https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...-andrew-napolitano-fox-news-trump-critic-book William Barr told Murdoch to 'muzzle' Fox News Trump critic, new book says Attorney general met media mogul in October 2019 Judge Andrew Napolitano said Trump should be impeached The attorney general, William Barr, told Rupert Murdoch to “muzzle” Andrew Napolitano, a prominent Fox News personality who became a critic of Donald Trump, according to a new book about the rightwing TV network. Barr’s meeting with Murdoch, at the media mogul’s New York home in October 2019, was widely reported at the time, with speculation surrounding its subject. According to Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth, by CNN media reporter Brian Stelter, subjects covered included media consolidation and criminal justice reform. “But it was also about Judge Andrew Napolitano.” Stelter’s in-depth look at Fox News, its fortunes under Trump and its links to his White House will be published on Tuesday. The Guardian obtained a copy. In early 2019 it was reported that Napolitano, a New Jersey superior court judge who joined Fox News in 1998, told friends he had been on Trump’s shortlist for the supreme court. But he broke ranks later in the year, labeling Trump’s approaches to Ukraine, seeking political dirt on rivals, “both criminal and impeachable behavior”. “The criminal behavior to which Trump has admitted,” Napolitano wrote, in a column dated 3 October, “is much more grave than anything alleged or unearthed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and much of what Mueller revealed was impeachable”. Citing an unnamed source, Stelter writes that Trump “was so incensed by the judge’s TV broadcasts that he had implored Barr to send Rupert a message in person … about ‘muzzling the judge’. [Trump] wanted the nation’s top law enforcement official to convey just how atrocious Napolitano’s legal analysis had been.” Barr has been widely accused of riding roughshod over the rule of law, in service of Trump and his own authoritarian view of the presidency. Though Barr’s words to Murdoch “carried a lot of weight”, Stelter writes, “no one was explicitly told to take Napolitano off the air”. Instead, Stelter reports, Napolitano found digital resources allocated elsewhere, saw a slot on a daytime show disappear and was not included in coverage of the impeachment process. In Stelter’s telling, Napolitano thought he was being kept off air by “25-year-old producers” who didn’t think viewers could handle his analysis. Stelter, however, says an unnamed “twentysomething staffer” confirmed that one host, Maria Bartiromo, would only book Napolitano to discuss non-Trump topics, because he would upset Bartiromo too much if he criticised the president. Fox News’ audience remains loyal to Trump as his campaign for re-election continues. Some Fox employees, Stelter writes, “justified the benching of the judge by claiming that viewers hated him: ‘Why are we going to book someone who kills our ratings?’” On Saturday night, Kerri Kupec, Barr’s spokeswoman at the Department of Justice, said Stelter’s story was “false”, adding: “A basic factcheck would have revealed that, but Brian Stelter did not reach out to us before publishing.” Stelter declined to comment. Napolitano has continued to appear on Fox News and to publish opinion columns. He has remained critical of Trump, for example slamming the actions of federal officers sent to confront protesters in Portland, Oregon; opposing attempts to provide coronavirus relief without congressional involvement; and saying Senate Republicans should have called new witnesses in the president’s impeachment trial. He has also had harsh words for Barr, for example calling his conduct in the case of Trump ally Roger Stone “Stalinistic”; blasting his handling of the Mueller report to Trump’s advantage; and hitting him for “insulting” Congress. Napolitano did, however, back Barr’s attempt to drop charges against Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with Russian officials.
https://www.axios.com/justice-depar...gns-b820fc58-5919-4a8c-baa0-543bee47afb4.html Barr issues new rules on FBI surveillance of political campaigns The Justice Department on Tuesday announced a series of reforms to ensure oversight and accountability over the FBI's process for applying for warrants to conduct surveillance on elected officials and political campaigns. The big picture: The changes come months after the DOJ inspector general flagged "significant inaccuracies and omissions" in Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications used for 2016 Trump campaign official Carter Page during the FBI's Russia investigation. Allies of President Trump have pointed to the abuses to further allegations that the Russia probe was a politically motivated hit job, but the inspector general did not find evidence of political bias. A former FBI lawyer pleaded guilty last month to altering an email later used to obtain a warrant on Page, who was never charged with wrongdoing. U.S. Attorney John Durham is conducting a broader investigation into the origins of the Russia probe. Details: FBI agents will be required to get permission from the attorney general to surveil elected officials, declared candidates and their staff before submitting applications to FISA courts, which decide whether to grant the bureau permission to conduct wiretaps, according to a memo issued by Barr. FBI personnel must review the applications "for accuracy and completeness" and submit the reviews to top DOJ officials, including the attorney general. The rules also require that the FBI consider briefing an elected official or member of a campaign that they are being targeted by foreign actors before seeking a wiretap warrant. In addition, wiretap warrants will be limited to 60 days, and FBI officials must brief the FISA courts every 30 days on the results of the surveillance. Another memo issued by Barr authorizes a new Office of Internal Auditing at the FBI "to overcome a gap in auditing capability" at the bureau. The bureau will also be required to "perform robust auditing functions" of its compliance with its own procedures. What they're saying: "FISA is a critical tool to ensuring the safety and security of Americans, particularly when it comes to fighting terrorism," Barr said in a statement. "However, the American people must have confidence that the United States Government will exercise its surveillance authorities in a manner that protects the civil liberties of Americans, avoids interference in the political process, and complies with the Constitution and laws of the United States." "What happened to the Trump presidential campaign and his subsequent Administration after the President was duly elected by the American people must never happen again." FBI director Christopher Wray added: "Since the Inspector General’s Crossfire Hurricane report was issued last December, I have made clear that it describes conduct that was unacceptable and unrepresentative of the FBI as an organization." "FISA is an indispensable tool that the FBI uses to protect our country from national security threats, and Americans can rest assured that the FBI remains dedicated to continuously strengthening our FISA compliance efforts and ensuring that our FISA authorities are exercised in a responsible manner."
taxes at work. Can't a billionaire afford his own sexual assault defense? https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/08/politics/e-jean-carroll-trump-lawsuit/index.html Justice Department wants to defend Trump in E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit (CNN)The US Justice Department, in an extraordinary move on Tuesday, asked to take over the defense of President Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by E. Jean Carroll, a woman who has accused Trump of sexual assault. While the alleged sexual assault occurred long before Trump became President, the Justice Department argued that it must take over because Trump's comments spurring the defamation lawsuit came while he was in office. The move -- defending Trump at taxpayer expense -- comes amid ongoing criticism that the Justice Department has acted in the President's personal interests. Carroll, an advice columnist who for years wrote for Elle Magazine, alleged in a lawsuit filed last fall that Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at luxury Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s. Trump has denied the allegation, calling it "totally false" and saying he "never met this person in my life." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/nyregion/donald-trump-jean-carroll-lawsuit-rape.html Citing a law called the Federal Tort Claims Act, the department lawyers asserted the right to take the case from Mr. Trump’s private lawyers and move the matter from state court to federal court. The law gives employees of the federal government immunity from lawsuits, though legal experts said that it has rarely, if ever, been used before to protect a president. Ms. Carroll’s lawyer said in a statement issued Tuesday evening that the Justice Department’s move to intervene in the case was a “shocking” attempt to bring the resources of the United States government to bear on a private legal matter. “Trump’s effort to wield the power of the U.S. government to evade responsibility for his private misconduct is without precedent,” the lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan, said in the statement, “and shows even more starkly how far he is willing to go to prevent the truth from coming out.”
In this case he is not defending against an alleged criminal sexual assault from years ago, is he? It relates to her civil claim of defamation from his comments while in office.