On Thursday, Jacob Blake was revealed to have been handcuffed to his hospital bed — even though he is already paralyzed from the waist down, and even though police refuse to disclose what they are charging him with.
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace noted that former assistant Secretary for Threat Prevention and Security Policy in the Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans, Elizabeth Neumann, abandoned her support for President Donald Trump in a Republican Voters Against Trump video this week. And in an interview with Wallace on Wednesday, she warned that she and other staff witnessed the dramatic increase in white supremacist activity at the Department of Homeland Security.
"Over the period of 2017 to 2018, we started to see that rise of white supremacists agenda. I and my leadership at the Department of Homeland Security were clear we found the ideology behind white nationalism to be a growing threat," Neumann recalled in the RVAT video. "A very common refrain I was asked was, 'Does the president's rhetoric make your job harder?' The answer is yes. The president's actions and his language are racist. Things like 'fine people on both sides' or 'send them back to where they came from.' Those words gave permission to white supremacists to think that what they were doing was permissible. I do think that the president's divisive language is indirectly tied to some of the attacks we have seen in the last two years."
John Heilemann explained that what was leaked of the president's speech at the final night of the Republican Convention is a shaming of the "unrest in Portland, Seattle, Chicago and Kenosha," which is just another way of saying Democratic cities are out of control.
There won't be "any direct addressing of what we saw on video this week," he anticipated. "We're four days into this convention. Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times on Monday. Donald Trump has not said his name in four days. Donald Trump has only talked about Kenosha and the context yesterday of sending a tweet out that said, 'We're going to send federal forces in to get control of the city of Kenosha,' in the context of the shootings that took place there. We now have a suspect in those shootings. We have a 17-year-old white kid. There's video of that kid at a Donald Trump rally in the front row in Iowa on January 30th. That kid with a long gun who lives in Illinois, traveled up to Kenosha to get in the middle of this."
He explained that the shooter is all over social media promoting "blue lives" and Trump's values.
"That kid, that white 17-year-old kid who went up there, who is a domestic terrorist, is exactly what this former Trump administration official says is making our job harder," said Heilemann. "Yes, he's giving permission to domestic terrorists. I don't know this 17-year-old kid, but you look at his social media and his profile, he looks like a white supremacist. If he's not an out front, straight-up, white supremacist, then at the very least he is a terrorist. Anybody who leaves their home drives to another state and shoots two people on the street meets the legal definition of terrorism."
He attacked Trump's silence on the issue as another version of the permission structure that allows the rage and hate to take root and act with impunity.
"Again, I withhold judgment. We have not heard the president speak tonight, but so far we're four days into this and what the president said and what he hasn't said is exactly the problem and gives exactly the kind of implicit racially, incendiary message that allows this violence to take place and encourages it," he closed. "And what that woman and many other people who have watched him over the last four years have pointed to as the problem."
See the full commentary below:
The study comes amid unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the latest high-profile police shooting of a Black man and the shooting deaths of two protesters by an alleged far-right militia member.
As law enforcement agencies and lawmakers respond to nationwide outrage over countless police shootings of Black Americans with pledges to address racial profiling and "implicit bias," the Brennan Center for Justice released a report Thursday on what it called "an especially harmful form of bias, which remains entrenched within law enforcement: explicit racism."
The presence of virulent racism within police ranks across the country has grown over the past two decades, Brennan Center fellow and former FBI special agent Michael German wrote in the report, as white supremacist and far-right militant groups have infiltrated law enforcement agencies.
"While it is widely acknowledged that racist officers subsist within police departments around the country, federal, state, and local governments are doing far too little to proactively identify them, report their behavior to prosecutors who might unwittingly rely on their testimony in criminal cases, or protect the diverse communities they are sworn to serve," wrote German. "Efforts to address systemic and implicit biases in law enforcement are unlikely to be effective in reducing the racial disparities in the criminal justice system as long as explicit racism in law enforcement continues to endure. There is ample evidence to demonstrate that it does."
According to the report, titled "Hidden in Plain Sight," police officers with alleged ties to white supremacist groups or violent far-right militias have been identified in states including Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.
The report was called "wild and timely" by attorney and writer Madiba K. Dennie, as it was released two days after police in Kenosha, Wisconsin appeared to welcome the presence of armed militias at a protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man who was left paralyzed.
