Free Republic

More than 250 authors, editors, agents, professors and others in the American literary community signed an open letter this week opposing any publisher that signs book deals with President Donald Trump or members of his administration.... ...the letter read. “We affirm that participation in the administration of Donald Trump must be considered a uniquely mitigating criterion for publishing houses when considering book deals....The letter went on to invoke “Son of Sam” laws...

“Based on the principle of the issue, not the politics of it, yes, you have to stay with the case," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) told The Wall Street Journal this week.... ...Neal has said that the Ways and Means Committee wants Trump's tax returns because the panel is conducting oversight and considering legislative proposals relating to how the IRS enforces tax laws against presidents.

The so-called impeachment hearings are an absolute farce. Adam Schiff- who is best pals with Ed Buck and Terry Bean (drug dealers and pedophiles) - has controlled the information flow carefully, leaking out snippets of testimony with the same slick method he employed when opening an official hearing with his deceitful and mendacious rendition of the Trump-Zelensky phone call. Alan Dershowitz has likened this process to the KGB under Stalin: “Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, whether you’re from New York or the middle of the country, you should be frightened by efforts to try to create crimes out...

WASHINGTON — Leading congressional Democrats were still largely steering clear of impeachment chatter a day after President Donald Trump’s former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, alleged in public testimony that Trump had violated campaign finance laws and lied to the American public. “I’m not going into that, I’m not going into that,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, said at her weekly news conference Thursday, quickly dismissing talk of impeachment...(snip) ... the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., like Pelosi, downplayed the idea that his panel's seven-hour hearing had represented a significant leap forward on that front...(snip) The...

“Ryan Zinke needs to resign immediately as Secretary of the Interior.” That’s how Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) began his USA Today op-ed Friday. His reasoning? “Zinke is embroiled in scandals and nepotism.” Here’s where Grijalva claims Zinke erred: As has been widely reported, an Interior Department inspector general investigation of Mr. Zinke — one of at least 17 publicly known formal probes of either him or his department since he took office — was recently referred to the Justice Department. The referral centers on a land development project called 95 Karrow in Mr. Zinke’s hometown of Whitefish, Mont., involving David...

A lawyer for Mark Judge, a high school friend of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, says Judge has been interviewed by the FBI but his "interview has not been completed." Attorney Barbara "Biz" Van Gelder issued the statement Monday.

{snip} There is no need to wonder about how Mueller operates. His history has made it quite clear. One needs only to study his actions as FBI director when he managed the FBI's most important investigation ever. {snip} There was no direct link from Hatfill to the attacks, by the FBI's own admission. The FBI never even charged Hatfill. The bureau only spied on, followed, and harassed him, non-stop, for years. The Department of Justice publicly outed Hatfill as the possible terrorist. While America's secret police trampled on Hatfill's dignity and life, Mueller took a stand – but on a...

EXCLUSIVE: The centerpiece of a New Yorker story on Karen McDougal, who says she had an affair with Donald Trump, is scribbled notes kept by the former Playboy playmate. These notes, obtained by journalist Ronan Farrow, are presented as her personal reflections on the relationship –“later memorialized in an eight-page, handwritten document provided to the New Yorker.” Readers could easily get the impression, as many journalists have, that McDougal wrote these notes during what she describes as a consensual relationship that began in 2006. But that is not the case. {snip} The McDougal passages were written on a notebook marketed...

Not an Onion story. I swear. Though I wouldn’t blame readers for doubting me. The Washington Post published an article today by Avi Selk ripping Roy Moore’s campaign for describing Moore as being the victim of a “witch hunt.” So what’s got Avi’s undies in a twist? The fact that most victims of actual witch hunts, like the ones in Salem, Mass. back in the day, were women. Believe it or not, the headline is: “Roy Moore says he’s a ‘witch hunt’ victim. Tell that to thousands of women killed in real ones.” Get the rest of the story here.

The Senate Intelligence Committee will not investigate whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice as part of its probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, CNN reported. The decision came after leaders of the Senate panel met with special counsel Robert Mueller. "Obstruction is criminal —​ there's a criminal aspect to that," committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, told CNN. "It's never been part of our" investigation.”

The Washington Post is reporting that Robert Mueller is now investigating President Trump for obstruction of justice, examining not only the president’s alleged statement to Comey in their February meeting, but also the firing of FBI Director James Comey. If true, this development makes the argument even more compelling that Mueller cannot serve as special counsel. He has an egregious conflict of interest. The special counsel statute specifically prohibits Mueller from serving if he has “a personal relationship with any person substantially involved in the investigation or prosecution.” The language is mandatory. He “shall” disqualify himself. Comey is substantially involved...

