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ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Hillary Clinton, of I Shouldve Won the White House! fame, apparently isnt content to deliver 10- and 20-second talking points from her national podium about the dang Russians who worked with President Donald Trump to give him that presidential title.

Shes gotta write a book about it, too.

Thats right. Clintons new book will reportedly double down on the Russian election interference angle as well as one that rings in former FBI chief James Comey as a heavy factor in her loss, too.

She just wants to get the story out, her friends privately say.

She really believes thats why she lost, and she wants to explain why in no uncertain terms, one of her political supporters told The Hill. She wants the whole story out there from her own perspective. I think a lot of people are going to be really surprised by how much she reveals.

Well, probably not not if the book focuses, as hinted, on the Russia-Trump election collusion message, or on the Comeys a Traitor rhetoric, either. America already knows these lines. And theyre boring.

Its too bad. Clintons missing an opportunity to write something actually interesting.

The Clintons have been in politics for a long, very long time. And theyve proven time and again a willingness to wheel and deal, to use political office for personal gain and to lie about it when it benefits. That means their friend list is long so too, their enemy list. If she would only dish, her book would probably be a bombshell.

But thats not the Hillary way. Shed rather throw a pity party.

On that, even Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer says its time to bury the hatchet.

When you lose to somebody who has 40 percent popularity, you dont blame other things Comey, Russia you blame yourself, Schumer said to The Washington Post, just recently.

Clintons failure is she cant.

And on that score, her book carries a larger message.

If Clintons memoirs are heavy on the same sort of finger-pointing weve already been treated to since November, itll be the mark of political death for her. Its bad enough Clintons rhetoric shows she cant move on from her loss. Putting it in writing, for all the world to see, and in a form thats as long as a book, will prove once and for all her resiliency to bounce back from adversity has been tapped.

Shell be remembered not only for her failed political career, but also for her book-length whine about why she was screwed.

Read the original:
Hillary Clinton's upcoming book: Make way for the pity party ... - Washington Times

This article first appeared on the Just Security site.

It emerged late last week that President Trump has reportedly queried his lawyers regarding the nature and scope of his authority to pardon individuals including himself.

Over the weekend, Trump tweeted a nothing to see here message while asserting his pardon power was complete, presumably meaning absolute.

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While not limitless, the authority of the President to pardon is undeniably substantial. The President cannot pardon for prospective crimes or violations of state criminal law. There is a strong argument that he cannot pardon himself and certainly cannot insulate himself or others from the conviction of impeachment, as expressly stated in the Constitution.

But other than these and perhaps other narrow limitations, a Presidents pardon powers is vast. Indeed, the Presidents power to pardon others including his family members for past federal crimes, even without evidence of specific criminal investigation or prosecution, is arguably plenary in nature.

Not surprisingly in the context of the investigation into Russian interference in our election, Trumps reported interest in pardons has generated an avalanche of commentary exploring the legal limits of presidential pardon authority.

Donald Trump walks along the West Wing colonnade with his daughter Ivanka Trump and his son-in-law and Senior Advisor to the President for Strategic Planning Jared Kushner, March 17, 2017 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty

Less attention, however, has been paid to why President Trump has not exercised his pardon authority yet, especially with so many of his confidants caught in a web of a criminal inquiry. This is the issue I focus on here.

Some may argue that if Trump were to pardon close confidants say his campaign manager Paul Manafort, the Trump-identified foreign policy advisor Carter Page, Senior Advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner or his National Security Advisor Michael Flynn the optics would be undesirable and the political fallout substantial.

This is undoubtedly true, President Gerald Ford arguably never recovered politically from the pardoning of President Richard Nixon. But given Trumps record, I am highly skeptical that these political concerns are a sufficient deterrent to exercise his authority.

Unpleasant optics because of his flagrant norm violations thus far have hardly served as significant inhibitions for this President.

He did not release his tax returns as every president has for half a century. He ignored anti-nepotism laws. He discussed on the campaign trail imprisoning his political opponent. He ignores the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

The norm transgressions are so substantial that t he Just Security site has a section dedicated to it. There is an outcry. But that outcry and the optics simply do not seem to bother this President or his most ardent supporters. Nor do they seem sufficient to alienate him from almost all of the elected Republicans in Congress, at least so far.

It must be something else. Most likely the President has been informed of one important fact about his pardon power, anyone he pardons is no longer under criminal jeopardy for federal crimes and, accordingly, Fifth Amendment protection for self-incrimination evaporates.

Manafort, Page, Kushner, and Flynn at this point pre-pardon need not answer any questions from Robert Mueller, Congress or anybody. The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution provides no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.

Once pardoned, however, there is no legal jeopardy for past federal crimes. Therefore, the Fifth Amendment can no longer be a shield and permit Trumps pardoned associates from refusing to answer questions under penalty of perjury.

