Category: Not Factual

Trump Champions Faulty Legal Analysis From Fox News Commentator

Following the release of the Justice Department Inspector General’s report pertaining to the conduct of James Comey’s handling of government information, President Donald Trump has been relentlessly attacking the former FBI director. Despite the IG finding that Comey’s conduct violated FBI regulations but not any criminal statutes, Trump on Friday reiterated his belief that Comey should have been charged criminally, a conclusion which appears to be based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the relevant law.

“’They could have charged Comey with theft of government documents, 641 of the Criminal Code, because the IG found these were not his personal documents, these were government documents,’” Trump tweeted Friday, quoting from an article written by attorney and Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett. “Comey’s claim that these were just his own personal recollections would not pass the laugh test, and the Inspector General just knocked that down.’”

While 18 U.S.C. 641 does make it a crime to “steal or knowingly convert” a government record “with intent to convert it to his use” or to convey it to another without authority, as Jarrett wrote, it is also only a part of any relevant analysis of the statute. Jarrett is a former defense attorney and adjunct law professor.

Attorney Bradley P. Moss, who specializes in national security, federal employment and security clearance law, responded by pointing out that the cited law is inapplicable to the circumstances at issue.

Moss is referring to the DOJ’s Resource Manual explanationdescribing the parameters of how 641 should and should not be applied, and reads as follows:

“[T]he [DOJ] Criminal Division believes that it is inappropriate to bring a prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 641 when: (1) the subject of the theft is intangible property, i.e., government information owned by, or under the care, custody, or control of the United States; (2) the defendant obtained or used the property primarily for the purpose of disseminating it to the public; and (3) the property was not obtained as a result of wiretapping, (18 U.S.C. § 2511) interception of correspondence (18 U.S.C. §§ 1702, 1708), criminal entry, or criminal or civil trespass.”

According to Moss, Comey’s conduct clearly aligns with the exceptions laid out in the guidelines.

“Under this DOJ policy (which is not binding and could be ignored as a matter of discretion), the Comey Memoranda qualify as ‘intangible’ given that they exist solely as a memorialization of Comey’s conversations with the president,” Moss wrote in an email to Law&Crime explaining why the first prong of the guidelines in applicable to Comey’s conduct (the second and third prongs are self-evident).

Furthermore, the DOJ policy is specifically designed to protect whistle-blowers, stating that, “a government employee who, for the primary purpose of public exposure of the material, reveals a government document to which he or she gained access lawfully or by non-trespassory means would not be subject to criminal prosecution for the theft.”

Moss explained that while the criteria for defining a whistleblower is “malleable,” the section is essentially applicable to all persons seeking to divulge non-classified information for the purpose of informing the American public.

“The core premise is that Section 641 should not be used to prosecute unauthorized disclosures of information to the press that were done for transparency reasons,” Moss wrote, adding, “This policy in no way suggests prosecution is unwarranted under different statutory provisions if the information was classified, of course.”

[Law and Crime]

Trump Tweets Videos of Fox News Segments Trashing Comey, Decrying ‘Attempted Coup’

President Donald Trump‘s public complaints about Fox News this week have not stopped his his typical social media habit of sharing clips from the network.

Today he posted a number of videos from Fox News trashing former FBI director James Comey after the OIG report released yesterday. Comey was not charged, but he was criticized for setting a “dangerous example” with his actions.

This morning Trump shared a Fox & Friends segment with former CIA officer Bryan Dean Wright saying “in 2016, we had effectively a coup” going on:

This afternoon, he shared clips of both Congressmen Doug Collins, Peter King (who railed against an “attempted coup” too), and Jim Jordan:

[Mediaite]

Trump Trashes WaPo, Denies Report He Promised Pardons to Officials If They Broke Law to Build the Wall

President Donald Trump blasted the Washington Post on Twitter this afternoon over reporting that he promised pardons to officials who would have to break the law to get the border wall done.

The Post reported Trump is frustrated with the pace of progress and desperate to get the wall built ahead of the 2020 election, and so he dismissed concerns about eminent domain, telling people to “take the land” and if they get in trouble “don’t worry, I’ll pardon you.”

Trump denied the report and claimed the Post made it up “in order to demean and disparage”:

A White House official responded to the Post saying that “Trump is joking when he makes such statements about pardons.”

[Mediaite]

Trump got slapped down by G7 leaders after advocating for Russia

President Donald Trump derailed a major meeting with world leaders at the annual Group of Seven summit on Saturday evening after he insisted that Russia should be reinvited to the international gathering, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

At a dinner in Biarritz, France, the president interrupted talks of the fires in the Amazon and Iran’s nuclear capacity by advocating for Russia to be readmitted to the gathering of industrialized nations. Russia was expelled from the group in 2014 over its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine that violated international laws and agreements.

