Tag: Trump abuse of power

Unredacted Mueller report reveals Trump may have lied to the special counsel

AlterNet logoOn Friday night, the Justice Department released a new version of former Special Counsel Mueller’s report with newly unredacted sections about Roger Stone and WikiLeaks.

In one section of the newly released information, Mueller weighed the possibility President Donald Trump had lied to him in his written answers to a series of questions. Any such lies would be potential criminal acts.

Trump appears to have lied when he said:

I have no recollection of being told that WikiLeaks possessed or might possess emails related to John Podesta before the release of Mr. Podesta’s emails was reported by the media. Likewise, I have no recollection of being told that Roger Stone, anyone acting as an intermediary for Roger Stone, or anyone associated with my campaign had communicated with WikiLeaks on October 7, 2016.

Barr Threatens Suit To Stop Bolton’s Book Because The First Amendment Is, Like, More Of A Suggestion Really

I’ll take PRIOR RESTRAINT for $600, Alex!

“Any conversation with me is classified,” President Trump insisted at a press conference yesterday. Because once we had a scholar of constitutional law as president, and now we have … the opposite of that.

The president’s voluminous knickers are in a twist this week over the upcoming release of Ambassador John Bolton’s book “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” which is scheduled to hit the shelves on June 23.

As a former federal employee, Bolton had to submit his manuscript to the National Security Council to ensure it contained no classified material. Since December 30, when he dropped the 592-page tell all about his time as Trump’s National Security Advisor on the NSC’s doorstep, Bolton undertook multiple rounds of revision in coordination with Ellen Knight, the agency’s senior director for prepublication review. Continue reading.

Here is why Bill Barr’s lawsuit against John Bolton may only have an ‘audience of one’: Law professor

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice filed a civil suit against President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton over the publication of his tell-all book alleging misconduct in the administration.

In a lengthy Twitter thread, law professor Rick Hasen explained why the lawsuit is likely just for show, to put Trump’s mind at ease, rather than to actually block the book or win any sort of legal relief.

Rick Hasen

✔@rickhasen

I’ve looked at the Bolton complaint, and a bit about the remedies portion t (https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Bolton.pdf …).
The suit seeks declaratory relief (saying Bolton breached agreements), a constructive trust (disgorging any profits), and what looks like an injunction /1

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Prosecutor in Roger Stone Case Will Testify About Barr’s Intervention

New York Times logoThe prosecutor is one of two Justice Department officials coming forward whom Democrats are calling whistle-blowers.

WASHINGTON — A career Justice Department prosecutor who quit the case against President Trump’s friend Roger J. Stone Jr.after political appointees intervened to seek a more lenient sentence has agreed to testify under subpoena next week before the House Judiciary Committee.

House Democrats issued subpoenas on Tuesday to the prosecutor, Aaron S.J. Zelinsky, along with a second Justice Department official, John W. Elias, who has also agreed to testify in public on June 24 about politicization under Attorney General William P. Barr — setting up a potential fight with the department about what they will be permitted to say.

Mr. Elias is a career official in the Justice Department’s antitrust division, which opened an inquiry into a fuel efficiency deal between major automakers and the State of California; congressional Democrats have called the scrutiny politically motivated. Continue reading.

Trump’s EPA balks at a chance to save black lives

Soot sickens and kills people of color disproportionately. The EPA has decided to not tighten standards that would protect them and others.

Decades of research paint a clear picture: The No. 1 environmental health risk in the US is soot. Also known as particulate pollution, it is made up of extremely small particles spewed into the air by power generation, industrial processes, and cars and trucks.

There are “coarse particles,” between 2.5 and 10 micrometers in diameter, and “fine particles,” at 2.5 micrometers and smaller. By way of comparison, the average human hair has a diameter of about 70 micrometers.

Research has consistently found that inhaling these particles is incredibly harmful to human physiology, at high concentrations over short periods or low concentrations over extended periods. Particulate pollution is linked to increased asthma, especially among children, along with lung irritation and inflammation, blood clots, heart attacks, weakened immune systems, and, according to a wave of recent research, long-term cognitive impacts (reduced productivity, inability to concentrate, and dementia). Continue reading.

