The US Presidency 2020

[OceanBonfire]

Retired judge says effort to drop case against ex-Trump aide is 'gross abuse' of power

A retired judge on Wednesday urged a federal court not allow the Justice Department to dismiss its criminal case against President Donald Trump’s former adviser Michael Flynn, citing evidence of a “gross abuse of prosecutorial power.”

The U.S. district judge hearing the case, Emmet Sullivan, last month tapped John Gleeson to serve as a “friend of the court,” after the Justice Department abruptly asked the court to dismiss the criminal charge against Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general.

The stunning move by the Justice Department followed a pressure campaign by Trump and his allies and came even though Flynn had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with former Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.

“The Department of Justice has a solemn responsibility to prosecute this case — like every other case — without fear or favor,” Gleeson wrote. “It has abdicated that responsibility through a gross abuse of prosecutorial power, attempting to provide special treatment to a favored friend and political ally of the President of the United States.”

He said Sullivan should proceed with sentencing Flynn.

...


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-flynn/retired-judge-says-effort-to-drop-case-against-ex-trump-aide-is-gross-abuse-of-power-idUSKBN23H1E1

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/judge-appointed-review-michael-flynn-case-justice-department-71176636

https://apnews.com/2347ff4db147a286b8a62ef704aed692

 

[LittleBlackDevil]

I find it interesting that in the U.S. a judge even has the power to refuse to allow prosecutors to withdraw their case. In Canada, that is 100% in the discretion of the Crown. If they withdraw the prosecution, there's nothing the judge can do about it whether s/he likes it or not.

 

[dapaterson]

The Republicans have sent a cease and desist letter to CNN for releasing a poll that shows Trump 14 points behind Biden.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/10/politics/trump-campaign-cnn-poll/index.html

 

[FJAG]

I find it interesting that in the U.S. a judge even has the power to refuse to allow prosecutors to withdraw their case. In Canada, that is 100% in the discretion of the Crown. If they withdraw the prosecution, there's nothing the judge can do about it whether s/he likes it or not.

Once a plea has been entered the court is seized of the case and the crown may only withdraw the case with the leave of the court.

[13]          After plea, however, it is incumbent upon a Crown Prosecutor to seek leave of the court before withdrawing a charge. The court in Re Blasko and the Queen (1975), 1975 CanLII 1405 (ON SC), 29 C.C.C. (2d) 321 (Ont.H.C.) referenced that caveat in these terms:

Prior to the preferring of an indictment or the entering of a plea and the tendering of evidence, an information may be withdrawn without the leave of the Court. Where a Crown Attorney has tendered evidence after the taking of a plea, the trial Judge is seized with jurisdiction and the information cannot be withdrawn without the consent of the trial Judge.

The need for such a limitation no doubt arises from the fact that the accused who has entered plea is often considered, from that point in time, to be in jeopardy. See, for example, R v Petersen, 1982 CanLII 200 (SCC), [1982] 2 S.C.R. 493.

R v Beauchamp, 2014 ABPC 113 (CanLII)

:cheers:

 

[mariomike]

Trump wanting a press opportunity looking tough and ordering the area cleared after hiding his bone spurs in a bunker.

He said he was there on an "inspection". Whatever.

Co-incidentally, his wife and son were in the bunker at the same time. Probably wasn't their proudest moment as a family.

At any rate, he finally got that wall he promised,

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22white+house%22+fence&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjwkY3PufjpAhUP9qwKHQvVBYsQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=%22white+house%22+fence&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIFCAAQgwEyBAgAEAMyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADoECCMQJzoFCAAQsQNQzOwBWJuKAmCJjgJoAHAAeACAAeQDiAH3DZIBCTAuNi4xLjEuMZgBAKABAaoBC2d3cy13aXotaW1n&sclient=img&ei=UXPhXrClMo_sswWLqpfYCA&bih=641&biw=1269&tbs=qdr%3Am&hl=en

 

[Remius]

The Republicans have sent a cease and desist letter to CNN for releasing a poll that shows Trump 14 points behind Biden.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/10/politics/trump-campaign-cnn-poll/index.html

If it was a marginal outlier poll I suppose it might give them cause to be upset. 

From what I hear it’s pretty consistent with most polls out there.

