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The shocking announcement that the 16 criminal charges previously made against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett had been dropped may have reinforced many people’s negative assumptions about the criminal justice system in the U.S., the Federalist publisher Ben Domenech suggested Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, the Cook County (Ill.) State’s Attorney’s office declared that while Smollett wasn’t exonerated for allegedly staging a hate crime, his case was dismissed and the evidence remained sealed. In remarks to reporters, Smollett maintained his innocence, telling the world he was “truthful” since day one.
JUDGE NAP ON PROSECUTORS DROPPING CHARGES AGAINST JUSSIE SMOLLETT: ‘ALMOST UNHEARD-OF’
During Tuesday’s All-Star panel segment on Fox News’ "Special Report with Bret Baier," Domenech — along with “The Next Revolution” host Steve Hilton and the Cook Report national editor Amy Walter — weighed in on the fallout of the dramatic plot twist in the Smollett case.
“This is a situation that has to damage your faith in the judicial system," Domenech told the panel. “The truth is that, in this context, I think in Chicago, in the Illinois context, this is kind of a battle between Kim Foxx, who had to recuse herself from her position on this investigation at the State’s Attorney’s office, and the Chicago Police Department.
“I think this was clearly something that internal politics played a role here," he continued. "Keep in mind that 18 people were killed with guns in Chicago during the time this investigation was going on, using up resources that otherwise could have been [brought] to bear on that front.”
Domenech added that Smollett may not be “out of the woods” just yet, pointing to the federal investigation into the threatening letter he reportedly sent to himself.
Walter insisted that no one “should be surprised” that wealthy and well-connected people “get away with things” that poor and non-well-connected people do not.
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Hilton saw a connection between the Smollett case and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
“Regardless of the facts here, people are invested in a narrative," Hilton said. "They want to believe what they want to believe. There’s a story they’re telling and they want to stick to it regardless of the facts — and that has been fueled by some of these details that have leaked out over the period.
“Just as with Trump and Russia, regardless of what you saw in the Mueller report, people still, all day long I think, are going on about the president colluded. And so I think it speaks to the way how people want to believe regardless of the facts.”
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Those who spent the last two years pushing the narrative that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election need to be held accountable, the Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway argued Friday.
Earlier in the day, the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller handed in its report on the Russia investigation to the Department of Justice and it was announced that no new indictments would be forthcoming.
During Friday’s All-Star panel segment on Fox News’ "Special Report with Bret Baier," Hemingway — along with Washington Free Beacon editor-in-chief Matthew Continetti and Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason — weighed in on the breaking news that reverberated throughout Washington.
MUELLER SUBMITS LONG-AWAITED RUSSIA PROBE REPORT TO JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Hemingway began by noting that the “Russia narrative” predates the Mueller probe, having begun circulating during the 2016 election after the creation of the infamous Clinton campaign-funded Steele dossier, which pushed the theory that then-Republican candidate Donald Trump was a “Russian agent.”
“We have, for the last three years … frequently [witnessed] hysteria about treasonous collusion with Russia to steal the 2016 election,” Hemingway told the panel. “The fact [is] that there are no more indictments coming and the fact [is] that all of the indictments that we’ve seen thus far have been for process crimes or things unrelated to what we were told by so many people in the media was ‘treasonous collusion’ to steal the 2016 election.”
“If there is nothing there that matches what we’ve heard from the media for many years, there needs to be a reckoning and the people who spread this theory both inside and outside the government who were not critical and who did not behave appropriately need to be held accountable,” she added.
"The people who spread this theory both inside and outside the government … and who did not behave appropriately need to be held accountable."
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Mason told the panel that there’s likely “some relief” in the White House, particularly from Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and top adviser. And while he insisted it was “too early” to draw major conclusions, he later added that those who attacked Mueller’s credibility throughout his investigation will have to walk back their hostility if he concludes that there was no collusion, including President Trump.
Meanwhile, Continetti suggested that the Mueller report could be the “greatest anticlimax in American history,” and that the entire investigation could be “for nothing” because it was “an investigation without a crime.” He did, however, insist that the “battle will continue” as the White House will fight Congress on transparency of the Mueller findings.
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President Trump has made yet another move to strengthen the relationship between the U.S. and Israel, one that may also serve as a political calculation going into 2020, Real Clear Politics co-founder Tom Bevan argued Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Trump declared that the Golan Heights territory belongs to Israel, tweeting that the disputed area has “critical strategic and security importance” to the Jewish state.
During Thursday’s All-Star panel on Fox News’ "Special Report with Bret Baier," Bevan — along with national security analyst Morgan Ortagus and Washington Post opinion writer Charles Lane — weighed in on the political ramifications of the president’s latest declaration.
