7:00 AM 10/9/2019 - The Red-Brown Alliance as the essence, message, and the tool of Trumpism, the project of the New Abwehr. The Puerto Rico Crisis of July 2019 is the lesson in this Democracy Of Trumpistan, and also a sign of things to come. Get ready...
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The FBI News Review – on Blogger.com: FBINewsReview.blogspot.com: This really looks like a Counterintelligence nightmare: Bill …
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| Saved Stories - None: The Red-Brown Alliance as the essence, message, and the tool of Trumpism, the project of the New Abwehr. The Puerto Rico Crisis of July 2019 is the lesson in this Democracy Of Trumpistan, and also a sign of things to come. Get ready, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Saved Stories - None: 5:25 AM 10/9/2019 - The impeachment inquiry highlights Trump's ill-advised move to give Ukraine aid and weapons - NBCNews.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wed, 09 Oct 2019 05:39:26 -0400
09/10/19 04:31 from Trump Investigations from Michael_Novakhov (32 sites)
The impeachment inquiry highlights Trump's ill-advised move to give Ukraine aid and weapons <a href="http://NBCNews.com" rel="nofollow">NBCNews.com</a> "putin and trump investigations" - Google News  Trump Investigations News Review
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» "putin and trump investigations" - Google News: The impeachment inquiry highlights Trump's ill-advised move to give Ukraine aid and weapons - NBCNews.com
09/10/19 04:31 from Trump Investigations from Michael_Novakhov (32 sites) The impeachment inquiry highlights Trump's ill-advised move to give Ukraine aid and weapons <a href="http://NBCNews.com" rel="nofollow">NBCNews.com</a> "putin and trump investigations" - Google News
» Trump News TV from Michael_Novakhov (12 sites): msnbcleanforward's YouTube Videos: Multiple Polls Show Support Building For Trump Impeachment Inquiry | The 11th Hour | MSNBC
09/10/19 04:09 from Trump Investigations from Michael_Novakhov (32 sites) From: msnbcleanforward Duration: 04:13 Steve Kornacki breaks down all the latest impeachment polls and why they don't have any good news for the Trump White House. Aired on 10/08/19. » Subscribe to MSNBC: <a href="http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTom" rel="nofollow">http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTom</a>...
» Trump News TV from Michael_Novakhov (12 sites): msnbcleanforward's YouTube Videos: Senate Intel Report: Russia Hacked 2016 Election And They're Still At It | The 11th Hour | MSNBC
09/10/19 04:08 from Trump Investigations from Michael_Novakhov (32 sites) From: msnbcleanforward Duration: 06:52 A bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee again underscores the level of Russian interference in the 2016 campaign and the fact Moscow's efforts have not stopped. Aired on 10/08/19.... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Saved Stories - None: The impeachment inquiry highlights Trump's ill-advised move to give Ukraine aid and weapons | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wed, 09 Oct 2019 05:39:12 -0400
Something has been lost in the noise of the national conversation about President Donald Trump’s relationship with Ukraine and his handling of military aid to the Eastern European country. The conventional wisdom that dominates Washington and is reflexively referenced in the impeachment inquiry chatter holds that this aid is crucial to U.S. national security. But that just isn’t true.
There are many compelling reasons to stop sending taxpayer dollars and military aid to Kiev. While this assistance certainly won’t be the centerpiece of the upcoming hearings and investigations, hopefully Americans will become more aware of the pitfalls of aid to Ukraine and begin to challenge U.S. officials over the issue.
There are serious concerns about whether U.S. monies actually enable more corruption in Ukraine and further enrich bureaucrats and oligarchs.
The $391 million in U.S. military aid that was recently released to the Ukrainian government—and is now at the center of the current political controversy—is the latest of nearly $1.5 billion of U.S. taxpayer dollars that have gone to Kiev since the Russian annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Overall U.S. assistance, which nearly doubled between 2013 and 2016 to more than half a billion dollars annually, is aimed at building resilience in the Ukrainian government against external Russian destabilization, and against internal threats of corruption and anti-democratic activity. It funds everything from developmental aid to anti-tank missiles and Humvees.
