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Chuck Grassley Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on December 04, 2017 34 Comments
This past summer, Special Counsel Robert Mueller removed an FBI agent from his investigation into possible collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump's campaign due to anti-Trump messages he sent. The news was only made public over the weekend. This agent, Peter Strzok, is also the man who changed former FBI Head James Comey's description of Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information on her private server when she served as secretary of state. Strzok also served as the No. 2 official in the counterintelligence division and led the investigation into her server.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 17, 2017 21 Comments
I noted yesterday that Chuck Grassley finally appears ready to clear the backlog in Judiciary Committee hearings on Appeals and District court judicial nominees, by preventing withholding of "blue slips" from becoming de facto filibusters, Chuck Grassley rips up “blue slip” stall, Al Franken left groping for alternative delay tactic. It then will be up to Mitch McConnell to get nominees floor votes, and to overcome Democrat stalling tactics to draw out each nominee, even the ones they don't oppose. The goal has to be:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 16, 2017 23 Comments
I recently noted frustration with Democrat delay tactics for judicial nominations, including the withholding of "blue slips" to prevent confirmation proceedings to proceed, Trump judicial confirmations moving along, but not fast enough:
Every single vacant seat should be filled as quickly as possible. Some progress is not good enough. Grassley and McConnell need to clear all roadblocks, and Trump needs to fill the pipeline.
It looks like Grassley finally is getting the message, as Politico reports:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 12, 2017 16 Comments
In numerous prior posts we have followed the tortuous process of getting Trump federal judicial nominees confirmed. Democrats have thrown down every procedural delay possible, even for nominees they didn't oppose. What Democrats fear is that Trump will take advantage of the historic opportunity handed him to reshape the federal judiciary for a generation to come. We first covered this Democrat fear in December 2016, and how the Democrats' 2013 decision to remove the filibuster for judicial nominees below the Supreme Court level cleared the way, Dems’ Nuclear Option will allow Trump to fill over 100 court vacancies quickly.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 24, 2017 16 Comments
House Judiciary Committee Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) have announced an investigation into the handling of the Hillary Clinton email scandal by the FBI and Department of Justice. The two committees will also investigate why the FBI didn't announce its investigation into then-GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign associates. From The Washington Examiner:
The probe will be conducted by two congressional panels responsible for overseeing the Justice Department and government operations in general. The investigators will review then-FBI Director James Comey's various decisions pertaining to the Clinton investigation, such as his unusual announcement that she should not face indictment.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 19, 2017 15 Comments
The rot in many institutions cannot be undone in one presidential term or even two. In part that's because of the entrenched permanent bureaucracy, in part because many (if not most) important institutions are not part of government. Higher Ed is a prime example. Over two generations, faculty hiring and infighting has led to an environment at close to all top tier universities and colleges that is hostile to non-progressive ideas and people. Read about my alma mater, Hamilton College, for the script on how the takeover happened there, Western Civilization driven off campus at Hamilton College. One institution that can be changed in a single presidential term (and definitely two) is the federal judiciary.

Posted by Mary Chastain on October 05, 2017 85 Comments
A few GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate have announced they are open to legislation that will ban bump stocks, a device allegedly used by Stephen Paddock in the Las Vegas massacre. This device "is a sliding stock that when pressed against a shooter’s shoulder allows a semi-automatic gun to shift backward and forward with the recoil of each shot fired." Authorities found bump stocks in Paddock's room, but we do not know for sure if he used them during the massacre.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on September 02, 2017 31 Comments
In a puzzling move, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced last month that the Department of Justice would be ramping up asset forfeiture. Mary wrote at the time:
Civil forfeiture remains a controversial issue in America since it’s “a process by which the government can take and sell your property without ever convicting, or even charging, you with a crime.” The procedures are civil, which means defendants do not receive the same protections given to criminal defendants. It’s one of the few issues that garners bipartisan support.
That bipartisan support is now even more evident as Congress moves to defund asset forfeiture.

Posted by Mary Chastain on August 31, 2017 65 Comments
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray to inform him that the committee found in unredacted parts in transcripts that former FBI Director James Comey decided to write a statement to exonerate then-presumptive Democrat presidential candidate before the FBI finished its investigation into her emails.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 05, 2017 22 Comments
For several months we have been highlighting the unique opportunity presented to Donald Trump to reshape the federal judiciary. That opportunity has largely been lost in a liberal media trying to take down Trump over Russia, Russia, Russia, as I previously wrote, While you were focused on COMEY, Trump nominated another group of CONSERVATIVE Judges:

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on July 22, 2017 20 Comments
Glenn Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS, is taking the 5th and will not testify to his or his firm's role in the compilation of the discredited Trump-Russia "Dossier." Meanwhile, Paul Manafort and Donald Trump, Jr. have agreed to a closed Q&A with the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Jared Kushner will testify in a closed session before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 14, 2017 13 Comments
I pointed out recently that when it comes to judicial nominees, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have signaled that they will do whatever it takes to get the nominees through the process over Democrat delay tactics. As to judicial nominees, the slowdown tactics include Democrat Senators refusing to return so-called "blue cards":
No Democrat has yet returned a “blue slip” signaling acceptance of President Trump’s federal judicial picks — an ominous sign for Republicans, who fear it signals an upcoming attempt to slow-walk the administration’s plans to reshape the federal judiciary....

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on June 25, 2017 18 Comments
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has called out Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) over his public comments about the president being under investigation. The problem, Grassley states, is that Schumer knew this was untrue because former FBI head James Comey had briefed not only the Senate Judiciary Committee but the Gang of Eight, including Schumer.  During that briefing in March of this year, Comey stated that the president was not under investigation.  This knowledge did not stop Schumer from, only weeks later, making public statements that he knew to be false.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 23, 2017 24 Comments
The top Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have launched an investigation into former Attorney General Loretta Lynch to find out if she interfered with the FBI's probe into Hillary's email server. Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sent Lynch a letter asking for answers after news outlets reported that she told people within the campaign that the FBI's investigation would not dig too deep.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 22, 2017 16 Comments
This may be the least covered major story of the Trump era, so far at least. While the media and Democrats are obsessed with increasingly bizarre Trump-Russia conspiracy theories, and failed attempts to flip Special Election congressional seats, an enormous change to the federal judiciary is well underway. We have been covering this story, and the relative lack of media coverage, for months. Most recently, I wrote While you were focused on COMEY, Trump nominated another group of CONSERVATIVE Judges:

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 08, 2017 24 Comments
The House Oversight Committee lashed out at former President  Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder for obstruction over the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. A cartel member used a gun from the ATF and DOJ's Operation Fast and Furious to kill Terry in December 2010. From Fox News:
The House Oversight Committee also Wednesday released a scathing, nearly 300-page report that found Holder’s Justice Department tried to hide the facts from the loved ones of slain Border Patrol Brian Terry – seeing his family as more of a “nuisance” than one deserving straight answers – and slamming Obama's assertion of executive privilege to deny Congress access to records pertaining to Fast and Furious.
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