Patterico's Pontifications

11/9/2018

The Curious Case of Matt Whitaker’s History of Threats to Bilked Customers

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 4:39 pm



I’m not sure the Trump administration thought this one through.

The New York Times has a story titled Acting Attorney General Sat on Board of Company Accused of Bilking Customers:

Matthew G. Whitaker, the acting attorney general, served on the advisory board of a Florida company that a federal judge shut down last year and fined nearly $26 million after the government accused it of scamming customers.

The company, World Patent Marketing, “bilked thousands of consumers out of millions of dollars” by promising inventors lucrative patent agreements, according to a complaint filed in Florida by the Federal Trade Commission.

Court documents show that when frustrated consumers tried to get their money back, Scott J. Cooper, the company’s president and founder, used Mr. Whitaker to threaten them as a former federal prosecutor. Mr. Cooper’s company paid Mr. Whitaker nearly $10,000 before it closed.

. . . .

Mr. Whitaker, using his Iowa law firm’s email, told a man who had complained to Mr. Cooper that he was a former federal prosecutor and served on the company’s board.

“Your emails and message from today seem to be an apparent attempt at possible blackmail or extortion,” Mr. Whitaker wrote in August 2015. “You also mentioned filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and to smear World Patent Marketing’s reputation online. I am assuming you understand that there could be serious civil and criminal consequences for you.”

If Whitaker & Co. were committing crimes, though, surely the FBI would be looking into it!

Whoops! Guess what? They are.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting a criminal investigation of a Florida company accused of scamming millions from customers during the period that Matthew Whitaker, the acting U.S. attorney general, served as a paid advisory-board member, according to an alleged victim who was contacted by the FBI and other people familiar with the matter.

The investigation is being handled by the Miami office of the FBI and by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, according to an email sent to the alleged victim last year by an FBI victim specialist. A recording on a phone line set up by the Justice Department to help victims said Friday the case remains active.

Mr. Whitaker, appointed Wednesday by President Trump to replace Jeff Sessions as head of the Justice Department, oversees the FBI in his new job.

Presumably Whitaker would be recusing himself in this investigation where his own potential criminal behavior is being scrutinized. Meanwhile, does President Trump know Matthew Whitaker? Depends on when you ask him:

I know how to resolve this ambiguity! “I don’t know him like that!” All’s I know is how he said bad stuff about Bob Mueller on the tube while I was watching:

People close to the president said Mr. Whitaker first came to the attention of Mr. Trump because he liked watching Mr. Whitaker express skepticism about aspects of Mr. Mueller’s investigation on television.

Well of course he did.

Meanwhile, more out about how Trump was on top of the payments to porn stars and such from beginning to end.

Swamp. Drained.

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]

120 Responses to “The Curious Case of Matt Whitaker’s History of Threats to Bilked Customers”

  1. Be proud.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  2. That’s what I’ve been saying. As a recently returned Republican, this is the kind of stuff I want to end.

    Paul Montagu (e7d63b)

  3. Yes, Trump should not have been involved in the payoffs to his girlfriends. The superior man lets his principal wife and household eunuchs arrange such matters.

    I am being sarcastic.

    nk (dbc370)

  4. Whitaker and the patent scammers might have had some meat in it, if not for the absolute moral certainty that he was thoroughly investigated when he became Sessions’s chief of staff.

    nk (dbc370)

  5. Don’t be so cynical…
    Digs into pile of Latin maxims…ah here we are
    fit fur furem capere

    kishnevi (bec396)

  6. nk, have you ever read Story of the Stone aka Dream of the Red Chamber?
    I am sure you would appreciate it in full.

    To those who have not read it (it is actually one of the greatest novels ever written) I recommend the five volume Penguin paperback edition.

    kishnevi (bec396)

  7. A mere piker compared to banamex who was Muellers client of record, they aren’t in the same league as HSBC but not small fry. If we are going to compare apples.

