Pennsylvania health official draws fire after her mother leaves care facility as coronavirus patients return

She or He

Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine defended herself Wednesday after reports that her 95-year-old mother relocated from a care facility after Levine said such centers could begin accepting coronavirus patients discharged from hospitals.
Cases of the virus in nursing homes have skyrocketed in Pennsylvania, with about two-thirds of the state's 3,800 deaths being residents of long-term care facilities, PennLive reported.
"My mother requested and my sister and I, as her children, complied to move her to another location during the COVID-19 outbreak," Levine said in a news conference, according to Harrisburg's WHTM-TV. “My mother is 95 years old. She is very intelligent and more than competent to make her own decisions."
But Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano called for Levine’s resignation this week over her handling of nursing home outbreaks, specifically a policy calling for nursing home residents hospitalized with the virus to be returned to the care centers once they’re ready to leave the hospital, according to PennLive.
“Our secretary of health, Dr. Levine, decided that it would be good to allow COVID-positive patients to be returned to elder-care facilities. And as a result of that, it broke out like fire,” Mastriano said during a protest rally Monday.

“Our secretary of health, Dr. Levine, decided that it would be good to allow COVID-positive patients to be returned to elder-care facilities. And as a result of that, it broke out like fire.”
— Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, Republican

Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, defended Levine.
“Dr. Levine has done a phenomenal job of making sure that we do what we need to do in keeping Pennsylvanians safe,” he said, according to PennLive. “I think it’s a tribute to her that Pennsylvania has actually done a better job than many of our surrounding states in terms of the infection rate and the death rate.”
Levine announced a strategy this week to help protect care facility residents, which includes mobilizing Pennsylvania's National Guard to provide testing for places unable to do it themselves. And facilities will be required to report testing, cases and deaths using the same system as hospitals.
Levine said all residents who are hospitalized will be tested for the virus before returning home.
“By testing every resident and every staff member in every nursing home, we will be able to pinpoint exactly who has COVID-19, who has been exposed but has no symptoms, and cohort positive cases to prevent further spread,” she said, according to WHTM.

State parties reach out to Arizona GOP after novel virtual convention, staffer says

Several other states have reached out to Arizona’s Republican Party this week after the party ran a virtual state convention last weekend due to the coronavirus, according to a staffer.
More than 1,100 Arizona Republicans participated in Saturday’s convention to vote for the state’s 54 delegates for the national convention this summer in North Carolina.
Communications Director Zach Henry told Fox News while Utah used the same app for electronic voting during their convention a few weeks ago, Arizona was the first state to incorporate live streaming and telephone townhall elements.
“Livestreaming the events of the day and syncing that up with our telephone to allow anyone, anywhere to watch or hear the day's proceedings in real-time was first put into practice on Saturday in Arizona,” he added.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said during the convention that state Chairwoman Kelli Ward not only came up with the virtual model but “the RNC asked her to present this to other state parties and it’s being duplicated across the country and it’s allowing us to deliver delegates to President Trump in a timely manner."
The party used Voatz, a mobile elections platform, and Phoenix-based video production company Visual Impulse to pull off the convention.
Ward called it an "enormous undertaking."
“Never before has a political party attempted to plan and carry out a convention of this scale and magnitude – amid a global pandemic – in a similar virtual manner," she said in a statement. "Yet not only did we succeed in what was previously uncharted territory; we trailblazed the way for others to follow.”

President Trump to visit Pennsylvania amid battle over state’s coronavirus shutdown policies

