trump

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Trump Will Still Be Able To Run In 2024 And Serve As President If Elected – Even If Jan. 6 Referrals Turn Into Criminal Charges – Or Convictions

The criminal referral of Donald Trump to the Department of Justice by a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack is largely symbolic – the panel itself has no power to prosecute any individual. Nonetheless, the recommendation that Trump be investigated for four potential crimes – obstructing an official proceeding; conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to make a false statement; and inciting, assisting or aiding or comforting an insurrection – raises the prospect of an indictment, or even a conviction, of the former president. It also poses serious ethical questions, given that Trump has already announced a 2024 run for the presidency, especially in regards to the referral over his alleged inciting or assisting an insurrection. Indeed, a Department of Justice investi...

A Constitutional Law Expert Explains What The Criminal Referral Of Trump Means

20Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

A Constitutional Law Expert Explains What The Criminal Referral Of Trump Means

After 18 months investigating, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol held its final public meeting on Dec. 19, 2022. The panel recommended that the U.S. Department of Justice bring criminal charges against former President Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. The House committee recommended that the Justice Department pursue four main charges against Trump – obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to make a false statement and inciting or assisting an insurrection. The committee also recommended that the House Ethics Committee sanction four Republican members of Congress who refused the committee’s subpoena requests to provide information about the ev...

Stacey Abrams: It Is ‘Wrong’ To Compare Her Refusal To Concede With Trump’s Stolen Election Rhetoric

21Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Stacey Abrams: It Is ‘Wrong’ To Compare Her Refusal To Concede With Trump’s Stolen Election Rhetoric

ATLANTA — Stacey Abrams on Monday cautioned against conflating her refusal to concede in the 2018 Georgia governor’s race with former President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, calling the latter wrong and dangerous for democracy. “I will never ever say that it is OK to claim fraudulent outcomes as a way to give yourself power,” Abrams said. “That is wrong. I reject it and will never engage in it. But I do believe that it is imperative, especially those who have the platform and the microphone, to talk about the access.” Abrams acknowledged her loss to Kemp days after the 2018 election. But she attributed that defeat — by less than 1.4 percentage points — to efforts by Kemp, then the secretary of state, to suppress voter turnout. Kemp denied the allegations. “The issu...

Appealing To Trump (And His Base) Won’t Play So Well In The Midterms – Like It May Have Worked In Pennsylvania Primaries

22May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, POLITICS

Appealing To Trump (And His Base) Won’t Play So Well In The Midterms – Like It May Have Worked In Pennsylvania Primaries

The Pennsylvania primaries of May 17, 2022, proved a good night for Donald Trump, a better one for “Trumpism” and a problem for moderates hoping for a candidate primed to capture the center in the upcoming midterms. Trump’s officially endorsed Senate candidate, Mehmet Oz, is currently in a tight race with main GOP rival David McCormick – with the balloting set for a recount. Both ran their primary campaign as Trumpist candidates and vied for the former president’s nod. Meanwhile, third place in the GOP race went to Kathy Barnette, a Fox News commentator who touts herself as more MAGA than Trump. The fact that all three leading GOP candidates had the DNA of Trumpism in them suggests a couple of things. First, it indicates that echoing the policies, rhetorical style and personality of the...

Key Takeaways From Supreme Court Ruling – Trump’s Blocking Of Jan. 6 Docs Rejected

21Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Key Takeaways From Supreme Court Ruling – Trump’s Blocking Of Jan. 6 Docs Rejected

In a legal blow for Donald Trump, the Supreme Court has cleared the way for presidential records dating from his time in office to be turned over to a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Trump, through his lawyers, had sought to shield over 800 pages of information from the panel, citing executive privilege, which allows for a president to withhold certain information from public release. But in a 8-1 ruling, the Supreme Court on Jan. 19, 2022, rejected a request to block the documents from being handed to Congress. The ruling has immediate – and potentially longer-term – consequences. Here are three key takeaways from the court’s decision. 1. Executive power has its limits Trump has championed an expansive view of executive power. During his presidency, he refused to provid...

