How Trump can lead on human rights and other comments | New … – New York Post

Ex-prosecutor: But Wheres the Actual Crime?

Andrew McCarthy, a longtime opponent of special prosecutors, notes at PJ Media that their investigations inevitably metastasize far beyond the original inquiry because there is no supervisor to keep them focused on the subject matter. But you dont need a prosecutor unless you first have a crime not just some untoward or sleazy form of behavior. And it is simply not a federal crime for a foreign country to intrude on an American election by spreading information or misleading propaganda that favors one candidate or damages another. Nor is collusion a crime. Yes, a president found to have schemed with a foreign country to corrupt American election processes could be impeached. But thats a political process not a legal one.

Foreign desk: How Trump Can Lead on Human Rights

President Trump has made clear he wont routinely pressure foreign regimes on human rights. But Jackson Diehl in The Washington Post suggests he launch an America First campaign to deter other governments from mistreating or unjustly imprisoning US citizens in some cases, simply because they are Americans. The prez has already won the release of Aya Hijazi, an Egyptian-American freed last month when Trump raised her case, as well as several Americans held by China. If Trump chooses to make such cases a priority, there are plenty more out there in Iran, North Korea and Venezuela. Trump has an opportunity to carve out a role as a fierce defender of Americans abroad, notes Diehl, and if he seizes it, even those who despise his values-free foreign policy will have to give him some credit.

Policing expert: Comey Was Cops Champion

Whatever former FBI Director James Comeys failings in other matters, his firing is a loss for Americas police officers and public order, says Heather Mac Donald at City Journal. Ironically, he gave Donald Trump the most powerful message of his campaign: policing matters. Long before Trump seized the issue, she notes, Comey was virtually the only official in the Obama administration to warn that the chill wind blowing through American law enforcement thanks to anti-cop protests, and that it was resulting in a rising homicide toll among black people. In an eloquent defense of proactive policing in 2015, he rejected the notion that cops target minorities: Law enforcement targeted neighborhoods where people were dying, he said; race had nothing to do with it. That speech was a direct rejection of the Obama administrations line that the criminal-justice system is racist.

Law prof: Be Thankful This Isnt a Constitutional Crisis

Calling James Comeys firing a constitutional crisis is an exercise in crying wolf, even if some serious constitutional experts are saying so, asserts Noah Feldman at Bloomberg. Thats not just analytically mistaken but also potentially dangerous, because a constitutional crisis signals a fundamental breakdown in the structure of government and calls for decisive action to resolve it. And the last thing we need, he says, is for President Trump to step into the breach and violate the Constitution on the theory that hes saving us from a constitutional crisis. In true crises, the resolving action almost always has some features that could be characterized as unconstitutional. So save constitutional crisis for when its accurate and we have no choice but to use it.

From the right: Can Bannon Foil Afghan Plan?

President Trump will decide soon whether to send at least 3,000 US troops to Afghanistan in a bid to stabilize the government in Kabul led by President Ashraf Ghani against a resurgent Taliban as well affiliates of ISIS and al Qaeda, reports Michael Warren at The Weekly Standard. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and the entire national-security team are behind the plan but senior White House counselor Steve Bannon heads the list of those skeptical of increasing military action in the region. Indeed, the Afghanistan proposal has been dubbed by its critics in the White House as McMasters war, and Bannon has been the primary force pushing that line. Still unclear: Where do other advisers such as Jared Kushner stand?

Compiled by Eric Fettmann

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How Trump can lead on human rights and other comments | New ... - New York Post