Under the Constitution, Pence as vice president also served as president of the Senate, entitling him to some measure of congressional immunity, Boasberg found. Although Pence and his allies felt that the ruling didn’t extend far enough, Pence opted not to appeal the decision.
Trump’s executive privilege challenges to Justice Department subpoenas have not fared well in a series of secret court proceedings that have played out in recent months. He lost bids before Boasberg’s predecessor as chief, Beryl Howell, to prevent Pence’s aides from testifying in the inquiry, and he recently lost a similar bid to prevent his own top White House advisers from appearing for compelled testimony.
A Trump spokesman confirmed the appeal in a statement blasting the Justice Department’s handling of the special counsel investigations.
“The DOJ is continuously stepping far outside the standard norms in attempting to destroy the long accepted, long held, Constitutionally based standards of attorney-client privilege and executive privilege,” said Trump spokesman Steven Cheung. “The Special Counsel is conducting a witch-hunt where the government has sought to violate every Constitutional norm, including the safeguards that protect a President’s ability to confer with his Vice President on matters of the security of the United States.”
The appeal is one of more than 10 secret proceedings that have governed Smith’s expansive inquiries into Trump’s bid to subvert the election, as well as his handling of highly sensitive national security secrets found at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office. Grand jury proceedings typically play out in secret, a requirement of law and precedent, but the breadth and magnitude of these probes have led to extraordinary rulings that are reshaping the boundaries of the separation of powers, all outside of public view.
The appeals court’s secret docket reflects that Trump’s appeal was lodged Monday morning after a March 27 ruling by Boasberg in a grand jury matter — a date that coincides with Boasberg’s order for Pence to testify. Trump has not yet filed for an emergency expedited effort to block Boasberg’s ruling, but he has taken that step in several other cases to no avail.
It’s unclear when Pence is expected to testify, but typically judges set precise deadlines for compliance that may drive the timing of various filings and challenges.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Kolkata: The members of a fact-finding team of Delhi-based NGO “Fact Finding Committee on Human Rights Violation” on Sunday evening said that the clashes over Ram Navami processions in West Bengal’s Howrah and Hooghly districts call for an investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
After being restricted by police on Sunday afternoon from going to Shibpur and Kazipara in Howrah, where clashes broke out over Ram Navami processions on March 30 and continued till the next day, the members of the fact-finding team came back to Kolkata and talked to the media persons.
“Despite being restricted in reaching the troubled spots in Howrah district on Sunday and to Rishra in Hooghly district on Saturday, we were able to somehow interact with some of the local people. What we heard from them is quite shameful. There were not adequate police forces when the trouble broke out in these pockets. The administration is playing the ‘me & you’ game. This is a perfect case for a NIA-level probes. At the same time, central armed forces personnel should also be deployed there,” a team member said.
Meanwhile, political slugfest has started over the police denial to the members of the fact-finding team to reach the troubled spots at Hooghly on Saturday and after that at Howrah on Sunday.
According to the Trinamool Congress’ state General Secretary and party spokesman Kunal Ghosh, the police had done the right thing by denying them permission. “Since Ram Navami, BJP has been trying to create problems in those areas by using the outsiders,” he said.
BJP’s state spokesman Samik Bhattacharya alleged that since the administration has a lot of things to hide, they prevented the members of the fact-finding team from reaching those pockets in Howrah and Hooghly districts.
Gwalior: Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Sunday said the Congress is seeking a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into allegations against firms of the Adani group to hide the failure of the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi and also due to desperation at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity.
The United States-based Hindenburg Research has alleged stock manipulation and accounting fraud against firms of billionaire Gautam Adani, leading to the opposition, especially the Congress and Gandhi, targeting the Centre and the PM. The Adani group has denied the allegations.
“The JPC demand is baseless as the Centre has already clarified its stand. The Congress is making this demand to hide the failure of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. The Congress is also desperate due to the massive popularity of the prime minister. On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi is unable to become a leader of his own party,” Tomar said.