As Common Dreams reported Thursday, cell phone video showed police telling armed white people that they "appreciated them being there" and handing them bottled water. One of the people in the video appeared to be a 17-year-old gunman who allegedly shot three people at the protest, killing two.
Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis blamed the victims for being at the protest after a city-wide curfew while defending the suspected gunman and other militia members for "exercising their constitutional rights."
Footage of Kenosha Sheriff David Beth saying in 2018 that Black people who shoplift are "a cancer to our society" and "have to be warehoused" also surfaced on Wednesday, sparking alarm and outrage over the official's open racism.
The ACLU on Thursday called for the immediate resignation of Beth and Miskinis.
The conduct of police in Kenosha offers only the most recent evidence that law enforcement agencies in the U.S. have sympathy for if not direct ties to far-right militias and white supremacist groups, according to German's report.
Police in states including California, Oregon, and Illinois are currently being investigated for their alleged connections to far-right groups that oppose the Black Lives Matter movement, with many law enforcement officers engaging "in overtly racist activities in public, on social media, or over law enforcement–only communication channels and internet chat rooms."
Earlier this year, an officer in Salem, Oregon was caught on video asking "heavily armed white men dressed like militia to step inside a building or sit in their cars while the police arrested protesters."
The officer said he made the request "so we don't look like we're playing favorites."
Officials in Olympia, Washington opened an investigation into an officer who posed for a photograph with a heavily armed far-right militia group called Three Percent of Washington, allegedly after the officer thanked the group for guarding a shopping center.
The Brennan Center noted that few safeguards exist at the local and federal level to root out police officers who have ties to far-right militant groups or white supremacy.
The failure to respond to evidence of explicit racism among police officers "signals to white supremacists and far-right militants that their illegal acts enjoy government approval and authorization, making them all the more brazen and dangerous. Winning back public trust requires transparent and equal enforcement of the law, effective oversight, and public accountability that prioritizes targeted communities' interests."
In addition to working to end implicit bias in policing, German wrote, agencies must establish mitigation plans when overt racism is detected in their ranks.
"Mitigation plans could include referrals to internal affairs, local prosecutors, or the DOJ for investigation and prosecution; termination or other disciplinary action; limitations of assignments to reduce potentially problematic contact with the public; retraining; and intensified supervision and auditing," German wrote.
The report also called on the FBI to determine whether its domestic terrorist investigations involving white supremacists uncover any connections to law enforcement, and whether police officers investigated for civil rights violations "have connections to violent white supremacist organizations or other far-right militant groups, have a record of discriminatory behavior, or have a history of posting explicitly racist commentary in public or on social media platforms."
"The most effective way for law enforcement agencies to restore public trust and prevent racism from influencing law enforcement actions is to prohibit individuals who are members of white supremacist groups or who have a history of explicitly racist conduct from becoming law enforcement officers in the first place, or from remaining officers once bias is demonstrated," German wrote.
During his 2016 campaign, Donald Trump promised that he would “completely isolate” himself from the Trump Organization if elected president. But the Washington Post and other media outlets have done a great deal of reporting on the many ways in which Trump’s properties — from Mar-a-Lago in South Florida to his hotels and golf resorts around the world — have profited from his presidency. Some of that reporting can be found in an article that was written by reporters David A. Fahrenthold, Josh Dawsey and Joshua Partlow and published by the Post on Thursday morning, and one of the article’s revelations is that a White House spokesman resented the Post’s investigation so much that he was willing to threaten Fahrenthold with a “dossier.”
In a written statement to the Post, the journalists report, Deere said: “The Washington Post is blatantly interfering with the business relationships of the Trump Organization, and it must stop. Please be advised that we are building up a very large ‘dossier’ on the many false David Fahrenthold and others stories as they are a disgrace to journalism and the American people.”
In that statement, Deere insisted that Trump has “turned over the day-to-day responsibilities of running the company, though he was not required to, (and) has sacrificed billions of dollars.” But Fahrenthold, Dawsey and Partlow, in their article, make it abundantly clear how much Trump’s businesses have profited from Trump’s presidency.
