On Thursday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Michael Patrick Leahy was joined in studio by Carol Swain to discuss the misuse of taxpayer funds in an effort to aid in the impeachment of President Trump.
At the top of the third hour, Leahy and Swain discussed how University of Tennessee professors used their office to commission Lamar Alexander and Marsha Blackburn urging them to vote for witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial. They specifically mentioned calling John Bolton and completely avoided mentioning Hunter or Joe Biden.
Leahy: In the studio with us good friend and all-star panelist. Former professor at Vanderbilt and Princeton University. So, Carol, we were talking about the left-wing bias of academia. And ideally, I guess I want to talk about a couple of things.
First, this outrageous letter that taxpayer-funded professors have sent to Sen. Lamar Alexander’s office and Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s office. Apparently on email from the universities using their titles at the university trying to influence the senators to add witnesses. To basically be part of the effort to take down President Trump. It’s not appropriate I don’t think, do you?
Swain: I have a news flash for them.
Leahy: OK.
Swain: Unless they’re from Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, etc. No one’s going to pay any attention to what they have to say.
Leahy: Well we’re paying a little attention to it.
Swain: But we’re in Tennessee.
Leahy: We’re in Tennessee. And it’s inappropriate I think. It’s not right for them to use their taxpayer office to try to influence the policy of the United States senators elected to represent the state.
Swain: I believe they would argue that it’s their responsibility that they have the public good at heart. And that this is something that they are fully justified in doing.
Leahy: Well they think so. But I think it’s very inappropriate. We’ll read the letter here. We the undersigned law professors in your state, this was sent to the offices of Lamar Alexander and Marsha Blackburn. Sent via the University of Tennesse.edu email.
We urge you to vote in favor of the introduction and admission of testimony including that of John Bolton and other evidence in the impeachment proceedings of President Donald Trump. So they want Bolton to testify right? Do you see here Joe Biden? Do you see that they want Joe Biden to testify?
Swain: It’s obviously part of the Democratic Party’s strategy to achieve their goal of what they think they want. Someone described it as mutually assured destruction. Because if they call witnesses and the Biden’s, Schiff, and the whistleblower, if those people testify. The potential is there to destroy both parties. We know how this is going to turn out.
President Trump is not going to be removed from office. And I don’t believe he’s going to be damaged. And as far as that letter. I think university professors do it all the time. Even as a conservative I can remember many times on national issues that I was contacted and asked to sign on to something. And I signed on to letters or petitions and that type of thing.
Leahy: So here’s what’s interesting about this. The only thing they’re identifying is a witness to hurt the President.
Swain: Yes it’s clear what they’re up to.
Leahy: These people want to take President Trump down. They are abusing their positions in order to persuade senators to vote to basically take actions to take the president down.
Swain: President Trump is the greatest threat to the monopoly they have at left-wing universities because he has signed executive orders mandating that if they want to get the federal funds that they have to respect the rights of all students. And I think that he’s a big threat to the leftist agenda because he’s trying to enforce the fair treatment of conservatives on university campuses. I’m not surprised they’d be involved.
Leahy: Here’s what they said. We urge you as members of the Senate and as our elected representatives to vote in favor of the introduction of admissible evidence. Including the testimony of witnesses like John Bolton designed to hurt the president and to permit the cross-examination of these witnesses.
They don’t mention Hunter Biden. In order that the truth can be ascertained and just determinations secured. We’re submitting this letter as individuals institutes provided for informational purposes only. By the way, call the University of Tennessee law school right now.
Call 865-974-4241 and complain about this abuse of the school’s email addresses and the use of the school’s name and these professors who are anti-Trump. The number is 865-974-4241.
Listen to the full third hour:
Read the letter:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 am to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Background Photo “Tennessee Law School” by Utknowlaw. CC BY-SA 3.0.
Taxpayer-funded? All law professors are paid. Those supporting Trump are paid by his funders (Adelson, Fox News et al).
1. If being paid means someone cannot express a thoughtful and unbiased opinion, no one can do so,
2. If they are taxpayer-funded, maybe they represent taxpayers opinions.?