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Russian Election Interference Demands A Special Prosecutor

Russian Election Interference Demands A Special Prosecutor

President Donald J. Trump has repeatedly claimed that Hillary Clinton’s supporters committed massive voter fraud and that he would have won the popular vote, in addition to the Electoral College, if there had not been a well-organized campaign to cast illegal ballots.

That’s a lie. There is not one scintilla of evidence to suggest that Clinton’s popular vote victory — she garnered nearly 3 million more votes nationwide than Trump — was the result of illicit activity.

As usual, Trump has turned the truth on its head. Any illegal activity associated with the last presidential election was committed by the foreign power with which Trump is so peculiarly aligned: Russia. Here’s what is true: A well-organized and illicit offensive to influence the election did take place, and Trump was its beneficiary.

This may easily be the worst scandal in American political history, and it demands the appointment of a special prosecutor. The involvement of a foreign power in a presidential election — perhaps with the complicity of American citizens — is deeply disturbing and clearly dangerous, a threat to the republic. It is certainly far worse than anything Bill Clinton did with Monica Lewinsky.

Yet, leading Republicans, who have previously been skeptical of Russia and critical of its authoritarian leader, Vladimir Putin, see nothing amiss. While a few, such as Arizona Sen. John McCain, have called for an independent investigation of Russian interference in the election, most are minimizing it. Indeed, on Thursday, U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, GOP chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, issued a not-so-veiled threat to reporters who insisted on asking questions: “Do you want us to conduct an investigation on you or other Americans because you were talking to the Russian Embassy?”

Then there is Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has sold himself to the public as a stickler for the letter of the law. He lied to Congress about his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the campaign, when he was already acting as a Trump surrogate. That should not only disqualify him from overseeing an investigation into Russian involvement in the election, but it should also force him from office.

Certainly, we are in a hyper-partisan age. But does that mean partisans set aside every principle they ever held dear and watch democratic norms be destroyed just to protect a president from their party? Are institutional checks and balances meaningless?

Denials notwithstanding, it is apparent that Putin, a ruthless dictator who should be considered an enemy of American interests, approved a shrewd cyber campaign that leaked private emails and documents linked to Clinton, dribbling them out so that they dominated several news cycles.

While the revelations were hardly damning, they were controversial enough to suck the oxygen out of Clinton’s efforts to convey an effective message. In other words, Clinton had difficulty getting reporters to talk about her plans for, say, a higher minimum wage when they were breathlessly discussing infighting among Clinton’s aides.

And there are strong intimations that Putin’s government did not act in a vacuum. While we don’t yet know whether there was coordination between Trump’s campaign and the Russians — that’s why a special prosecutor is necessary — it looks as though several of Trump’s allies and campaign surrogates met with Russians here and abroad. (That is odd enough to raise several bright red flags.)

According to the New York Times, U.S. intelligence agencies have amassed reams of evidence documenting those contacts. The Times says the Obama administration worked hard to get that evidence compiled before Trump’s inauguration, fearing that his administration might try to hide or destroy it.

Already, one Trump aide, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, has been forced to resign because he lied about possibly illicit conversations with Russian officials. There’s no telling how many of Trump’s aides were ultimately involved or how close to treason they went.

We will find out sooner or later. This is such a grotesque and wide-ranging perversion of democratic principles and basic national security standards that journalists will continue to ask probing questions and intelligence operatives will continue to leak what they know.

The only question is whether the United States, as we know it, will still be standing when all is revealed.

Cynthia Tucker won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2007. She can be reached at cynthia@cynthiatucker.com.

IMAGE: Donald Trump sits with U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, U.S., October 7, 2016.  REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

Ferguson Protests Subdued And Smaller As National Guard Pulls Out

Ferguson Protests Subdued And Smaller As National Guard Pulls Out

By Kurtis Lee, Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times

FERGUSON, Mo. — As Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon ordered the National Guard to begin withdrawing from this St. Louis suburb Thursday, the persistent protests over the police killing of Michael Brown appeared smaller and much more subdued for the second night in a row.

About 75 demonstrators marched along West Florissant Avenue, at times posing for TV cameras and journalists. For a while, they were joined by State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, who is in charge of the police response, and by U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO).

“We’ll look forward to another nice and calm night of protests,” Johnson said.

McCaskill joined the demonstrators for about half an hour. Asked whether the governor should remove St. Louis County Prosecuting Atty. Robert McCulloch from the case, as some have urged, she did not answer directly.