But there are serious concerns about whether U.S. monies actually enable more corruption in Ukraine and further enrich bureaucrats and oligarchs. And the efficacy of U.S. aid, military or otherwise, that reaches the intended recipient is still questionable; we’ve seen in other parts of the world how American largess is hard-pressed to create Jeffersonian democracies in areas without a strong democratic tradition. Even more important, U.S. aid to Ukraine—especially of the military variety—comes with real costs and risks to America.
That’s because Ukraine has minimal connection to U.S. security and prosperity. We won the Cold War with Ukraine being part of the Soviet Union’s Warsaw Pact, and Russia today does not pose anything close to the same threat to America the Soviet Union did. Similarly, for all his ambition, Russian President Vladimir Putin is not Joseph Stalin.
But even in this age of globalization, geography matters—a lot. Because Russia and Ukraine share a 1,200-mile border, Ukraine is far more important to Moscow than it ever will be to U.S. security. And despite their conflict, Russia is still Ukraine’s largest trading partner. That means Russia has “escalation dominance”: The U.S. arming Ukraine will almost always result in a Russian response that is even stronger. Therefore, rather than end the conflict or reduce violence for Ukrainians, military aid risks prolonging it.
In this light, Putin’s nationalism can be understood as a terrified reaction to NATO expansion. Like the tsars of old, or the Soviets, he seeks a buffer from a vastly more prosperous and powerful West. U.S. involvement in Ukrainian security is thus perceived as a near-existential threat, just as we would perceive great danger in Russian or Chinese meddling in Canada or Mexico.
Given the distance, even strong supporters of continuing aid to Ukraine generally acknowledge U.S. strategic interests there are limited or at least indirect. The defined U.S. interests, as stated in legislation, amount to vague proclamations about fostering democracy, world order and protecting the territorial integrity of countries on the other side of the world, with little to no direct connection to U.S. security or prosperity.
Many say Ukraine aid is necessary to counter Russia, but in conventional military power, meaning the threat of Russian airpower, tanks and soldiers, Russia is no match for the United States. The Russian defense budget is only about $65 billion, while America’s is $700 billion. Russia’s economy is far smaller than ours as well—it’s essentially Italy with nukes. That makes Russia a regional power at best; while Putin is a thug, he has no chance to rebuild the Soviet empire even if that were his goal.
Only in nuclear war would Russia pose an existential threat to the United States, as Russia holds the world’s largest nuclear arsenal. In fact, the U.S. and Russia combined hold 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.
The chance of nuclear war between the two countries is incredibly small, but American policymakers should try to avoid actions that marginally increase the chance of open war with Russia—where policymakers lose control and both countries careen to the brink of nuclear confrontation—rather than foster them, as feeding the conflict in Ukraine does.
We also risk hurting our own credibility by involving ourselves in a conflict in which we have little skin in the game. If Washington continues to escalate, Moscow will call its bluff—and Washington is bluffing, because Russia is much more likely to accept the costs of increased escalation.
To those who ask whether Ukraine desperately needs America’s military help, the answer is not really. Right now, the government in Kiev is in a stalemate with Ukraine’s Russia-backed breakaway eastern regions, populated by ethnic Russians. American weapons won’t change this stalemate, which is based on geography and a broader ethnic divide.
Ukraine actually exports anti-tank munitions, along with a host of other weapons. There’s a risk that the U.S. javelin missiles Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskiy sought in his infamous July phone call with Trump are valued by the Ukranians mostly because this means the U.S. has a stake in the conflict, rather than because of their efficacy on the battlefield.
Fundamentally, Kiev seeks a de-facto security guarantee from American servicemembers and taxpayers. Problem is, this security guarantee risks the dangerous escalation between Washington and Moscow mentioned above, especially when the country provided the guarantee is as corrupt and dysfunctional as is Ukraine.
America should be tough with Russia when U.S. security and prosperity are at stake but realize that cooperation and a balance of power is required for lasting peace.
Instead of military aid, the solution is for America to take a backseat and allow its partners in Europe to help Ukraine in its shift to democracy. Europe has much more cordial relations with Russia than does America, and Europe also has a bigger stake in Ukraine than does the United States.
Meanwhile, America should be tough with Russia when U.S. security and prosperity are at stake but realize that cooperation and a balance of power is required for lasting peace. Giving weapons to a volatile and potentially corrupt government in Kiev is shortsighted.
