[View here as a Twitter thread] The indictment for Bijan Kian, Flynn’s business partner is here. Flynn’s partner, Kian—and another Turkish defendant—were indicted on Monday—the same day Flynn’s sentencing hearing went awry. Kian is charged with 18 USC § 951 (also conspiracy §371 and false statements §1001, but § 951 is more serious). Lawfare explains …
[View here as a Twitter thread] Scholastic Magazine asked me to rewrite one of my articles about Barbara Johns for a younger audience. What? You don’t know who Barbara Johns was? She was 16 years old in Farmville, Virginia, in 1951. She led a walkout of her high school to protest segregation. [From a …
[View here as a Twitter thread] People have asked variations of that question. Let’s look at this from Flynn’s viewpoint: He was feeling great ahead of yesterday’s sentencing. He and his supporters believed that the judge would be furious—at the special counsel for overreaching. Some Flynn supporters even predicted the judge would throw out Flynn’s …
[View here as a Twitter thread] [Filed under Trump crimes, although these are non-criminal violations] The NY Attorney General filed a lawsuit accusing the Trump Foundation (Trump, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric) of “persistently illegal conduct” and “repeated and willful self-dealing transactions.” The petition is here: https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/court_stamped_petition.pdf The petition alleges that the Foundation was a …
The NY AG sues the Trump Foundation for willful self-dealing Read More »
[View here as a Twitter thread] From Stenner (Princeton) & Haidt (NYU): what’s happening an “authoritarian dynamic, which occurs when a person with an “authoritarian disposition” is faced with a “normative threat.” In their article “Authoritarianism is not a Momentary Madness” in this volume Stenner and Haidt explain that “normative threat” is a perceived …
[View here as a Twitter thread] Remember Flynn’s sentencing memo when he asserted, as a mitigating factor, that the FBI didn’t warn him that lying was a crime before they asked him questions? Yeah, I know. Appropriate reaction= Mueller (SC) has responded, asking the court to “reject” Flynn’s “attempt to minimize the seriousness of the …
Office of the Special Counsel Responds to the Flynn Memo Read More »
[View here as a Twitter thread] Q: If the statute says the crime must be done “knowingly and willfully” is Trump “immunized” from conviction if he says “I didn’t know it was illegal?” [That’s what you want to know, right, Gregg?] Short answer: No. If a defendant simply has to say “ I didn’t …
[View here as a Twitter thread] For most of U.S. history, the consensus was that the Second Amendment allowed for a “well regulated militia.” In other words, the amendment was taken literally. Then came the 60s, when so much changed: The Civil Rights movement, the women’s movement, etc. The Supreme Court in the 50s …
Maria Butina, Russia, the Second Amendment, and the NRA Read More »
[View here as a Twitter thread] Okay, we have Maria Butina’s plea agreement here: Spoiler: A Russian spy admitted to “laying the groundwork” for backchannels of communication to the Trump administration while acting at the direction of Russian Oligarch Aleksandr Torshin. (Here’s my thread on the background of Butina, Russia, and the NRA https://twitter.com/Teri_Kanefield/status/1073251036226150400 …) Here are …
Russian spy admitted to laying the groundwork for backchannels Russia Read More »
[View here as a Twitter thread] Flynn asserts a mitigating factor the judge should consider: The FBI officers failed to tell him that lying to the FBI was a crime before they questioned him. That probably makes you think of the Miranda warnings, right? Except here’s the thing about Miranda warnings. . . As …