President Trump plans to be in Pennsylvania on Thursday, three days after asserting on Twitter that the state’s residents have grown frustrated with their Democrat governor’s coronavirus shutdown rules.
“The great people of Pennsylvania want their freedom now,” the president wrote Monday, “and they are fully aware of what that entails.”
The scheduled trip also follows a protest in late April that saw hundreds of demonstrators gather outside the Statehouse in Harrisburg, where they called for Gov. Tom Wolf to loosen the state’s stay-at-home order.
Trump is scheduled to visit Owens & Minor Inc. in Upper Macungie Township, near Allentown, according to FOX 29 of Philadelphia. The company distributes medical equipment, which became a key commodity during the virus outbreak as the nation’s hospitals grappled with surges in patients.
The president is expected to speak about the nation’s efforts regarding coronavirus testing, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Pennsylvania is considered a key state as Trump looks ahead to the November election. He won the state by only 44,000 votes in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Thursday’s trip will be his 18th visit to the state since taking office, The Morning Call of Allentown reported.
The president may also be looking to improve his job-approval numbers in Pennsylvania, where 45 percent of respondents support his handling of the coronavirus, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll.
Trump is eager to revive the nation’s economy following quarantines and business shutdowns that have cost millions of Americans their jobs and brought what had been a record-shattering economy to a screeching halt.
“We will defeat this horrible enemy, we will revive our economy, and we will transition into greatness,” the president said Monday, according to Politico. “That’s a phrase you’re going to hear a lot because that’s what’s going to happen.”
Last week, Wolf extended his stay-at-home order to June 4 to parts of the state while saying he would allow 24 counties, mostly in the rural north-central region, to reopen businesses to some degree. He later added 13 western Pennsylvania counties to that list, FOX 29 reported.
But Pennsylvania Republicans and some business owners still accuse Wolf of moving too slowly, the report said.
On Monday, Wolf issued a warning to business owners who defy his orders.
“To those politicians who decide to cave in to this coronavirus, they need to understand the consequences of their cowardly act,” Wolf said, according to FOX 29.
He also threatened to withhold state and federal funding from counties “that put us all at risk by operating illegally,” the report added.
A recent Federal Aviation Administration advisory calls for restricted airspace of 30 nautical miles around Lehigh Valley International Airport between 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., suggesting Trump will be visiting sometime during those hours, the Morning Call reported.

Lawyer appointed by Judge Sullivan to offer arguments in Flynn case already has slammed Trump WH's 'improper political influence'

D.C. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan issued an unusual order Wednesday appointing a law firm partner "to present arguments in opposition to the government's motion to dismiss" the matter -- and to consider whether the court should hold Flynn in contempt for perjury.
The partner, retired federal judge John Gleeson, has openly criticized the Trump administration's handling of Michael Flynn's case, raising concerns that he was selected to improperly bolster Sullivan's efforts to keep the Flynn case alive even though both the government and defendant want it dismissed.
Sullivan has previously suggested Flynn may have committed treason, in a bizarre 2018 courtroom outburst, and seemingly confused key details about Flynn's overseas lobbying work.
The precise reasons for the perjury review were not clear in Sullivan's order. Last year, Flynn abruptly abandoned his plan to provide testimony against a former associate, after admitting that he had lied on federal forms required under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Flynn has said he received constitutionally inadequate legal advice.
Although Flynn was never charged with the FARA violations or perjury, he admitted to making “materially false statements and omissions” concerning his work in Turkey as part of his plea agreement. Flynn ultimately pleaded guilty only to one count of lying to FBI agents in the White House in January 2017 as his legal bills mounted, leading him to sell his home.
Flynn did not plead guilty to perjury, which applies to false statements under oath in a legal proceeding. (In leaked remarks this week, though, former President Obama conspicuously suggested Flynn had been charged with perjury.)

Justice Department official Andrew Weissman in 2002. Weissman has previously worked with Gleeson. The Twitter user Techno Fog first spotted that connection. (REUTERS, File)