WASHINGTON — President Trump called the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, weeks after he took office and asked him when federal authorities were going to put out word that Mr. Trump was not personally under investigation, according to two people briefed on the call. Mr. Comey told the president that if he wanted to know details about the bureau’s investigations, he should not contact him directly but instead follow the proper procedures and have the White House counsel send any inquiries to the Justice Department, according to those people. After explaining to Mr. Trump how communications with the F.B.I. should...

Senate Democrats want White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon to clarify recent contact he's had with Breitbart News, the conservative outlet he once ran.   The senators also want to know if Bannon's contact with the site complies with ethics rules.   Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) sent letters Thursday to Bannon and Stefan Passantino, the White House's designated agency ethics official. 

Set aside for now the troubling changes in the Obama administration’s position on whether former Bush officials should be prosecuted for suggesting tough interrogation tactics against terrorists. Set aside the manifest unfairness of prosecuting lawyers merely for doing their job of giving legal advice. Set aside the raft of other reasonable objections to the proposed prosecutions, including a justifiable aversion to witch-hunts. Instead, consider how flagrantly President Barack Obama violated his repeated promises that he would run a transparent and honorable administration. His administration’s selective and highly prejudicial release of only partial information about CIA interrogations clearly was designed to...

ROME—Enzo Boschi, the president of Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), will face trial on charges of manslaughter with six other scientists and technicians for failing to alert the residents of L'Aquila ahead of the devastating earthquake that struck the central Italian town on 6 April 2009, killing 308 people. The seven experts sit on the nation's major risks committee, and were probed by L'Aquila prosecutors after members of the public complained that it was the committee's reassurances that persuaded them not to leave their homes ahead of the quake.

Henry Waxman, whom Michelle Malkin has dubbed "the Witch Hunter of Capitol Hill" understands where his loyalty lies. If he were faithful to the principals of our founders then his loyalties would be to his constituents, his state and the republic, but of course there is ample evidence to the contrary. Appearances aside, Waxman is not a mere stooge to the future former president and his gross clique of radicals and sycophants. Where then do Waxman's loyalties lie? This past week Mr. Waxman declared war on the CEOs of Caterpillar, John Deere, AT&T, Verizon and all others who dare to...

On Feb. 23, a House Energy & Commerce subcommittee held lengthy hearings on the Toyota situation. Their first witnesses after the committee members' opening statements were Eddie and Rhonda Smith of Sevierville, Tenn., who related the story of their 2007 Lexus ES 350. Ms. Smith claimed she had been driving toward Interstate 40 when, immediately after entering the highway, her Lexus started accelerating out of control. Ms. Smith related how the cruise-control light came on, so she turned that system off. She put the automatic transmission into all of its gears, including neutral and reserve. She put both feet on...

Congressman: Holder should expand prosecutor's inquiry to include Cheney By Michael O'Brien - 09/01/09 12:29 PM ET Attorney General Eric Holder should expand a special prosecutor's investigation into detainee abuse during the Bush administration to include high-ranking officials like Vice President Dick Cheney, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday. Nadler defended Holder's decision last week to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the abuse and potential torture conducted by CIA officials during the Bush administration. "My criticism of the attorney general is that he should not limit the investigation to people in the field who may have committed torture, but...

During his interview with Chris Wallace today, former Vice President Dick Cheney was asked about the effect of Attorney General Holder's investigation of the CIA and enhanced interrorgation techniques: Well, you think, for example, in the intelligence arena. We ask those people to do some very difficult things. Sometimes, that put their own lives at risk. They do so at the direction of the president, and they do so with the -- in this case, we had specific legal authority from the Justice Department. And if they are now going to be subject to being investigated and prosecuted by the...

Says Abuse of Detainees Helped al Qaeda Recruit Terrorists, But Opposes Investigation into "Enhanced" Interrogations. BY MICHELLE LEVI Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he thinks it is a "serious mistake" for the administration to focus on the past when investigating the interrogation techniques of the CIA under President Bush on "Face the Nation" Sunday. "For us now to go back, I think, would be a serious mistake. "I believe that the president was right when he said we ought to go forward and not back. I worry about the morale and effectiveness of the CIA. I worry about this thing...