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According to legal analyst Danny Cevallos, before any criminal investigation is begun into charges that the Department of Justice was secretly investigating Democratic lawmakers during the Donald Trump administration, the DOJ needs to come clean over how extensive it was and if members of both parties received the same treatment.
With charges of political corruption being levied against attorneys general Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr -- both of whom have denied any knowledge of the demand for phone records of two lawmakers who have thorns in the side of ex-president Trump -- Cevallos claimed there is one big question hanging over the ongoing inquiry.
Noting that one of the targeted lawmakers, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has called the report of seeking phone records a "terrible abuse of power," Cevallos suggested, "The investigation really needs to answer only one question: Were Republicans targeted as well? That's it. It's the only question that really matters."
Making his case, the legal analyst stated the inclusion of Republicans would indicate that the former president was weaponizing the DOJ to go after his political enemies on both sides of the aisle and not just going after two lawmakers he truly believed were leaking information.
"If Republicans were also targeted, then this could still have been a purely political investigation, depending on other facts. But if Republicans were not targeted, then that should be the end of the inquiry, at least as far as the public is concerned. If Trump's DOJ targeted only Democratic lawmakers, that's a politically motivated investigation—even if there is some arguable criminal activity afoot," Cevallos wrote for the Daily Beast. "Perhaps confusingly, even if the investigation was politically motivated, it is legally valid so long as there is at least probable cause that a crime was committed. The Supreme Court has suggested since at least 1996 that an investigation motivated by a bad reason is not invalidated if there is substantial evidence of an objective violation of the law."
Clarifying his point, he added, "It follows that Trump's DOJ could legally justify their investigation of only Democrats if they have enough evidence of criminal leaks by Democrats. In fact, even if the DOJ had evidence of Democrats and Republicans alike committing criminal leaks, the DOJ would technically, legally be permitted to choose to investigate only Democrats. There's not much to stop a politically motivated Attorney General who sees criminal activity from two parties choosing to only investigate one of them."
He added that the "Justice Department's Inspector General has announced an investigation into the subpoenas and the reasons they were issued," which is a good thing since it presumably precludes political influence, and urged the IG to clear up how far-reaching the DOJ's investigation into lawmakers went before any hearings or criminal investigations open.
You can read more here.
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When former President Donald Trump endorsed Gov. Greg Abbott for reelection last week, it was a boon to a governor who, by all appearances, has been working assiduously to neutralize any problems he may have in his next Republican primary.
But one line from Trump's statement in particular may have been the sweetest victory to Abbott.
"No Governor has done more to secure the Border," Trump proclaimed.
That is because there is no issue that Abbott has been more openly focused on this year — and competition has been stiff. There has been the coronavirus pandemic, the winter weather crisis and a host of Republican priorities at the state Capitol, including the elections bill that Democrats killed last month and Abbott has promised to revive in a yet-to-be-called special session.
Abbott's intense concentration on the border reached an apex Thursday evening, when he traveled to Del Rio to make several announcements related to border security — including that Texans would soon build its own border wall. He offered no details beyond that a plan would come next week, and many questions remain about where he'd get the money, land and authority to take such a drastic action. But the context was clear: Abbott is maneuvering to establish himself as a national Republican leader on border security — and the top foil to President Joe Biden on the issue.
Politically, the focus also comes as Abbott faces an electorate persistently worried about the border, a contested 2022 primary for reelection and the lead-up to a 2024 presidential race from which he still has not removed himself from consideration.
The border security summit that Abbott held in Del Rio capped months of ramped-up activity by the governor on the border. He fought with the Biden administration in March about letting in migrants with coronavirus. He ratcheted up the state law enforcement presence on the border through an initiative known as Operation Lone Star. He asked border-area counties to provide estimates of the financial stress they are under so he can request federal reimbursement. He called for the closure of San Antonio migrant shelter over what he said were complaints of child abuse.
Earlier this month, he ordered the state to revoke licenses issued to shelters that house unaccompanied migrant kids, drawing a threat of legal action from the Biden administration.
Abbott has sharply blamed Biden every step of the way, taking him to task for doing things like pausing border wall construction and ordering a review of the Trump administration's Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the "remain in Mexico" policy, which requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until their hearings in U.S. immigration courts.
The number of people stopped by federal law enforcement at or near the border for trying to enter the country illegally has climbed sharply in the first year of Biden's term. The number reached 180,000 in May, which was the highest in more than two decades.
Democrats say Abbott is being hypocritical after not being nearly as outspoken about border problems under Trump.
"He did not seem too concerned about the border when Donald Trump was putting kids in cages and separating families and just doing the horrible things he did," said Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the state Democratic Party. "Given the great Christian man that he claims to be, he never cared one iota about the suffering that these children were going through, and that's just terrible."