Gleeson, a retired New York federal district court judge, was specifically appointed as an "amicus curiae," or friend of the court. Gleeson is now a partner at the international law firm Debevoise & Plimpton.
Gleeson penned an op-ed this week apparently pre-judging the Flynn case, writing that "the [Flynn] record reeks of improper political influence."
"So if the court finds dismissal would result in a miscarriage of justice, it can deny the motion, refuse to permit withdrawal of the guilty plea and proceed to sentencing," Gleeson wrote.
The Twitter sleuth Techno_Fog pointed out that Gleeson has recently worked with Andrew Weissmann, a former prosecutor on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team. And, attorney Ron Coleman noted that Debevoise has also represented Sally Yates -- the former deputy attorney general who was fired after she took the extraordinary step of refusing to defend a Trump administration executive order in court.
The unexpected move to appoint Gleeson came just a day after Sullivan issued an order indicating he'll soon accept "amicus" submissions in the case -- drawing immediate scrutiny and a planned ethics complaint against Sullivan, who had previously refused to hear amicus briefs in the case.
Sullivan notably has not appointed an amicus to counter Gleeson's argument.
Sullivan has said, however, that he anticipated that "individuals and organizations" will file briefs "for the benefit of the court," as he prepares to rule on the government's motion to dismiss the case, citing a mountain of previously undisclosed exculpatory evidence.
Among those unearthed materials was a handwritten note from a top FBI official debating whether the bureau's goal in pursuing Flynn was to "get him fired."
OBAMA KNEW DETAILS OF FLYNN CASE, SHOCKING TOP DOJ OFFICIAL, DOCS SHOW
"Judge Sullivan, who denied leave to file amicus briefs when he knew third parties would have spoken favorably of Flynn, now solicits briefs critical of Flynn," independent journalist and attorney Michael Cernovich wrote on Twitter Tuesday evening. "This is a violation of the judicial oath and applicable ethical rules. We will be filing a complaint against Sullivan."
Cernovich cited D.C. appellate precedent as precluding Sullivan from keeping the case alive, in defiance of the wishes of both the prosecution and defense, given that there has been no final judgment or sentencing.

FILE - In this Dec. 1, 2017, file photo, Michael Flynn, center, arrives at federal court in Washington. A judge set a sentencing hearing for Michael Flynn after rejecting arguments from the former Trump administration national security adviser that prosecutors had withheld evidence favorable to his case. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Without a live "case or controversy," federal judges cannot exercise jurisdiction, according to the Case or Controversy Clause of Article III of the United States Constitution. The provision prevents judges from issuing advisory opinions, or acting on a matter that is not the subject of an ongoing dispute.
Will Chamberlain, a lawyer and the editor-in-chief of Human Events, separately noted that case law in the circuit generally prohibits trial court judges from second-guessing the government's decision not to prosecute a defendant.
Indeed, Sullivan himself had previously held in the Flynn case that "[o]ptions exist for a private citizen to express his views about matters of public interest, but the Court's docket is not an available option."
Flynn's legal team indicated in a filing Tuesday that a sealed amicus brief has already been submitted by a left-wing group known as the "Watergate Prosecutors," urging Sullivan not to toss out Flynn's guilty plea despite the Justice Department's request. That group was featured in an October 2019 Washington Post opinion piece, and listed Jill Wine-Banks -- who previously advanced unsubstantiated collusion theories involving the Trump campaign and Russia -- as one of its members.
WASHINGTON POST NEWSROOM DIVIDED OVER WHETHER FLYNN'S CALLS WERE EVEN NEWSWORTHY -- THEN OP-ED COLUMNIST WENT AHEAD
Wine-Banks was also explictly named as a member of the group seeking to file an amicus brief in the Flynn case.
"Mueller can prove conspiracy with Russia beyond any doubt," Wine-Banks previously wrote. She also claimed in 2017 that Flynn would receive "immunity for kidnapping as well as his federal crimes."
Late Tuesday, President Trump retweeted a post by the Twitter user Techno_Fog calling Wine-Banks a "Trump/Russia collusion nutter." The post concluded, sarcastically: "Good job Judge Sullivan!"
Wine-Banks did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.

FILE - This Dec. 13, 2019 file photo shows former President Barack Obama speaking at the Gathering of Rising Leaders in the Asia Pacific, organized by the Obama Foundation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)

In his brief order Tuesday, Sullivan quoted his fellow judge on the D.C. District Court, Amy Berman Jackson, who previously admonished the parties in the Stone case that allowing amicus submissions does not mean that the criminal case will become a "free for all."
Flynn's case, however, has sometimes seemed like just that. In a fireworks-filled sentencing hearing in December 2018, for example, Sullivan himself appeared open to the idea that Flynn could be charged with a death penalty-eligible offense.
"I'm not hiding my disgust, my disdain for this criminal offense," Sullivan said during that hearing. He added that Flynn's allegedly unregistered work with Turkey "arguably" had undermined "everything this flag over here stands for.” (Flynn was never charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which had gone largely unenforced until recently.)
WHO IS JOE PIENTKA, MYSTERY FBI AGENT AT CENTER OF FLYNN AND CARTER PAGE CASES? ... FBI SCRUBS HIM FROM WEBSITE
In a bizarre moment, Sullivan then asked the government's attorneys whether they had considered charging Flynn with treason. The prosecutors said they had not, and Sullivan later walked back his comments after a brief recess.
Then, last December, Sullivan accused Flynn's legal team of plagiarism in a filing, saying they had "lifted verbatim portions from a source without attribution." Powell shot back that the claim "made no sense," and that she relied on one of her own cases as well as a brief primarily written by a friend whom she cited.

