Dear listeners,
Newly minted interim US Attorney Lindsey Halligan had to race against the clock to get James Comey indicted ahead of a statute of limitations. She brought three charges to a grand jury and was no-billed on one. The true bills she got on the other two were by votes of 14-9 — unusually weak. But an indictment is an indictment, right? Maybe not. As Ken and I discuss, Comey’s attorneys are likely to seek information about her performance before the grand jury, looking for possible reasons to seek dismissal of the indictments. Conservative legal commentator Ed Whelan even suggests Halligan hasn’t been properly appointed to the interim job — another basis on which Comey could seek to have his indictment thrown out. Federal courts often move at a snail’s pace, but developments here may be relatively quick. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, we have some more detail on how the FBI came to be conducting a public corruption investigation into Tom Homan when he wasn’t even a public official. According to MSNBC, an associate of Homan’s — Julian “Jace” Calderas — suggested repeatedly to undercover FBI agents that they might try giving him cash in exchange for future government contracts. Sometimes, if something interesting like that falls in the FBI’s lap, they’ll just feel inclined enough to pursue it. By the way, when MSNBC got Calderas on the phone, he said “I know nothing about this… If this is the case, I’m going to need to talk to my lawyer.” Remember, your right to remain silent doesn’t just apply to questioning from the police — it also applies to the media.
That — plus a discussion of Jeanine Pirro’s unusual use of a local grand jury to obtain a federal indictment in Washington D.C. — is this week’s free show. For paid subscribers, we also discuss:
The Trump administration’s novel use of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act — which also protects access to houses of worship, not just to abortion clinics — to sue pro-Palestinian activists who ended up in a brawl outside a New Jersey synagogue;
Judge William Young’s righteously angry ruling holding that the Trump administration has violated immigrants’ First Amendment rights by revoking their visas over their protest activity;
Google’s high-dollar settlement of a case about YouTube that Donald Trump already lost, which will be used to finance the grand new ballroom at the White House;
Smartmatic’s partial summary judgment win against Mike Lindell over his stolen election claims; and
Harvard’s countersuit against former Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino, whom they de-tenured over research fraud, most famously including a fraudulent paper about dishonesty.
We hope you enjoy the episode,
Josh