Mumbai: A day after his sensational remarks expressing doubts over a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Hindenburg Research report against the Adani Group, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar on Saturday claimed that he was in favour of a Supreme Court-monitored investigation.
The senior leader also frowned at the manner in which the names of industrialists like Ambani-Adani were being tossed around to target the BJP government at the Centre instead of bigger issues like inflation, unemployment and farmers.
Clarifying his stance after the ruckus following his comments to a TV channel on Friday, Pawar said he was not opposed to the JPC probe, but if the Committee comprises 21 members, then 15 would be from the ruling side and the remaining six from the Opposition side.
In view of the imbalance, coupled with the government’s majority in both Houses of Parliament, the NCP supremo opined that the JPC report would only “endorse the government’s stand on the Adani issue”.
“I feel that instead of a JPC, a Supreme Court-appointed commission is more reliable and independent,” said Pawar, adding that he had no knowledge of the Rs 20,000 crore raised by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
He also attempted to delink the question of a united Opposition front vis-a-vis the demand for a JPC and said the two are not connected though his utterances sent shockwaves among the Opposition circles.
“I don’t think the demand for JPC has anything to do with Opposition unity. We have also made the same plea but it would be commanded by the ruling party, so I spoke about a SC-named panel,” declared Pawar.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said in Mumbai that “there’s nothing new in what Pawar has said”, and his statement would have no impact on the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in the state as speculated in some sections of the media.
The Congress has yet to respond in the matter after Pawar’s interview to a news channel questioning the demand for a JPC probe, the credence to be given to a report by a foreign institution.
Jammu: The J&K government has ordered a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the illegal lease of temple properties in Kashmir.
Officials said that a letter addressed to all the 10 deputy commissioners in the Valley has directed them to probe the illegal lease of temple properties and the nexus involved therein.
“The deputy commissioners will furnish an updated inventory of such properties within one week.
“The inventory should include updated details of religious minority properties, including temples, Gurudwaras and others,” officials said.
The officials added that the directions received from the Lt. Governor’s secretariat in this regard have been communicated to all the deputy commissioners by the divisional commissioner (Kashmir).
Srinagar, Apr 07: The Jammu and Kashmir administration led by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into illegal lease of temple properties in the Valley while Deputy Commissioners (DC) have been directed to furnish the updated inventory within a week’s time.
According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), on the directions of Lieutenant Governor’s Secretariat References Monitoring Cell, Jammu & Kashmir, a letter has been issued to 10 DCs of Kashmir, wherein they were asked to probe the illegal lease of temple properties and nexus in temple properties being used illegally.
“I am hereby directed to enclose herewith copy of communication along with its enclosures bearing O.M no. GAD-RMC/256/2022-LGRMC-GAD dated 20-05-2022 received from Lieutenant Governor’s Secretariat References Monitoring Cell, Jammu & Kashmir with the request to ascertain any such instances in your district and take appropriate necessary action under rules with intimation to this office,” a letter issued from Divisional Commissioner’s office under number DIV.COM/Mig-121/7150795/46-57, reads.
Besides, the DCs have been asked to furnish the updated inventory of Religious Minority Properties (Temple, Gurudwara, Others) within week’s time positively—(KNO)
It’s unusual for Congress to subpoena a line prosecutor — and Jordan, in his Thursday letter, alleges that Bragg’s office directed Pomerantz not to cooperate with oversight. Pomerantz didn’t immediately respond to questions about that claim.
Bragg’s office issued a fiery rebuke of the subpoena, painting it as House Republicans’ latest attempt to meddle by “intruding on the sovereignty of the state of New York by interfering in an ongoing criminal matter in state court.”
“The House GOP continues to attempt to undermine an active investigation and ongoing New York criminal case with an unprecedented campaign of harassment and intimidation. Repeated efforts to weaken state and local law enforcement actions are an abuse of power and will not deter us from our duty to uphold the law,” Bragg’s office added.