Peter Strzok exchanged anti-Trump text messages with Lisa Page. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

On the recommendation of U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen, who served as an FBI agent for more than a decade, the Justice Department last Thursday moved to drop its case against Flynn. The stunning development came after internal memos were released raising serious questions about the nature of the investigation that led to Flynn’s late 2017 guilty plea of lying to the FBI as his legal fees mounted.
One of the documents was a top official's handwritten memo debating whether the FBI's "goal" was "to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired." Other materials showed efforts by anti-Trump FBI agent Peter Strzok to pursue Flynn on increasingly flimsy legal grounds.
It would not be unprecedented for the government to successfully move to dismiss a case after securing a conviction. In fact, Sullivan himself tossed the conviction of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens in 2009, when it emerged the government had not produced a slew of exculpatory "Brady" material.
Powell has raised similar issues in the Flynn case. Fox News has chronicled numerous representations by the lead prosecutor in the Flynn case, Brandon Van Grack, concerning the government's supposed compliance with "Brady' requirements -- representations that now appear to have been inaccurate, as a mountain of striking exculpatory evidence has emerged.

Broken California Cartoons

California Democrats say 10-year rent-relief plan 'not a giveaway'

Idiots

California Democrats on Tuesday proposed giving tenants struggling during the coronavirus pandemic 10 years to pay their rent.
The state would purchase unpaid rents and allow renters a decade, starting in 2024, to pay it back, under the proposal by Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, tthe Sacramento Bee reported. Landlords would receive a tax credit dependent on committing to not evict tenants.
“This is not a giveaway,” Democratic state Sen. Steven Bradford said, according to The Associated Press. "Our goal is to keep tenants houses and keep landlords out of foreclosure."
More than 4 million Californians have filed for unemployment benefits since Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a stay-at-home order March 19, the AP reported, prompting state and local officials to seek ways to delay evictions.
Bradford said the proposal wouldn’t be for “large corporate landlords.” He added that renters could be forgiven the loan entirely if they continue to struggle financially.
Rent forgiveness is part of a larger $25 billion economic stimulus package introduced by Democrats this week.
California faces a projected $54 billion deficit for the next fiscal year as a June 15 deadlines to pass a balanced budget approaches, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to reveal a revised budget Thursday that may include spending cuts and tax increases.
But state Republicans are already criticizing the plan.
“Smoke and mirrors has worked before, but it all comes home to roost,” state Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, told the AP.

“Smoke and mirrors has worked before, but it all comes home to roost.”
— California state Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa

Tom Bannon, CEO of the California Apartment Association, said the gropup was committed to working with the state Senate to make sure “tenants can stay in their homes and rental property owners – especially mom-and-pop owners – are able to continue to pay their bills and their employees.”
“During these unprecedented times, we appreciate the Senate pro tem’s creative effort to help tenants and rental property owners,” he added, according to the Bee.
Separately, Democrats are proposing mortgage relief for homeowners and suspending evictions for tenants.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.

NY Times says reporter 'went too far' during TV appearance blasting Trump admin's virus response

The New York Times said that one of its reporters "went too far" with his blistering criticism of the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus outbreak in a recent TV appearance.
Donald McNeil Jr., the paper's science and health reporter, went on a tear against several members of the White House task force, including Vice President Mike Pence, who he suggested was a "sycophant" of President Trump, during a conversation with CNN International's Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday.
A Times spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News, "In an interview with Christiane Amanpour today, Donald McNeil, Jr. went too far in expressing his personal views. His editors have discussed the issue with him to reiterate that his job is to report the facts and not to offer his own opinions. We are confident that his reporting on science and medicine for The Times has been scrupulously fair and accurate."
Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple highlighted McNeil Jr.'s fiery comments, pointing to the Times' guidelines that say "Generally a staff member should not say anything on radio, television or the Internet that could not appear under his or her byline in The Times on its reporters expressing personal views."

