Free Republic

On this 200th day of the Trump Administration, the 45th presidency is under assault as few legitimately elected governments in free stable nations have ever been. The weapon of choice is, as Jeff Sessions' Justice Department has very belatedly recognized, the leak. There are three kinds of leak: The first is the palace-intrigue stuff: Spicer loathes Scaramucci, Scaramucci hates Priebus, Priebus despises Bannon, etc. The second is the drip-drip-drip of the "Russia investigation": Robert Mueller has empaneled a grand jury, he's looking into eight-year-old Trump property deals, he's going to flip Mike Flynn and Paul Manafort... The third is the...

Rooted in long centuries of Anglo-American history, the grand jury is mentioned in the Bill of Rights, but not in the body of the Constitution. It has not been textually assigned, therefore, to any of the branches described in the first three Articles. It `is a constitutional fixture in its own right.' In fact, the whole theory of its function is that it belongs to no branch of the institutional Government, serving as a kind of buffer or referee between the Government and the people. Although the grand jury normally operates, in the courthouse and under judicial auspices, its institutional...

“It gives the prosecutor the power to indict in the District of Columbia, which is a district that is heavily Democratic, and would have a jury pool very unfavorable to Trump and the Trump Administration,” said Dershowitz, a Democrat who has at times defended Trump against what he sees as an overzealous collusion investigation. “It gives the prosecutor a tremendous tactical advantage,” he continued, asserting that the District of Columbia “is always solidly Democratic and has an ethnic and racial composition that might be very unfavorable to the Trump Administration.” “So I see the significance not so much that he...

Grand jury subpoenas have been issued in connection with the June 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr., a Russian lawyer and others, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. The sources also said special counsel Robert Mueller had convened a grand jury in Washington to investigate allegations of Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections. The grand jury began its work in recent weeks and is a sign that Mueller's inquiry into Russia's efforts to influence the election and whether it colluded with President Donald Trump's campaign is ramping up, the Journal said.

A newly-obtained memo written during special counsel Kenneth Starr's investigation of President Bill Clinton rejects a commonly held view that a sitting president can't be indicted, The New York Times reported. The discovery adds a possible new wrinkle into the investigation into Russia and President Donald Trump's campaign. The memo has been locked away in the National Archives since 1998, but was obtained by the Times' Charlie Savage through a Freedom of Information Act request, and represents a thorough analysis of the opinion, the newspaper reported Saturday. According to the findings, the memo concludes that "no one, even President Clinton,...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Anthony Elgindy, the controversial short-seller and online stock commentator, has been arrested on charges of racketeering, insider trading and market manipulation, a government spokeswoman said Wednesday. Jan Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the San Diego field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said Elgindy, who lives in the San Diego area, was arrested at his business Tuesday. Details of the charges against Elgindy weren't immediately available. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn, N.Y., from which the charges originate, said the office would issue a statement about the Elgindy case soon.

Hundreds Vote Illegally in North Carolina after Court Bans Election Integrity Law FBI Court Filing Reveals Grand Jury Targeted Hillary Clinton JW Goes To Federal Court Monday on Another Obama Administration Email Scandal Hundreds Vote Illegally in North Carolina after Court Bans Election Integrity Law Obama Justice Department holdovers must be pleased with their work. In July 2016, they were successful in undoing North Carolina’s voter integrity laws in order to allow all manner of illegal voters the ability to cast ballots. Our Corruption Chronicles blog tells the story . Less than a year after a federal appellate court...

Judicial Watch today released new State Department documents including a declaration from FBI Special Agent E.W. Priestap, the supervisor of the agency’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email activities, stating that the former secretary of state was the subject of a grand jury investigation related to her BlackBerry email accounts.

The mother of a newborn found in the trashcan of a New Roads Wal-Mart in December was indicted Thursday (March 9) on a charge of second-degree attempted murder in East Baton Rouge Parish, WAFB reports.A grand jury formally charged Kyandrea Thomas, 34, with the attempted murder charge as well as cruelty to a juvenile, the Baton Rouge TV news station reported. Police said the 6-hour-old infant was found in the trash can Dec. 23, 2016, after Thomas gave birth to the child in the store's bathroom.

Two separate grand juries in Manhattan, one federal and one state, have reportedly started hearing testimonies relating to criminal investigations into Democratic New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign fundraising with possible pay-to-play violations. According to the New York Times, these grand jury actions represent “the strongest indication” yet that indictments could be forthcoming.

Whoa. According to CNN contributor Hugh Hewitt, (no friend of Donald Trump) the Obama Justice Department denied the FBI’s request for a grand jury pertaining to an investigation into the Clinton Foundation: Might this be why Barack Obama was playing so nice with FBI Director James Comey today, declaring Comey wasn’t doing anything wrong in updating Congress on new evidence pertaining to the ongoing Clinton investigation despite other Democrats crying foul at that update coming so close to Election Day? Certainly the Obama White House would have had input into the DOJ’s decision to shut down the FBI’s grand jury...

Like you, I listened slack-jawed as James Comey argued that somehow there is an unbridgeable legal divide between Hillary’s extreme recklessness and indictable gross negligence. Bravo Sierra meters pegged nationwide. Once again, a Clinton dodged earned and deserved punishment. Not only will no federal prosecutor indict Hillary, no grand jury will get to see and judge the evidence either. While good for Hillary, what of the effect on the nation? The first clause to the Fifth Amendment of our Constitution provides that “No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment...

A Pennsylvania Jury found Democrat Attorney General Kathleen Kane guilty on nine criminal counts last night including conspiracy and perjury. Elected to office in 2014, found guilty of criminal conspiracy in 2016.

A political consultant close to Kathleen Kane testified Thursday that the attorney general was deeply involved in orchestrating an illegal grand jury leak and that the two of them plotted a cover-up, conspiring to pin the leak on an estranged former top aide. "We had conspired to create this story that wasn't true," Joshua Morrow said Thursday as he took the witness stand in Kane's perjury trial.... ....Kane, 50, is charged with perjury, conspiracy, obstruction, and other crimes. Prosecutors say she illegally leaked secret grand jury information because she wanted to get revenge against a foe....

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; Why did Comey not present this matter to the grand jury? Isn’t it the role of the grand jury to decide to indict or not? ANSWER:The rules for a grand jury have been altered to the point that they have been reduced to a rubber stamp. Nevertheless, FBI Director James Comey had to punt and take one for the government in light of the Inspector General’s report on Hillary. The Inspector General was independent under Roman law and was supposed to indict government officials, but under US law, that position has been stripped of such power. Today,...

What charges could wife face if she knew of Orlando plot? Federal prosecutors have convened a grand jury to investigate the wife of the Orlando nightclub shooter, seeking to charge her as an accessory to 49 counts of murder and 53 counts of attempted murder as well as with failure to notify law enforcement about the pending terrorist attack and lying to federal agents, a federal law enforcement source confirmed Tuesday to FoxNews.com. FBI agents have interviewed Omar Mateen's wife, Noor Salman, in the days since Sunday's massacre that killed 49 and wounded 53 more. A federal law enforcement source...

An attorney representing Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, Josh Schaffer, has admitted that he pressured the Harris County District Attorney’s office to refocus a grand jury investigation away from his client and onto pro-life journalists David Daleiden and his associate, Sandra Merritt, of the Center for Medical Progress. Schaeffer also confessed that Assistant District Attorney Sunni Mitchell did an “end around” the State Attorney General Ken Paxton in order to share sealed video evidence with Planned Parenthood. The grand jury later returned indictments against Daleiden and Merritt. Shaffer stated publicly that he was informed by the District Attorney’s office that no...

(AP)A grand jury has reportedly decided to indict Johnny Manziel on a misdemeanor assault charge stemming back to an incident between the former Cleveland Browns quarterback and his ex-girlfriend. KRLD-AM, a CBS radio affiliate in Dallas, reported the news, citing sources in the Dallas County District Attorney's office. The grand jury reviewed the case last week. Manziel has had a controversial and rough offseason. He was cut by the Browns, dropped by two agents, has gotten virtually no interest from any NFL teams, and now has been indicted. On Jan. 30, Manziel and his ex-girlfriend Colleen Crowley had an altercation....

I have speculated that, given the immunity offered to Bryan Pagliano, it is possible that a grand jury has been convened.  But I a not a lawyer, much less a former US Attorney.  Joseph E. diGenova, on the other hand, is one of a small group of attorneys generally considered a super lawyer, and not only a veteran US Attorney, but the former US Attorney for Washington, DC, at the very top of federal prosecutors. So when Joe diGenova offers an opinion on the likelihood of a grand jury being empanelled, we (a group that includes Hillary Clinton! –...

...Mr. Schaffer said shortly after Planned Parenthood hired him last summer, he initiated a "dialog" with prosecutors in Harris County, which encompasses most of Houston, about the details of the case, and maintained communication throughout the investigation, which lasted two months. Schaffer said his clients volunteered documentation and invited prosecutors to question employees and tour its Houston clinic. Also critical to the investigation was the grand jury's focus, which changed course and started looking at the anti-abortion activists, Schaffer said on a conference call with reporters, adding he received that information from a prosecutor...