Along with the constitutional questions Congress and the public are raising, continuing U.S. military aid to Ukraine should not be ignored. It’s a high-risk, high-cost arrangement that could backfire on America.
Willis L Krumholz is a fellow at Defense Priorities. He holds a JD and MBA from the University of St. Thomas and works in the financial services industry.
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| Saved Stories - None: Diplomatic space becomes a crime scene - part I: International law and diplomatic crime | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wed, 09 Oct 2019 05:35:15 -0400
The exiled Turkish journalist Can Dundar received a message last October on Twitter with his name mentioned in the post: “Could you please drop by the consulate? We want to try something”, referencing the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist who had been the victim of a gruesome manslaughter in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul shortly before. They implied that Dundar could share the same fate.
It has been a year since the killing of Khashoggi in a building protected by diplomatic immunity. The murder sent shockwaves to the world and, especially, political dissidents living in exile. Turkish President R. Tayyip Erdogan called the Khashoggi assassination “a clear violation and blatant abuse of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations” adding that failure to punish those responsible for the murder could set a very dangerous precedent.
Although crime under diplomatic shield is nothing new in history, in a world where autocratic regimes are on the rise worldwide, a criminal turn of diplomatic missions may be underway. Afforded to diplomatic persons, buildings, vehicles and carriages by internationally acknowledged conventions, vast exemptions from penal law offer all kinds of opportunity to states that seek to silence their critics overseas.
This has been the case for Saudi authorities possibly responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s death. Despite the controversy among Turkish diplomats and international law experts about the scope of the Saudi Consul General’s diplomatic immunity, Turkish police could not enter the consulate compound until Saudi Arabia’s official permission, which came 13 days after the incident. What is more, Consul General Mohammad al-Otaibi fled the country before his residence was investigated and the government spokesman Omer Celik said that Otaibi could not have been prevented from leaving the country due to his diplomatic immunity.
Unlike Turkish authorities, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini responded in a different tone, calling the incident a “shocking violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.” Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on Saudi authorities to waive the immunity on its diplomatic buildings and officials, saying, “Immunity should not be used to impede investigations.”
But what is the legal base of diplomatic immunity? Where does it stem from and what is its scope?
Diplomatic immunity in international law
Although the emergence of diplomatic protections stretches back to antiquity, they are largely codified into law in the modern era. These protections are based mainly on the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, with the former regulating conduct with top diplomats such as embassy staff; and the latter lower-rank diplomatic officials. In terms of protections and privileges, embassy staff get the lion’s share: According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (VCDR), diplomats and their families cannot be detained or arrested, brought to court or testimony, their premises cannot be violated, cannot be taxed and their communications cannot be intervened with.
It is scary for a civilian to think that a person holding these protections, theoretically, may well attempt to enjoy their freedom by blowing up a mall, committing mass murder, dealing drugs or any other brutal act without consequences. Why are diplomats, no matter how sensitive their job, conferred almost limitless immunity from law? The answer goes centuries back.
Vienna Conventions embody centuries old practices followed against foreign missions. Until the medieval ages, protection of foreign envoys were established through religious commands. The church determined foreign representatives’ fates. In the medieval Arab world, similarly, life or death of an envoy was up to the Caliph’s blessing. Middle Age Europe marked the institutionalization of religion-based practice; and the code of conduct with foreign envoys crystallized into principles. This was evident in the case of Bernadino de Mendoza, who took part in a plot against Queen Elizabeth I in England where he served as ambassador of Spain. Instead of being tried before an English court, Mendoza was expelled from the country with the idea that his sovereign should determine the verdict about his deed.
Events in early twentieth century and, later, during the Cold War period paved the way to the adoption of internationally binding rules concerning the protection of diplomatic agents. Tensions between Eastern and Western Bloc states, hostile behavior against diplomatic agents and premises possibly not only accelerated the adoption of Vienna Conventions but also shaped them.
The early 1960s saw the codification of de facto practices followed for centuries into international law. Until then, the issue had been brought up by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and the 1928 Havana Convention; however, both acknowledged a partial version of the modern system of immunity and privileges. While the regulations of the Congress of Vienna were limited to simplifications of complex rules of conduct of missions with receiving sovereign state, forms of diplomatic immunity adopted by the Havana Convention were binding only for the Pan-American Union states.