Defense secretary says Pentagon official who questioned legality of withholding Ukraine aid to resign

The Pentagon official who raised concerns about the Ukraine aid being held in 2019 has submitted her resignation to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, the Pentagon announced Tuesday

Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Elaine McCusker will resign effective June 26, Esper said in a statement.

“Since joining the Department of Defense Elaine has worked tirelessly to ensure that our budgeting and audit processes give full value to the taxpayer while meeting the enormous security needs of our nation as well as the men and women who serve it,” Esper said. “I am grateful for her dedication to public service and the contributions that she has made to the Department and wish her the very best in her future endeavors.” Continue reading.

Federal court urged to hold ‘rogue’ Trump EPA head in contempt for blatant defiance of ban on toxic weed killer

AlterNet logoA coalition of farming and conservation groups is calling on a federal appeals court to hold EPA chief Andrew Wheeler in contempt for defying an order to immediately suspend use of dicamba, a poisonous weed-killer that is notorious for its tendency to drift and destroy nearby crops.

“Trump’s EPA is so rogue it thinks it can blow off a federal court ruling that stops the damaging dicamba spraying in an administrative order,” George Kimbrell of the Center for Food Safety, lead counsel in the case, said in a statement late Thursday night. “EPA needs a lesson in separation of powers and we’re asking the court to give it to them.”

On Monday, the EPA issued guidance greenlighting the use of dicamba through July 31 despite a June 3 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the agency’s approval of XtendiMax, Engenia, and FeXapan—dicamba-based herbicides sold by chemical giants Bayer (formerly Monsanto), BASF, and Corteva, respectively. Continue reading.

Trump’s Actions Rattle the Military World: ‘I Can’t Support the Man’

New York Times logoThe president’s threat to use troops against largely peaceful protesters, as well as other attempts to politicize the military, have unsettled a number of current and former members and their families.

Erin Fangmann grew up in a military family, has been married to a captain in the Air Force for 18 years and has voted Republican all her life, including for Donald J. Trump. But as with a number of other veterans, troops and military family members who have watched the president with alarm, her support has evaporated.

“He has hurt the military,” said Ms. Fangmann, who lives in Arizona, one of several states in play this November with a high percentage of veterans and active-duty service members. “Bringing in active-duty members to the streets was a test to desensitize people to his future use of the military for his personal benefit. I think the silent majority among us is going to swing away.”

Since 2016, Mr. Trump has viewed veterans as a core slice of his base; in that year’s presidential election, about 60 percent voted for him, according to exit polls, and swing-state counties with especially high numbers of veterans helped him win. Many veterans and members of the military stuck with him even as he attacked the Vietnam War record of Senator John McCain, disparaged families of those killed in combat and denigrated generals whom he fired or drove from government service. Some conservative rank-and-file enlisted members silently agreed with Mr. Trump. Continue reading.

When Donald Trump tried to stage a coup: Was June 1 the turning point?

During his three and a half years in office, President Trump has succeeded in damaging every institution of politics and government, from the Department of Justice to the federal courts to the Foreign Service and the State Department to the intelligence community, public health agencies and beyond. But until fairly recently he had more or less left the U.S. military alone.

There were been some skirmishes with his first defense secretary, James Mattis — but in the end, Mattis resigned over a policy dispute, an event well within regular executive branch norms. But then, after being lobbied by a Fox News commentator, Trump intervened in the military justice system and pardoned three accused war criminals late last year, causing the secretary of the Navy to resign in protest. It turned out Trump had no more respect for the military than anything else.

Nonetheless, the military brass did as they were trained to do, which is to respect the chain of command. But Trump’s latest manic episode with respect to the Black Lives Matter protests following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has tested that relationship in some very troubling ways. Continue reading.

Trump downplays concerns of Pentagon’s top general about church photo, calls it a ‘beautiful picture’

Washington Post logoPresident Trump in an interview broadcast Friday defended his photo opportunity at a church near the White House as “a beautiful picture” and downplayed concerns of the Pentagon’s top general that it created the perception of military involvement in domestic politics.

“I think it was a beautiful picture,” Trump told Fox News. “I’ll tell you, I think Christians think it was a beautiful picture.”

Trump’s comments came in a wide-ranging interview taped Thursday in Dallas, where Trump held a roundtable discussion on race relations and policing. Portions of the interview were aired by the cable station Thursday night, while other portions aired Friday. Continue reading.