Tag: Seal Team Six

Commentary: Of Death Squads, Dementia, and Desperation

Julie Kelly
Supreme Court Justices

It all started with what might be the dumbest hypothetical ever presented during any court proceeding in the history of ever.

Barely a minute into oral arguments last January related to the question of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution, a judge on the D.C. federal appellate court interrupted the lawyer representing Donald Trump to ask if such immunity would cover an attempt to kill an opponent. “Could a president order Seal Team Six to assassinate a political rival?” Judge Florence Pan, appointed to the court by Joe Biden in 2021, inquired.

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Commentary: DC Appellate Judges Use ‘Unprecedented Approach’ to Get Trump’s Twitter Files

Julie Kelly
Trump DC

In January 2023, two months after his appointment as special counsel, Jack Smith applied for a search warrant to obtain all of the data associated with Donald Trump’s long-dormant Twitter account. Smith sought not just public posts but direct messages, drafted and deleted posts, and the identity of any individual with access to the account. Smith also asked for “all users [Trump’s account] has followed, unfollowed, muted, unmuted, blocked, or unblocked, and all users who have followed, unfollowed, muted, unmuted, blocked, or unblocked” Trump’s account.

The application was stunning in scope with no justification as to why the government needed such a limitless trove of information—particularly one that clearly ran afoul of Trump’s right to assert executive privilege. So, Smith neatly settled that matter by additionally asking for a nondisclosure order that prevented Twitter from notifying Trump about the search warrant for 180 days.

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