Daily Digest |  |
- The Cuomo Hits Keep Coming
- Trump’s coronavirus response
- Trump’s speech
- Derek Chauvin trial preview
- Cuomo Is Going Down
| Posted: 01 Mar 2021 04:24 PM PST (John Hinderaker) The latest allegation against Governor Andy Cuomo is not one of sexual harassment. It comes from a woman named Lindsay Nielsen, a former television news reporter in Albany. Nielsen complained on Twitter of abusive and bullying conduct by Cuomo’s staff:
Nielsen’s charges relate to Cuomo’s office, not to personal relations with the governor, and therefore are quite different from, and arguably not as serious as, the first two that have surfaced. Still, her story is interesting. My sense is that the kind of bullying of reporters by Democrats that she describes goes on a lot. I have heard about it a number of times, usually off the record. Democrat Party politicians generally assume that reporters and editors belong to their party–with good reason, as almost all do. They therefore are often offended when news outlets venture to report actual news, independent of partisan spin, which they regard as dirty pool. This is the usual source of conflict between Democrat politicians or their staffs, and reporters. Ms. Nielsen’s case is, I think, typical. Given the storm clouds gathering around Andy Cuomo, Lindsay Nielsen’s testimony will add to the pressure on him to resign. Truthfully, though, if similar behavior were a cause for resignation, there would not be a lot of Democratic politicians left in office.     |
| Posted: 01 Mar 2021 10:40 AM PST (Paul Mirengoff) Byron York reassesses Donald Trump’s response to the Wuhan coronavirus. His points will be familiar to faithful readers of Power Line. Indeed, his reassessment is essentially the same as our initial assessment. There are two aspects to Trump’s response. They are: (1) attempts to limit the virus’ spread, pre-vaccine and (2) attempts to develop and deploy vaccines. Clearly, Trump deserves very high marks on the latter aspect. As Byron writes:
Furthermore, it’s beyond dispute that the U.S. has done a much better job than Europe (other than the UK) at getting vaccines into arms. This was true while Trump was president and it remains true. The vaccinations per day trend line in the U.S. has stayed essentially the same since Biden’s inauguration, as the chart in Byron’s post shows. In Europe, the vaccination program has been a quite disappointing, as even leftist journalists acknowledge. The Europeans are well behind us. A friend of our family living in France told me she doesn’t expect her parents, both of whom are older than 75 and live in the Bordeaux region, to get a first dose until late March or April. My wife’s 88 year-old French cousin, who lives in Nice, finally got an appointment for her first dose, to be administered in mid-March. Another cousin, a Parisian who is 75 with serious respiratory problems, didn’t have an appointment a week ago when we spoke with him. What about Trump’s efforts to halt the spread of the virus before vaccines were approved? On this score, as I’ve written repeatedly, the U.S. comes out about the same as major European countries other than Germany. That’s not surprising. First, the virus was the same whether in Europe or the U.S. Variants didn’t spring up until recently, as far as we know. Second, no one knew how to combat the virus. It was novel. A friend compared it to an alien invasion force with superior technology. Until we developed new “technology,” the vaccine, there was no effective way to keep it from killing lots of people, mostly the elderly. Third, the U.S. tried to cope with the virus in essentially the same way most of Europe did — through lockdowns, social distancing, good hygiene, and masks. The policies in most U.S. states were similar to those in most major European nations. No wonder the results, measured in per capita deaths, were so similar. Joe Biden went big when it came to lying about America’s performance during the pandemic. He insisted that the U.S. was doing worse than the rest of the world in preventing deaths from the virus, and even tried to blame Trump for every American death. Big lies are common in presidential campaigns. However, you might have to go all the way back to 1960 to find lies as big as the ones Joe Biden told. In 1960, John Kennedy claimed that the U.S. was behind Russia in the arms race and that the Eisenhower administration was doing nothing to stop Cuba from becoming communist. Kennedy knew from briefings that there was no missile gap and that the CIA was developing a plan to attempt the overthrow of Castro. He also knew that his opponent, Richard Nixon, couldn’t divulge those plans. In 2020, Biden knew that U.S. firms were on the verge of developing a vaccine and that deaths per capita in the U.S. were in line with the rates in comparable European nations. This knowledge didn’t stop him from lying about the situation. And, not surprisingly, it is only now that the leftists quoted in Byron’s report are “reassessing” Trump’s record in dealing with the Wuhan coronavirus.   |