Supreme Court May Have Final Say But, Appeals Court Says Trump Has Given ‘No Legal Reason’ To Defy Congress’ Demand For Jan. 6 Documents

10Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Supreme Court May Have Final Say But, Appeals Court Says Trump Has Given ‘No Legal Reason’ To Defy Congress’ Demand For Jan. 6 Documents

Former President Donald Trump has lost his latest legal battle over documents relating to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, in a case that tests the power of a former president to withhold his records from Congressional scrutiny. On Dec. 9, 2021, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals court said that the Congressional committee investigating the Capitol attack should have access to a trove of evidence that Trump is attempting to shield from the panel. It is the latest ruling in a series of court cases in which Trump has fought legal demands from Congress for documents from his administration. This legal battle pitted the untested powers of a former president to keep his papers from public view against the proven power of the current president to determine which administration documents – from...

Unlike Companies Traded On Wall Street – Trump Organization Indictment Hints At Downsides Of Having No Independent Oversight

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Unlike Companies Traded On Wall Street – Trump Organization Indictment Hints At Downsides Of Having No Independent Oversight

Bert Spector, Northeastern University A Manhattan grand jury indicted the Trump Organization and one of its top executives, Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, reportedly over a failure to pay taxes, according to multiple reports. The indictment is expected to be unsealed on July 1, 2021. I’m a scholar in corporate leadership and governance. While I can’t comment on the specifics of the case, I do know that private companies like the Trump Organization lack the safeguards of public corporations – like outside ownership and independent oversight. Moreover, impulsive decision-making by an individual or small, isolated group of followers, without those safeguards, can and often will lead to disastrous results. That appears to be what the ongoing criminal investigations into the Tru...

They Probably Won’t Suffer Any Consequences But Nonprofits Helped Organize The Pro-Trump Rally Before The Capitol Siege

15Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

They Probably Won’t Suffer Any Consequences But Nonprofits Helped Organize The Pro-Trump Rally Before The Capitol Siege

Some of the money used to organize the Jan. 6 pro-Trump “March to Save America” came from social welfare groups. One of them, Women for America First, notably obtained a permit from the National Park Service for the rally – which preceded an assault on the Capitol in which at least five people died. The Conversation U.S. asked nonprofit law scholar Ellen Aprill, who served in the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy in the late 1980s, about possible ramifications for these nonprofits. Can social welfare groups legally fund big protests? Social welfare groups, also known by the part of the tax code regulating them – section 501()(4) – “must operate primarily to further the common good and general welfare of the people of the community (such as by bringing about civic betterment and so...

Favored By Trump Supporters – And Used By Participants In The US Capitol Insurrection, Big Tech’s Rejection Of Parler Shuts Down A Site

4Apr

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SOCIAL MEDIA

Favored By Trump Supporters – And Used By Participants In The US Capitol Insurrection, Big Tech’s Rejection Of Parler Shuts Down A Site

Early in the morning of Jan. 11, the social media platform Parler went offline after Amazon withdrew the platform’s web hosting services. Parler sued Amazon in response. Amazon’s move followed Google and Apple’s banning the Parler app from their app stores. The tech companies cited the platform’s inability or unwillingness to block calls for and threats of violence. Amazon’s move shut the platform down, at least until the company can find an alternative web hosting service. Parler had a surge in new users following Twitter’s ban of President Donald Trump on Jan. 8. Since the November election, when it saw a spike in usage, Parler has contributed to the widening gap between the different perceptions of reality held by the polarized public. Competitor Gab was similarly forced offline afte...

Under New Trump Policy Companies Accused Of Crimes Get More Digital Privacy Rights Than People

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS

Under New Trump Policy Companies Accused Of Crimes Get More Digital Privacy Rights Than People

Corporations increasingly receive the same rights as people. Now, it seems, they have privileges even people don’t. Case in point: The Labor Department recently urged regulators to stop issuing press releases about companies that may have violated laws on discrimination, worker safety or minimum wage requirements. The concern is that doing so could cause reputational damage from mere accusations, even if the case is eventually dismissed. In a nutshell, the Labor Department’s action guarantees privacy rights to corporations under investigation. Unfortunately, this reasonable precaution is not afforded regular Americans. And as we know from our work on criminal justice and surveillance, an arrest without a conviction or an allegation of wrongdoing can become a scarlet letter that scares o...