“He certainly has the power,” said McCaskill, a former prosecutor herself. “I understand there’s a perception out there that he (McCulloch) will not be fair. The governor has the power to remove him, and he should make a clear decision.”

Nixon issued a somewhat ambiguous statement on the subject this week, but told MSNBC Thursday night that he would not remove McCulloch and appoint a special prosecutor.

Brown’s Aug. 9 shooting by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson touched off nearly two weeks of clashes in this racially polarized St. Louis suburb. Wilson is white, and Brown was black.

The Guard was deployed in Ferguson on Monday, but its role was low-key, protecting the police command center and monitoring the protests. By Wednesday night, the number of demonstrators had dwindled and the intersection of Ferguson and West Florissant avenues, epicenter of the unrest, had calmed.

Nixon said in a statement that the situation had “greatly improved, with fewer incidents of outside instigators interfering with peaceful protesters, and fewer acts of violence.”

Also Thursday, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. indicated that the Justice Department may broaden its review of Brown’s death to investigate other allegations of police abuses in Ferguson.

“We have been working, I think, very diligently out there,” said Holder, who spent Wednesday in Ferguson. “I got a briefing from the FBI agents and the prosecutors who are involved in this case, and I think significant progress has been made.”

Asked if the Justice Department will broaden the Brown investigation to conduct a more thorough review of police practices in Ferguson, Holder said the department had “a number of tools” it can use in police misconduct cases.

“I’ll just say at this point that we are keeping all of our options open,” he said.

Other potential abuse cases in Ferguson include a September 2011 incident in which a mentally disturbed man died after being tased by officers, and another case in 2009, when a man was allegedly beaten by four officers, then charged with damaging government property because he bled on their uniforms.

Wilson had stopped Brown and a friend because they were walking down the middle of the street, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson has said. Police say Brown pushed Wilson back into his patrol car as he tried to get out of it, they struggled, and Wilson’s gun went off inside the car. Then Brown ran, witnesses say, and Wilson got out and opened fire. Wilson reportedly has said Brown rushed at him. Jackson has said that Wilson’s face was swollen from injuries suffered during the altercation with Brown.

Brown’s parents told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Thursday that they had no confidence in any investigation into their son’s death until they met with Holder on Wednesday.

“He made me feel like one day … (investigative agencies) will regain my trust,” said Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden.

Michael Brown Sr. said that if the family is to find justice, Wilson must go to jail.

“He has his life,” Brown said. “Our son is gone.”

Since Holder took office in 2009, the Justice Department has given high priority to cases alleging abuse against large police departments around the nation, with several departments placed under federal oversight.

Federal prosecutors have won 16 settlements or federal court orders and have an additional 33 cases underway.

Last month, the federal government placed a monitor over the Newark, N.J., Police Department, which has faced brutality and discrimination complaints.

Also Thursday, the St. Louis County Police Department released statistics on arrests the agency made from 11:30 p.m. Aug. 10 through 12:30 a.m. Thursday. In all, the department arrested 204 people, the vast majority from the greater St. Louis area. Nine live in Ferguson, and 34 are from out of state. The data did not include arrests by the Ferguson Police Department.

Back on the streets Thursday night, the atmosphere remained calm.

“It’s peaceful, and that’s one thing to be happy about,” said Caitlin Fair, a graduate student from New Jersey, who came to Missouri on Monday to join the protests. “Justice still must be served.”

Another protester, Mikael Ross of neighboring Jennings, Mo., said the demonstrations were not over.

“We’ll keep showing up, even if it’s just me,” Ross said.

Lee and Hennessy-Fiske reported from Ferguson, Serrano from Washington. Times staff writer James Queally in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

AFP Photo/Joshua Lott

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Missouri Governor Jay Nixon Not Ready To Call Special Prosecutor

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon Not Ready To Call Special Prosecutor

By Kevin McDermott, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS — Even as a St. Louis County grand jury prepares to open its examination of Michael Brown’s death, a rising chorus is demanding that the county’s controversial elected prosecutor step aside and let a special prosecutor handle it.

But Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon isn’t ready to join that chorus.

Nixon said Tuesday he doesn’t intend to ask County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch to step aside from the case amid criticism that McCulloch will be biased in favor of the police officer who shot Brown.

“You have a democratically elected prosecutor,” Nixon said in an interview with the Post-Dispatch on Tuesday afternoon. “At times of stress to democracy, you need to look at the process that has served our state and country well.