Trump’s comments initiated a discussion at the dinner about “whether the leaders should assign any special weight to being a democracy,” The Post reported, citing officials. While most of the world leaders staunchly believed they should, Trump didn’t.

A senior official at the meeting told The Post that Trump crossed his arms and appeared to take a more combative stance as multiple leaders rejected his comments.

“The consequence is the same as if one of the participants is a dictator,” an official told The Post. “No community of like-minded leaders who are pulling together.”

Officials told The Post that at least two of the leaders present — Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, and Giuseppe Conte, Italy’s acting prime minister — did not push back against Trump’s position.

On Sunday morning, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised French President Emmanuel Macron’s performance at the dinner. “You did very well there last night. My God, that was a difficult one,” Johnson said, according to The Post.

Trump on Monday said he would invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to next year’s summit.

“Would I invite him? I would certainly invite him,” he told reporters.

“Whether or not he could come, psychologically, I think that’s a tough thing for him to do,” because Putin is “a proud person,” he said.

The US is set to host next year’s G7 gathering, so Trump may have the power to unilaterally reinvite Putin.

Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and other leaders have made clear that they wouldn’t consider supporting Russia’s readmittance unless the country helps promote peace in Ukraine.

“One year ago, in Canada, President Trump suggested reinviting Russia to the G7, stating openly that Crimea’s annexation by Russia was partially justified. And that we should accept this fact. Under no condition can we agree with this logic,” Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, told reporters over the weekend.

Trump argued last week that it didn’t make sense to exclude Russia from the gathering “because a lot of the things we talk about have to do with Russia.”

Trump hasn’t mentioned Crimea or suggested that Russia would need to make any concessions to rejoin the group, but has repeatedly said that President Barack Obama was “outsmarted” by Russia and demanded the country’s exclusion.

[Business Insider]

Trump dismisses potential primary challengers as ‘Three Stooges’

President Trump on Tuesday dismissed three potential Republican presidential primary challengers as “Three Stooges” as he seeks reelection in 2020.

In a pair of tweets, the president mocked former Reps. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) and Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) as well as former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld (R).

Walsh and Weld have announced GOP primary campaigns against Trump in 2020, while Sanford has said he is considering one as well.

“Can you believe it? I’m at 94% approval in the Republican Party, and have Three Stooges running against me,” Trump tweeted, though it was unclear what poll he was citing.

“One is ‘Mr. Appalachian Trail’ who was actually in Argentina for bad reasons,” he continued, referring to Sanford.

“Another is a one-time BAD Congressman from Illinois who lost in his second term by a landslide, then failed in radio. The third is a man who couldn’t stand up straight while receiving an award. I should be able to take them!” he added, referring to Walsh and Weld, respectively.

Weld, who ran on the Libertarian Party ticket in 2016, was the first to announce he would seek to challenge Trump for the GOP nomination. The 74-year-old has struggled to gain traction, however, and most polls have shown him receiving single-digit support.

Walsh, meanwhile, announced his campaign on Sunday. He previously served one term as a congressman in Illinois and went on to become a conservative talk radio host, though he said this week that he lost his show upon launching his primary bid.

The ex-congressman has become a fervent critic of Trump’s rhetoric and character. Walsh himself has a history of making controversial statements, and acknowledged in recent days that he has said “racist things.”

Sanford said last month he was considering a primary challenge to Trump, though he has not formally announced a campaign. He has also been critical of the president, and he lost his reelection bid for his House seat last year after Trump endorsed his primary opponent. 

Sanford had an extramarital affair in 2009 while serving as governor of South Carolina, but he lied and said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail when he had actually gone to Argentina to visit his mistress.

All three men and any other prospective challengers face slim odds to unseat Trump on the 2020 ticket.

The president has the financial backing of the Republican National Committee, and he has solidified support within the GOP, consistently polling close to 90 percent among Republicans in Gallup surveys.

[The Hill]

Trump vents over Axios report on hurricane nuking idea

President Trump on Tuesday again lashed out at Axios over the outlet’s report that the president suggested using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes. 

“Axios (whatever that is) sat back and said GEEEEE, let’s see, what can we make up today to embarrass the President? Then they said, ‘why don’t we say he wants to bomb a hurricane, that should do it!’ The media in our Country is totally out of control!” Trump tweeted Tuesday.

The president previously called the report a “phony story” that the “Fake News is still trying to perpetuate.” 

