The Bizarre, Endless, and Oh-So-Disturbing Week that Was: All of Lawfare in One Endless Post
It has been a very, very long week.
It has been a very, very long week.
It was only Monday that Jack Goldsmith, Susan Hennessey, Quinta Jurecic, Benjamin Wittes, Matt Kahn, and Elishe Wittes posted initial thoughts on the Trump disclosure of shared foreign intelligence with the Russians in the Oval Office. Paul Rosenzweig shared the news of the Washington Post story. Amira Mikhail and Russell Spivak rounded up public statements on the disclosure. Dan Byman wrote about the importance of liaison relations with foreign intelligence partners, and former DNI General Counsel Robert Litt reviewed the statements made by H.R. McMaster, underscoring his failure to address the propriety of the disclosure.
Then came Tuesday when Helen Murillo, Jack, Susan, Quinta, Matt, Paul Rosenzweig, and Ben expounded on President Trump’s request to Comey to close the investigation into Michael Flynn. Bobby Chesney dismissed the suggestion that Comey may have broken the law by failing to report Trump’s request.
Then there was Wednesday, when Jane Chong, Quinta, Susan, Matt, and Ben put forth initial reactions to the appointment of Bob Mueller as Special Counsel on the Russia Connection matter. David Kris described his thoughts separately. And Quinta posted the statement and order by Rosenstein and Trump on Mueller’s designation.
And then Thursday: Ben wrote about his conversations with Comey about Trump’s behavior toward the former FBI Director.
Many others contributed important thoughts on the administration and the goings on:
Paul Rosenzweig expressed concern over the routine violation of norms during the Trump presidency and emphasized the importance of concurrent special counsel and congressional investigations. Helen Murillo wrote about how Congress could obtain access to the Comey memos. Susan and Helen Murillo summarized Congress’s options when someone refuses to comply with a subpoena.
Nada Bakos and Dennis Gleeson hypothesized about what a foreign intelligence analysis of the United States might look like right now.
Dan Maurer wrote about the relationship between between presidents and the generals who serve them.
Jack explained the complications of serving as a lawyer under President Trump. Former White House Counsel Robert Bauer provided his view on the President's labeling the Russia investigation a “witch hunt” and wrote about the factors causing the “crisis” of the administration. Selena MacLaren overviewed the different kinds of leak investigations.
Keith Whittington argued that impeachment should not be a partisan affair and gave some advice on how to get out of impeachment territory.
It was also a week of many podcasts. First, Jack interviewed Mark Moyar for the Lawfare Podcast about Moyar’s new book on the history of special operations forces.
