The Justice Department defended its decision to drop charges against Michael Flynn at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, arguing broadly that any scrutiny of its decision would wreak havoc on the department.
Continue reading “DOJ: Courts Can’t Hold DOJ Accountable If It Drops A Case For Corrupt Reasons”
In his tell-all memoir finally set for publication later this month, former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton alleges that House Democrats failed to look at other transgressions made by the president that went beyond the scope of Ukraine during their impeachment inquiries last year.
According to the press release for Bolton’s new book, Bolton documents Trump’s other “Ukraine-like transgressions” and accuses the House of committing “impeachment malpractice” by only focusing on Ukraine. Bolton refused to testify in the impeachment investigation. pic.twitter.com/nfxCUnY18D
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) June 12, 2020
Bolton accuses House Democrats of committing “impeachment malpractice” by limiting their investigation to Ukraine, according to a statement by the book’s publisher Simon & Schuster. They say Bolton alleges “Ukraine-like transgressions existed” in other foreign policy decisions as well.
The autobiographical account, titled, “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” was originally scheduled for release on March 17 and but was then delayed until June 23 due at least in part to objections from the White House.
The book comes after the ex-Trump official refused to testify in the House’s impeachment investigation, and avoided divulging information regarding Trump’s efforts to apply pressure on Ukraine for help against political rivals. Instead, the former national security adviser, who resisted Trump’s push on Ukraine, took the investigations as an opportunity to make a not-so-coy plug for his book.
Bolton also alleges that Trump’s every decision was a calculated play for reelection — a concern that becomes increasingly evident in the lead-up to Election Day in November.
“I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn’t driven by reelection calculations,” Bolton writes, according to his publisher.
The Trump campaign announced plans to restart in-person rallies amid ongoing concerns about the safety of large gatherings due to the risk of coronavirus infection, supplying — instead of masks which likely won’t be required at the event — a waiver for participants not to sue should they become infected at his upcoming rally in Tulsa.
NEW YORK (AP) — Take the stairs, not the elevator, down from your hotel room. Encourage people to bring their own food and drinks to your cookout. Use hand sanitizer after banking at an ATM. Call ahead to restaurants and nail salons to make sure staff are wearing face coverings. And no high-fives — or even elbow bumps — at the gym.
These are some of the tips in long-awaited guidance from U.S. health officials about how to reduce risk of coronavirus infection for Americans who are attempting some semblance of normal life.
Continue reading “CDC Finally Releases Guidance For Minimizing COVID Risk In Everyday Life”
Every major news outlet has some sort of headline on this news today. It’s too juicy to resist.
A man charged yesterday with the ambush killing of a police officer also appears to have scrawled a reference in blood to a second Civil War.
Continue reading “Man Accused Of Killing A Cop Scrawled Message In Blood Referring To ‘Boogaloo’”
A Republican senator opposed to re-naming military installations honoring Confederate generals says doing so would be “historical revisionism.”
Continue reading “Hawley Decries ‘Historical Revisionism’ Of Stripping Confederate Names From Bases”
President Donald Trump congratulated Marjorie Greene on Friday, the strong leader of the Republican primary in Georgia’s 14th district and likely to be Congress’ first open QAnon supporter.
Continue reading “Trump Congratulates Candidate Poised To Be Congress’ First QAnon Acolyte”
Although Melania Trump originally said the reason she was hanging back in New York after her husband entered the White House was to avoid a disruption in their son’s school year, new reporting from a Washington Post reporter reveals the first lady’s delayed arrival was also part of a leveraging scheme to revisit a prenuptial agreement with Trump.
In Post reporter Mary Jordan’s new book, “Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump,” Jordan reports that Donald Trump’s rise to the top seat in government had been dealt a heavy blow when allegations of affairs and sexual misconduct reached the ears of the American public — and his wife. The Access Hollywood tape, in addition to detailed allegations about Trump’s affair with Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, presented the first lady a chance to secure a more generous prenup agreement.
“She wanted proof in writing that when it came to financial opportunities and inheritance, Barron would be treated as more of an equal to Trump’s oldest three children,” Jordan writes.
The book draws on interviews with Melania’s former schoolmates, acquaintances and those who worked directly with the first lady. Jordan concludes that contrary to the belief held by many advocates of #FreeMelania — who say she and the president are quite different — Melania Trump is in fact “much more like him than it appears.”
“Both are avid creators of their own history,” Jordan writes.
In a statement to CNN, Melania Trump’s chief of staff Stephanie Grisham said: “Yet another book about Mrs. Trump with false information and sources. This book belongs in the fiction genre.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard arguments Friday on Michael Flynn’s request that the appeals court intervene in his judge’s handling of the case.
The appeals showed skepticism towards Flynn’s insistence that the intervention was needed now, as opposed to later on in the proceedings. However, two of the appellate judges on the panel showed sympathy to some of the arguments that the DOJ and Flynn are making on the merits, questioning the authority the district court has to hold up the dismissal of the case.
Flynn requested that the appeals court order the case dismissed after the district court judge, Emmet Sullivan, ordered additional, third party “friend of the court” briefing on the DOJ’s request that he dismiss the case, rather than granting the dismissal immediately. Sullivan has appointed a former judge and ex-prosecutor, John Gleeson, to oppose the government’s dismissal request, and he is holding a hearing on the matter next month.
The D.C. Circuit seemed resistant to the idea that it should intervene now, rather than let the next month of proceedings play out at the district court. However, two of the judges, both GOP appointees, appeared to show some discomfort with how Sullivan has handled the case. Judge Karen Henderson suggested that Sullivan may have appointed an “intemperate” amicus in Gleeson, though she did stress that doing so didn’t mean Sullivan wouldn’t ultimately grant the dismissal. Judge Naomi Rao meanwhile grilled Sullivan’s lawyer Beth Wilkinson on the role the amicus was supposed to be playing in the first place.
The Justice Department is supporting Flynn’s position, and Principal Deputy Attorney General Jeff Wall received tough questions about the claims he is making about why the appeals court should intervene now. Judge Robert Wilkins posed a particularly pointed hypothetical for the DOJ: whether a judge could hold off on dismissing a policy brutality case if the DOJ wanted it dismissed because it didn’t believe a white police officer should be held accountable for a use of force against a black victim. Wall said that the judge would have to grant the motion to dismiss in that scenario.
Read our live coverage of Friday’s oral arguments below.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley reportedly considered stepping down after being excoriated for his participation in President Donald Trump’s widely panned photo-op at St. John’s Episcopal Church last week.
Continue reading “Report: Milley Considered Resigning After Photo-Op Backlash”