| Posted: 01 Mar 2021 08:41 AM PST (Paul Mirengoff) In his speech at CPAC yesterday, Donald Trump said that he is not starting a third party. He stated:
I don’t think anyone expected that Trump would start a new party. . .now. Trump is the dominant figure in an existing party — one that nearly won the presidency last year and that is not many votes shy of controlling both chambers of Congress. As Trump said, it makes no sense to leave that party. But what if Trump runs for president in 2024 and the GOP nominates someone else? In that case, I consider it quite possible that an embittered Trump would run as a third party candidate, claiming, I suppose, that he really won the nomination only to have it stolen from him. Such a move would be entirely in keeping with his character and his recent behavior. Remember, Trump promised only “I am not starting a new party” (present tense). He didn’t say he will not start one in the future. As I said, I don’t think anyone seriously thought Trump would launch a new party now. Thus, his statement that he isn’t starting one doesn’t come as news to anyone who has been paying attention.   |
| Posted: 01 Mar 2021 03:17 AM PST (Scott Johnson) Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is charged with the murder of George Floyd last year on May 25. Floyd’s death set off ten days or ten months that shook the world. These notes are intended as a preview of the trial. Beginning with jury selection, the trial begins one week from today in Hennepin County District Court before Judge Peter Cahill. John Hinderaker offered a good overview in “A city prepares for a trial.” • I signed up with the court to cover the trial for Power Line. My former colleague Greg Pulles has offered to pitch in by pinch hitting for me on occasion as well. • The arrangements for press coverage are unusual. They are set forth in this February 16 press release. Only two reporters at a time are to be allowed into the courtroom itself. They will serve as pool reporters. • The rest of us have been assigned seats with access to the video live stream in the county’s business and media center across the street from the courthouse. I have also expressed interest in access to the live stream of the trial outside the media and business center, but it is not at all clear to me who else will have access to it. We await further announcements from the court. • The court has set up a page for the Chauvin case here. All public filings in the case by the parties or the court are posted on that page. Separate pages have been set up for the three former officers also charged with responsibility for Floyd’s death. The separate pages for their cases are accessible on Chauvin’s page. • The charges against Chauvin were brought in a lynch mob atmosphere led by Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. They publicly pronounced Chauvin and the other officers guilty many times over last spring and summer. • Those of us who took up law and/or journalism may have been inspired by Atticus Finch or John Adams or Woodward and Bernstein, but when the time came to face down the mob and talk back to the authorities, the lawyers and the press took their places in the crowd. • Take the Star Tribune, for example. As the lynch mob formed and the city burned, the cat had their tongue. Star Tribune commentary editor D.J. Tice wrote an excellent column on “the challenge of a fair trial for Chauvin.” The column was published on February 20 — a little late in the game. And it stands more or less alone. (I raised the fair trial issue last year in posts including “Random thoughts on the Floyd case.”) • At the behest of the mob, Governor Walz lifted responsibility for the prosecution from the office of the Hennepin County Attorney and assigned it to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Ellison has named Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank to lead the prosecution. • Ellison’s office employs more than 130 attorneys. Despite the huge staff of attorney at his disposal, Ellison has called in reinforcements to assist them. • This past June Ellison announced the appointment of four outside attorneys in private practice or serving as corporate counsel as special assistants on the case (press release here). The special assistants include Steve Schleicher of Maslon LLP, Jerry Blackwell of Blackwell Burke, both of Minneapolis, and Lola Velázquez-Aguilu, lead counsel for brain modulation [!] at Medtronic in Fridley. • The fourth outside attorney is the star of the group: former Obama administration acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal, now in private practice at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C. • Curious about the arrangements for their appointment, I filed a Data Practices Act request with Ellison’s office seeking the relevant documents. Deputy Attorney General David Voigt produced a set of repetitive and partly redacted documents