Axios reported Sunday that sources said Trump has suggested the option multiple times to senior Homeland Security and national security officers. 

Axios reported that unnamed sources recalled situations they overheard in meetings or had been briefed on a National Security Council memorandum that recorded the president’s alleged comments about nuking hurricanes.

Axios reporter Jonathan Swan tweeted that he stands by “every word in the story” after the first round of Trump’s pushback. 

At the time of Axios’s report, a senior administration official told the outlet, “We don’t comment on private discussions that the president may or may not have had with his national security team.”

Trump’s latest tweet denying the report came after one of his Republican primary challengers, former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, sent a campaign email fundraising off of the Axios report.

“We couldn’t believe our eyes, Friend. But yes, this headline was — in fact — real,” the email to supporters said, with an image of Axios’s Sunday headline “Scoop: Trump suggested nuking hurricane to stop them from hitting U.S.”

“How does this make you feel about Donald Trump having his hands on our nation’s nuclear code? Yeah, we don’t feel so great about it either,” he added.

[The Hill]

Reality

And it’s funny that “stable genius” Trump doesn’t know who Axios is, as they were the only media outlet embedded with his 2016 campaign, and he conducted an interview with them just a few short months ago which you can watch in full here:

Trump blasts Fed for not helping manufacturers

President TrumpOpens a New Window. on Tuesday continued to take on the Federal ReserveOpens a New Window., saying the central bank “loves” to watch American manufacturers struggle.

“The Federal Reserve loves watching our manufacturers struggle with their exports to the benefit of other parts of the world. Has anyone looked at what almost all other countries are doing to take advantage of the good old USA? Our Fed has been calling it wrong for too long!”

Trump has heavily criticized the Fed and its chairman, Jerome PowellOpens a New Window. multiple times over the past several months. The president’s biggest issue with the Fed is over the size of its latest interest rate cut. While the central bank lowered the benchmark federal funds rate by a quarter-point last month, Trump has repeatedly called for a larger cut.

Meanwhile, manufacturing activityOpens a New Window. across Mid-Atlantic States showed little improvement in August, according to data released Tuesday from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

“The composite index rose from -12 in July to 1 in August, buoyed by increases in the indexes for shipments and new orders,” the survey found. “However, the third component, employment, fell. Firms reported increasing capital expenditures and inventories, but the measure of local business conditions was slightly negative. Manufacturers were, however, optimistic that conditions would improve in the next six months.”

The survey indicated that while wage growth continues, firms were having difficulty finding employees with the necessary skills for open positions — and it anticipates that both of these trends will continue. Also, “many firms saw employment decline while the average workweek increased in August,” according to the survey.

[Fox Business]

Trump claims to be an ‘environmentalist’ despite skipping G-7 session on climate change

President Donald Trump sought to defend his environmental record on Monday after skipping a meeting on climate change with world leaders at the G-7.

Asked in a news conference at the close of the annual gathering whether he still harbors skepticism toward science that shows global temperatures rising at a dangerous pace, Trump insisted that he was an “environmentalist,” even as he talked up his administration’s support for fossil fuels.

“I feel that the United States has tremendous wealth. The wealth is under its feet. I’ve made that wealth come alive,” he said, pointing to the United States’ rise to a global leader in oil exports and his efforts to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska for oil drilling, an initiative that has hit a number of roadblocks.

But he again dismissed sources of renewable energy like wind power, referring to power generating wind turbines as “windmills” and telling reporters he didn’t want to waste America’s “tremendous” energy wealth on “dreams.”

Trump caused a commotion Monday when he skipped a session at the G-7 devoted to climate change, biodiversity and oceans, unlike every other leader from the group of leading industrialized nations. Following a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump told reporters of the session that “we’re having it in a little while,” according to a pool report, and did not acknowledge when a reporter informed him that the session had in fact already happened.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham later said that Trump missed the session due to “scheduled meetings and bilaterals” with the leaders of Germany and India, adding that “a senior member of the administration attended in his stead.” Both Merkel and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the session, however.

Trump later told journalists Monday that “I want the cleanest water on Earth, I want the cleanest air on Earth and that’s what we’re doing — and I’m an environmentalist.” But he did not answer a reporter’s question about what he thought the world should be doing to address the growing climate crisis.

The president has repeatedly minimized the threat of climate change, pledging during his candidacy — and making efforts during his presidency — to revive the coal industry, expand offshore drilling, and open up public lands for onshore drilling as well as approving controversial pipeline projects and pushing a massive deregulation campaign.