But Pomerantz has also written a book where he included details of the New York investigation into Trump and the Trump organization that could make the subpoena harder to resist.
The Jan. 6 select committee used a similar argument against former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ resistance to a summons, arguing he waived any potential privileges by releasing a book that describes some of his interactions with the former president. Meadows was later held in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify, though the Justice Department declined to prosecute him.
However, another Jan. 6 committee witness who wrote a book before refusing to appear — Peter Navarro — is currently being prosecuted for contempt of Congress.
Jordan told Pomerantz that “you have no basis to decline to testify about matters before the Committee that you have already discussed in your book and/or on a prime-time television program with an audience in the millions, including on the basis of any purported duty of confidentiality or privilege interest.”
The subpoena comes just days after Trump appeared in court in New York and pled not guilty to 34 felony counts of “falsifying business records.” Prosecutors allege that Trump, the first former president ever indicted, tried first to bury and then cover up damaging allegations about an extramarital affair by falsifying company records.
It also comes as Republicans weigh their next steps in their probe of Bragg’s office.
They’ve returned multiple rounds of volleys seeking testimony and official documents from Leslie Dubeck, Bragg’s general counsel. Dubeck replied to Jordan, Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and Administration Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) last week requesting a list of questions they would want to ask Bragg as well as what documents they think they could receive that wouldn’t disclose private details of an investigation.
Dubeck, while urging Republicans to negotiate before a potential subpoena of Bragg, also offered a blistering critique of the investigation in her letter calling their accusations of political persecution as “baseless and inflammatory.”
“We urge you to refrain from these inflammatory accusations, withdraw your demand for information, and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference,” she added.
Bragg’s office has contended that congressional Republicans have no “legitimate legislative purpose” behind the inquiry into the DA’s Trump probe. But Jordan has contended the inquiry is linked to the national implications of prosecuting a former president — from conflicts between state and federal law to the Secret Service’s role in protecting an ex-president who is also a criminal defendant.
Republicans haven’t yet responded to Dubeck’s latest letter, but Jordan defended the investigation in his letter to Pomerantz — reiterating that Republicans could use findings from it to draft bills on the use of federal forfeiture funds.
That would include, Jordan said, a potential prohibition of those funds’ use to investigate a current or former president, or a presidential candidate. (The Manhattan DA’s office disclosed that it has used federal forfeiture funds on expenses related to investigations of Trump or the Trump organization.)
Jordan has stressed in a series of TV interviews this week that a subpoena of Bragg remains on the table. He’s also left the door open to the DA voluntarily appearing or even Republicans focusing first on other individuals in Bragg’s orbit.
Pomerantz and Carey Dunne are of particular interest to House Republicans, since both resigned from Bragg’s office earlier this year — reportedly because of Bragg’s doubts at the time about moving forward with the Trump case. Thursday’s subpoena comes after Jordan fired off letters to both Pomerantz and Dunne last month, but has not issued a similar subpoena to Dunne.
Kyle Cheney contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
CNN has reported that the aides covered by Trump’s emergency order may include Meadows, Scavino, Miller and other former top Trump administration advisers like Robert O’Brien, John Ratcliffe and Ken Cuccinelli.
Smith’s investigation of Trump’s effort to seize a second term has intensified in recent months. He has won a series of rulings to compel testimony from top figures in Trump’s orbit, including former Vice President Mike Pence.
The three-judge panel that rejected Trump’s emergency motion consisted of Judges Patricia Millett, Robert Wilkins and Gregory Katsas. Millett and Wilkins are both appointees of former President Barack Obama, while Katsas was appointed by Trump. The appeals court’s action denying the motion was recorded in its public docket, although the actual order issued by the court and all other pleadings related to the dispute remain sealed.
Trump could try to take the issue to the Supreme Court, though he has opted against doing so in several other defeats connected to Smith’s Jan. 6 probe.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
BERLIN — Germany’s center-right opposition wants to raise the heat on Chancellor Olaf Scholz by launching a parliamentary investigation into his alleged connection to a massive tax evasion scandal.