“Trump has now visited his own properties 270 times as president, according to a Washington Post tally — with another visit planned for Thursday, when he is scheduled to meet GOP donors at his Washington hotel,” the Post reporters explain. “Through these trips, Trump has brought the Trump Organization a stream of private revenue from federal agencies and GOP campaign groups. Federal spending records show that taxpayers have paid Trump’s businesses more than $900,000 since he took office. At least $570,000 came as a result of the president’s travel, according to a Post analysis.”
One of the Trump Organization’s profitable customers, according to Fahrenthold, Dawsey and Partlow, has been the U.S. Secret Service.
“New federal spending documents obtained by the Post via a public-records lawsuit give more detail about how the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service — a kind of captive customer, required to follow Trump everywhere,” the reporters note. “In addition to the rentals at Mar-a-Lago, the documents show that the Trump Organization charged daily ‘resort fees’ to Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Pence in Las Vegas and, in another instance, asked agents to pay a $1300 ‘furniture removal charge’ during a presidential visit to a Trump resort in Scotland.”
The Post journalists observe that Trump can cause his businesses to profit — at the expense of U.S. taxpayers — merely by setting foot in them.
“The most frequent way Trump is known to have helped his properties has been just to visit them, with the vast, big-spending presidential entourage in tow,” they explain.
Noah Bookbinder, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told the Post, “One would think that if he was trying to completely isolate himself from his businesses, he wouldn’t talk about his business — he wouldn’t promote his business, he wouldn’t go to his businesses…. (But) his businesses have been a constant presence in his presidency. No, the idea that he was going to isolate himself completely — it’s been quite the opposite.”
Americans have been on a record gun-buying spree in recent months.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and protests for racial justice, the gun industry’s trade association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, estimates that gun sales from March through July were 8.5 million. This is 94% higher the same period in 2019.
Firearms industry consultants estimate July sales alone were 2.0 million units, an increase of 136% over July 2019.
These estimates are based on the number of background checks conducted by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The FBI reported that eight of the weeks in this period are in the top 10 highest weeks since the agency began collecting data in 1998.
Gun sales typically have seasonal cycles, with more guns being sold in winter months, and increase in presidential election years and after high-profile mass shootings. However, the 2020 pandemic spurred a record-setting surge in demand for firearms.
Gun sales first spiked in March, when lockdown orders began in the U.S. The figures jumped again in June following nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd.
Our research examines American gun culture and offers insights into the complex relationship between Americans and guns. We believe there are three general reasons why people are purchasing firearms now.
A study we presented in 2019 shows that Americans feel buying a gun is a way of asserting and maintaining independence. Independence is threatened during the pandemic, when a concern for public health may curtail some individual freedoms, including the freedom to travel, operate some businesses, assemble in large groups or visit the elderly.
Gun ownership can be motivated by the belief that having guns helps to ensure freedom to do and live as one chooses, particularly for individuals concerned with protection and defense.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimates that 40% of recent gun buyers are doing so for the first time, partly driven by citizens’ perceived need to protect themselves in a period of uncertainty and civil unrest, as well as calls to defund the police.
This idea is supported by data showing that more than 99% of recent sales are handguns, which are typically used for self-defense, and by research showing that buying a gun for self-defense can be motivated by feelings that the world is generally dangerous.
Gun owners also find comfort and security in routines. This means existing gun owners may purchase additional guns in an effort to maintain a sense of normalcy.
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Another reason relates to market conditions. Governors chose to include gun retailers as “essential businesses,” allowing them to remain open during many statewide closures in March and April.
This reinforced the legitimacy of guns and gun retailers in the U.S., by strengthening perceptions of gun purchases as appropriate and necessary.
Meanwhile, gun retailers have struggled to keep firearms, ammunition and accessories in stock. When consumers face scarcity, they may experience a sense of urgency to purchase, and they may be willing to travel further, pay more or purchase a different item than they had initially sought.
Finally, guns can provide a tangible basis for social connection. Social bonding through consumption is a well-established phenomenon in consumer research.
Retailers facilitate this by serving as a social hub and providing expertise on specific products. Visiting a firearms retailer and buying a gun can also enable consumers to feel socially connected to like-minded others.
According to our research, going to shooting ranges and hunting are lower-risk activities in terms of accidental shootings. We speculate that because these activities can be done outdoors, while wearing masks and with distance between people, they may also involve lower risk for COVID-19 transmission.