    Narciso (9b6052)

  8. I will repeat the pertinent portion of a comment just made in another thread

    And invoking Obaman malfeasance won’t work. Whataboutism is a progressive ploy. For a conservative, the failure to enforce law is a failure of law enforcement, not an excuse to immunize your own side.

    kishnevi (bec396)

  9. I’m not sure the Trump administration thought this one through.

    In-con-CEIV-able!

    Dave (77df18)

  10. #5, I do not recognize your maxim. What is the translation?

    Gary Hoffman (7ec1de)

  11. Yes you can some nameless drone hire another special prosecutor like they did to ed meese, seriously.

    Narciso (9b6052)

  12. “Set a thief to catch a thief”, Haiku. It’s also the recruitment policy of the NYPD.

    No, kishnevi, I have not read that Story Of The Stone, but I have read other Oriental literature and the Judge Dee stories, and my wife made me watch Raise The Red Lantern with her one time.

    nk (dbc370)

  13. It takes a thief to catch a thief.
    Which is why I pay attention to Trump accusing others of being corrupt and incompetent. After all, he is himself spectacularly corrupt and incompetent.

    kishnevi (bec396)

  14. Capere is not only the root of “capture”, it’s also the root of “copper/cop” as slang for “policeman”, BTW. (Not the material of British bobbies’ helmets or badges as some aver.)

    nk (dbc370)

  15. nk, Story of the Stone is well worth your time. Closest Western analogue is Proust, but only if you mix in Hammett and Dickens. (There is a Buddhist frame story, but it’s easily ignored.)

    kishnevi (bec396)

  16. They may sound alike but there is no similar cognate.

    Narciso (9b6052)

  17. W

    hitaker and the patent scammers might have had some meat in it, if not for the absolute moral certainty that he was thoroughly investigated when he became Sessions’s chief of staff

    Except he wasn’t. Moral certainty, in the Trump administration, that’s a joke right. A background check and Senate approval for a USAO from 2004-2009, before the scamming, doesn’t really help (Southern District of Iowa is not a prestige position). His security clearance would still have been good when hired, so it might not even have been updated.

    This guy is barely qualified to bring the AG lunch, he probably wears “flare” on his blue vest working his weekend job.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (4a12e8)

  18. I’m serious about the significance of Whitaker being vetted when he was made Sessions’s chief of staff. It may not have the Talismanic Power of a prior Senate confirmation to another post, but it’s not chopped liver either. In practical terms, it should weigh more, in my opinion.

    nk (dbc370)

  19. Whitaker was made Sessions’s chief of staff about a year and a half ago, and after his representation of the scammers, Herr Oberst. And I gave you no reason to believe that I was referring to his tenure as U.S. Attorney way back when.

    nk (dbc370)

  20. Maybe the plan is for Trump to include the mail-fraud violations when he pardons him for firing Mueller.

    Dave (77df18)

  21. Would security clearance personnel have known enough to look into his clients?
    (Think a second about attorney client privilege).
    Did he have a reason to self-report the fact he was representing scammers?

    kishnevi (bec396)

  22. Would security clearance personnel have known enough to look into his clients?
    (Think a second about attorney client privilege).
    Did he have a reason to self-report the fact he was representing scammers?

    And even if he was a target of the SEC, or any other agency, would the background check folks at the FBI have access to that information?

    FBI background checks don’t get realtime review under normal circumstances. Look at the White House folks who were bounced because their interim checks would never have been passed. I’ve had security clearance for close to 30 years and know of plenty of instances where people didn’t get their clearance revoked until after their next scheduled review, even after DUIs, domestic violence, etc.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (4a12e8)

  23. Col Klink
    Remember that the last POTUS who would have unquestionably cleared a normal security clearance process was GW Bush…

    kishnevi (bec396)

  24. Sessions likes Milano cookies, too! (Near the end of the article; #FakeNewsCNN always puts the good stuff at the end.) I bought four bags, today, myself. Two milk chocolate, one double milk chocolate, and one double dark chocolate.

    nk (dbc370)

  25. A fusion recipient (hello Marc elias) and valerie Jarretts daughter no agenda here,

    Narciso (9b6052)

  26. Of course there’s an agenda from those people, the Democrat media, narciso. They’ll smear Whitaker eighteen ways from Sunday to maintain Mueller’s investigation. He’ll be lucky if they’re not asking for his extradition to The Hague for crimes against humanity by next week.

    nk (dbc370)

  27. Why do you think I only mentioned the Milano cookies? That’s the most worthwhile thing in that article.

    nk (dbc370)

  28. Those are good cookies though,

    Narciso (9b6052)

  29. No one is better qualified to approve bogus FISA warrants and run selective prosecutions of political targets. He’ll fit right in.