UN Conventions, adopted in 1961 and 1963, have near-universal acknowledgement today. They have constituted the legal base of exemptions for foreign diplomats from the jurisdiction of the hosting state, with varying degrees of immunity provided for officials at different ranks. The most extensive type of immunity in the Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations (VCDR) is accorded to top diplomatic officials, i.e. Ambassadors and their families. An embassy staff with diplomatic rank cannot be detained nor brought to court without their sovereign state’s immunity waiver. On paper, there is no obstacle for a diplomatic embassy agent to commit any crime with full impunity. "It is immunity from criminal jurisdiction and also from civil administrative jurisdiction and you are not obliged to give evidence", says Steven Ratner, an international law professor at the University of Michigan.
However, Ratner does not think that the host states are desperate in the face of diplomatic crime: "If the host state becomes aware that a crime is about to be committed on its soil, it can certainly intervene to prevent that from happening, but what it normally cannot do is enter the embassy. If the host state becomes aware that somebody on their soil will be attacked or murdered or harmed, they can send police to prevent that from happening just like for a very routine crime."
Unless the sending country waives its envoy’s immunity following the involvement in any kind of crime, which is the only condition for potential punishment of the lawbreaker along with the persona-non grata (unwelcome person) announcement by the receiving state, a criminal diplomat can walk free facing no consequences. Although it has happened very rarely so far, the Khashoggi incident forebodes that states disrespectful to the international law may resort to diplomatic repression for their political ambitions.
For lower-rank diplomats, however, the regime of immunity and privileges is a little different. Consular agents hold a softened version of full diplomatic immunity enjoyed by ambassadors. Consular staff, according to the Vienna Convention for Consular Relations (VCCR), are covered for "acts performed in the exercise of consular functions", i.e. acts related to their job responsibilities. For instance, a fistfight outside working hours or an action unrelated to a diplomat’s job does not qualify him or her for protection from prosecution.
However, this level of immunity, often termed as “functional immunity”, still covers consular staff for certain types of crime committed during their work environment. The other major difference from full immunity is that, according to the article 41 of the VCCR, consular officers are not covered for "grave crime and pursuant to a decision by the competent judicial authority". This exception, for instance, allowed Turkey to arrest, in 1991, an Iraqi attaché who opened fire at Turkmen protesters outside the consulate building in Istanbul and US officials to detain Yugoslav consul general in Chicago, in 1988, on money laundering charge. Lastly, service staff, no matter if at the embassy or consulate, have no protection whatsoever. This category includes security officers, kitchen employee, janitors and so on.
“When two Turkish citizens were killed outside the Iraqi Consulate in Istanbul in 1991 by the Iraqi security personnel firing from inside the consulate, Turkish police, after obtaining a court warrant, entered the building and apprehended the shooter. The police were obliged by the Vienna Convention to keep out of the archive room and offices and they did so”, explains Süha Umar, an experienced diplomat and a former member of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, in an interview.
“This has also been the case in the Khashoggi incident and Turkey had the right and authority to take steps that could both prevent the murder and take those responsible to the court. The Vienna Convention of Consular Relations allows for the entry into consulate buildings in case there is convincing evidence of a grave crime committed. So, it is reasonable to presume that it was either a political decision not to take such an action or that Turkish authorities did not have enough evidence. However, if there was enough evidence but still Turkey did not take any action then Turkey’s credibility in the international arena would be at stake,” adds Umar.
The principle of inviolability of diplomatic premises has long been a contested issue. Ratner points out to the common misconception that diplomatic missions are sovereign territories of the sending state: "It is a piece of Turkey in which Saudi Arabia has a mission. They bought or leased the land and it has certain protections, not full protections. It has to comply with local laws, like fire codes and other things like that. But the people inside have certain protections from local law. But that is not Saudi sovereign territory."
However, host states are not desperate against diplomats who have committed crime. Host states usually ask the sending state for the removal of its diplomat’s immunity in case of a misconduct. If it is turned down or ignored, the criminal diplomat may be expelled from the country by being declared persona-non grata. The phrase is the diplomatic expression that the host country no longer acknowledges the person as the legitimate representative of the sending state.
