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Trump Just Appointed Right Wing Extremist Ken Cuccinelli as Head of Immigration – Legal Experts Say Not So Fast

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‘By What Statutory Authority Did the President Purport to Appoint Cuccinelli as Acting Director of USCIS?’

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli without notice showed up for work today as the Acting Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (USCIS) agency, after President Donald Trump appointed him to the post.

Some legal experts are warning that Trump does not have the authority to make the appointment.

Cuccinelli is best known for his extreme positions on issues ranging from abortion to climate change to homosexuality and marriage. He has called homosexuality “against nature and are harmful to society,” and even worked to make oral sex illegal, only to be shot down at the Supreme Court. During his tenure as Virginia’s Attorney General he investigated climate scientists, arguing they were engaged in fraud, and has worked to rescind birthright citizenship – which is in the U.S. Constitution – and even tried to force employees to speak only English in the workplace.

Saying he is “honored to be given the opportunity,” Cuccinelli via a press release announced that USCIS “has the extraordinary responsibility to administer and protect the integrity of our nation’s lawful immigration system. Our nation has the most generous legal immigration system in the world and we must zealously safeguard its promise for those who lawfully come here,” echoing President Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.

But some legal experts question if President Trump has the authority to appoint Cuccinelli Acting Director of USCIS.

Cuccinelli, in an email to USCIS employees, said he wants to “work to find longterm solutions to close asylum loopholes that encourage many to make the dangers journey into the united states so that those who truly need humanitarian protections and meet the criteria under the law receive them,” as Buzzfeed’s Hamed Aleaziz reported.

Aleaziz adds DHS officials aren’t sure this is even legal.

Stephen Vladeck, Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law is also calling in to question the legality of the appointment. He took to Twitter to make his case, saying Cuccinelli “doesn’t meet any of the criteria under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.”

Attorney George Conway retweeted Vladeck’s post:

Here’s a self-described lawyer calling the appointment illegal:

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National Security Expert Drops Truth Bomb on Trump Supporters Convinced President Is About to ‘Clear’ Michael Flynn

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5 years ago

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April 30, 2020

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National security expert and Lawfare editor in chief Benjamin Wittes explained in an extensive Twitter thread why President Donald Trump’s supporters shouldn’t count their chickens before they’re hatched when it comes to Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.

“Hold the champagne—and maybe put away whatever you’re smoking,” he told Trumpland on Wednesday evening. “Gen. Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI not because he was framed but because he got a sweet-ass deal to avoid massive criminal liability for being an unregistered agent of a foreign power while working for a presidential transition. He also avoided his son’s prosecution.”

New documents show that the FBI had a conversation about the need to get Flynn to admit in questioning that he violated the Logan Act, which prevents unregistered foreign agents from doing business with international governments on behalf of the United States. There was a discussion that they also look for occasions where Flynn lied under oath. As former federal prosecutors pointed out, it’s something FBI agents do to all suspects. Flynn is no exception.

“While in the White House, he unequivocally lied to both the Vice President of the United States and to the chief of staff to the President of the United States about his interactions with the Russian ambassador,” explained Wittes. “And he was fired for it. Nothing that has come out suggests the facts that he admitted to in the context of his plea are untrue or that his plea was coerced in any way.”

He acknowledged that Trump may still pardon Flynn, but Flynn will never be “cleared” and Judge Emmet Sullivan won’t be surprised by the latest “revelations.”

Read his full Twitter thread.

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‘Bizarro World’: Internet Explodes as Pam Bondi Defends President on TV: ‘Frat Houses at Trump University Must Be Wild Now’

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5 years ago

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January 27, 2020

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Former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, possibly best-known for refusing to join a fraud investigation into Trump University that ultimately led to the President of the United States forking over $25 million, is right now defending President Trump on national TV during the Senate impeachment trial.

As many on social media noted, Bondi refused to join that investigation that led to a $25 million payment from the president, but was only too happy to accept a $25,000 donation from Donald Trump for her re-election campaign, just as she was deciding on whether or not to investigate him.

Bondi rocketed to the number two trending item on Twitter within minutes of speaking.

On social media some are calling it “bizarro world”:

Some posted evidence:

Some say Bondi has experience “overlooking allegations made against Trump”:

Some mocked the “frat houses” that never existed at the now-defunct Trump University:

More:

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‘Pretend Princess’ Ivanka Trump’s Tweet Defending Her Father After Impeachment Vote Brilliantly Backfires

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5 years ago

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October 31, 2019

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“Jefferson was also a rapist and a white supremacist”

Exactly five minutes after the House of Representatives passed a resolution laying out the procedures for the public phase of the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump posted a tweet with this quote from Thomas Jefferson to defend her boss and father:

“…surrounded by enemies and spies catching and perverting every word that falls from my lips or flows from my pen, and inventing where facts fail them.”

Apparently, Ivanka Trump should have chosen her words more carefully:

Few were amused, many appeared angered and indignant, some offered additional founding father quotes, and many reminded her of her father’s crimes and misdeeds:

 

 

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