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Bevan began by pointing to the growing list of 2020 candidates who are boycotting the upcoming (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) conference in Washington. The list includes U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, and former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke.
He also noted the anti-Semitism controversy surrounding U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn, on which President Trump has commented.
Trump "has been a big supporter of Israel," Bevan told the panel. "Obviously, this is another issue on which he decided to move forward in part, I think, to draw the contrast between himself, his administration, and whoever his eventual opponent is going to be in 2020. So definitely some domestic politics at play here as well."
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Ortagus called Trump’s decision a “landmark shift" in U.S. policy toward Israel, as top White House adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are actively working on a “larger peace initiative” in the Middle East. She also argued that it’s far more beneficial for Israel to claim the Golan Heights than for someone like Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad or any other enemy of Israel to do so.
Lane pointed out the “politics” of Trump’s decision, telling the panel that it will help Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection next month. But there’s a "downside” to Trump’s decision, he added: It sets a precedent that the U.S. can “ignore” a U.N. Security Council resolution, which is something Russian President Vladimir Putin may consider regarding his actions in Crimea.
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President Trump’s approval ratings would be much higher if he didn’t go after respected Americans like the late Sen. John McCain, Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen argued Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, at an event in Ohio, Trump continued his attacks against McCain, the longtime senator and former prisoner of war who died of brain cancer last August at age 81. Trump lamented that no one said “thank you” to him for approving Washington-area funeral arrangements for McCain.
During Wednesday’s "Special Report" All-Star” panel, Thiessen — along with former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile and Washington Examiner chief congressional correspondent Susan Ferrechio — weighed in on Trump’s handling of his constant attacks against the late senator.
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Thiessen began by expressing he understands why Trump disliked McCain and there are “legitimate grievances,” but the president isn’t “hurting” the senator since he’s dead and that he’s only “hurting himself” because he’s “stepping on his own story” regarding the strong economy.
“There are millions of people in this country who are benefiting from the Trump economy who have jobs and opportunity and better lives because of this and they like Trump’s policies but they don’t like him because of things like this,” Thiessen said. “The reason why he’s in the low 40s approval instead of above 50 is persuadable voters look at this and say, ‘I don’t want to support a guy that goes after a dead war hero.’”
Ferrechio noted the “big back story” has shown that Trump and McCain have “not liked each other for a long time,” highlighting traded jabs during the 2016 election and McCain’s involvement in the Steele dossier that helped catapult the Russia investigation. She agreed with Thiessen, adding that because of the “complicated” back story, the general public just sees Trump going after a war hero.
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Meanwhile, Brazile slammed Trump’s “tirade” against McCain, telling the panel that she learned as a child to “not speak ill of the dead.”
“John McCain leaves a legacy, a legacy of service, he leaves a legacy of sacrifice,” Brazile said. “John McCain should be honored for his service, but the criticism … That’s beneath the office of the presidency.”
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The strong bond between President Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro can be traced to the values they share, Washington Free Beacon editor-in-chief Matthew Continetti said Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Trump offered a warm welcome to Bolsonaro in a White House meeting that not only heavily focused on the self-destruction of Venezuela but also on Trump floating the idea of Brazil joining NATO.
During Tuesday’s "Special Report" All-Star panel, Continetti — along with Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York and Cook Political Report national editor Amy Walter — weighed on Trump’s alliance with Bolsonaro and their joint news conference.
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York began by pointing out that Trump many have “adlibbed” about Brazil’s inclusion into NATO since his national security advisor John Bolton dismissed the idea ours after the press conference, but expressed hope that their alliance can still make an impact in Venezuela.
Walter told the panel that Bolsonaro is one of the very few world leaders where Trump sees “eye-to-eye” regarding how government works and “fake news” and it shows that Trump “has allies around the world who are willing to stand side-by-side with him.”
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Meanwhile, Continetti insisted that both Trump and Bolsonaro have “one of the most important relationships” in the world.
“They both represent a new model of leadership for democracies and that is they’re both nationalists, they’re both anti-elitists, they’re both socially conservative and you can tell by Bolsonaro’s rhetoric that his voters are very similar to many of Trump’s voters and what they care about and what they believe, and they’re also capitalists,” Continetti told the panel. “So socialism became an issue in this press conference as well. Trump once again framing the 2020 debate in terms of socialism versus capitalism. This is an argument that Bolsonaro can understand as well as Trump.”
Source: Fox News Politics
The Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway and Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen butted heads during the Special Report “All-Star” panel over President Donald Trump’s response to the anti-Muslim shootings that took place in New Zealand last week.
