Archive for 2017

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Why did Flynn lie and why did Mueller charge him with lying? “People who lie to the FBI generally do so because, if they told the truth, they would be admitting to a crime. But the two conversations that Flynn falsely denied having were not criminal. He may have believed they were criminal but, if he did, he was wrong. . . . The second question is why did Mueller charge Flynn only with lying? The last thing a prosecutor ever wants to do is to charge a key witness with lying. A witness such as Flynn who has admitted he lied — whether or not to cover up a crime — is a tainted witness who is unlikely to be believed by jurors who know he’s made a deal to protect himself and his son.”

CHARLOTTESVILLE POLICE CHIEF: “Let them fight.” That turned out badly.

IT’S A POLITICAL-CLASS MELTDOWN: Democratic fundraiser Matthew Lieberman charged with racially motivated gun crime in St. Louis. “Veteran Democratic fundraiser Matthew Lieberman has been charged with multiple felony gun crimes after allegedly firing a handgun and shouting racial slurs at eyewitnesses at two businesses Tuesday. Lieberman pointed a handgun at someone at the Amoco gas station on Skinker Boulevard and Highway 40 (Interstate 64) while using racial epithets just after 11 p.m. Tuesday, according to court documents. He then allegedly fired multiple shots at the building from his car. . . . Lieberman, who is white, heads two fundraising firms: Majority Strategies LLC, and RAL Strategic Investment Group LLC. He’s been a longtime fundraiser for Democrats in Missouri, including former St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.”

U.S. NEWS: The Inevitability of Kamala Harris.

I remember when she was defending fake confessions:

What prosecuting attorney Robert Murray did was produce a translated transcript of the defendant’s interrogation to which he had added a fraudulent confession. The defense attorney got a copy of the audio tape of the interrogation, but it “ended abruptly.” Eventually, Murray admitted to falsifying the transcript, presumably in the hopes of either coercing a plea deal, or ensuring a victory at trial.

When the trial judge found out, charges against the defendant were dismissed. Incredibly, the State of California, via Attorney General Kamala Harris, decided to appeal the case. The state’s key argument: That putting a fake confession in the transcript wasn’t “outrageous” because it didn’t involve physical brutality, like chaining someone to a radiator and beating him with a hose.

Well, no. It just involved an officer of the court knowingly producing a fraudulent document in order to secure an illicit advantage. If Harris really thinks that knowingly producing a fraudulent document to secure an illicit advantage isn’t “outrageous,” then perhaps she slept through her legal ethics courses.

Or maybe she was just warming up for the Senate.

BYRON YORK: Nunes blows up, threatens contempt after FBI stonewalls House on Russia investigator demoted for anti-Trump bias.

House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes has issued an angry demand to the FBI and Department of Justice to explain why they kept the committee in the dark over the reason Special Counsel Robert Mueller kicked a key supervising FBI agent off the Trump-Russia investigation.

Stories in both the Washington Post and New York Times on Saturday reported that Peter Strzok, who played a key role in the original FBI investigation into the Trump-Russia matter, and then a key role in Mueller’s investigation, and who earlier had played an equall