Image 01 Image 03

Jonathan Turley Tag

Today was perhaps the biggest farce yet in the impeachment saga. Two of the law professors called by the Democrats (Pamela Karlin and Noah Feldman) were so over-the-top partisan and political, that they buried whatever legal points they were making. The third law professor called by Democrats, Michael Gerhardt, was not much better. There was little difference between their harangues and those of Adam Schiff and other Democrat politicians. They soiled themselves.

The hysteria over Donald Trump's National Emergency Proclamation with regard to the Mexican border is peak stupid even by the standards of the times, in which almost everything Trump does is portrayed with cataclysmic predictions. This time around, it's not just the usual Democrat and media suspects, but also some Republican Senators who worry that Trump is setting a precedent for a future Democrat president to use the National Emergencies Act to spend money for climate change or other perceived liberal emergencies.

The New York Times released a report on September 1 about how the DOJ and FBI tried to flip Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to retrieve information regarding collusion between Russia and then-candidate Donald Trump's campaign. Deripaska's name has come up during Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, but it looks like the ties between the two men run deep and may present a conflict of interest.

Last Friday, the GOP on the House Intelligence Committee released a report that found no collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump's campaign. That same report found that former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper leaked information about the dossier authored by Christopher Steele, which is also the force behind the Russian investigation, CNN and may have lied to Congress about it. Clapper told CNN last month he didn't leak information about the dossier to the media. George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said this is not true and Clapper lied to Congress.

After Trump fired him, James Comey leaked four (4) of seven (7) internal FBI memos he created regarding his interactions with Trump to a Columbia Law School professor, for the purpose of passing on the contents to a reporter. The professor did just that, and it created the basis for NY Times reporting that Trump had demanded a "loyalty" pledge and also raised the issue of shutting down the investigation into Michael Flynn. Comey would testify to the same effect before Congress, which is when the fact of his leak came out under questioning by Susan Collins, almost by accident, and without any meaningful follow up to the bombshell testimony.

This is not one of those heavy year-end posts. You want a heavy year-end post, then re-read my post from last year, New Year's Thanks. Some quick observations, in no particular order:

On today's Morning Joe, after accusing President Trump of "impairment," Howard Dean said that "people keep talking about" the 25th Amendment as a means to remove the president from office. But Dean immediately poured cold water on the notion, saying "I personally think that's probably hooey." Law professor Jonathan Turley agreed with Dean: "Yes, indeed, that falls under the constitutional doctrine of hooey." Turley went on to describe the complicated procedures under the 25th Amendment, which would ultimately require a two-thirds majority in both houses of congress. Concluded Turley: "the 25th Amendment is not a really good option."