Robert Mueller Cartoons

Gregg Jarrett: Mueller's allegedly lawless acts have corrupted his probe and demand his removal

FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2013, file photo, former FBI Director Robert Mueller is seated before President Barack Obama and FBI Director James Comey arrive at an installation ceremony at FBI Headquarters in Washington. A veteran FBI counterintelligence agent was removed from special counsel Robert Mueller's team investigating Russian election meddling after the discovery of an exchange of text messages seen as potentially anti-President Donald Trump, a person familiar with the matter said Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)  (Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is accused of acting in complete disregard for the law and must be removed.  And so, too, must his entire team.  

There is devastating new evidence to suggest that Mueller and his staff of lawyers improperly, if not illegally, obtained tens of thousands of private documents belonging to President-elect Trump's Presidential Transition Team (PTT).  The material includes emails, laptops and cell phones used by 13 PTT members.   

Critically, a "significant volume of privileged material" was taken by Mueller, according to the Trump transition lawyer, and then used by the special counsel team in its investigation. Mueller's staff apparently admits this egregious violation, which the law strictly forbids.
Under the law, the only remedy is Mueller's dismissal from the case.
The Records Are Private
The Presidential Transition Act states that all records of transition operations are private and confidential. 
On November 16, 2016, roughly ten days after Trump was elected president, the Chief Records Officer of the U.S. Government sent a letter to all federal agencies reminding them that "the materials that PTT members create or receive are not Federal or Presidential records, but are considered private materials."
Yet Mueller seems to have ignored the law.  Without a warrant or subpoena, his team of lawyers brazenly demanded these private records from the General Services Administration (GSA) which held custody of the materials.  The GSA does this as a service to all incoming presidents out of courtesy, but it neither owns the documents nor is authorized to release them to anyone under any circumstances because they are deemed entirely private.

If true, Mueller's conduct is not only unethical and improper, it constitutes lawlessness. On this basis, he must be removed and replaced.

Counsel for the Trump Transition Team has sent a letter to Congress alleging the Fourth Amendment was violated in "failing to obtain a warrant for the search or seizure of private property in which the owner has a reasonable expectation of privacy (Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 489)." 
Mueller might contest the claim of an unlawful seizure because the GSA willingly handed over the documents, but this disregards the fact that the GSA broke the law and Mueller surely knew it when he pressured the agency to do so. 
Privileged Material
The most serious charge against Mueller is that he obtained, reviewed and used material that is privileged.
For months, Mueller allegedly failed to disclose to the transition team that he acquired these privileged documents.  Under the law, he and his lawyers are not entitled to possess or read any of them.  Even worse, the transition team says it warned the special counsel six months ago that it had no right to access the records without gaining permission from the PTT.
Courts have clearly stated what prosecutors are supposed to do under these circumstances: "An attorney who receives privileged documents has an ethical duty to cease review of the documents, notify the privilege holder, and return the documents."  (U.S. v. Taylor 764 Fed Sup 2nd, 230, 235)
Did Mueller do this?  Apparently not.  He never notified PTT when his staff of lawyers encountered the privileged documents and he compounded his violation of the law by possessing and accessing them for months.     
Only the owner of such materials can waive the privileged that protects them.  Since the GSA does not, under the law, own the records, only the transition team can make such a waiver.  It did not.
Hence, if any illegally obtained documents have been used in the Trump-Russia case, then the results are tainted and invalid.  This is a well-established principle of law.   
Mueller Must Be Removed
The use by Mueller of even one privileged document can, and must, result in his disqualification from the case. 
The case of Finn v. Schiller, 72 F.3rd 1182, 1189 spells out the required remedy for this violation of the law: "Courts have frequently used their supervisory authority to disqualify prosecutors for obtaining materials protected by the attorney-client privilege." 
Statutory law also demands Mueller's removal.  Pursuant to 5 C.F.R. 2635.501, government employees, including prosecutors, are directed to "take appropriate steps to avoid an appearance of loss of impartiality in the performance of his or her official duties."  
The lawyer for the Trump transition team states that the special counsel's office admitted in a telephone conversation on Friday that it failed to use an "ethical wall" or "taint team" to segregate any privileged records.  This is often done to keep them isolated from lawyers and investigators involved in the case. 
Yet, Mueller did not adopt such precautionary measures.  Instead, he apparently allowed his team to utilize the documents while questioning witnesses in the Trump-Russia case. 
If true, Mueller's conduct is not only unethical and improper, it constitutes lawlessness.  On this basis, he must be removed and replaced.
Given the insular nature of the special counsel operation, it is reasonable to conclude that all the lawyers and investigators likely accessed the privileged documents.  Therefore, not just Mueller, but his entire team must be dismissed.  This would include Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who oversees the case.
Either Congress should take aggressive action or the Presidential Transition Team (now Trump for America, Inc.) must petition a federal judge to order their removal. 
The integrity of the special counsel probe has been deeply compromised by numerous allegations of corrupt acts.  In its current composition, it seems beyond repair.
Gregg Jarrett joined FOX News Channel (FNC) in 2002 and is based in New York. He currently serves as legal analyst and offers commentary across both FNC and FOX Business Network (FBN).

