Democrats are justifiably frustrated that the ballyhooed testimony of Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday added nothing to his published 448 page Report. Democratic members of both the Judiciary Committee in the morning and the Intelligence Oversight Committee in the afternoon had obviously prepared for the big show, assigning different subjects to various members. They…
It’s Mueller Time 2: Obstruction
Recently in It’s Mueller Time!,” I discussed the Meuller Report’s treatment of the issue of whether President Trump or his campaign criminally conspired with the Russians during the 2016 campaign (“Russian Collusion”). I relied on Attorney General William Barr’s summary of the principal conclusions of the report. Since then the full report with very limited required…
What’s Wrong With The U.S. Attorney’s Indictment Of Judge Joseph And How To Fix It
WGBH News Opinion Andrew Lelling, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, triggered a political firestorm almost a month ago when he obtained an indictment of Newton District Court Judge Shelley Joseph on obstruction charges. Although I disagree with Joseph’s decision to release Jose Medina-Perez, a noncitizen who had entered the United States illegally,…
Rife with strife at Harvard
Boston Globe Letter, May 7, 2019 It’s not nice of me, but I cannot help expressing a little schadenfreude at the pass to which Harvard has brought itself over a law professor’s defense of Harvey Weinstein (“A house divided at Harvard,” Page A1, May 5). The old verities, like the value of a lawyer defending…
It’s Mueller Time!
Saturday Night Live will continue Alec Baldwin’s ham-handed send up of Donald Trump but it doesn’t look like Robert DeNiro will long reprise his role as a menacing Robert Mueller. The Special Counsel has filed his final report and closed shop on his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and, particularly, of whether…
Trump ouster plot is bureaucratic overreach
Cape Cod Times, March 7, 2019 Contrary to the assertion in your March 2 editorial, “When is a coup not a coup?” the plotting by a group of career bureaucrats below Cabinet level at the Justice Department and FBI to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove a president they deplore is not part of their…
The Indictment of Roger Stone
On January 24th Roger Stone, a long time political activist and ally and confidante of Donald Trump was indicted at the urging of the Special Counsel Robert Mueller on 1 count of Obstructing a Congressional Investigation by failing to turn over subpoenaed records and lying about their existence, five counts of False Statements to Congress and one…
Donald Trump, “The Manchurian Candidate?” (Edited)
Ed. Note: An earlier version of this was published without paragraphing. On January 11 Americans were horrified to read a front page story in the New York Times headlined, “FBI Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia.” Unfortunately, only about half were horrified that a few civil servants at the top…
Donald Trump, “The Manchurian Candidate?”
On January 11 Americans were horrified to read a front page story in the New York Times headlined, “FBI Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia.” Unfortunately, only about half were horrified that a few civil servants at the top of the FBI, on record as looking for ways to derail…
The President and the Chief Justice: No Big Deal
The hearts of the chattering classes have been all aflutter this week over an exchange between President Trump and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts this week. The President criticized what he described as an “Obama judge” for a ruling against the administration’s attempt to bar migrants who cross the border illegally from seeking asylum….
CNN vs. Trump
A shorter version of this sentiment appeared on November 29. 2018 as “CNN and Acosta Will Have a Lot to Answer For Later” in a letter to the Wall Street Journal. The case brought by CNN against the White House over suspension of the “Hard Pass of correspondent Jim Acosta will likely not be decided tomorrow…
The “Blue Wave” becomes a Red Trickle
The ballyhooed “Blue Wave” is not going to happen, There will be more of a “Red Trickle.” Since President Trump’s inauguration, an incessant drumbeat by the “mainstream Media” and the keepers and icons of our national culture has informed us that the reaction to Trump will be a “Blue Wave,” pouring Democrats into control of…
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