Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on the implications of the termination of Andrew McCabe and his revealing public statement. The statement presents a particularly difficult problem of former FBI Director James Comey.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Friendly Fire: Did McCabe’s Dig At Trump Undermine Comey?”
In all of the discussion of the firing of Andrew McCabe, various news outlets focused his “loss” of his pension as opposed to the fact that career officials called for his firing for serious misconduct. It now appears that what was lost will soon be found for McCabe. The firing denied McCabe early pension recovery at age 50 of roughly $60,000 a year. However, that only means that he will receive the pension like other federal officials when he reaches the federal retirement age. If Democratic members have their way, it could be even shorter than that.
Continue reading “Lost and Found: It Turns Out McCabe Never Lost His Roughly $2 Million Pension”
I previously criticized the city council for putting up a statute in front of city hall honoring Marion Barry, the scandal-plagued felon and former mayor. Now Barry’s replacement at the Eighth Ward is filling the news vacuum with a controversy of his own: stating in a video that snow is a Jewish conspiracy by wealthy bankers. Democrat Trayon White warned that the Rothschilds were manipulating the weather to cash in on the disasters. The implications are staggering as you connect the dots with White from the Jewish conspiracy behind the movie “White Christmas” to that Rothschild agent Santa Claus.
Continue reading “D.C. Council Member: Jewish Bankers Cause Snow Storms”
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the issuance of a subpoena to the Trump organization for records pertinent to Trump business dealings in Russia. President Trump previously responded to a question of whether such inquiries into his business dealings would be a “red line” by saying that it would. Whether it is a red line or a “Rubicon,” Mueller seems to have crossed it. Of course, the Trump Organization has been asked for information previously and it is cooperating. However, this is a direct demand for business records. In the best case scenario, this could be a clean up subpoena to guarantee that all available documents have been reviewed. Then again it might be a new front in the investigation. Notably, this weekend, President Trump and his counsel ramped up their criticism of the investigation — criticism that I continue to view as unwise and inappropriate.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Trump Drew A Red Line For Mueller; Mueller Just Crossed It”
I have previously criticized President Donald Trump for his continuing use of Twitter to comment on pending litigation and attack the Special Counsel investigation. This weekend, Trump unleashed a torrent of criticism on Mueller, McCabe, and others. Trump not only raised the political affiliation of the Mueller team members, but celebrated the firing of Andrew McCabe. I found the McCabe comments to be particularly objectionable. No matter how one feels about McCabe’s conduct (and we still have not read the Inspector General’s report), the man was just fired after a highly accomplished career as a public servant. The tweet felt more like a taunt against a man who just experienced a crushing loss.
Continue reading “Trump Unleashes On Mueller, McCabe, And Others In Twitter Storm”
Below is my column on various proposal for gun control reforms after the latest school massacre in Florida. As the column discusses, the constitutional burden is more demanding than suggested by many politicians. This is clearly a right that is subject to reasonable limitations but it is an individual constitutional right that affords gun owners a higher protection in the court.
Continue reading “Will Court Challenges Shoot Down The Array Of New Gun Control Law?”
I have previously discussed the blunders of the Trump legal team and how they have undermined their client, including missteps by counsel John Dowd. (here and here and here). This weekend saw yet another Dowd statement and retraction on a subject of immense importance to his client. Dowd is quoted as calling for the termination of the Mueller investigation in the name of President Trump. After an outcry and reported contradiction from the White House, Dowd insisted that he was speaking just for himself.
Continue reading “Trump Counsel Dowd, Again, Under Fire For Controversial Public Statements”
Alicia Murphy, 60, is under arrest for allegedly stealing the 1969 Preakness Stakes trophy. The trophy belonged to the wealthy owner of Majestic Prince and was stolen from a storage facility in Delray Beach, Florida. It is a curious item to steal since it would be immediately recognizable in any attempt to pawn or fence. It was among hundreds of items stolen from the facility. Police stated that the trophy was immediately recognized and reported by an auction house.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
A concerning practice has emerged over the years where intermediary service providers proffer to obtain apostille certifications on behalf of the those unfamiliar with the credentialing process for documents sent overseas. Unscrupulous providers charge hundreds and some over a thousand dollars for several documents while a typical cost assessed by each state’s secretary of state centers around fifteen dollars per document.
Most of these providers are unregulated and operate from virtual offices or use addresses traceable to private mail box companies such as the UPS Store. Some go so far as making promises of authenticity under legally questionable guises.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
In an interesting reversal, a young Chinese child unseated the predominating meme of hungry birds stealing food from humans.
The setup played into the hands of the girl, who took charge of the unsuspecting avian and snatched a morsel directly from the victim dove’s beak. All while her unwitting accomplice–her mother–attracted the bird under the guise of feeding pigeons.
President Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen has moved to claim at least $20 million in damages from porn star Stormy Daniels. Cohen is alleging at least 20 violations. With the recent allegations of physical threats and post-election actions, the political costs to this strategy is likely to continue to rise. Notably, Cohen is not simply pursuing damages through his limited liability corporation Essential Consultants. An attorney for Trump is now directly calling for Daniels to be forced into arbitration . . . and silence.
Continue reading “Trump’s Attorney Files To Silence Daniels and Force $20 Million In Damages”
This evening, I discussed why I thought Attorney General Jeff Sessions would fire Andrew McCabe. Now that has come to pass in a late night announcement that McCabe has been terminated just 24 hours before his retirement (and eligibility for a pension).
We just hit another milestone today with over 34,000,000 views. We are also recently passed 40,000 followers on Twitter. We remain the “little engine that could” among blogs with a growing collection of people who are seeking a place for civil but passionate discourse on legal and policy issues of our time (and perhaps a few wacky stories). We often use these milestones to look at the current profile of the blog and its supporters around the world.
House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) leveled a serious allegation at former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Jordan alleged that Jordan leaked classified information about the Trump-Russia investigation to CNN. Clapper later became a CNN contributor. I recently wrote a column about how Clapper ran out a statute of limitations for allegedly lying in testimony to Congress.
Below is my column in USA Today on the nomination Deputy Director Gina Haspel to head the CIA. While Sen. Rand Paul has declared that he will oppose Haspel over torture, some Democrats (who are being criticized for previously failing to act on torture allegations) are again hedging on whether they will oppose a nominee solely due to her involvement in the torture program. However, one promising development is an effort by Sen. Dianne Feinstein to have Haspel’s record on torture declassified. There remains some debate over Haspel’s role on notable cases. Reports still indicate that Haspel oversaw the torture of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri at the “Cat’s Eye.” However, it is not clear if she was “Chief of Base” during the torture of Abu Zubaydah. ProPublica issued a correction Thursday that she was not Chief at the time of the Zubaydah torture. There is no debate that Haspel ordered the destruction of evidence of the torture program.
Here is the column (which has been edited since its original posting):
Continue reading “Gina Haspel’s CIA Nomination Is A Women’s Milestone We’d Be Wise To Avoid”