Americans who haven’t joined the buying frenzy may question the use of a gun against a virus or rioters in faraway cities. During a time of crisis, citizens want to feel connected, secure and independent. For some Americans, buying guns may help them do so.
Aimee Huff, Assistant Professor, Marketing, Oregon State University and Michelle Barnhart, Associate Professor, Marketing, Oregon State University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Whatever the outcome in November — whether voters elect former Vice President Joe Biden and vote President Donald Trump out of office or give him four more years in the White House — a long list of pundits, journalists and political insiders will no doubt continue to dissect and analyze Trump’s presidency for years to come. Much of the analysis of Trump will take place from a policy standpoint, but the documentary “#Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump” mostly analyzes him from a mental health standpoint. And long-time Chicago Sun-Times film critic Richard Roeper, in an article published this week, explains why he is recommending “#Unfit.”
Roeper, despite his high opinion of the film, acknowledges that “#Unfit” is unlikely to turn Trump’s hardcore MAGA base against him.
“Some might even sit through all the arguments and watch the presentations making the case Trump is unfit and react by saying, ‘And that’s exactly why you’re all so scared of him and he’s the greatest president of all time!” Roeper writes. “Nevertheless, we are recommending ‘#Unfit’ not for any political reason — in fact, the film is not about Trump’s policies, but about his personality — but because it offers some valuable insights into Trump’s behavior.”
Roeper explains that on the whole, “#Unfit” is “about providing examples — and admittedly, very little of this is new — of Trump’s word and deeds through the decades reinforcing his belief in unfounded conspiracy theories; his utter lack of personal loyalty…. his inability to experience normal human empathy or even a hint of remorse; his sadistic and vindictive joy in getting even or seeing others fail, and his all-consuming narcissism as he processes virtually every experience through a me-first filter.”
“#Unfit” includes commentary from some mental health professionals, including psychiatrist Justin Frank and psychologist Suzanne Lachmann. But some political figures weigh in on Trump’s mental state as well in the documentary, including conservative attorney George Conway — one of Trump’s most vehement critics on the right. Although Conway has been very active in right-wing politics, he believes that Trump has been terrible for the conservative movement and is hoping that Biden will defeat him in this year’s presidential election. Conway, in fact, believes that a Biden landslide would be the best thing that could happen to conservatism in the United States.
In “#Unfit,” Conway says of Trump, “Think of what you tell your kids. You tell them to be honest, you tell them to tell the truth. You tell them, ‘Don’t think of yourself, don’t brag, don’t trash other people to make yourself feel good.’ How can you support Donald Trump? How can you support someone who essentially violates all of the things we want (our children) to follow? It makes no sense. It’s corrosive for them, it’s corrosive for you and it’s corrosive for the country.”
On Thursday, the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said that President Donald Trump's legal team is "repackaging" arguments already rejected by the Supreme Court in his latest bid to block a subpoena for his business records, according to CNN.
"Vance's office said in its filing with the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals that courts have previously rejected the claim the subpoena is overbroad and issued in bad faith," reported Erica Orden. "The office further argued that Trump has failed to 'demonstrate any irreparable harm' if the subpoena to his longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, remains enforceable and that the public interest weights [sic] against his effort to 'interrupt presumptively valid state criminal process.'"
"In short, although Appellant's claim of 'temporary absolute immunity' has been rejected at every level of the federal courts, by continuing to litigate this action he has effectively obtained temporary absolute immunity by delaying the grand jury's receipt of the evidence it seeks," wrote Vance's team in the filing. "As the district court observed, '[j]ustice requires an end to this controversy.'"
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in July that the president does not have blanket immunity from subpoenas into his records. However, the decision punted the case back to the lower court for further review, making it unlikely the matter will be resolved before the election.
Jacob Blake's father said that his paralyzed son is handcuffed to his bed, despite the fact that Blake can't stand or go anywhere. To make matters worse, Blake hasn't been charged with a crime as of yet, so his family isn't sure why he's handcuffed.
The Chicago Sun-Times explained that the Kenosha Police Department, Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office and Wisconsin Department of Justice all didn't respond to questions or give any information about the charges against Blake.
“I hate it that he was laying in that bed with the handcuff onto the bed,” his father said. “He can’t go anywhere. Why do you have him cuffed to the bed?”