    Munroe (1b112d)

  30. So I think the message being put forward is this (bald man bad)

    Narciso (9b6052)

  31. That’s the most worthwhile thing in that article.

    That’s what I call burying the lede. Sessions was clueless and Whitaker is ambitious, an ethically-deficient crackpot who is willing to pass all of Trump’s loyalty tests. The smart guy in this drama is Rosy, who somehow still has a job.

    Paul Montagu (4575b4)

  32. Captain Chaos strikes again! This is just nuts. Be proud, indeed.

    Tillman (61f3c8)

  33. Sessions likes Milano cookies, too!

    happyfeet will be appalled…

    Dave (9664fc)

  34. Of course he is pursuing the only acceptable target heaven and earth must be moved to hunt him down.

    Narciso (9b6052)

  35. This is classic Trump:

    Trump, today: “Well, Matt Whitaker. I don’t know Matt Whitaker.”

    Trump, on Fox & Friends, October 11: “I can tell you Matt Whitaker is a great guy, I know Matt Whitaker.”

    He says whatever benefits him at any given time. Therefore, how can anyone really know for sure that what he says is true? And why would anyone trust him about anything, given his penchant for telling fibs. Both of these statements cannot be true, given the time they occurred. And if confronted, he can’t deny it because there will be eye witnesses, likely video of him saying the words and a written record. But here’s the thing: that wouldn’t matter. He would still deny any discrepancy. Even though it’s right there for everyone to see! And if confronted, he would drone on and becoming more incoherent than usual, while pivoting to attack mode in order to distract and deflect. All the while wholly convinced that everyone listening believed his bullsh*t obfuscations.

    Dana (023079)

  36. Dana (023079) — 11/9/2018 @ 7:27 pm

    Yep.

    Tillman (61f3c8)

  37. So here is my question: so would Whitaker need to sign for his own search warrant if it came down to it?

    Tillman (61f3c8)

  38. Hey you could hold him in contempt of Congress like Eric holder, I’m being cereal.

    You know seeing the star wars Cantina of freaks like nadler and waters come back like Jason when there was no need for it, maybe we really are cursed to repeat the same mistakes because Ryan was a dead possum and that esteemed body wouldn’t take the opportunities given it.

    Narciso (9b6052)

  39. So prepare to have oil resources throttled college star chambers reinstituted our military similarly injured, it’s what you wanted.

    Narciso (9b6052)

  40. “Mr. Cooper’s company paid Mr. Whitaker nearly $10,000 before it closed.”

    Yeah, 10k (one to four month’s work for the average middle-upper class American salaryman) reeeeeeally doesn’t sound like “skin-in-the-game, I’m ALL IN on this scam” money to me, more like “hey we need a federal prosecutor to make headcount and we’ll pay you to do customer account responses in a Serious Federal Prosecutor Voice.”

    If you REALLY want a comparison, James Mattis was on the board of Theranos and for some odd reason no reporter ever tried to pin him down on it. Did NO ONE VET HIM? I guess they were all INCOMPETENTS!

    Ajami (e925a0)

  41. So far, the Jeff Sessions stable has given us Stephen Miller and Matt Whittaker. Why didn’t the President stick with recruiting from Fox News?

    John B Boddie (41beaf)

  42. Note: If someone who wasn’t a lawyer with prior experience on how companies above and below board do their staffing was complaining about this loudly as though this was the very first time they heard about some public figure who leveraged their name to get on a board for a company that later turned out to be engaging in fraud, I might be less disdainful and dismissive.