The case — which dates back over five years to the time when Scholz was still mayor of the Hamburg city-state — is linked to the broader so-called “Cum Ex” affair, under which the German state was defrauded by over €30 billion as some banks, companies, or individuals claimed tax reimbursements from authorities for alleged costs that never occurred.
The scandal already hung over the Social Democratic politician’s election campaign in 2021 but had little impact in the end as Scholz’s potential involvement remained unclear. Now it is heating up again after new details emerged that put his previous defense in question.
The Hamburg regional parliament plans to summon Scholz this spring — which will be for the third time — to an investigative committee looking into the scandal. And now the center-right CDU/CSU bloc also wants to set up an inquiry at the national level in the Bundestag.
“We will request a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the Scholz-Warburg tax affair in the German Bundestag in the first parliamentary week after the Easter vacations,” said the CDU’s Mathias Middelberg, deputy parliamentary group chairman, on Tuesday.
A government spokesperson said that “as a matter of principle,” Berlin does not comment on decisions announced by Bundestag members “out of respect for the constitutional body,” according to media reports.
Katja Mast, the Social Democrats’ chief whip, said the CDU/CSU is not following any interest in knowledge, but rather party tactical interests. “They bring up allegations that have long been refuted,” she said, adding that the committee in Hamburg had clarified all questions.
The CDU/CSU group has enough votes in parliament to be able to set up an investigative committee. The Left party also said it would back such a request. Parliamentary investigative committees can hear witnesses and experts and request access to documents. Although the findings are summarized in a non-binding report, the political consequences, such as for upcoming elections, could be significant.
In a letter to the CDU/CSU parliamentary group seen by POLITICO, chairmen Friedrich Merz and Alexander Dobrindt said that the case should be investigated due to its “significant” importance for German national politics.
Scholz has come under scrutiny because of his links to one Hamburg-based bank involved in the tax evasion scheme: During his time as mayor, he met on three separate occasions in private with one of the owners of the M.M. Warburg & Co. bank, which was already under investigation at the time by the Hamburg tax office. Officials were planning to reclaim €47 million, which they believed were ill-gotten gains in connection with the fraud.
However, in the end, the finance authority let the statute of limitations on the payment demand expire — and years later, after details of Scholz’s meetings with the banker emerged, critics began questioning whether the top Social Democrat might have intervened in favor of the bank.
Although the chancellor has constantly denied having intervened, he has also given no answer on what was discussed during the private meetings. Instead, Scholz said on several occasions during the past two-and-a-half years that he cannot remember the content of the discussions.
During his time as mayor of the Hamburg city-state, Scholz met with one of the owners of the M.M. Warburg & Co. Bank, involved in a tax evasion scheme | Morris MacMatzen/Getty Images
That defense is now being called into question as details emerged of a previous and longtime confidential Bundestag committee hearing with Scholz in July 2020, in which he appeared to easily remember details of his meetings with the banker. His critics argue that Scholz only started to claim having no memory of the meetings when their political and possibly criminal explosiveness became clear.
“This comprehensive memory gap of the chancellor after an initial memory of a concrete meeting … raises a multitude of questions to be clarified,” the letter from the CDU/CSU states.
Scholz and his allies have repeatedly rejected such criticism as politically motivated and stressed that past investigations found no wrongdoing. Scholz also highlighted that in the end, the bank did repay the €47 million, albeit only after it was ordered to do so by a court. The Hamburg Public Prosecutor’s Office said in March that it does not see any initial suspicion against the chancellor in the affair.
That hasn’t discouraged the opposition from planning to dig deeper, though.
“The chancellor would like to see … a line drawn under the clarification of this tax affair. But it is precisely the task of parliament to control the government, to look closely, especially with so many unanswered questions,” said CDU lawmaker Matthias Hauer.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