“If he thinks that he wants to do that, certainly. That’s his call.”

Nixon later released a statement defending that decision on grounds that switching prosecutors now could endanger any future prosecution in the case.

“There is a well-established process by which a prosecutor can recuse themselves from a pending investigation, and a special prosecutor be appointed,” Nixon said in the statement. “Departing from this established process could unnecessarily inject legal uncertainty into this matter and potentially jeopardize the prosecution.”

McCulloch is from a family with deep roots in police culture, including his late father, a police officer who was killed in the line of duty by an African-American suspect.

In both his prosecutorial decisions and public comments, critics say, he has shown a clear bias toward police in cases where officers’ actions are in question.

Among McCulloch’s recent controversial statements was searing criticism of Nixon himself, for his decision last week to put the Missouri Highway Patrol in charge of security in Ferguson, after local and county police were accused of being overly aggressive with protesters.

“It’s shameful what he did today, he had no legal authority to do that,” McCulloch said of Nixon at the time. “To denigrate the men and women of the county police department is shameful.”

Among McCulloch’s critics is Missouri state Senator Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis), who has led a petition drive that has gathered 26,000 signatures demanding McCulloch’s removal.

“He doesn’t have the fortitude to do the right thing when it comes to prosecuting police officers,” Nasheed told CNN in an interview that aired Tuesday. “His cousin is a police officer. His mother works for the police department. His uncle is a police officer, and, again, we think that his judgment will be clogged as a result of all of those occurrences.”

Among other African-American leaders taking that stance are U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis), and St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley.

Dooley on Tuesday accused McCulloch of “a history of insensitivity to the African-American community.”

“He’s the wrong person to be prosecuting this,” Dooley said in an interview with the Post-Dispatch. “He’s the wrong person at the wrong time. The African-American community has no confidence in him getting justice for the African-American community or for the Brown family.”

Dooley acknowledged that “Mr. McColloch and I do not get along.” The animosity was stirred, in part, by the prosecuting attorney’s endorsement of Councilman Steve Stenger in the August 5 Democratic primary that signaled the end of Dooley’s 11-year tenure as county executive. McCulloch, who had backed Dooley in three previous bids for re-election, broke with the incumbent over what he termed “corruption” in televised commercials on behalf of Stenger’s candidacy.

McCulloch couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday evening. But he acknowledged in an interview with KMOX Radio that Nixon could remove him from the case.

“I certainly have no intention of walking away from the responsibilities that the people have entrusted me with, but I also understand if the governor were to do that, he has that right.”

Brown, 18, was shot and killed August 9 by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, after a confrontation. An autopsy concluded he was shot six times.

There has been no dispute about the fact that Brown was unarmed, nor that it was Wilson who shot and killed him. But witnesses have given conflicting accounts of whether Brown at the time was struggling with Wilson, or was trying to surrender.

That’s a question that’s currently under scrutiny by twin local and federal investigations. McCulloch’s office will present evidence to the standing St. Louis County grand jury beginning Wednesday.

“We are going to attempt to start giving evidence to the grand jury (Wednesday), depending upon the ability to get the witnesses in and the witnesses showing up,” said Ed Magee, spokesman for McCulloch.

McGee said the case “will be handled by the attorney regularly assigned to the grand jury” rather than McCulloch himself. However, McCulloch, as the county prosecuting attorney, is ultimately in charge of it — unless he were to recuse himself.

Among other points in Nixon’s interview with the Post-Dispatch Tuesday:

-Nixon said he talked with President Barack Obama Monday, and that Obama pressed him about his decision to bring in the Missouri National Guard, though he didn’t actively discourage it. “He asked what were the rules of engagement, and what the thought process was.”

“He understands,” Nixon added. “Here’s a fellow who’s had to order bombs dropped on Iraq. … I think he certainly understood my reasoning.”

-He credited the protesters with “forcing all policy makers” in America to focus on issues like race, poverty and police relationships with communities. He stressed that he believes most of the violence in Ferguson has been instigated by “violent criminals” coming in from outside the community, he and said he defines them completely differently from the local protesters.

-He acknowledged he is worried that the violence could intensify depending on what happens in the shooting investigation. “I think all of us see a tinderbox of emotion and energy out there.”

-He brushed aside criticism that his handling of issue has been inconsistent and ineffective. “If you’re catching a lot of flak, it means you’re over the target.”