    But just like how Peter Strzok looked at the Russia investigation and immediately concluded ‘there’s no there there!’ in his actual, truthful, professional judgment before going on to get browbeaten into loudly pretending for the cameras and his side chick, those with greater knowledge will face far harsher and less forgiving judgment when they wail and moan sackloth and ashes in the streets for the sake of their shabbier and shabbier anti-Trump cause.

    Ajami (4a2db3)

  43. “So far, the Jeff Sessions stable has given us Stephen Miller and Matt Whittaker. Why didn’t the President stick with recruiting from Fox News?”

    Tucker Carlson would be the only one worthy and capable of pulling and he does a much better job with his platform and show there.

    Stephen Miller absolutely kicks butt and takes names, he’s great, what are you on about?

    Ajami (2c3f6d)

  44. Yes consider Dana perino from Arlen specters staff and Scott mcllellan that really was plumbing the bottom of the barrel. Tony snow was perfect but alas was here for too short a time. Or one could look at Katie Couric’s understudy nicole Wallace

    Narciso (9b6052)

  45. He should’ve hired Eric Holder

    mg (9e54f8)

  46. Well I wanted to compare the last batch of top flight talent,

    Narciso (9b6052)

  47. I thought we agreed this didn’t matter when Timothy Geithner became Treasury Secretary despite fairly obvious tax cheating.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  48. This is the reverse-Agnew. Any nominee would be better.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  49. “Miami Herald

    Verified account

    @MiamiHerald
    Follow Follow @MiamiHerald
    More
    Whoops! Brenda Snipes’ office mixed bad provisional ballots with good ones”

    Dems literally getting away with ‘WHOOPS OUR BAD!’ is something Republicans are hopefully going to tolerate a whole lot less of.

    Ajami (d842f4)

  50. If the press went after Bill Clinton like they’ve gone after Trump, he’d be entering his 3rd decade in prison this year. So far no one has charged Trump with rape.

    A low bar, I admit, but I’m just a bit tired of hearing that Trump is an assh0le. We know he’s an assh0le. But he’s OUR assh0le.

    No, wait, let me rephrase that.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  51. Whoops! Brenda Snipes’ office mixed bad provisional ballots with good ones”

    This comes out after a court orders her to let observers in.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  52. If the press went after Bill Clinton like they’ve gone after Trump, he’d be entering his 3rd decade in prison this year. So far no one has charged Trump with rape.

    Good lord, are you really claiming the Republicans did not go after Bill Clinton? He was impeached, for god’s sake.
    I mean really, come on!

    TomM (d5f11d)

  53. 52.

    Loudly answering a question no one asked and pretending ‘the liberal lying press’ = ‘Republicans’ is a great way to get people to trust you, though it takes real chutzpah to do it while quoting the original question in full.

    You might be good enough to take Anna Navarro’s or David Brooks’ spot!

    Ajami (f8364a)

  54. @35./@36 LOL! Trust the classics:

    “That’s not my voice.”
    “I never said that.”
    “The tape’s been doctored.”
    “That’s a stupid question!”
    “It’s fake news!”

    Is Paris burning?

    “The day ain’t over yet.” – Trail Boss Curly [Jack Palance] ‘City Slickers’ 1991

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  55. Whining about how the Clintons had it made is absolutely ridiculous. Years of investigations and millions of dollars were spent investigating them. This form of “whataboutism’ is laughable:

    Independent probes of Clinton Administration cost nearly $80 million
    April 1, 1999
    Web posted at: 11:32 a.m. EST (1632 GMT)

    WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, April 1) — Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s office spent $6.2 million during the six months last year when wrapping up its case against President Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky matter. With that additional spending, Starr’s probe is about to become the most expensive independent counsel inquiry ever.

    According to figures released by the General Accounting Office (GAO) Wednesday, Starr’s spending increased more than 50 percent over the critical period of April to September, during which Lewinsky was deposed multiple times and Starr was finishing his referral to Congress.

    The new expenditures push the cost of the independent counsel’s 4 1/2-year inquiry of the president and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to $39.2 million. Starr was appointed to continue the investigation of the Clinton’s Whitewater land deal. The probe was expanded in January 1998 to include the Lewinsky matter.