McNeil Jr. went on a fiery rant, telling Amanpour that "we completely blew it" regarding the U.S. response within the first two months of the outbreak.
"We were in a headless-chicken phase, and yes, it’s the president’s fault, it is not China’s fault," McNeil Jr. said. "You know, the head of the Chinese CDC was on the phone to Robert Redfield on Jan. 1, again on Jan. 8, and the two agencies were talking on Jan. 19. The Chinese had a test on Jan. 13; the Germans had a test on Jan. 16. We fiddled around for two months, we had a test on March 5 and it didn’t work. We didn’t have 10,000 people tested until March 15."
The Times reporter then blasted the "incompetent leadership" at the CDC and called for its director Dr. Robert Redfield to "resign."
He then took aim at President Trump.
"And suppression from the top- I mean, the real coverup was the person in this country who was saying, you know, 'This is not an important virus, the flu is worse, it’s all going to go away, it’s nothing,'" McNeil Jr. continued. "And that encouraged everybody around him to say, 'It’s nothing, it’s nothing, it’s nothing.'"
McNeil Jr. then revealed he had butted heads with his editors, saying he was trying to convince them "This is really bad, this is a pandemic,”  and how it "took a while to get them... to believe this."
"Getting rid of Alex Azar was a mistake- he was actually leading a dramatic response," McNeil Jr. said about the HHS secretary. "And then,  in February he was replaced with Mike Pence, who’s a sycophant."
That was in reference to Trump assigning Pence as the leader of the White House coronavirus task force.
McNeil Jr. went on to mock the president, saying he's "the same guy who said inject yourself with disinfectant" and that his "grasp of the science" isn't even "at a third-grade level."
Wemple referred to the Times' statement on McNeil Jr.'s remarks as a "mild brushback" but suggested that the paper should have specifically addressed his call for Dr. Redfield's resignation.
"Such activism, after all, is extreme even for a veteran newsman exercising his analytical muscles in a freewheeling cable-news interview," Wemple noted, but later offered a slight defense for McNeil Jr. regarded the backdrop of the coronavirus, "unfathomable pronouncements of incompetence, indifference and cluelessness from the president in public appearance after public appearance. What’s an experienced health reporter to say?"

Gregg Jarrett: Flynn judge wrong to allow anti-Trump former Watergate prosecutors to interfere in case

It’s a sure sign of desperation whenever lawyers try to raise President Richard Milhous Nixon from the dead.
And so it is that a group of former Watergate special prosecutors this week resurrected the Ghost of Watergate Past in a last-ditch effort to keep alive the federal court case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
The gang, adopting the sobriquet “Watergate Prosecutors,” asked permission from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to allow them to intervene in the Flynn case so they can – to put it bluntly – tell his honor how to think and what to do.
The judge issued an order Tuesday indicating he will soon accept “amicus curiae” (“friend of the court”) submissions in the case.
But in trial court proceedings involving crimes, only prosecutors and defense attorneys are permitted to be heard. Judges are supposed to render decisions based on evidence and arguments presented by the parties involved, not outside interests.    
The prosecution of Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, has been on life-support since the Justice Department belatedly moved last week to dismiss charges against him. He was accused of making false statements to the FBI during an interview that was nothing more than a devious perjury trap designed to “get Flynn to lie.” The FBI was creating a crime, not investigating one.
A review ordered by Attorney General William Barr discovered that former FBI Director James Comey’s agents and Robert Mueller’s special counsel hit squad concealed vital exculpatory evidence from Flynn and his attorneys. The hidden documents showed that the retired lieutenant general did not lie to FBI agents, despite his coerced guilty plea under threat.    
The former Watergate prosecutors now want to meddle in the Flynn proceedings like uninvited house guests. In a court filing, they compare Barr’s decision to drop the Flynn charge to “the Watergate scandal” and Nixon’s infamous “Saturday Night Massacre.” The analogy is as tortured as the late President Nixon’s soul.
Reading their “Statement of Interest” is a nauseating exercise in the hubris of war stories retold by old warriors prone to embellish. The former Watergate prosecutors imagine themselves as heroes who single-handedly salvaged democracy from the clutches of the demented Nixon. On that basis, they argue to the court, they are back to save the day.
I’m reminded of what Butch kept asking Sundance: “Who are those guys?” Good question.