This creates a paradox for President Trump. When he pardons an individual, they are free from possible prosecution but they are also uncloaked of their most robust constitutional protection.

This may well be why President Trump has not pardoned Flynn, for example. Given the reported substantial contacts between Flynn and Russian government emissaries, given Flynns patent falsities including on federal forms completed under penalty of perjury, Flynns only protection presently from being compelled to testify including possibly against the President and others is the Fifth Amendment self-incrimination clause.

Imagine if that was no longer a shield. Grand Jury, FBI Agents, Congress all could drill Flynn under oath. Any material prevarication would be punishable as perjury. At that point Flynns personal interest will be to tell the truth, even if that truth incriminates the President who fired him.

So the pardon of presidential associates is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, he will ensure they are not prosecuted if they committed crimes in furtherance of the Presidents interest. On the other, once pardoned, the interest of the pardoned associates likely diverges from the President.

If crimes were committed that implicate the President and his family and I do not believe we have sufficient evidence to answer that conclusively at this time prior to being pardoned, a Trump associate is 100 percent within their rights to simply say nothing. But not afterwards.

One caveat worth noting is that because the Presidents pardon power is limited to federal crimes, the Fifth Amendment may offer protection if the pardoned individual is still under jeopardy for state crimes.

However, I do not see this as a substantial issue at this point because in the main, the possible criminal liability of which we are presently aware in the Russia probe seem distinctly federal in nature, e.g., the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, failure to complete federal disclosure forms truthfully, false statements to the FBI, or obstruction of justice in a federal case, for example.

It is true that we cannot be certain where the investigation will go and it could probe violations of state law. This seems most likely with financial crimes. Money laundering, for example, is illegal both under federal law and New York state law (the most likely state jurisdiction relevant here). And in such fairly circumscribed cases, the pardoned individual would still enjoy Fifth Amendment protection in discussing facts of relevance to those cases.

But I dont think this wrinkle should distract from the main point: The Presidents exercise of his pardon power is not a panacea. There are political costs to be sure. Many will ask, why do you need a pardon if no crime was committed similar to how President Trump discussed a grant of immunity: If youre not guilty of a crime, what do you need immunity for?

It will thereafter be a political cudgel and add to the narrative of a President hell-bent on covering up crimes he committed or that others committed on his behalf.

He fires Comey because of the Russia probe as President Trump himself made clear in the Lester Holt interview. He has confirmed his upset with Sessions because his recusal self-neutered the Attorney Generals ability to defend the President. He attacks Mueller in an attempt to discredit any future findings of wrongdoing. And if he pardons, the story will surely and understandably be that it is another attempt to evade accountability.

These political restraints, as in so many other areas, will not be sufficient to deter this President. However, the realization that anyone he pardons, unless also under jeopardy of state law prosecution, has lost the right against self-incrimination and can be compelled to testify truthfully under pain of contempt and perjury, may well explain this Presidents failure to pardon anyone thus far and may prove a continuing reason not to pardon associates in the future.

In this way, if the President exercises his pardon power down the road, it may signal a certain desperation. It may mean that the investigation is getting close. It will mean he has calculated that whatever the pardoned individual is compelled to testify under oath is less damaging to him and his interests than if the individual was not pardoned but squeezed by prosecutors. It will mean that the political weight of nothing to see here has been overcome by the legal weight of personal and family legal jeopardy.

Keith Harper is a Partner at Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton LLP. From 2014 to 2017, he served as United States Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Read the rest here:
Why Hasn't Trump Already Pardoned Kushner, Flynn, Page and Manafort? - Newsweek

Erdogans remarks, delivered at a higher education conference in Ankara, follow a million-strong protest by the nations secularist opposition, which enjoys greater support among the younger, more educated Turks.

This situation is definitely affected by reasons like not being able to give up on the life standards they got used to. But I believe that we, as heads of states, need to think of the real reasons that distance our youth from ourselves, Erdoan told the audience, according to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.We need to carry measures that will prevent this brain drain, which is causing our science world to become a desert, into effect as soon as possible.

Brain drain is a term used to describe mass migration of highly educated people out of developing and undeveloped countries into the free world, in many cases the United States. Educated citizens flee the country seeking a better quality of life elsewhere, but in doing so diminish the population of educated citizens who can contribute to the further development of their home economies.

On top of that, we are transferring very serious amounts of money to Western countries for this. After these students complete their academic studies, we naturally expect them to return to their countries and serve their own people, he continued. But most of the time, those finishing their schools do not return to their homelands, but stay where they received education.

Erdogan curiously did not blame those emigrating for the phenomenon, instead urging Muslim governments and social institutions to give these individuals reasons to stay. Like in every society in the Muslim world, we stay away from issues that demand endeavor and patience, he claimed. If we are unsuccessful in raising a generation that asks, questions, and has ambitions for the future, a generation running after temporary whims emerges.