    With that total, Starr is closing in on the record for spending by an independent counsel: The $47.4 million spent by Lawrence Walsh on the eight-year investigation of Reagan Administration officials involved in the Iran-contra affair.

    Before Starr’s appointment, a special counsel appointed by Attorney General Janet Reno had spent $6 million on a probe of Whitewater.

    Besides Starr, five other independent counsels are currently conducting investigations. Four of those focus on the Clinton Administration. The combined costs of those four inquiries and the Starr probe now comes to $79.3 million.

    A four-year investigation of Henry Cisneros, former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, is scheduled to end in a trial of the former Clinton Administration official in July on charges related to statements he made about payments to a mistress.

    Independent counsel David M. Barrett spent $1.4 million from April through September last year on the probe, which has cost $8.7 million so far.

    A probe of former Agriculture secretary, Mike Espy, acquitted by a jury last year, cost $19.2 million.

    Investigations of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Labor Secretary Alexis Herman have cost less than $2 million, while a probe of the late commerce secretary Ronald Brown, a victim of a 1996 airplane crash, was terminated after expenditures of $3 million.

    http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/04/01/counsel.probe.costs/

    Tillman (61f3c8)

  56. Meanwhile Colbert sees attacking an intern is sport.

    Narciso (3386f2)

  57. Cadet Bonespurs and the Third Lady can’t be bothered to honor American war dead in France…because it’s raining!

    Trumps cancel American cemetery visit

    US President Donald Trump and first [sic] lady Melania Trump will not visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial on Saturday afternoon, as planned, because of poor weather.

    The hapless grunts (Mattis and JCS Chairman Gen. Dunford) get to go stand in the rain instead…

    Dave (9664fc)

  58. *John Kelly and Dunford

    Dave (9664fc)

  59. Kelly about to be fired like Lane Kiffin?

    urbanleftbehind (e01401)

  60. yes yes and no more pentagon piggy appointments

    those people are just weird

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  61. This is pneumonia weather. Septuagenarians have to watch themselves. That’s how General Joe Johnston died. He caught pneumonia at Sherman’s funeral.

    nk (dbc370)

  62. And wasn’t there a President who caught pneumonia at his inauguration?

    nk (dbc370)

  63. Yup…but he did court his demise with a 4 hour inauguration speech.

    urbanleftbehind (e01401)

  64. Trumps cancel American cemetery visit

    President Trump offered to do a huge parade for this but people got many sads 🙁

    said the stupid ww1 soldiers weren’t worth that kinda money and effort

    not worth it they said

    they said them dead soldiers just aren’t worth that kinda money

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  65. That war was a screw up for all involved it decimated the cream of the crop all through out Europe, even in the UK. But there is such a thing as duty.

    Narciso (3386f2)

  66. Years of investigations and millions of dollars were spent investigating them. This form of “whataboutism’ is laughable

    And yet, the claims of rape and assault were never really looked at. Nor did the PRESS, as I said, pile on like rabid dogs like they’ve done with Trump. I’m going to bet there is not ONE issue of the WaPo since summer of 2016 that does not have a front-page story that could be titled “Orange Man Bad.”

    Kevin M (a57144)

  67. There’s also that Macaroon wanted to honor Petain.

    But what’s funnier is his proposal for an EU army. I guess the French don’t want to surrender all by themselves in the next war.

    nk (dbc370)

  68. That war was a screw up for all involved

    This is what happens when you have hair-trigger alliances and unstable governments at the same time. Austria-Hungary, Russia and the patchwork Ottoman Empire were all teetering as it was, one was impressively destabilized with a single shot, and the house of cards came down.

    I’m just very glad that when the USSR and its empire collapsed that nothing untoward happened. OK, Yugoslavia, but still.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  69. But what’s funnier is his proposal for an EU army.

    There is no better way to destroy sovereignty than to replace the national armies. I’m guessing England won’t be part of it.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  70. I’m going to bet there is not ONE issue of the WaPo since summer of 2016 that does not have a front-page story that could be titled “Orange Man Bad.”