-He expressed pride in the fact there there have been no further fatalities “since the horrific death of an 18-year-old shot in the street,” and he credited police restraint and the non-violent elements within the protesters for avoiding further fatalities.

Photo: GovernorJayNixon via Flickr

Special Prosecutor Confirms An FBI Investigation Related To 9/11 Case

Special Prosecutor Confirms An FBI Investigation Related To 9/11 Case

By Carol Rosenberg, The Miami Herald

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — The FBI is indeed investigating something related to the Sept. 11 case, but it’s not the release of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed’s commentary to The Huffington Post, a special war-court prosecutor wrote a military judge Monday.

U.S. Attorney Fernando Campoamor-Sanchez added in a nine-page filing provided to the Miami Herald by the U.S. Department of Justice, that the government specifically kept Sept. 11 trial prosecutors in the dark about what he calls a “preliminary investigation.”

“The FBI Preliminary Investigation does not pertain to the disclosure of Mr. Mohammed’s written communications to third parties,” Campoamor-Sanchez wrote Army Col. James L. Pohl in the notice that seeks 30 additional days to flesh out more details.

The filing does not make clear what the FBI is investigating. Instead, Campoamor-Sanchez wrote, he gave the judge a second, classified document to describe “the nature of the actual FBI Preliminary Investigation being conducted.” Neither the defense attorneys nor the case prosecutors can read it.

Any wider disclosure, he wrote, would “jeopardize an ongoing FBI criminal investigation.”

The murky issue stalled preparations for a Sept. 11 trial during hearings last week after a defense attorney for accused 9/11 plotter Ramzi bin al-Shibh announced that two FBI agents surreptitiously questioned a classification specialist assigned to his team.

The FBI agents were asking questions about some of the Sept. 11 defense attorneys, including how the Huffington Post got a copy of Mohammed’s unclassified 36-page “Invitation to Happiness” — musings by the self-described former al-Qaida chief of operations on American culture. The agents also asked the bin al-Shibh defense team member to sign a nondisclosure agreement with the FBI, which defense lawyers cast as a bid to enlist him as a confidential informant.

Defense lawyers, who already work under a strict security regime because their clients were previously interrogated by the CIA, protested to the judge that FBI was apparently spying on their work. Such behavior, they argued, could create a conflict-of-interest if not a chilling effect as they prepare for the death-penalty prosecution of Mohammed and four alleged accomplices related to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon.

Judge Pohl adjourned the proceedings until June to probe the possible conflict, as well as whether defense team strategy has been compromised.

Defense lawyers want the judge to question a tribunal prosecutor who was absent from last week’s proceedings, Joanna Baltes, who recently left the Justice Department’s counterterrorism section for work as chief of staff in the office of the FBI’s deputy director. Baltes is still a member of the Sept. 11 prosecution team but has skipped several hearings.

As a first step, Campoamor-Sanchez advised the judge that the FBI kept 9/11 prosecutors in the dark about the ongoing probe.

“There is nothing to indicate thus far that any documents or information collected from the FBI’s Preliminary Investigation have been shared with the Prosecution Team,” he wrote.

In a footnote Campoamor-Sanchez defines the trigger for an FBI preliminary investigation: “Any ‘allegation or information’ indicative of possible criminal activity or threats to the national security.”

Defense attorney Jim Harrington said that the filing raised new questions about whether a conflict exists.

“We can’t know that until we know what’s been alleged to have been done by somebody,” he said Monday after the filing was released. “Maybe it turns out to be nothing and there is no conflict.”

Harrington is bin al-Shibh’s civilian lawyer. The FBI questioned his team’s classification specialist, a Pentagon contractor.

Now with Mohammed’s “Invitation to Happiness” commentary no longer at issue, said Harrington, a seasoned criminal defense attorney from Buffalo, the Sept. 11 defense teams were “back to the drawing board” and “wondering what the investigation is about.”

One scenario raised by some 9/11 defense attorneys last week, two years after the case began with arraignment, is that some might have to step down and be replaced if they feel threatened by the investigation.

Either way, the judge authorized the Chief Defense Counsel, Air Force Col. Karen Mayberry, to assign two new lawyers to bin al-Shibh and Mohammed to advise them on the legal implications of the possible conflict.

The federal prosecutor noted in his filing that, if investigators are reading privileged communications between the former CIA captives and their American military and civilian lawyers, there’s a system in place to do it secretly — so case prosecutors won’t learn trial strategy.

Photo: o.maloteau via Flickr