Blake's father, said he hasn't heard from the police department or the mayor, but Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers reached out.
Blake, who is responsive and able to speak to his family said that he thought he was hallucinating when he saw his father in the hospital.
“I told him, ’You thought Daddy wasn’t going to see my son?’” his father recalled. “He grabbed my hand, held it real tight and started weeping, telling me how much he loved me.”
Blake said that his son's eyes were swollen but he "looked and sounded like" his son and he was alive.
“It was way more than fulfilling,” his father recalled. “It was a feeling I can’t describe.”
NBA playoff games were called off for a second straight day on Thursday following a boycott by the Milwaukee Bucks but the league is optimistic of restarting games by the weekend after players voted to continue the season.
After a day of drama inside the NBA's Orlando "bubble" on Wednesday, the fate of the season had been left hanging in the balance following the Bucks' no-show in protest at the police shooting of African American Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Sunday.
The NBA was forced to postpone all three playoff games on Wednesday following the unprecedented boycott by Milwaukee.
At a meeting involving players from all teams late Wednesday, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Los Angeles Clippers, voted to abandon the season.
However a more conciliatory mood emerged at a further players meeting early Thursday, with teams reaching agreement to continue. James and the Lakers were reportedly "on board" with the decision.
In a statement following an NBA Board of Governors meeting, the league said games could resume as early as Friday.
"NBA playoff games for today (Thursday) will not be played as scheduled," league executive vice-president Mike Bass said.
"We are hopeful to resume games either Friday or Saturday."
A video conference call, involving players from the 13 teams in Orlando along with representatives from the National Basketball Players Association, the league office and NBA Labor Relations Committee Chairman and basketball legend Michael Jordan, will be held later Thursday to discuss next steps.
- 'Hearing the pain' -
Milwaukee's dramatic boycott on Wednesday sent shockwaves around US sport, and prompted an array of other professional leagues to follow suit.
Three Major League Baseball games were called off before they were due to begin while Major League Soccer postponed five of six games taking place.
In tennis, the ATP and WTA Tours announced that Thursday's play at the Western & Southern Open in New York had been called off, with the event resuming on Friday.
The WNBA women's basketball league also postponed its slate of games on Thursday for a second day running.
Several NFL teams meanwhile also halted training camps on Thursday as they build towards the start of their new season.
"How can you hear the pain Black people are going through and dismiss it as nothing?" Cincinnati Bengals rookie quarterback Joey Burrow said on Twitter.
"How can you hear the pain and respond with anything other than 'I stand with you'?" he added.
Milwaukee's demonstration of athlete activism drew support from former US Olympic sprinter John Carlos.
Carlos -- who along with teammate Tommie Smith was barred from the 1968 Mexico Olympics after their iconic black power salute on the medal podium -- said Wednesday's protests were the latest chapter in "a history of black people fighting for the same causes, the same situations."
"I admire, respect and cherish the vision of those young individuals to take the initiative, to say life is valued far greater than trophies and championships and anything with basketball," Carlos told USA Today.
- NBA 'playing politics' -
But there was a predictably cool response to the NBA activism from Donald Trump.
The US leader, who has repeatedly sparred with African-American athletes since taking office, accused the league of playing politics.
"I don't know much about the NBA protest. I know their ratings have been very bad because I think people are a little tired of the NBA," Trump said in Washington.
"They've become like a political organization, and that's not a good thing."
Meanwhile Lakers superstar James took to Twitter to urge voters to turn out in November's presidential elections.
"Change doesn't happen with just talk!! It happens with action and needs to happen NOW!" James wrote on Twitter.
Demands for racial equality have reverberated across basketball following the killing of unarmed black man George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May.
The NBA's coronavirus-halted season resumed last month in Florida against the backdrop of nationwide protests following Floyd's death.
NBA teams have knelt in protest during the pre-match playing of the US national anthem, while the words "Black Lives Matter" have been painted onto each court staging games in Florida.
Players, many of whom took part in protests against Floyd's killing, have been allowed to wear jerseys bearing social justice messages.
© 2020 AFP
A second former president of the once-mighty United Auto Workers (UAW) was charged Thursday in a scandal involving embezzling more than $1 million in union funds.