538.com gives its analysis of whether it matters or not.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trumps-approval-rating-has-dropped-how-much-does-that-matter/

 

[FJAG]

It seems that the GOP has adopted it's 2016 platform as the platform for the 2020 campaign. This is somewhat humorous in that amongst other things it:

... Indeed, the 2016 platform contains several references to policy changes Trump has already delivered, as well as criticisms of the “current administration” and “the president” that could cause confusion given Trump’s incumbency. For instance, the platform calls for the U.S. Embassy in Israel to be moved to Jerusalem, something Trump did during his second year in office. It also slams “the current Administration” for a ballooning national debt that “has placed a significant burden on future generation.” Though the reference was made when President Barack Obama was in office, the national debt has also increased significantly under Trump.

Another section of the platform describes the Middle East as “more dangerous now than at any time since the Second World War." That creates a potentially awkward situation for party officials who praised Trump’s decision to launch airstrikes against Syria over a suspected chemical weapons attack in April 2018 and to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear agreement the next month....

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/11/republicans-rnc-decision-314172

;D

 

[Xylric]

Probably not unsurprising, because it would make sense to use it as a starting point. The edits just have not been made yet.!  :rofl:

 

[Cloud Cover]

This guy needs to be removed before the hurricane season. November will be too late.

 

[Xylric]

This guy needs to be removed before the hurricane season. November will be too late.

I don't really get the issue here. So the Secret Service and the Schutzstaffel have the same initials. Their origins are entirely different, so it's just a quirk of language.

That being said, Trump would have been wiser to have never gotten a twitter account in the first place, as with pretty much everyone else on the platform.

 

[Cloud Cover]

Can you pls name another US president that referred to the USSS as the SS? I think they would be alive to the historical connotations, particularly in the middle of a quasi rebellion.

Agreed.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Can you pls name another US president that referred to the USSS as the SS? I think they would be alive to the historical connotations, particularly in the middle of a quasi rebellion.

Agreed.

And didn't he refer to the intelligence community (FBI?) as the Gestapo?

 

[OceanBonfire]

U.S. agency violated science policy by backing Trump hurricane tweet, report finds

The head of the U.S. agency that warns of dangerous weather violated its policy on scientific integrity with a statement last year backing a tweeted forecast by President Donald Trump about the path of a hurricane, according to a report released on Monday.

Trump wrote on Twitter on Sept. 1 that Alabama would be among U.S. states that would “most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated” by Hurricane Dorian, then one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record.

Within minutes, the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Birmingham, Alabama, responded by saying that Alabama would not see any impacts from Dorian.

After days of controversy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), part of the Commerce Department headed by Wilbur Ross, released a statement on Sept. 6 saying the Birmingham tweet was “inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time.”

A report conducted on NOAA’s behalf by a panel set up by the non-partisan National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), found the NOAA’s acting administrator, Neil Jacobs, and its former deputy chief of staff and communications director, Julie Kay Roberts, violated the agency’s scientific integrity policy with the statement.

In a memo posted along with the report on the NOAA’s website, Stephen Volz, the NOAA official responsible for scientific integrity, said the NAPA panel found the pair did so “intentionally, knowingly, or in reckless disregard” of the code of conduct.

In his memo, Volz said Jacobs and Roberts did not believe it was a good idea to release a statement, but “felt significant external pressure to do so.”

The controversy became known as “Sharpiegate,” after Trump displayed a modified NOAA map to depict the storm threatening Alabama.

...


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-hurricane/u-s-agency-violated-science-policy-by-backing-trump-hurricane-tweet-report-finds-idUSKBN23N06K

 

[QV]

Interesting...

"After all, it was not as if Trump without precedent had ordered thousands of troops into the streets to quell violent protestors, the way President George H. W. Bush did, following long-accepted precedents, in 1992. In that year, Bush characterized the racially sensitive riots in Los Angeles, over the beating of Rodney King, as mob-like: “What we saw last night and the night before in Los Angeles is not about civil rights. . . . It’s not a message of protest. It’s been the brutality of a mob, pure and simple.”

Accordingly, as commander in chief, Bush ordered 4,500 Marine combat troops into the city to quell the violence. And he added of the order, “Federal effort will not be driven by mob violence, but by respect for due process and law.”

At the time of the 1992 riots, Bush’s chairman of the joint chiefs, who oversaw the dispatch of the federal Marines into Los Angeles, was General Colin Powell. Powell, who has now criticized Trump for even considering the use federal troops, reportedly told Bush of his request for federal troops to quell a domestic disturbance, “All you’ve got to do is say it.”