The PNG procedure is advantageous in that it helps both parties avoid a possibly formalized conflict. Ambassador Umar says, “When diplomatic status is abused, it is resolved in principle through negotiations between the concerned states. As an alternative, the host state may ask for the withdrawal of the involved or all personnel in that mission and even may ask for the closure of the mission. The sending state must comply with the demand. Otherwise that mission or consulate will not be able to carry out its duties.” If the diplomat remains in the country, it may lead to the revocation of the diplomatic status or, at worst case, termination of bilateral relations between the two countries.
Once diplomats gained immunity with legal assurances in the post-war era, things turned around. While it was diplomats who were in need of protection until then, abuse of diplomatic immunity raised the question of diplomatic crime worldwide, which reached its dramatic climax with the Khashoggi assassination. If you think that last year’s incident is a rare example, and that white collar officials at such senior posts would not dare risk their prestigious position for any criminal activity, below is a rundown of diplomatic crime in the last century.
A long history of diplomatic crime
In the past decades, exemption from any judiciary action allowed many diplomats to leave the hosting country, without facing any penal consequence for their criminal activities. Many individuals from jaywalkers to rapists, smugglers and, as in Khashoggi case, professional assassins have managed to evade justice under diplomatic shield. The recent past demonstrated that, on certain occasions, diplomatic immunity has been the synonym of bypassing local law, urging experts, in turn, to compare it to impunity.
Examples are abundant. Members of Russian, US, German and Brazilian embassies were reported to have drunk-driven; others of Saudi Arabia and Sierra Leone were accused of human-trafficking and sexual assault; diplomats of Zambia, Cameroon, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea were involved in shoplifting; other local law violations included neglect of minors and death threats; all only in the first decade of 2000s. Some of these crimes would have brought at least 12 months to their perpetrators; however, all of them were covered by diplomatic immunity.
“The most common issue is clearly parking tickets” says Ratner, “it is a big problem with the UN in New York. They get these tickets and they rip them up, and that gets an incident between the host state and the home state. There are probably some others. I think there are cases where embassies have been used for trafficking of persons or organized crime.” That the unpaid traffic fines by UN diplomats in NYC had added up to $18 million in 2007 based on their immunity might give one a rough opinion about the level of diplomatic immunity exploitation.
“The other big issue is spying”, says Ratner, adding, “but I am not sure I would call that abuse because it is well understood by the host state, that people within an embassy will be doing spying. Even though it is not allowed under the law of the host state, it is pretty much accepted.” Acts of espionage are usually taken for granted by the host state and a common practice, both in the past - especially during the Cold War - and today.
But what if espionage turns into attempt on lives? In 2011, Raymond Davis, an employee of the US consulate in Islamabad shot dead two Pakistani men. Although the US claimed diplomatic immunity for Davis and the President Barack Obama asked for his release reminding the “very simple principle of diplomatic immunity” none of these helped save Davis from arrest.
In the middle of the negotiations for his release, the US government had to admit that Davis was a CIA contractor. Thanks to the political pressure the US put on Pakistani authorities and diyyat, a financial compensation in sharia law, paid to family members of the killed men, rather than diplomatic immunity, Davis could eventually walk free. However, the primary argument of Pakistani officials to keep him behind bars was the difference between forms of immunity granted to top-level diplomats and consular staff. According to VCCR, a consular staff could be arrested in case of a grave crime, which Turkish officials were not aware of during the investigation of Khashoggi murder. After all, Davis was enlisted in the US consulate in Lahore, not its embassy in Islamabad.
Prof. Marlies Glasius from Faculty of Social & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Amsterdam cites two recent cases where Iranian and Turkish diplomats were either expelled or withdrawn by the their governments for their involvement in harassment of individuals on foreign soil.
Abuse of diplomatic immunity goes so far as to include brazen cases, such as Philippines running commercial business on tax-free real estate meant for official operations and evading tax payment, and Zairean diplomats who fled without paying $400.000 rent debt to the landlord and cannot be sued based on diplomatic immunity.