On Friday, President Trump expressed his condolences on Twitter for the 49 people who were shot in mosques by a white nationalist, but later dismissed the idea to reporters that white nationalism was “on the rise.”
Thiessen began by calling the efforts made by Democrats and the media to link Trump to the terror attack “absurd,” but insisted that he’s “vulnerable” to such criticism because he hasn’t “definitively rejected the alt-right” in the U.S.
Hemingway interjected, telling Thiessen what he said was “not true” and pointed to Trump’s remarks after Charlottesville where he said, “I am not talking about neo-Nazis and white nationalist because they should be condemned totally,” something she noted was from the same event as his “both sides” comments.
“When he condemns people by name, it doesn’t get mentioned and that is something that the media has done a very bad job at telling the truth on,” Hemingway said to Thiessen.
The Washington Post columnist doubled down, saying that the alt-right is “claiming” the president compared his failure to condemn them to House Democrats’ recent failure to only condemn anti-Semitism amid the controversy surrounding Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
“We are all responsible for policing our own movements and Donald Trump has not effectively done that when it comes to the alt-right,” Thiessen told the panel.
Hemingway called it “frustrating” when Trump’s condemnation of neo-Nazis and white supremacists go unacknowledged and stressed how the shooter said in his manifesto that he wanted to get the media to have these conversations to “blame certain people for what he did.”
“The fact that this is the nature of the conversation we’re having right now when there is this attack, we should be talking about the people who were murdered and the victims and what they have gone through,” Hemmingway added.
Meanwhile, NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson pointed to how conservatives “rightly” pushed Democrats and President Barack Obama to call out Islamic terrorism and that “for the same reason,” President Trump should be calling out and rejecting white supremacy “by its name.”
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President Trump condemned Friday’s massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand, but National Journal politics editor Josh Kraushaar suggested that the president go beyond the remarks he gave at the White House.
The shootings at two mosques left at least 49 dead and dozens more injured. At the White House, Trump called the attack “evil,” but said he didn’t believe that white supremacy violence was on the rise, and said such acts were perpetrated by only a small group of people.
Still, many Democrats and members of the mainstream media have been linking Trump to the terrorist attack and pointing to his past rhetoric, which the critics contend was motivation for the shooting suspect, who referred to the president in his manifesto.
During Friday’s "Special Report" All-Star panel, Kraushaar — along with Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen and the Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway — weighed in on the fallout of the New Zealand attack and the president’s response.
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Thiessen began by knocking the left’s “reflex” action of blaming Trump and guns after every mass shooting. He noted the hypocrisy of the left, which refused to connect Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to the Alexandria, Va., shooting of U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., at the hands of a former Sanders campaign worker.
“If you want to find someone to blame," Thiessen said, "social media is a good place to start. Social media is the accelerant that allows these things to happen."
He then recounted how the New Zealand suspect allegedly live-streamed the attack on Facebook, shared it on YouTube, and engaged with other white nationalists on platforms like Reddit and Twitter.
Kraushaar agreed with Thiessen on the significance of social media in such attacks, but insisted that President Trump could have more forcefully denounced such violence.
“It would be a welcome gesture for President Trump not just to respond in the Oval Office but to give a speech condemning anti-Muslim bigotry and really giving a message from the White House to the rest of the world that this type of rhetoric that inspired this white supremacist killer is absolutely unacceptable,” Kraushaar said.
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Meanwhile, Hemingway urged everyone in the media not to “highlight” the killers of these attacks but to focus on the victims instead. She also cautioned against spreading news about the manifesto, saying it could potentially sow divisions among Americans.
“Responsible media outlets should make sure that they’re careful about how they talk about it so that these acts of hatred don’t further spread,” Hemingway said. “Sometimes downplaying the significance of what the hater believed can be helpful and just focusing people on loving one another and not letting these acts of evil overcome.”
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The 12 Senate Republicans who joined Democrats on Thursday in blocking President Trump’s national emergency declaration might not be able to override what’s expected to be Trump’s first veto since taking office, but their show of opposition to the president remains significant, Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York argued.
The president’s call for action at the U.S.-Mexico border went down in defeat, 59-41, as Republicans senators including Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Susan Collins and Mitt Romney said no to a plan that included spending about $8 billion on a border wall.
During Thursday’s "Special Report" All-Star panel, York — along with USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page and Washington Free Beacon editor-in-chief Matthew Continetti — weighed in on the fallout from the vote and what’s next for Trump’s proposal.
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York began by telling the panel that the White House feels “very confident” that Trump’s declaration will be upheld by the Supreme Court. He then pointed to the 12 Republican defectors who thought the declaration was an executive overreach.