The most important responsibility falls on the shoulders of our universities. Universities are the production centers of science and unique and free thoughts. Every kind of idea that is not contaminated with terror and that does not encourage violence has a place and should have a place in the university, he concluded.

Erdogan had previously praised growing Muslim populations in Europe.From here I say to my citizens, I say to my brothers and sisters in Europe. Educate your children at better schools, make sure your family live in better areas, drive in the best cars, live in the best houses,he said in a speech in March. Have five children, not three. You are Europes future.

Erdogan has referred to the use of birth control by Turkish citizens as treason, while accusing Europe of drowning in its own fears of Muslims.

With these repeated demands to socially engineer the lives of Muslims, Erdogan has developed an image as a ruler seeking moral authority in the Muslim world. This week he added to that, demanding that the worlds Muslims storm Jerusalems Temple Mount, which led IsraeliForeign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon to reply, thedays of the Ottoman Empire are over.

A major hurdle to Erdogans aspirations become an Islamist moral authority is the fact that the Turkish populationparticularly younger andmore highly-educated Turks, the people he warns are moving to the Westare largely secular and have rejected Erdogans Islamist agenda.

The trend is not new. A 2014 study by the London School of Economics found a strong correlation between support for Erdogans Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) and lower education levels. Conversely, supporters of the secularist Republican Peoples Party (CHP)the party founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatrktended to be more educated than their peers.

A year later, a Pew study found that younger, more educated Turks, followers of the opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) and less devout Muslims are more disillusioned with the state of democracy under Erdogan than their more pious, less educated peers, and more likely to oppose Erdogan generally. Meanwhile, Erdogans supporters include AKP followers (87% favorable), Turks ages 50 and older (54%), lower educated Turks (53%) and Muslim Turks who pray 5 times per day or more (71%).

The CHP appeared to prove this remains the casetwo years, one failed coup, and one referendum to expand Erdogans powers laterwith a rally this month that ended a march from Ankara to Istanbul meant to protest the mass arrests of civil workers, politicians, police officers, and soldiers following the failed coup. The rally featured a speech by CHP head Kemal Kilicdaroglu in which he referred to Turkey as a dictatorship. The CHP claimed the Justice March attracted one million people.

Erdogans Islamist quest has also resulted in severely distorted school curricula that team Islamic supremacy, significantly damaging the quality of Turkish education. In February, the Turkish ministry of education unveiled a new education curriculum that greatly increased Quranic and Islamic studies while removing the teaching of evolution, replacing Western scientists with Muslim ones, and limiting exposure to the ideas of the nations highly secular founding fathers. If this trend continues, educated Turks may increasingly find a home in the AKP, but only at the expense of a proper secular educationthe kind that the Turkish economy needs them to have.

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Erdogan: Turkish Universities Need to Stop Muslim 'Brain ...

Jared Kushner at an event with Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou in Washington, July 26, 2017. JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS

A Turkish reporter admitted that he fabricated a quote by Jared Kushner in which President Donald Trumps son-in-law and adviser reportedly said Turkish President Recep Erdogan is making Turkey great again like [the] U.S. We watch his efforts with appreciation.

Yavuz Atalay, a reporter for the newspaper AKSAM, told The Daily Caller Thursday that he made up the quote.

In a private Twitter exchange with The Daily Caller, Atalay said he spoke with Kushner for less than two minutes.

He did not say that, Atalay wrote of the quote in question. I asked him, Do you think, Erdogan is making Turkey great again, like Trump? and he only said, Yeah, I think so.

The White House did not respond to a follow-up question about the interview. A selfie with Kushner and the reporter accompanies the article.

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Atalay has a history of exaggerating the Trump administrations view of Erdogan and the Turkish government, according to The Daily Caller.

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Turkish Reporter Says He Made Up Jared Kushner Quote Praising Erdogan - Haaretz

A Turkish reporter admitted that he fabricated a quote by Jared Kushner in which President Donald Trumps son-in-law and adviser reportedly said Turkish President Recep Erdogan is making Turkey great again like [the] US, we watch his efforts with appreciation.

Yavuz Atalay, a reporter for the newspaper AKSAM, told The Daily Caller Thursday that he made up the quote.

In a private Twitter exchange with The Daily Caller, Atalay said he spoke with Kushner for less than two minutes.

He did not say that, Atalay wrote of the quote in question. I asked him, Do you think, Erdogan is making Turkey great again, like Trump? and he only said, Yeah, I think so.

A selfie with Kushner and the reporter accompanies the article.

A White House official told the Daily Caller that the journalist approached Jared for a selfie but is not quoted accurately. Its made up.

Atalay has a history of exaggerating the Trump administrations view of Erdogan and the Turkish government, according to The Daily Caller.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

See original here:
Turkish reporter made up Jared Kushner quote praising Erdogan - The Times of Israel