It is, however, not only individuals abusing diplomatic immunity, but also states that are disturbed by activity of their critics within the borders of another country. In order to intimidate or stop them to express their views, diplomatic missions have often been turned into outposts of domestic politics and used for purposes far beyond their traditional role as information purveyor or conflict resolution in the international arena.
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| Wed, 09 Oct 2019 05:34:58 -0400 NPR News: 10-09-2019 5AM ET Download audio: https://play.podtrac.com/npr-500005/edge1.pod.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/newscasts/2019/10/09/newscast050812.mp3?awCollectionId=500005&awEpisodeId=768494255&orgId=1&d=300&p=500005&story=768494255&t=podcast&e=768494255&size=4500000&ft=pod&f=500005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Wed, 09 Oct 2019 05:34:13 -0400
A federal judge ordered the Justice Department to reveal some details related to secret grand jury information from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, as the House Judiciary Committee pursues evidence in its impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
The ruling by Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell followed hours of contentious courtroom battles on Tuesday between lawyers representing the Trump administration and attorneys advocating for the Democrats in Congress.
For weeks, Democrats have been fighting DOJ for access to redacted portions of the 448-page Mueller report, specifically seeking grand jury material that is typically kept secret.
Howell told DOJ to provide by Tuesday evening more clarity about the FBI interview records from Mueller’s probe that it has already handed over to the Judiciary Committee, and to explain which witnesses it still plans to hand over records about to Congress.
DOJ quickly responded on Tuesday by revealing that, of the 33 individuals that the Democrats had requested FBI interview notes about, the DOJ had already provided access to the notes for 17 of them.
“All of the FBI-302s produced to date have some level of redaction applied. Some are redacted only to protect agent and prosecutor names, personal identification information, and FBI file numbers, and thus may be 95% or more unredacted,” DOJ said. “Others, such as Porter and Dhillon, both senior Presidential advisors who had direct conversations with the President, are substantially redacted, perhaps as much as 75% or more. It is difficult to arrive at a precise estimation of the level of redaction in the FBI-302’s, however the Department estimates that many FBI-302s processed to date likely have 15-20% or less of the content redacted.”
DOJ also said that it “currently anticipates making the remaining FBI-302’s available under the agreed upon terms as processing is completed, so long as they do not adversely impact ongoing investigations and cases and subject to redaction and potential withholding in order to protect Executive Branch confidentiality interests.”
Howell gave House Democrats until Wednesday evening to identify whether any of the claims the DOJ made Tuesday were inaccurate, and to detail any times where they had challenged redactions in the FBI interview notes already handed over by DOJ.
Howell also told DOJ that, by Friday, it would need to identify how many requests to foreign governments Mueller made pursuant to Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties contained grand jury information. Reaching out to foreign governments for help in DOJ-run investigations is not uncommon, and as part of his probe Mueller made 13 requests to foreign governments for evidence. The judge further told DOJ to identify whether, and how often, grand jury information collected during the Mueller’s investigation was shared with foreign governments under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e)(3)(D), which guides the manner in which the government can disclose grand jury information in national security and counterintelligence cases.
Howell went on to direct DOJ to explain by Friday whether grand jury secrecy is the only basis for the redaction of material marked in the Mueller report as being withheld on the basis of grand jury secrecy, or whether other reasons for concealing that same information also apply. The judge also wants answers on why DOJ does not think it can lawfully release grand jury information to Congress.
Tuesday’s court battle happened as the White House sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicating that it would not be cooperating with the impeachment inquiry so long as no formal House vote had been taken.
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| Saved Stories - None: "organized crime and terrorism" - Google News: Strategies for combating international terrorism in Central Asia - Tehran Times | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wed, 09 Oct 2019 05:20:53 -0400 Strategies for combating international terrorism in Central Asia Tehran Times | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Saved Stories - None: White House spurns House impeachment probe as illegitimate - WWNY | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wed, 09 Oct 2019 05:20:19 -0400 White House spurns House impeachment probe as illegitimate WWNY | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Saved Stories - None: “putin won US 2016 election” – Google News: Senate Intelligence Committee report on 2016 Russian election interference offers roadmap for 2020 meddling – CBS News | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tue, 08 Oct 2019 22:00:17 -0400
Senate Intelligence Committee report on 2016 Russian election interference offers roadmap for 2020 meddling CBS News
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| Saved Stories - None: Blogs from Michael_Novakhov (23 sites): Operation Novichok – Blog by Michael Novakhov: Top Secret Russian Unit Seeks to Destabilize Europe, Security Officials Say – The New York Times | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tue, 08 Oct 2019 21:59:40 -0400
October 08, 2019
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| Saved Stories - None: Palmer Report: Federal judge threatens to send Betsy DeVos to jail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tue, 08 Oct 2019 21:59:07 -0400
“I’m not sending anyone to jail yet but it’s good to know I have that ability,” said U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim at a court hearing on Monday. Generally, this is one of the last things you want to hear when you have to appear before a judge – but it’s exactly what happened to Betsy Devos yesterday when she took the stand.