These individuals are hyper-partisans who despise Trump, but have convinced themselves that since they helped drive the demon Nixon from office 45 years ago they should now be given exalted status as super Trump-slayers.

The first name that pops out is Nick Akerman. He can be found on page 269 of my book “Witch Hunt: The Story of the Greatest Mass Delusion in American Political History.” He is one of the many media flamethrowers who constantly accused (without evidence) President Trump and his presidential campaign of colluding with Russia.
At one point on MSNBC (July 11, 2017), Akerman said the following about Donald Trump Jr. and his conversation with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower: “There’s outright treason. I mean, there is no question that what he’s doing is giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”
No question? Really?
Forget that Akerman’s hyperbolic claim of treason had no remote application or support in the law. The president’s son was never charged with any offense because Special Counsel Mueller found no agreement or conspiracy to do anything illegal. But don’t let facts get in the way of a good story, Nick.
Another former Watergate prosecutor is Jill Wine-Banks, an MSNBC legal analyst who has a propensity to channel Nixon’s ghost at every turn. Earlier this year, she told Salon that “Trump is more dangerous than Nixon” and should be criminally indicted. On MSNBC, she declared that Trump is more of an “existential threat to democracy than Nixon.”             
Richard Ben-Veniste is also a Watergate alum who has carved out a late career as an inveterate Trump thumper. In a column for The Atlantic in 2017, he drew innumerable parallels between Nixon and Trump.
In the same publication the next year, Ben-Veniste accused Trump of going the “full Nixon on Mueller.” One gets the distinct impression that Ben-Veniste’s Trump-Nixon obsession belongs on a psychiatrist’s couch.   
The 16 former Watergate prosecutors who are now determined to insert themselves into the Flynn case just happen to be the same lawyers (minus one) who penned a joint op-ed in the Washington Post on October 10, 2019 headlined “We investigated the Watergate scandal. We believe Trump should be impeached.” Of course, we know how that turned out.
But the point is this: these individuals are hyper-partisans who despise Trump, but have convinced themselves that since they helped drive the demon Nixon from office 45 years ago they should now be given exalted status as super Trump-slayers.
This kind of prejudicial interference from outside forces has no place in a court of law. It makes a mockery of both fairness and impartiality.
Sadly, Judge Sullivan appears to have taken leave of his senses and decided to entertain the notion of allowing the former Watergate prosecutors to usurp the role of federal prosecutors. This resulted in his order Tuesday indicating he would permit “individuals and organizations” to file “amicus curiae” submissions.
Hours later, Flynn’s lawyer, Sidney Powell, filed a well-reasoned opposition argument that courts are not a forum for special interests. “The ‘Watergate Prosecutors’ have no special role and no authority whatsoever to insert themselves in this litigation on behalf of anyone,” she wrote.
Powell also pointed out that Sullivan rejected 24 previous attempts by parties to intervene in the Flynn case. In one of his prior refusals, the judge made this declarative statement: “The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure do not provide for intervention by third parties in criminal cases. Options exist for a private citizen to express his views about matters of public interest, but the Court’s docket is not an available option.”
What has changed? Nothing. But Sullivan’s ruling may be a reflection of his own abiding prejudice. In a hearing last year, he all but accused Flynn of treason, only to retract his words after a recess. He seems to have a feeble grasp of the facts in this important case.
The former Watergate prosecutors should be denied the opportunity to pursue their biased agenda in a court of law. Flynn has been victimized enough by corrupt and dishonest government officials.
Let these former prosecutors resurrect the ghost of Richard Nixon in a more-friendly forum: the Trump-hating media. These media organizations are sure to roll out the welcome mat.