in response to my request under cover of a letter dated December 1, 2020. • In his (partly redacted) June 12 memo naming the attorneys he wanted deputized, Ellison wrote that “[i]n terms of our trial team [redacted], I propose we include a team that brings us the best of all our strengths….I want to lick [sic] this down by Wednesday, June 17.” Naming the first three attorneys above, Ellison rendered Schleicher’s name as “Schlisher.” He touted Lola Velasquez-Aguilu’s experience as “former federal prosecutors [sic], good trial lawyer, former federal prosecutor.” He had a lot on his mind. • Heavily redacted notes of a June 17 office meeting reflect that Ellison wanted “a pool of trial lawyers with diverse skills” and that Ellison’s proposed pool of outside attorneys was “diverse.” • Katyal came later and, of the four special assistants featured in Ellison’s press release, only Katyal has been visible so far. As of this month Hogan Lovells associate attorneys Harrison Gray Kilgore and Victoria Joseph have been granted leave to appear on behalf of the state in the case as well. • All the outside attorneys named in the case are serving Ellison’s office pro bono. Katyal’s going rate in intellectual property cases is something like $1750 an hour. • Chauvin is represented by criminal defense attorney Eric Nelson. So far as I am aware, he has no outside help, pro bono or otherwise. If you’re looking for Atticus Finch in the case, Nelson will have to serve. • Judge Cahill is a former Assistant Hennepin County Attorney and a former criminal defense attorney. I have been favorably impressed with his rulings so far. • The state wanted all four officers tried together. Judge Cahill has separated the case against the three other officers for trial this summer. The state’s interlocutory appeal of Cahill’s order was dismissed. • Cahill dismissed the third-degree “depraved mind” murder charge against Chauvin. When the Minnesota Court of Appeals recently affirmed former Minneapolis police officer Mahamed Noor’s conviction on this charge, it cracked the door open to the charge in this case. Cahill ruled against the state’s motion seeking to reinstate the third-degree charge. • The state has appealed Cahill’s ruling to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, which has taken it up on an expedited basis. Attorneys for Noor, however, also intend to file a petition seeking review of the Court of Appeals ruling in that case with the Minnesota Supreme Court. It is not yet clear how the charge will be handled at trial. • By assignment of Governor Walz, Ellison has sidelined and displaced the office of the Hennepin County Attorney in the case. Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Amy Sweasy may nevertheless be the most talented attorney in the state in the prosecution of police officers. She obtained Noor’s conviction in 2019. • Ellison made his name around town as a Nation of Islam hustler supporting the defendants ultimately convicted for the murder of Minneapolis police officer Jerry Haaf in 1992. Among other things, Ellisonn spoke at a demonstration for one of the defendants during the trial in February 1993. Ellison led the crowd assembled at the courthouse in a chant that was ominous in the context of Haaf's cold-blooded murder: "We don't get no justice, you don't get no peace.” Ellison’s career seems to be closing a circle in this case. • The court and environs are to be protected by officers and troops numbering in the thousands. “Protesters” promise to do their thing. The prospect of a fair trial in this atmosphere seems incredibly remote. We remain one step removed from the territory of The Ox-Bow Incident.   |
| Posted: 28 Feb 2021 05:19 PM PST (John Hinderaker) Two women have now accused New York Governor Andy Cuomo of sexual harassment, and there likely are more to come. We have all seen this story before, and we know how it ends. As the investigations get under way, Cuomo has released a statement.
When a person says that he or she was joking, a useful question is, was it funny? None of Cuomo’s alleged transgressions would seem to be of the laugh-provoking sort.
Yes, like “Let’s play strip poker.” Easy to see how that might be misconstrued. This could be misinterpreted, too:
This, too, from the second accuser, could easily be misunderstood:
Good suggestion! Or maybe a funny quip, I’m not sure which. So what is the end game? Cuomo’s resignation, I assume. It appears that he is detested by many of his fellow New York Democrats, which is why the cover-up of his disastrous treatment of New York’s nursing homes and these multiple sexual harassment claims–all originating with his ostensible political allies–have come to light. I don’t know what the “or else” is in this case, but if the Democrats could force Al Franken out of the Senate on grounds a tiny fraction of what we see here, I assume they won’t have much trouble dispensing with Cuomo. Andy, we knew ye all too well.   |
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