NY Times columnist praises Trump for winning against ISIS, hits media for not giving credit

Ross Douthat New York Times

A conservative New York Times columnist on Sunday wrote a piece on President Trump’s successful approach at taking on the Islamic State and how his strategy has gone unnoticed by the media.

Ross Douthat, who previously endorsed Hillary Clinton, wrote that the Trump administration surprised him in foreign policy, namely in the war on ISIS that Trump has won.

“If you had told me in late 2016 that almost a year into the Trump era the caliphate would be all-but-beaten without something far worse happening in the Middle East, I would have been surprised and gratified,” Douthat wrote in an column titled “A War Trump Won.”
Douthat wrote that Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq – which he calls “the defining foreign policy calamity of Barack Obama’s second term” – were effectively routed by Trump without the need of a massive ground troop invasion and without getting into a war with Russia or Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Douthat wrote that it is a “press failure” for succumbing to “the narrative of Trumpian disaster” and ignoring the story.

Video

Trump takes credit for success in fight against ISIS

“But this is also a press failure, a case where the media is not adequately reporting an important success because it does not fit into the narrative of Trumpian disaster in which our journalistic entities are all invested,” he wrote.
Earlier this month, Iraq declared its war against the Islamic State was over after more than three years of combat operations drove extremist fighters from all of the territories they once held.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced Iraqi forces were in full control of the country’s border with Syria during remarks at a conference in Baghdad, and his spokesman said the development marked the end of the military fight against ISIS.
 “Trump has avoided the temptation often afflicting Republican uber-hawks, in which we’re supposed to fight all bad actors on 16 fronts at once. Instead he’s slow-walked his hawkish instincts on Iran, tolerated Assad and avoided dialing up tensions with Russia,” Douthat wrote.
Lastly, Douthat gives credit for Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel – a move condemned by multiple countries across the globe – as recognizing that the Middle East has changed its priorities since the 1990s.
He wrote: “And the Trump strategy on Israel and the Palestinians, the butt of many Jared Kushner jokes, seems … not crazy?”
“The relatively mild reaction to recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital may be a case study in expert consensus falling behind the facts; the Arab world has different concerns than it did in 1995, and Trump’s move has helped clarify that change.”
Douthat ended the article: “So very provisionally, credit belongs where it’s due — to our soldiers and diplomats, yes, but to our president as well.”

Linda Sarsour accused of enabling sexual assault, harassment in workplace

Activist Linda Sarsour outside Trump Tower last June.

Linda Sarsour, the Pro-Palestinian activist who helped spearhead the Women's March in Washington earlier this year, allegedly enabled the sexual assault and harassment of a woman who worked for her, according to a report Sunday night.

Allegations of groping and unwanted touching were brought to the attention of Sarsour during her time as executive director of the Arab American Association, The Daily Caller reported.