“That is the biggest rejection, the biggest Republican rejection we’ve seen of the president so far in this presidency. That is a big deal even if the veto can’t be overturned,” York told the panel.
“That is the biggest rejection … we’ve seen of the president so far in this presidency. That is a big deal even if the veto can’t be overturned.”
York added that the border-wall construction can “go ahead” based on funding that has already been appropriated by Congress.
Page pointed out that of the 10 Republicans who are up for reelection in 2020, only one — Collins of Maine — voted against Trump, and that Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who wrote an op-ed opposing the declaration, ultimately “flipped” and voted with the president.
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Meanwhile, Continetti said “two issues” were taking place, one being the crisis at the southern border due to an influx of migrants and the other being whether President Trump has the constitutional authority to reallocate funds approved by the Congress.
“What I don’t understand are the Democrats, who deny the existence on the border, but at the same time hope that the courts uphold Trump’s effort to declare an emergency because they want to use the powers themselves for climate change and/or gun control," Continetti said. "That is being intellectually dishonest."
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If former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is being held accountable for the laws he has broken, he’s got plenty of company in Washington, D.C., Real Clear Politics founder Tom Bevan argued Wednesday evening.
Manafort is now facing more than seven years in prison for crimes he committed before joining Donald Trump’s presidential campaign as well as for crimes he committed during the Russia investigation. His legal troubles are far from over as he has now been indicted on an additional 16 counts in New York state.
During Thursday’s "Special Report" All-Star panel, Bevan — along with national security analyst Morgan Ortagus and Georgetown Institute of Politic executive director Mo Elleithee — weighed in on the Manafort sentencing as well as the latest developments from former FBI lawyer Lisa Page’s congressional testimony.
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Bevan began by making it clear that “nobody is going to shed a tear” for a “corrupt guy” like Manafort. That being said, he insisted that if Manafort was being punished for his crimes, then plenty of others should be as well.
“If the standard is now, ‘We’re going to prosecute for FERA violations and we’re going to drain the swamp,’ let’s do it because there are another fifty or a hundred Paul Manaforts doing the exact same thing. So if that’s the standard, let’s go ahead and drain the swamp,” Bevan told the panel.
Elleithee warned about the consequences of President Trump possibly pardoning Manafort, saying that at minimum the “optics look bad” and noting that Trump cannot shield Manafort from the state-level charges against him.
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Meanwhile, Ortagus noted Lisa Page’s significant role in revealing what happened in the Department of Justice during its handling of the Clinton email investigation as well as the early stages of the Russia probe. Testimony shared by the House Judiciary Committee shows that Page confirmed to lawmakers that the Justice Department instructed the FBI not to pursue charges of “gross negligence” against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“When the story, the history is written about all of this, Lisa Page is going to be such a fascinating and integral character in this,” Ortagus said. “I mean, look at all the number of people — Comey, McCabe, Strzok — all of these people she’s given congressional testimony to counter them, to contradict them and they are all in trouble, multiple times over. … So pay attention to Lisa Page. She’s taking down some of the biggest names in the FBI.”
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The scandal that’s rocking the higher education system is really about questioning the legitimacy of “elites” in this country, Washington Free Beacon editor-in-chief Matthew Continetti argued Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, law enforcement officials announced that 50 individuals had been indicted as part of a nationwide scheme involving wealthy parents committing fraud in order to get their children into prestigious universities. Among those indicted were TV actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin.
During Tuesday’s "Special Report" All-Star panel, Continetti — along with Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway and Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason — weighed in on the massive controversy.
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Continetti began by insisting that “elites” of all stripes “bend the rules in their favor” by using their money and connections.
“This scandal just shows another sphere of American life where elites have betrayed our country’s institutions and indeed, our country’s people,” Continetti said.
“This scandal just shows another sphere of American life where elites have betrayed our country’s institutions and indeed, our country’s people.”
He explained that the suspects may have gone to great lengths such as bribery to get their kids enrolled in top universities because a degree from such institutions can earn graduates “exponentially” higher salaries.
“We need to think about how our economy is structured so that this wage premium isn’t so slanted toward college degree holders,” Continetti added.
Hemingway called the allegations “stunning,” but predicted that the scandal “will lead to major changes” in how college admissions are operated similarly to how other industries have been reformed in recent years.
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Meanwhile, Mason called the controversy “very sad” because of the “lesson” the parents were allegedly teaching to their children.
“They’re teaching their children that it’s OK to lie and that it’s OK to cheat. And it’s incredibly sad,” Mason told the panel.
Source: Fox News Politics
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