Dennis Williams was charged with conspiring with Gary Jones, his successor at the helm of the UAW, and other union officials to embezzle union funds from 2010 to 2019, US Attorney Matthew Schneider of the eastern district of Michigan said in a statement.
"UAW officials concealed hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenditures" on lavish perks like high-end liquor, meals, cigars, golf gear and "multi-month long stays at private villas in Palm Springs," the statement said.
According to the charges, the officials submitted fraudulent expense forms for leadership and training conferences.
Williams is the 15th person charged in the investigation into corruption within the UAW and illegal payoffs to union officials by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles executives.
He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Jones, who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to embezzlement charges, had agreed to cooperate with authorities in the ongoing probe.
Williams, 67, who now lives in California, served as UAW president from 2014 to 2018 and previously was the union's secretary-treasurer from 2010 to 2014.
He had handled critical negotiations with Mitsubishi, Fiat and Caterpillar before occupying the union's top two offices. As a regional director, he put union support behind the political rise of Barack Obama in Illinois, particularly during the 2008 Iowa caucuses leading up to the presidential election.
Obama has described Williams as a close friend.
The UAW said it was aware of the charges and called it a "sad day" for union members.
"Any violation of Mr. Williams' oath of office and his responsibility to oversee our members and their sacred dues money, should rightfully face criminal penalty," the union said in a statement.
MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace brought up the theme of President Donald Trump's 2016 Republican Convention speech, which was "I alone can fix it." This year, Trump intends to paint himself as the only one attempting to save the country.
Her Thursday panel noted that while Vice President Mike Pence was speaking, California was burning, Texas and Louisiana were bracing for a destructive hurricane, the US was reaching 180,000 dead from the coronavirus, unarmed people of color are still being shot by police, and a radicalized right-wing Trump supporter was in prison for assassinating two protesters. But according to Pence, everything is going great in the United States.
Democratic strategist Aisha Mills explained that Sen. Kamala Harris' (D-CA) address Thursday afternoon refused to lie about the reality of what Americans are facing. While both sides, she said, are talking to undecided voters, at the very least, Democrats refused to ignore the reality of what Americans were facing.
"A programming note," Wallace interrupted. "When you hear Donald Trump talk about how scary things will be if Joe Biden takes over, things are scary now because Donald Trump has lit the match and thrown it into these raw, painful wounds of systemic racism, that's why the things that are happening in the streets are happening, and it's a 17-year-old with a long gun who shot two people and then walked by police, the very same police who held a black man by his t-shirt and shot him seven times. That's why there's violence and that's why things are happening in Donald Trump's America. We can hope they get better in Joe Biden's America should he win, but the truth and the fact right now is they're happening in Donald Trump's America. Is there anyone that has -- I don't know the word to use anymore -- awareness of the reality of the moment or have they all left us, left planet earth for the trump distortion field?"
NBC News reporter Jonathan Lemire recalled the "I alone can fix it line," noting that this time around Trump intends to "paint himself as a singular barrier, the one force left, sort of defending the American way from these forces of radicalism. That's going to be his closing argument tonight. I expect we're going to hear that a lot between now and Election Day."
"The audacity of it is breath-taking," said Wallace. "He, alone, broke it."
Watch the exchange below:
"Through their actions, these officials mixed official government business with political activities as part of one of the largest political campaign events of the year."
Two Democratic congressmen are calling on the Office of Special Counsel to immediately launch an investigation into whether Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and other Trump administration officials violated federal law by participating in the Republican National Convention this week in their official government capacities.
In a letter (pdf) dated Wednesday, Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.) urged Special Counsel Henry Kerner to examine whether Wolf and other members of the Trump administration "violated the Hatch Act on August 25, 2020 through using their positions, official resources, and the White House itself, to participate in the Republican National Convention."
"OSC should immediately commence an investigation and take appropriate disciplinary action against those involved and responsible."
—Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Don Beyer
"Specifically, they coordinated a citizenship ceremony and a pardon as elements in the convention's nationally-televised programming," the lawmakers wrote. "These actions were clearly directed toward the specific success of a political party and candidates in a partisan race, including President Donald J. Trump. Through their actions, these officials mixed official government business with political activities as part of one of the largest political campaign events of the year."