During his first year in office, Trump controversially withdrew from the Paris climate agreement, making the U.S. one of the only industrialized countries not in the pact to reduce carbon emissions and make drastic changes to mitigate the climate crisis. He has also derided the Green New Deal that has become a de facto benchmark of environmental policy on the left, calling it socialist and saying he can’t wait to run against the idea in next year’s election.

“I want to be very careful,” Trump said of his environmental policy. “At the same time it’s very important to me, we have to maintain this incredible place that we’ve all built. We’ve become a much richer country and that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. Because that great wealth allows us to take care of people. We can take care of people that we couldn’t have taken care of in the past because of the great wealth. We can’t let that wealth be taken away. Clean air, clean water.”

Trump subsequently wrapped up the news conference, not allowing any follow-up questions on the topic. 

[Politico]

Reality

Donald Trump, the most anti-environmental president in U.S. history… period, labeled himself “an environmentalist.”

From withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, installing a coal lobbyist to the EPA who is rolling back clean air and water regulations, to rolling back Obama MPG standards for automobiles, allowing companies to pollute our streams, denying the fact that humans are warming the planet at rates never before seen, etc…

Trump falsely claims Melania Trump has ‘gotten to know Kim Jong Un’

President Donald Trump gave a joint news conference Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron before his departure from the G7 summit in France. He then stuck around to take additional questions by himself.

Trump made at least eight false claims, seven of which he had made before. (The new one was an odd claim about Melania Trump and Kim Jong Un.) And he made at least five claims that we’ll call misleading, questionable or lacking in context.

Melania Trump and Kim Jong Un“

“The first lady has gotten to know Kim Jong Un, and I think she would agree with me he is a man with a country that has tremendous potential,” Trump said.

Facts First: Melania Trump was not present for any of Trump’s three meetings with Kim Jong Un, and there is no evidence she has ever spoken to Kim.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement later Monday:

“President Trump confides in his wife on many issues including the detailed elements of his strong relationship with Chairman Kim — and while the First Lady hasn’t met him, the President feels like she’s gotten to know him too.”We’re still calling the statement false. Trump’s phrasing, “gotten to know,” clearly suggested some level of personal interaction between Melania Trump and Kim.

[CNN]

Rudy Giuliani Jumps on the Seth Rich Conspiracy Bandwagon

Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani promoted discredited conspiracy theories about murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich on Twitter early Monday morning, further  fueling the baseless speculation that has anguished Rich’s grieving family.

Giuliani quote-tweeted a tweet from conspiracy theorist Matt Couch, whose fevered claims about Rich’s 2016 murder provoked a defamation lawsuit from Rich’s brother. In his tweet, Couch pointed out that, while Washington, D.C. police believe that Rich was murdered in a currently unsolved botched robbery attempt, none of his belongings appear to have been taken by his killer.

Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani promoted discredited conspiracy theories about murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich on Twitter early Monday morning, further  fueling the baseless speculation that has anguished Rich’s grieving family.

Giuliani quote-tweeted a tweet from conspiracy theorist Matt Couch, whose fevered claims about Rich’s 2016 murder provoked a defamation lawsuit from Rich’s brother. In his tweet, Couch pointed out that, while Washington, D.C. police believe that Rich was murdered in a currently unsolved botched robbery attempt, none of his belongings appear to have been taken by his killer.

Rich’s July 2016 murder has inspired a number of conspiracy theories claiming that he leaked Democratic emails to WikiLeaks, and then was murdered by Hillary Clinton or the “deep state” in retaliation.

That idea, which isn’t backed up by any evidence, has been embraced by some Trump supporters—including Fox News host Sean Hannity—because it would mean the emails were released by a whistleblower, rather than by Russian government hackers. In reality, Rich’s neighborhood had experienced a series of robberies in the lead-up to his death, which led police to believe it was likely a botched robbery.

In text messages with The Daily Beast, Giuliani insisted his tweet wasn’t meant to promote any conspiracy theories but merely to ask questions about Rich’s murder, which has remained unsolved. 

“I didn’t support any conspiracy theory,” Giuliani told The Daily Beast in a text message. “I raised several nagging coincidences.” 

“I vaguely remember it and was asking a question about whether it was ever investigated fully,” Giuliani added. “Don’t remember if it was ever solved? Was it.” 

After this article was published, Giuliani doubled down on his speculation and accused The Daily Beast of lacking “proper seductive reasoning.” 

“Either you haven’t been trained in proper seductive [sic] reasoning or the most truthful explanation is irrelevant,” Giuliani wrote in a text message.

[Daily Beast]

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