GOP poised to retake Katie Hill's California seat, as Trump-backed candidate wins big in Wisconsin

Candidates backed by President Trump were outperforming expectations in two closely watched congressional special elections on Tuesday night, as former Navy combat pilot Mike Garcia inched closer to retaking Democrat Katie Hill's California seat and Republican Tom Tiffany easily prevailed in Wisconsin.
Garcia grabbed a substantial early lead Tuesday in the fight for the open U.S. House seat north of Los Angeles in the swing 25th District, giving California Republicans a chance to claim a Democratic-held congressional seat in the state for the first time since 1998. With 76 percent of precincts reporting, Garcia was leading Democrat Christy Smith 55.9 percent to 44.1 percent.
Trump lost the district by 6 percentage points in 2016. He went out of his way to promote Garcia in recent weeks as strong on guns and immigration, and some Democrats had hoped he would be a liability in the race. Former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other high-profile Democrats all lined up behind Smith.
Garcia told supporters he wouldn't declare victory Tuesday night, but added, "It is looking extremely good.”
Smith, however, insisted that the contest was “clearly too early to call” and said her campaign would work to make sure “every vote is counted in the days ahead.”

Navy veteran Mike Garcia, a Republican candidate in Tuesday's special election in California's 25th Congressional District, is seen in an undated photo. (Associated Press)

Smith and Garcia topped a crowded field of candidates in the state’s March 3 primary and advanced to separate elections: One, on Tuesday, to fill the remainder of Hill’s two-year term, and a second in November for the full, two-year term starting in 2021.
For the GOP,  Smith's statement that more votes need to be counted conjured up memories of the 2018 elections, when Republicans saw their early leads in California races shrink to nothing after Election Day, as more and more ballots trickled in. Some Republicans cried foul and blamed the state's practice of legalized "ballot harvesting," which permits political operatives to pick up voters' ballots en masse and drop them off at polling stations.
Trump and the National Republican Congressional Committee have claimed Democrats were trying to steal the election in the 25th District with a last-minute move to open up an additional polling station in the district.
The contest is the only competitive House race in the country in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. It’s seen nationally as a proxy vote on Trump’s leadership and a possible harbinger for November elections.
"Supporters of Mike Garcia are already calling tonight a 'landslide' and saying that he represents the 'first domino' in a line of Republican wins this year," reported The New York Times' Jennifer Medina.

"Supporters of Mike Garcia are already calling tonight a 'landslide' and saying that he represents the 'first domino' in a line of Republican wins this year."
— Jennifer Medina, New York Times

Less than a year into her term, Hill resigned after a House ethics probe began looking into accusations of an improper relationship between the congresswoman and a staff member. Lurid, intimate photos surfaced.
Meanwhile, Trump himself put up historic numbers in the Nebraska presidential primary. With less than half the vote in, Trump has already doubled his 2016 total in the state -- leading GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel to tout what she called surging "enthusiasm" for the president's reelection.
In Wisconsin, Republican Tom Tiffany, a state senator endorsed by Trump, easily won a special congressional election Tuesday in the state's heavily conservative, rural 7th Congressional District.
Tiffany’s win over Democrat Tricia Zunker in northern Wisconsin’s 7th District comes in the state’s second election amid the coronavirus pandemic the past five weeks. Tiffany will replace former reality TV star Sean Duffy, a Republican who retired in September. The district, which covers all or parts of 26 counties, has been vacant since Duffy’s retirement.
Trump won Wisconsin by less than a point, but carried the district by 20 points, in 2016. Trump backed Tiffany in the race, but due to the pandemic was unable to campaign in person for him.
Zunker, president of the Wausau School Board, was trying to become the first Native American from Wisconsin elected to Congress. She would have also been the first woman to represent the district, which stretches from Wausau in the south up to Lake Superior and includes popular tourist destinations like Bayfield and Madeline Island.

​​​​​​​
Wisconsin state Sen. Thomas Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, speaks at the State Capitol in Madison, Wis., May 29, 2015. Tiffany, a candidate endorsed by President Trump, won Tuesday's special House election. (Associated Press).

Zunker pulled in big-name endorsements, including from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., but the numbers were against her. The district has been under Republican control since 2011 and was redistricted to more heavily favor the GOP.
There was uncertainty over whether holding a special election in the middle of the pandemic would affect the outcome. Election clerks said they were prepared, about 20 percent of registered voters had voted absentee, and there were no calls to delay or alter the election like there were before Wisconsin’s presidential primary last month.
With Tiffany’s win, Republicans hold five of Wisconsin’s eight seats in Congress. Tiffany will serve through the end of the year, but will have to run again in November to serve a full two-year term.

Jerry Nadler Cartoons