It sure isn’t the case now but at one time George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley was fairly well respected. If you don’t believe me check out the link and you can see he’s sometimes advocated for things most readers of this site believe it was right for him to do. Well, that was all years ago and he at some point decided to dive into the MAGA cesspool and is as covered in orange hued Trump you-know-what as anyone. Some of his statements during Trump’s impeachments sure had legal analysist scratching their heads but he’s not the only once respected and prominent lawyer to see a hard won reputation succumb to Everything Trump Touches Dies (ETTD) syndrome.
Browsing my news feed tonight I saw this article published by The Hill and became increasingly incredulous as I read it. Under the clickbait headline about “new evidence” that “destroys” President Biden’s defense in his classified documents case there’s an interesting note in bold that contains a certain word – twice:
Opinion by Jonathan Turley, Opinion Contributor
Turley IS after all a lawyer and no doubt in addition to being a contributor to The Hill also likely dispenses legal advice. OPINION being noted TWICE right under the breathtaking headline (“New evidence may destroy Biden’s defense in his classified documents case”) tells you pretty much what’s to follow. A fairly hard to read, dissembling series of paragraphs full of innuendo and speculation rather than much in the way of actual facts. Mostly Turley’s OPINION piece is an extrapolation of a “new timeline” released by James Comer’s Oversight committee. The release in the link has it’s own link to the actual letter Comer sent to WH Counsel Edward Siskel. Comer basically demands from the WH the same stuff he does from NARA and the FBI. The Special Counsel too I guess. He wants everything they have gotten and basically daily reports of everything moving forward!
Of course, he gets to scream and holler and posture because there is after all not just an open DOJ investigation into the roughly twenty classified documents that were found but one by a Special Counsel. That means absent in indictment by longstanding DOJ policy (unless it’s a Trump controlled DOJ and they want to talk out of school about a Democrat) they don’t say jack. People are sooooooooo tough when they whale on someone with their arms tied to their body! But that’s your typical Republican these days.
That applies to Turley who takes everything Comer says in the statement about the “new timeline” and letter to Siskel and puts it in his opinion piece. What it all boils down to though is a perfectly normal process. Upon becoming President, Biden started the process of shutting down his old stuff like the Penn Center knowing that one day there would be a Biden Presidential Library. Consolidating everything in one place for NARA is a quite normal step to take. No particular hurry but it all got started a couple of months after Biden was sworn in. Including people communicating with each other about how much stuff there was to move, where it would go to, coordinating with NARA etc. However, to Republicans (and Turley) this is all nefarious. Especially since one person (a female) happened to be friendly with…. Hunter Biden!
So Turley does his best to create what is actually a really badly written fictional “crime short story.” The truth of the matter, which is that as soon as some classified documents were found in boxes in a locked closet at the Penn Center authorities were notified doesn’t matter to Turley or other Republicans. Neither does the fact that from the get-go Biden and his staff have fully and voluntarily cooperated. Not a single subpoena needed to be issued because NARA, the FBI and the Special Counsel were given full access every step of the way. If you want to read a straightforward, factual timeline (From FactCheck.org) that I might add notes the unlimited cooperation and access Biden and his team have provided here you go. I want to emphasize another thing that mostly got lost in the news because Hamas launched it’s terrorist attack. President Biden himself voluntarily sat for not one but TWO interviews with the Special Counsel.
If reporting is accurate the Special Counsel investigation into the Biden situation is about done. Personally, as good as the DOJ has again gotten about keeping a tight lid on things if it looked as though charges might be filed we’d have gotten hints of it at least. If there have been and I’ve missed them please let me know.
I think that’s what’s behind Turley’s missive. Helping Comer and GOPers frame a pre-emptive strike against President Biden and the DOJ. Comer has dropped turds when it comes to this and Turley has become the GOP’s “Official Legal Turd Polisher.” If you actually read the opinion piece he was so careful to mark as “opinion” I’m sure you’d agree for all his effort at polishing he failed to put a shine on this particular turd.
If turds are all you ever have to use, I guess you think you get good at polishing them.
Even when it’s obvious to everyone else you’re not.
No matter how good you get at polishing them, they’ll never become gemstones. lmao
Another rich, entitled, white man using his status to enrich himself and feel important. If I ran the world, he’d NEVER step foot on a university campus again using the title ‘law professor’. When you stand with a personality fascist cult trying to destroy the country, my take would be as if the Commanches were put in charge of administering justice…you’d be skinned alive. After all, you’re a killer of children. I’d have the same amount of sympathy for your plight as I do for the Hamas terrorists. Less than NONE!