch and it could be working. President Donald Trump took the rare step of commenting on a case at trial to not only praised Manafort but analogized his case to the treatment of Al Capone. He tweeted that “Looking back on history, who was treated worse, Alfonse Capone, legendary mob boss, killer and ‘Public Enemy Number One,’ or Paul Manafort, political operative & Reagan/Dole darling, now serving solitary confinement – although convicted of nothing? Where is the Russian Collusion?” Of course, both could well be guilty and both could find that a criminal count with a ten year sentence is just about the same as another in terms of its impact on your life.\
Here is the column: Continue reading “Playing The House: Why Manafort May Have Taken The Highest Risk Option”
Today, I am taking most of the family on our first family vacations in years. We are going to Hawaii and will spend time on Oahu and Kauai islands. I will be posting our usual travel blog on the trip with discussion of sights, restaurants, and adventures for any readers who might benefit from the experience and photos. As always, I may be a tad delayed in posting depending on wifi and conditions. I will be posting the travel blog at the end of each day. However, we take off this afternoon and will arrive in Honolulu around 9 pm local time. Unfortunately, my son is doing pre-med studies and staying behind, though he and my brother-in-law are cheap house and dog sitters at the homestead! 
Lost in the mix of Manafort and other news, there is a significant development in Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Mueller has referred a number of cases to the Southern District of New York for possible prosecution, including reportedly case involving longtime Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta and his work for his former firm, the Podesta Group and former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig, a former partner at law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. It is not clear if charges would emerge from these cases but the referral further decentralizes the investigation.
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There are patdowns and then there are patdowns. This one was particularly memorable for North Carolina sheriffs after they found 
President Donald Trump t
A controversy is building in the little town of Haddam, Conn. where S
It appears that all of the concern over the free speech rights of players over the national anthem protests does not extend to owners. Last week, Dallas Cowboys coach Jerry Jones was reportedly told to stop talking about the national anthem controversy. Jones had said that his team would be standing at attention during the playing of the national anthem this season. Then he went silent. I previously wrote how the 
Philadelphia has
Randa Jarrar, a professor of English at California State University at Fresno, became an infamous character when she previously celebrated the death of former first lady Barbara Bush. The horrific tweets by Jarrar led to calls for her termination, which 
Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on the implications of Michael Cohen accusing Donald Trump of lying about his lack of prior notice of the meeting at Trump Tower with Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton. Cohen’s allegations present an obvious risk not only to Trump but himself. What is most striking is that Cohen is alleging that specific people were in the room during Trump’s briefing and his approval of the meeting. That is an unnecessary risk to take if you are lying about the meeting as opposed to alleging a one-on-one conversation with Trump. Thus far, no one has corroborated his story while