    Has there been a day since summer of 2016 that Donald Trump didn’t proudly proclaim himself a toxic, immoral, ignorant bigot?

    Dave (9664fc)

  71. Well had the Russians chosen to intervene more forcefully in the Balkans well who knows that’s the dog’s breath we might still face in the caucasus.

    Narciso (3386f2)

  72. Stephens nailed it, on multiple levels: A Trump Hack Hacks Justice

    Paul Montagu (4575b4)

  73. Has there been a day since summer of 2016 that Donald Trump didn’t proudly proclaim himself a toxic, immoral, ignorant bigot?

    He’s usually quiet on weekends. No so the WaPo.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  74. …the claims of rape and assault were never really looked at…

    Says Kevin M, the one defending the “man” who bragged that he liked to go around gabbing women’s p—-ies.

    Tillman (61f3c8)

  75. Well had the Russians chosen to intervene more forcefully in the Balkans

    Yeah, because Chechnya went so well.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  76. Tangential to posts above, but reminds me of the lyrical content of the Pogues’ Recuring Sergeant. http://deadspin.com/report-english-fa-launches-first-ever-investigation-in-183035839

    urbanleftbehind (e01401)

  77. Isaac As-In-Color-A-Shade-Of-Purple-Gray wrote a short story about an insoluble mystery that was related by a guest at a dinner party except that the solution was simple. The guest was lying and the mystery was a fiction he had made up and that is why we are so perplexed and agitated because the news media is feeding us fiction that they made up.

    nk (dbc370)

  78. and mr. trump the president is fighting back at them with their own tactics and that is why they hate him

    nk (dbc370)

  79. OK, Yugoslavia, but still.

    According to Wikipedia, the Sarajevo house of Gavrilo Princip, the assassin who precipitated the war, has been alternatively demolished and rebuilt as a memorial three times now.

    I’ve read that by the time he died of tuberculosis in 1918 (while literally rotting in an Austrian prison), Princip was horrified by what he had caused.

    Dave (9664fc)

  80. Sooner or later
    You’ll hit the deck
    You’ll get found out

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  81. “Stephens nailed it, on multiple levels: A Trump Hack Hacks Justice”
    Paul Montagu (4575b4) — 11/10/2018 @ 9:44 am

    Stephens: “His appointment represents an unprecedented assault on the integrity and reputation of the Justice Department…”

    …he says with a straight face. Which DOJ does he mourn for? Holder’s, Lynch’s, Yates’ or Reno’s?

    Munroe (8859ef)

  82. “His appointment represents an unprecedented assault

    But is it a historic assault? Snorfle!

    nk (dbc370)

  83. The leaks are coming from sessions spokesperson isgur flores and Rosenstein’s deputy, o callaghan who volunteered for maverick in 2008,

    Narciso (cf3695)

  84. …he says with a straight face. Which DOJ does he mourn for? Holder’s, Lynch’s, Yates’ or Reno’s?

    Whataboutism noted. A guy who believes that Marbury v. Madison was a bad decision has basically disqualified himself from the job. Same with his crackpottery that states are entitled to nullify federal law.

    ‘Nullification as a serious, mainstream legal argument didn’t survive the Civil War (or the constitutional amendments that followed),” said University of Texas law professor and CNN contributor Stephen Vladeck. “It’s irreconcilable not only with the structure of the Constitution, but with its text, especially the text of the Supremacy Clause of Article VI—which not only makes federal law supreme, but expressly binds state courts to apply it. For someone who holds those views to be the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, even temporarily, is more than a little terrifying.”

    Paul Montagu (4575b4)

  85. “Whataboutism noted.”
    Paul Montagu (4575b4) — 11/10/2018 @ 11:37 am

    Red herring noted.

    If Whitaker announced today that he would completely recuse himself from the investigation, suddenly any nonsense about Marbury, or nullification or World Patent Marketing, or whatever, would instantly vaporize.

    He would become an instant hero for people like Stephens.