Asmi Fathelbab told the website Sarsour attacked her for bringing the allegations, often threatening and body-shaming her, because the accused was a “good Muslim” who was “always at the mosque,” The Daily Caller reported.
“She oversaw an environment unsafe and abusive to women,” Fathelbab, a former employee at the Arab American Association, told The Daily Caller. “Women who put [Sarsour] on a pedestal for women’s rights and empowerment deserve to know how she really treats us.”
Reps for Sarsour did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
Fathelbab told The Daily Caller that Sarsour threatened legal and professional damage if she went public with the sexual assault claims.
“She told me he had the right to sue me for false claims,” Fathelbab said, adding that the assaulter allegedly “had the right to be anywhere in the building he wanted.”
Fathelbab claimed her attacker would sneak up behind her during work and rub his crotch on her.
“It was disgusting,” Fathelbab told The Daily Caller. “I ran the youth program in the building and with that comes bending down and talking to small children. You have no idea what it was like to stand up and feel that behind you. I couldn’t scream because I didn’t want to scare the child in front of me. It left me shaking.”
Fathelbab said her allegations would result in her get written up for disciplinary action. She told The Daily Caller she was once forced to talk to a detective from the community liaison division about the consequences of making false claims to the authorities.
After her contract was finished at the Arab American Association, Fathelbab said she had trouble getting new jobs.
“She told me I’d never work in NYC ever again for as long as she lived,” Fathelbab said. “She’s kept her word. She had me fired from other jobs when she found out where I worked. She has kept me from obtaining any sort of steady employment for almost a decade.”
Sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity to The Daily Caller corroborated Fathelbab’s story.
“They made it about her weight, saying she was not attractive enough to be harassed and then swept it under the rug,” one source said.

Obama administration undermined anti-Hezbollah task force to help secure Iran nuke deal, report says

The Obama administration gave a free pass to Hezbollah’s drug-trafficking and money-laundering operations — some of which were unfolding inside the U.S. — to help ensure the Iran nuclear deal would stay on track, according to a bombshell exposé in Politico Sunday.

An elaborate campaign led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, known as Project Cassandra, reportedly targeted the Lebanese militant group’s criminal activities. But by tossing a string of roadblocks holding back the project, Obama administration officials helped allow the 35-year-old anti-Israel criminal enterprise to evolve into a major global security threat bankrolling terrorist and military operations, the report added.

“This was a policy decision, it was a systematic decision,” David Asher, who helped establish Project Cassandra as a Defense Department illicit finance analyst in 2008, told Politico. “They serially ripped apart this entire effort that was very well supported and resourced, and it was done from the top down.”
When Project Cassandra leaders, who were working out of a DEA’s Counter facility in Chantilly, Virginia, sought an OK for some significant investigations, prosecutions, arrests and financial sanctions, Justice and Treasury Department officials delayed, hindered or rejected their requests, according to Politico.
The red tape halted Project Cassandra’s efforts to curtail top Hezbollah operatives, including one of the world’s biggest cocaine traffickers who was also supplying conventional and chemical weapons used by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad against his own citizens. That operative's code name: the “Ghost.”
Former Obama administration officials told Politico anonymously that their decisions were guided by improving relations with Iran, stalling its nuclear weapons program and freeing four Americans prisoners held by the country. They also denied they “derailed” actions against Hezbollah out of politics.
“There has been a consistent pattern of actions taken against Hezbollah, both through tough sanctions and law enforcement actions before and after the Iran deal,” Kevin Lewis who worked at both the White House and Justice Department during the Obama administration, responded.
Asher said the closer the U.S. got to finalizing the Iran nuclear deal, the more difficult it was to conduct Hezbollah investigations. After President Obama announced the deal in January 2016, Project Cassandra officials were transferred to other assignments.
“The closer we got to the [Iran deal], the more these activities went away,” Asher 49, who speaks fluent Japanese and earned his Ph.D. in international relations from Oxford University, told Politico. “So much of the capability, whether it was special operations, whether it was law enforcement, whether it was [Treasury] designations — even the capacity, the personnel assigned to this mission — it was assiduously drained, almost to the last drop, by the end of the Obama administration.”
Hezbollah was formed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in 1982 to fight Israel’s invasion of Beirut. Under the leadership of Hassan Nasrallah, who took over in 1992 after his predecessor, Abbas Mussawi, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, the group moved from seeking to implement an Iranian-style Islamic republic in Lebanon to focusing on fighting Israel and integration into Lebanon’s sectarian-based politics.
Nasrallah, now 57, has played a key role in ending a feud among Shiites, focusing attention toward fighting Israel and later expanding the group’s regional reach.