In between all the border-related announcements, Abbott has become a more regular presence than ever on Fox News and other conservative outlets. After the border security summit, Abbott did an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham from the same stage at the Del Rio Civic Center.
In the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, conducted in mid-April, border security and immigration reigned supreme as the top concerns for Texans. Thirty-seven percent of voters picked them as the leading problems facing the state today. Among Republicans, the number was 65%, and no other issue came close. (Coronavirus got 3%.)
"It shouldn't surprise anyone that Greg Abbott is a border security hawk," said John Wittman, a former longtime spokesperson for the governor. "He ran on this in 2014 … and has continued to follow through on this."
Wittman argued Abbott was not playing politics but "being responsive to the current situation" under Biden.
Of course, Abbott's critics in both parties see it differently. Abbott primary challenger Don Huffines has been campaigning on Texas building its own border wall, and in a cheeky statement after Abbott's border security summit, Huffines thanked the governor for "joining my campaign."
"The wall should have been built years ago and the only reason Governor Abbott is now discussing it is because he's facing a primary challenge that threatens his political power," Huffines said in a statement for this story.
Allen West, the outgoing Texas GOP chairman who is considering challenging Abbott, also had a response to the governor Thursday evening. "Looking forward to Governor Abbott finishing the #borderwall for #Texas," West tweeted, sharing a video of him last month touring a border-wall section near El Paso.
Some of Abbott's critics inside his party noted that if he was serious about Texas finishing Trump's border wall, he could have supported legislation by state Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, to do so during the regular session earlier this year. The legislation, House Bill 2862, was referred to a committee in March but never got a hearing. In a Facebook post Thursday evening, Slaton urged Abbott to add the proposal to any special session agenda.
How competitive Abbott's 2022 primary will be remains to be seen, especially after Trump's endorsement. But it is hard to dispute that Abbott this year has been acting like an elected official acutely concerned with his right flank — not just due to his border security fixation, but also his embrace of hard-right legislative priorities like the permitless carry of handguns in which he had previously shown little interest.
Bryan Snyder is the chairman of the Republican Party in Maverick County, which is along the border and two counties over from where Abbott appeared for his border security summit. Snyder said the overall reaction from local Republicans to Abbott's border handling this year has been "very positive." He does not think Abbott's 2022 primary will be competitive, especially after Thursday evening.
"Honestly no, I really don't," Snyder said, "and I think this really seals the deal for him too."
Some suspect Abbott is looking beyond even 2022 with his intense focus on the border — and to a potential presidential campaign two years later. On Friday morning, the League of United Latin American Citizens issued a statement in which its president, Domingo Garcia, accused Abbott of "using refugee children as political piñatas to cynically launch his run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination."
Hinojosa said Abbott was politicizing "things that he feels will help him be in a better position to run for president."
In an interview last week, Abbott continued to keep a 2024 campaign on the table. He said he was still prioritizing issues from the regular legislative session and would only be focused on 2022 when he starts campaigning again — but did not rule out a presidential campaign after that when given the opportunity to do so.
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The US Food and Drug Administration said Friday it had told Johnson & Johnson that millions of doses of Covid vaccine produced at a troubled plant can't be used because of possible contamination issues.
In a statement, the FDA said "several" batches of vaccine manufactured at the Emergent BioSolutions facility in the city of Baltimore are not suitable for use. Each batch is known to correspond to several million doses.
Neither the agency nor J&J revealed the precise number of doses, but The New York Times placed the number at 60 million, quoting people familiar with the matter.
"These actions followed an extensive review of records, including the production history of the facility and the testing performed to evaluate the quality of the product," said FDA scientist Peter Marks.
The Emergent plant was ordered to pause production in April several weeks after it was determined that batches of substance used to produce the J&J vaccine were cross-contaminated with ingredients from the AstraZeneca vaccine, ruining a reported 15 million J&J doses.
The FDA is still deciding whether to allow the factory to reopen. Sixty million AstraZeneca doses produced there and earmarked to be donated abroad are currently being inspected for quality before they can be shipped.
All of the J&J vaccines distributed and used in the United States so far were made in the Netherlands, not in Baltimore.
On the other hand, the FDA said it was greenlighting two batches of J&J vaccine made at the plant -- that is to say, 10 million doses of the one-shot regimen, a source familiar with the matter said.
Additional J&J batches remain under review.
"Johnson & Johnson has committed to producing safe, high-quality vaccines in order to bring health and hope to people everywhere," said J&J executive vice president Kathy Wengel.
Meanwhile, Canada on Friday announced it would not distribute 300,000 doses of the J&J vaccine made at the Baltimore plant due to quality "concerns."
The country's health authorities planned to inspect the facility this summer.
"Until this inspection has been completed, Canada will not be accepting any product or ingredients made at this site," Health Canada said in a statement.
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