    Munroe (14a24e)

  86. @66. No Hun buried there, Mr. Feet?!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  87. If Whitaker announced today that he would completely recuse himself from the investigation, suddenly any nonsense about Marbury, or nullification or World Patent Marketing, or whatever, would instantly vaporize.

    It’s good to avoid hypotheticals as much as possible. Trump’s primary complaint with Sessions was that the former AG recused himself from the Special Counsel investigation. Complaint solved with Whitaker, who is nothing but a Trump ass-kissing loyalist. I’d like to be proven wrong, but Whitaker won’t recuse.

    Paul Montagu (4575b4)

  88. The days when “ass-kissing loyalists” could run the DOJ ended on January 20, 2017. Got it.

    Munroe (1eabc4)

  89. Well, Drumpf ain’t too much removed from Kaiser Bill’s army, so maybe an Allied cemetary his personal version of the Churchill bust.

    urbanleftbehind (e01401)

  90. 86:

    “Whataboutism noted.”

    Irrelevant opinion also noted.

    “A guy who believes that Marbury v. Madison was a bad decision has basically disqualified himself from the job.”

    Fascist thought-policing and unthinking adherence to ideology regardless of outcome or discuession also noted.

    “Same with his crackpottery that states are entitled to nullify federal law.”

    Shameless 180 from the constant loud lefty line on sanctuary cities for the past two years noted as well. (But this is ‘whataboutism,’ right?)

    I really should have just responded to the first and left it at that, but it bears repeating for all concerned: Anyone, but especially a purported ‘conservative’, who unironically uses the left-invented neologism ‘whataboutism’ to defend themselves has pre-disqualified everything they say before or after it. There are perfectly good and logical reasons to ask why standards and outcomes aren’t enforced uniformly, quite a few made shamelessly by leftists themselves when it comes to things like male v. female sports or race quotas in college admissions.

    To repeat: Everyone who ever uses ‘whataboutism’ seriously is painting a gigantic target on their head and deserves all the verbal ignoring, bullying, and insulting they can catch.

    Ajami (2ead3b)

  91. Whataboutism Now, Whataboutism Forevuh!!!

    urbanleftbehind (847a06)

  92. @66. Grave mistake, Mr. Feet.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  93. oh the one useful detail in that otherwise squirrel screed against whittaker, is he was against ethanol in the 2014 Iowa debate, Ernst was not so she got to go on to the next round,

    narciso (d1f714)

  94. Will Elvis finally come out of hiding to accept his Presidential Medal Of Freedom?

    nk (dbc370)

  95. served as a paid advisory-board member, according to an alleged victim who was contacted by the FBI and other people familiar with the matter.

    Paid advisory board member = someone with zero power.

    Could be something, but I doubt it.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  96. Given the credibility of the anti-Trump press how much credence can we put in this?

    Very little.

    I doubt Sessions would have a scammer on this payroll as Chief-of-staff.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  97. Only the anti-Trump press? We have people on this thread, who have the same post by Patterico that you read and quoted above, rcocean, who claim that the FBI missed this when they vetted Whitaker as Sessions’ chief of staff.

    nk (dbc370)

  98. I doubt Sessions would have a scammer on this payroll as Chief-of-staff.

    Sessions supported the candidacy of a serial scammer and agreed to work for him when the serial scammer won. Why would he object to having one work under him?

    kishnevi (170c4a)

  99. Well, he did recuse himself from his supervision of Mueller. 😉

    nk (dbc370)

  100. Mr. Vanderluen (American Digest) is reported to have lost everything in Paradise, Ca.

    Approximately 6600 homes gone, most business structures… somewhere around 75 to 80% of the community gone up in smoke. So unfortunate. Time to help as one is able.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  101. Mueller has no supervision, not that I can see, and we know where that leads

    Narciso (2814d9)

  102. Wow, that is staggering coronello,

    Narciso (2814d9)

  103. The days when “ass-kissing loyalists” could run the DOJ ended on January 20, 2017. Got it.

    Ah, so we’re back to whataboutism. For me, I’ll jump off this merry-go-round of circular arguments.