More at:  https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/military-intelligence-complex/

 

[brihard]

A lot has happened in 28 years. I have no difficulty believing that things that were accepted then are more clearly seen as wrong now. I would really like to hope that our societal response to a broad movement against inequity and discrimination has improved in that time. Rodney King and the LA riots were closer in time to the Kent State Massacre than they were to the killing of George Floyd.

 

[QV]

I don't disagree with you that many things have changed.  I'm not sure burning, looting and violence have become acceptable however.   

I'm just pointing out some of the very people criticizing the Commander in Chief for contemplating using lawful authorities within the Insurrection Act actually did that which they now criticize him for thinking about.  You don't find that at least unusual?

 

[FJAG]

Interesting...

"After all, it was not as if Trump without precedent had ordered thousands of troops into the streets to quell violent protestors, the way President George H. W. Bush did, following long-accepted precedents, in 1992. In that year, Bush characterized the racially sensitive riots in Los Angeles, over the beating of Rodney King, as mob-like: “What we saw last night and the night before in Los Angeles is not about civil rights. . . . It’s not a message of protest. It’s been the brutality of a mob, pure and simple.”

Accordingly, as commander in chief, Bush ordered 4,500 Marine combat troops into the city to quell the violence. And he added of the order, “Federal effort will not be driven by mob violence, but by respect for due process and law.”

At the time of the 1992 riots, Bush’s chairman of the joint chiefs, who oversaw the dispatch of the federal Marines into Los Angeles, was General Colin Powell. Powell, who has now criticized Trump for even considering the use federal troops, reportedly told Bush of his request for federal troops to quell a domestic disturbance, “All you’ve got to do is say it.”

More at:  https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/military-intelligence-complex/

There's an issue of scale here. Los Angeles saw 63 killed, 2,400 injured, 12,000 arrests and over a billion in property damage. There were no associated peaceful protests. There was simply out-and-out rioting and looting.

The trick is being able to determine what is and isn't within the local authorities' capability to manage. This is why a smart president waits for the governors to "request" federal assistance rather than tell them that they're weak and he'll unilaterally send in federal troops if they don't sort it out to his satisfaction.

Incidentally, small example of why using Active troops may not always be a good idea:

In another incident, the LAPD and Marines intervened in a domestic dispute in Compton, in which the suspect held his wife and children hostage. As the officers approached, the suspect fired two shotgun rounds through the door, injuring some of the officers. One of the officers yelled to the Marines, "Cover me," as per law enforcement training to be prepared to fire if necessary. However, per their military training, the Marines mistook the wording as providing cover by establishing a base of firepower, resulting in a total of 200 rounds being sprayed into the house. Remarkably, neither the suspect nor the woman and children inside the house were harmed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots

:cheers:

 

[tomahawk6]

Trump has been waiting for Seattle or the Governor to call out the guard. If local authorities fail to act then the President could Federalize the Guard and or activate the Army Reserve which used to have a number of MP units.

 

[OceanBonfire]

Trump on an AIDS vaccine that doesn't exist

..., at a press conference in the Rose Garden, President Donald Trump said, “They’ve come up with the AIDS vaccine.”

That would be great news. Except, that it’s not. Because there is currently no AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) vaccine available to humans. At least not in 2020, on planet Earth, in this Universe, and in this dimension.

...


https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/06/16/trump-mentions-aids-vaccine-that-does-not-exist-predicts-covid-19-vaccine-by-end-of-2020/#5b3d54d97d2f

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/ap-fact-check-trump-aids-vaccine-exist-71285097

https://apnews.com/5a1eee3c19776c1c686fd56e0333083e

 

[QV]

There's an issue of scale here. Los Angeles saw 63 killed, 2,400 injured, 12,000 arrests and over a billion in property damage. There were no associated peaceful protests. There was simply out-and-out rioting and looting. And to that scale Trump has not actually ordered it to occur, only stated it was an option he is willing to use if it gets bad enough.  Those who criticize him for taking this position have actually actioned same in the past.

The trick is being able to determine what is and isn't within the local authorities' capability to manage. This is why a smart president waits for the governors to "request" federal assistance rather than tell them that they're weak and he'll unilaterally send in federal troops if they don't sort it out to his satisfaction.Given that Trump hasn't ordered it to occur yet, it is reasonable to assume he is giving local authorities a chance to manage.

Incidentally, small example of why using Active troops may not always be a good idea:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots

:cheers: