Judge Napolitano: Don Jr.'s Meeting With the Russians Warrants Criminal Investigation

PJ Media ^ | 07/17/2017 | Debra Heine

[SeekAndFind]

Fox News' chief judicial analyst disagrees with President Donald Trump's contention that his son's June 2016 meeting with Russian operatives in expectation of getting dirt on Hillary Clinton is standard practice in American politics.

Judge Andrew Napolitano said on America's Newsroom Monday morning that Team Trump's actions were "suspicious" and actually warranted a criminal investigation.

It is a crime to receive "something of value" from a foreign person or government, Judge Nap declared. So if Don Jr. had accepted damaging material about Clinton from the Russians, "that would have been a felony," Napolitano explained. He added that "that would have been the completion of a crime."

"Often, these nonviolent criminal events don't happen all at once. They happen in stages," Napolitano continued. "So the question is, is this enough to commence a criminal investigation? Answer: Yes. Because it is suspicious that they met with these people, that they didn't consult a lawyer, that one of these people is a former KGB, GRU -- that's the Russian military intelligence arm."

The judge surmised that there could be only two reasons why Kushner did not inform the FBI about the meeting when he filled out his national security application.

Either this "was a bumbling, foolish thing to do, or this was the beginning of some steps in furtherance of acquiring this information," Judge Nap said.

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[Pearls Before Swine]

It is a crime to receive “something of value” from a foreign person or government...

But, it's not a crime to exchange money for something of value from a foreign person or government. Follow me here:

So, if a Democrat operative, or John McCain (but I repeat myself), exchanges money for fake opposition research that originates in a foreign country and is designed to influence the presidential election, that's OK, because it was paid for?

That seems to be the logical conclusion with respect to Fusion, which acted as the go-between in the golden showers dossier transaction.

What's different with Don Jr., is that he was enticed and interested, but did NOT receive anything of value, and did not pay for such purported information.

So, he must be:

Guilty, guilty, guilty!

/S

[Aria]

This morning someone on FOX was going on and on telling Bill Hummer (or whatever his name is) about how frightening it was that Trump talked to Putin at the G-20 dinner table. The hand gestures, the fact that he didn’t talk to anyone else this way...it was just reason for intense alarm over national security - according to this guy. I wonder if the guy has to take a shower after going on TV with this crap coming out of his mouth.

I turned it off. I’m just not going to watch them anymore. I hope Hannity and Judge Jeannie move.

[SeekAndFind]

Judge Napolitano should not be considered the “authority” on criminal or even constitutional issues.

He is the same man who defended the “constitutionality” of lawsuit against the Christian Baker who refused to participate in a gay wedding.

[tumblindice]

The Hair Club for Men technician stitched-on Nappy’s toupee too tightly again.

[drjimmy]

I think Judge Napolitano knows the law better than you do. If you are going to question his facts, you might want to read the law yourself first:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/52/30121

Don Jr. doesn’t have to be a government employee, or even an official member of a campaign, and the person offering the thing of value doesn’t have to be an official representative of a foreign government, in order for it to be illegal.

[Dixie Yooper]

Sorry, Judge Napolitano, to hear you have gone over to the dark side once again.

When FOX canned the old boring guy...Cal Thomas..no, even more boring...Spinmaster,Spingiztu, Spinzonian? Anyway, the Judge has decided his paychecks are more important than his principals. What ever happened to the British guy who was just like Lou Dobbs? I haven't seen him in months...

[NEMDF]

What you said... I agree with you. Did not meet with foreign governments.

[Phlap]

The judge has far more legal knowledge than I as does Alan Dershowitz who sees no crime. Should I agree with a lefty like Dersh or the judge? Since the meeting was with an American of Russian decent, I’ll go with Dersh. No crime.

[thinden]

Excerpt from the piece

It is a crime to receive “something of value” from a foreign person or government, Judge Nap declared. So if Don Jr. had accepted damaging material about Clinton from the Russians, “that would have been a felony,” Napolitano explained. He added that “that would have been the completion of a crime.”

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If judge nap is correct on this it should be applied to sen mccain for getting the trump dossier from steele in britonnto comey in dc

[Political Junkie Too]

Napolitano is way off base with this one.

First, knowledge is not a "thing," value notwithstanding. By his reasoning, hypothetically obtaining an authentic birth certificate from the government of Kenya to use against Obama would violate this law, even though it would prove Obama's constitutional ineligibility.

More seriously, it seems that everyone in Washington knew who the Russians were EXCEPT the Trumps!

In a sane world, if the FBI got wind a Russian plot to compromise a top presidential candidate during an election, they would inform the candidate and work together to apprehend the Russians. In Obama's world, the FBI uses the meeting to entrap a serious political opponent, and lets the Russians operate unimpeded.

Napolitano should recognize this, but he doesn't, or doesn't want to.

-PJ

[Phlap]

The meeting was not with a foreign national but with a dual citizen. No crime.

[seastay]

Free speech in a free society cannot be legislated as having value.. he is an idiot !

As long as the intent has nothing to do with information either stolen or classified, the informsyption is fair, and the right to assembly is a right guaranteed by the Constitution !

[Alberta's Child]

There are actually two different issues here, and either you or Judge Napolitano has confused them (maybe without intending to).

The first is the prohibition against foreign contributions to U.S. election campaigns, which you've cited correctly there. The case against Trump Jr. in this regard is very weak (or non-existent) because that law could not consider most forms of information to be a "thing of value" by any stretch (i.e., it's not a published work with a dollar value, or information subject to copyright that is worth a lot of money to the holder of the copyright).

The issue the judge seems to be addressing is the legal requirement for anyone applying for security clearance to report their contacts with foreign governments and government representatives (not unaffiliated individuals, to the best of my knowledge).

[Alberta's Child]

Judge Napolitano is not correct on this.

If the definition of "something of value" is so broad under the law that it includes something as simple as information that isn't protected in any way and has no monetary value, then it would be a crime to have a foreigner wish a campaign representative a "Happy Birthday!" ... but only if it brings a smile to that person's face (obviously it has value in THAT case).

All the phony outrage over this is ludicrous.

[ptsal]

Bingo.... Occam's Razor-a much more reasonable explanation.

---

The rules governing these national security applications are very clear about reporting contacts with foreign governments, but foreign individuals with no known government contacts aren't treated the same way.

I'm speculating that the meetings were never reported on these disclosure forms because the foreigners involved in the meetings weren't working in any official government capacity.

[Pravious]

The link you sent me to describes restrictions on political contributions. I don’t believe that giving someone a heads up on political dirt on an opponent to fall under this.

[drjimmy]

The law: “A contribution or donation of money or other thing of value.” So it does not have to be money.

[redgolum]

Legally a grey area.

Talking with a lawyer friend, Trump Jr should have reported it.

[Cementjungle]

I'm speculating that the meetings were never reported on these disclosure forms because the foreigners involved in the meetings weren't working in any official government capacity.

I think the disclosure forms aren't really an issue. The only "possible" issue is with Federal law that tries to keep foreign influence out of our elections (52 U.S. Code § 30121).

Here's a much more clear cut case where this was prosecuted... a Florida man funneled $80K from a foreign entity (Socialist Party of Albania) into Obama's re-election campaign in 2012:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-pleads-guilty-helping-disguise-foreign-contribution-during-2012-presidential

Naturally, no one in Obama's campaign who TOOK this dirty money got into trouble, and this man middle man from Florida only got probation

Here's the Albanian's Socialist who funneled money to Obama in 2013 (and then became prime minister of Albania in 2013)

[ExTxMarine]

it’s a crime to receive something of value if you are a government employee, and he was not

I swear, these idiots on the boob-tube are getting stoopider by the damn day! And of course, they fail to mention the other caveats needed to make his statement true (such as your clarification)!

But, HEY, this creates some sensationalism and will put more idiot-box viewers in their corner to count towards their marketing costs - PERIOD!