    Paul Montagu (4575b4)

  104. Fascist thought-policing and unthinking adherence to ideology regardless of outcome or discuession also noted.

    Yeah, that’s incoherent, but go ahead and defend Whitaker’s comment that Marbury v. Madisonwas bad law. By all means.
    Oh, and if you feel that whataboutism was invented by liberals, then thank you for displaying the ignorance of your comment.

    Paul Montagu (4575b4)

  105. While the Federalist Society has served Trump well with judicial picks, Mr. Leo f**ked Trump over in recommending Whitaker.

    Paul Montagu (4575b4)

  106. Marbury v. Madison is bad law. In fact, it is not law at all. It is obiter dicta that John Marshall made up in a case that had no need for it and complacent and lazy Congresses have let the courts get away with.

    nk (dbc370)

  107. It’s no different than Roger B. Taney’s opinion in the Dred Scott case.

    nk (dbc370)

  108. Marbury v. Madison is bad law.

    Uh, yeah, I think the newest justice of the Supreme Court would take issue. It’s Bizarro World even debating this.

    Paul Montagu (4575b4)

  109. All the federal judges would take issue. It was a hijacking of the Constitution by John Marshall’s black-robed junta and they’re enjoying the power they’ve inherited.

    nk (dbc370)

  110. Well it’s probably too complex a question to be summarized in a sentence, just consider the gay marriage question, thousands of years of history wiped out in an instant because “love wins

    Narciso (2814d9)

  111. And we saw how contrived that was, measures that could never come to pass through legislation, as Scalia himself said ‘don’t ask us to settle this and then complain about the result’

    Narciso (2814d9)

  112. All the federal judges would take issue. It was a hijacking of the Constitution by John Marshall’s black-robed junta and they’re enjoying the power they’ve inherited.

    Delusional. All the federal judges? Good grief. Delusional. Fringe.

    Paul Montagu (4575b4)

  113. I would go so far, but the impacts of certain transformative decisions should be balanced, it’s a guideline not a strict rule. What was the impact of Engel v Vitale for instance

    Narciso (2814d9)

  114. Wouldnt, of course liberals pick and chose which laws should be observed

    Narciso (2814d9)

  115. More on the extremism that Marbury v Madison was decided wrongly.

    This makes him [Whitaker] far more radical than even Clarence Thomas, who is the most extreme justice we’ve ever had on the court. And his opinion is ludicrous and flatly contradicted by the men who wrote the Constitution. I’m sure Whitaker claims to be an originalist, so let’s go directly to the original source that established the public meaning of the Constitution, the Federalist Papers. In Federalist 78, Alexander Hamilton could not be more clear that not only is the power to overturn unconstitutional acts part of the judicial power, but that without this power, there is no way to protect the rights laid out in the Constitution.

    The complete independence of the courts of justice is peculiarly essential in a limited Constitution. By a limited Constitution, I understand one which contains certain specified exceptions to the legislative authority; such, for instance, as that it shall pass no bills of attainder, no ex-post-facto laws, and the like. Limitations of this kind can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this, all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing.

    That doesn’t make the Supreme Court the “final arbiter” of constitutional issues. Ultimately, that power resides with the people, who can amend the Constitution if they are so inclined. But it does clearly establish judicial review as part of the judicial power. And no one who considers themselves and originalist could possibly make a serious argument to the contrary without massively contradicting themselves. This opinion isn’t just wrong, it proves Ruth Marcus right — the man is a crackpot.

    And this crackpottery extends to those who think Whitaker’s opinions about Marbury v. Madison were a swell idea.

    Paul Montagu (4575b4)

  116. I am familiar with the Progressive-Activist cant, thank you very much.

    nk (dbc370)

  117. i like how Mr. Whitaker has real whirl experience in the real whirl

    i bet that silly twiddle-twaddle Martha McSally’s wishing she had some real whirl experience about now

    stupid scooter-poot done unemployed herself!

    that’s what you get for being stupid useless and unprincipled martha (tried to warn ya sweetie)

    happyfeet (28a91b)


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