The Education Department was sued over collecting student loan payments from former students of the now-bankrupt Corinthian College. Kim had ruled that, as a for-profit college, Corinthian College had “engaged in unfair, deceptive, or illegal practices” and required that the Department of Education refund the college’s former students.
When Devos took over, she decided to gut the reimbursement program and ignore Kim’s ruling – not only continuing to collect loan debts, but also garnishing wages and taking tax refunds away from 1,808 borrowers. The department has only refunded 10 former students what they were owed.
Devos’ tenure has been a clown show – from her absurd defense of guns in schools to protect against grizzly attacks to her despicable attempt to defund the Special Olympics, but so far she hasn’t done anything to run afoul of the law. Time will tell if she does end up in prison, but the lawsuit is now moving full speed ahead at Kim’s request, coinciding with another lawsuit against the department, filed by the state of California.
This is far from the first time that Devos has been under fire, with a blatant record of corruption that we’ve come to expect from the Trump administration, which has a whole history of defying court orders and losing lawsuits without Devos. The whole thing is another scandal they could really do without as Donald Trump is facing the very real threat of impeachment, and Devos could easily be the next person Trump assumes he can safely fire as his administration spins out of control.
The post Federal judge threatens to send Betsy DeVos to jail appeared first on Palmer Report.
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| Saved Stories - None: Counterintelligence from Michael_Novakhov (51 sites): “cia” – Google News: Shakil Afridi: The doctor who helped the CIA find Bin Laden – BBC News | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tue, 08 Oct 2019 21:58:35 -0400
Shakil Afridi: The doctor who helped the CIA find Bin Laden BBC News
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| Saved Stories - None: Counterintelligence from Michael_Novakhov (51 sites): “Get FBI out of Counterintelligence” – Google News: John Durham broadens scope of Russia origins inquiry into events in 2017 – Washington Examiner | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tue, 08 Oct 2019 21:58:02 -0400
John Durham broadens scope of Russia origins inquiry into events in 2017 Washington Examiner
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| Saved Stories - None: “Trump” – Google News: First on CNN: Trump told Perry and State Department officials as early as May to talk to Giuliani about Ukraine – CNN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tue, 08 Oct 2019 21:57:18 -0400
First on CNN: Trump told Perry and State Department officials as early as May to talk to Giuliani about Ukraine CNN
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| Saved Stories - None: Twitter Search / PalmerReport: Federal judge threatens to send Betsy DeVos to jail https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/betsy-devos-federal-judge-jail/21693 … | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tue, 08 Oct 2019 21:56:13 -0400
Federal judge threatens to send Betsy DeVos to jail https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/betsy-devos-federal-judge-jail/21693 …
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| Saved Stories - None: Operation Novichok - Blog by Michael Novakhov: Top Secret Russian Unit Seeks to Destabilize Europe, Security Officials Say - The New York Times | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tue, 08 Oct 2019 21:46:36 -0400
October 08, 2019
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| Saved Stories - None: The Trumpism-Putinism Is The Red-Brown Alliance and the product of The New Abwehr - By Michael Novakhov - 1:00 PM 10/8/2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tue, 08 Oct 2019 14:11:40 -0400 The Trumpism-Putinism Is The Red-Brown Alliance and the product of The New Abwehr -  By Michael Novakhov - 1:00 PM 10/8/2019
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The Trump Investigations - Review Of News And Opinions - Blog by Michael Novakhov.
"Red-Brown Alliance" - Google News.
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