As Common Dreams reported, government watchdog groups immediately raised alarm over Trump's decision to host a naturalization ceremony for five new citizens during the second night of the Republican convention Tuesday. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said the ceremony was "so obviously, blatantly, insultingly a Hatch Act violation that it's starting to seem like the Trump administration is going out of its way to find new ways to violate the law."
According to the OSC, the president and vice president are exempt from the Hatch Act, but all other "federal civilian executive branch employees" are bound by the 1939 law.
Wolf, an architect of the White House's family separation policy, administered the Oath of Allegiance during the naturalization ceremony, which immigrant rights advocates condemned as grossly cynical given the administration's extensive record of demonizing and terrorizing immigrants. Two of the new citizens featured at the ceremony said they did not know the video would be used at the Republican convention.
Less than 48 hours after Wolf's convention appearance, the Department of Homeland Security sent an agency-wide memo Thursday morning warning of "heightened scrutiny" and reminding employees not to engage in partisan political activities.
On the same night as the potentially illegal naturalization ceremony, the GOP convention featured Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's prerecorded speech from Jerusalem, where he was visiting on official taxpayer-funded business. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), vice chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, launched an investigation this week into whether Pompeo's speech violated federal law.
In their letter Wednesday, Krishnamoorthi and Beyer wrote that the "the inclusion of Acting Secretary Wolf and other federal employees in an official capacity in the proceedings of the Republican National Convention, which explicitly advocates for the success of a political party, appears to have violated the Hatch Act."
"OSC should immediately commence an investigation," the lawmakers added, "and take appropriate disciplinary action against those involved and responsible."
Read the full letter:
Dear Special Counsel Kerner:I'm writing to respectfully request that the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) investigate whether Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf and other senior members of the Trump Administration violated the Hatch Act on August 25, 2020 through using their positions, official resources, and the White House itself to participate in the Republican National Convention. Specifically, they coordinated a citizenship ceremony and a pardon as elements in the convention's nationally-televised programming. These actions were clearly directed toward the specific success of a political party and candidates in a partisan race, including President Donald J. Trump. Through their actions, these officials mixed official government business with political activities as part of one of the largest political campaign events of the year.
Under the Hatch Act, any executive branch employee is explicitly barred from "us[ing] his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election." Activities covered by this prohibition include the official "[u]sing his or her official title while participating in political activity," with the act defining "political activity" as "an activity directed toward the success or failure of a political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group." Notably, the OSC has already acknowledged in its report on Kellyanne Conway that while the President and Vice President are exempt from the Hatch Act, executive branch employees acting on their behalf are not in turn exempted:
While the President is exempt from the Hatch Act, his exemption does not extend to any other employee, including those employed in the White House Office. OSC understands that [an employee's] job duties may include publicly reinforcing the Administration’s positions on a host of policy issues. And the Hatch Act does not prohibit [an employee] from doing so, provided she carries out her job duties in a manner that complies with the law.
On the evening of August 25, 2020, Rebecca Ballhaus, a journalist reporting for the Wall Street Journal, tweeted that a White House official argued the naturalization ceremony led by Acting Secretary Wolf didn't violate the Hatch Act because the White House "publicized the content of the event on a public website this afternoon and the campaign decided to use the publically available content for campaign purposes." Regardless of what the White House may contend was the nature of the scheduling, I would point you again to the Hatch Act itself which is explicit about purpose as it prohibits an executive branch employee from, "us[ing] his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election." The publicization of the event offers no defense for actions clearly orchestrated for the purpose of influencing an election as part of a nationally-televised partisan event carefully planned days, if not weeks, in advance.The Hatch Act explicitly prohibits federal employees from participating in partisan political activity in an official capacity, barring them from engaging in any activity directed toward the success or failure of any political party or candidate. The inclusion of Acting Secretary Wolf and other federal employees in an official capacity in the proceedings of the Republican National Convention, which explicitly advocates for the success of a political party, appears to have violated the Hatch Act, and OSC should immediately commence an investigation and take appropriate disciplinary action against those involved and responsible.
We request an update on your actions on this matter by September 9th.
Less than a month after local city officials voted to keep it standing, Hurricane Laura has toppled a Confederate monument in Lake Charles, Louisiana, KRMG reports.
The South’s Defenders monument stood since outside the city's courthouse since 1915, and was slammed by critics has being a symbol of slavery.
But thanks to the 150 mph-plus winds, the statue is now on the ground.
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