My last Memo gave you a reprieve. This is a long but meaty one.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It is now evident why Trump bought an island off the coast of the Dominican Republic.One of the boxes he purloined out of The White House had a note in it warning him the FBI was going to raid Mar A Lago and probably steal his passports so he needed a place to escape to but the FBI beat him to the punch.
Trump's intention was to invite all of his enemies down for a round of golf after the new course was finished and he was going to ignite a nuclear bomb and rid himself of these pesky haters and that was why he needed the other boxes which contained secrets on how to build such a bomb but again the FBI beat him to the punch.
When it comes to being alert and diligent The FBI, of late, has proven what a fabulous organization they are. Eventually, they will be equally fastidious when it comes to anticipating armed attacks on schools but mental cases who post their intentions on FACEBOOK and learning to anticipate radical Muslim's training how to fly planes into buildings, radical Islamists running trucks loaded with bombs into barracks and stopping domestic terrorists from preventing free speech on college campuses.
+++
We Should ALL Be Worried About Biden's Gestapo
› FBI Turning Into the GESTAPO...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Stacey proves to be another fat headed blundering politician. Her effort to go extreme, in who and how she she blames Kemp, demonstrates she is simply another low life politician and Georgia has had their fill of those types.
+++
Stacey Abrams Accidentally Disqualifies Herself In A Desperate Attack Against Her Opponent
(NewsGlobal.com)- Democrat Stacey Abrams must think Georgia voters are stupid. Either that or Stacey Abrams is stupid.
In a tweet last week, Abrams decided that tossing President Biden under the bus was a great way to attack her opponent, Republican Governor Brian Kemp.
In her tweet, Abrams decried the skyrocketing rent prices, crippling inflation, and the rising costs of groceries caused by Biden’s mishandling of the economy. Then, for reasons only a stupid person would understand, Abrams blamed the Biden Inflation on Brian Kemp.
It is the Democrat Party’s disastrous handling of the economy that will deliver victory for Republicans in November. And no Democrat candidate with half a brain would call attention to the one thing that hurts Democrats.
Then again, Stacey Abrams doesn’t have half a brain.
Instead of pretending the economy is all sunshine and rainbows, Abrams blunders headlong into the one issue Democrats want to avoid, all because she thinks she can pin the Biden economy on her opponent.
Rents are skyrocketing throughout the country partly because Biden extended the Pandemic-era rent moratorium far beyond the pandemic. Landlords aren’t getting paid by all of their tenants. So what choice do they have but to charge more? Federal monetary policy and increasing interest rates don’t help either.
No governor has the power to undo federal policies that drive up the cost of housing.
The same thing holds true about rising consumer prices.
Grocery prices are rising at the fastest pace since 1979, not because of Brian Kemp, but because of federal policies and federal spending that has sent consumer prices through the roof.
Of the two gubernatorial candidates in Georgia, only one of them did real damage to the economy of the state, and that was Stacey Abrams.
Abrams joined the effort in 2021 to drive the All-Star Game out of Georgia to protest the state’s new election integrity laws, costing local businesses millions in lost revenue.
+++++++++++++++
The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) reiterated that Israelis could expect no safe haven in the Jewish state.
IRGC: incitement to destroy Israel »
+++
Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah warned of an “escalation” with Israel if Lebanese demands are not met in maritime border talks
.Karish gas field »
+++
The Karish Gas Field Dispute: Understanding The Rise in Tensions Between Lebanon & Israel
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The left mocked Reagan as a 2d grade actor but they overlooked the fact that he was a successful governor of one of America's largest states, the equal of many nations, he was also the successful head of one of the nation's larger unions and thus, had to battle with Louis B. Mayer, who himself, was a tough negotiator.
Reagan also had a delightful sense of humor and used it cryptically to make simple but poignant common sense points that reached everyday Americans.
Trump has the logic but lacks the softness and sweet sense of humor.
+++
Subject: Remember any of these?
+++
“Socialism only works
in two places:
Heaven, where they don’t need it,
and hell where they already have it.”
- Ronald Reagan
+++
“Here’s my strategy on
the Cold War:
We win, they lose.’
- Ronald Reagan
+++
“The most terrifying words
in the English language are:
I’m from the government
and I’m here to help.”
- Ronald Reagan
++++
“The trouble with our liberal friends
is not that they’re ignorant;
it;s just that they know so much
that isn’t so.”
- Ronald Reagan
+++
“Of the four wars in my lifetime,
none came about because the U.S. was too strong.”
- Ronald Reagan
+++
“I have wondered at times about what the
Ten Commandments would have looked like
if Moses had run them through
the U.S. Congress.”
- Ronald Reagan
+++
“The taxpayer:
That’s someone who works for the federal
government but doesn’t have to
take the civil service examination.”
- Ronald Reagan
+++
“Government is like a baby:
an alimentary canal with a big appetite
at one end and no
sense of responsibility at the other.”
- Ronald Reagan
+++
“The nearest thing to eternal life
we will ever see on this earth
is a government program.”
- Ronald Reagan
+++
“It has been said that politics is the
second oldest profession.
I have learned that it bears a
striking resemblance to the first.”
- Ronald Reagan
+++
“Government’s view of the economy
could be summed up in a few short phrases:
If it moves, tax it.
If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving,
subsidize it.”
- Ronald Reagan
+++
“Politics is not a bad profession.
If you succeed,
there are many rewards;
if you disgrace yourself,
you can always write a book.”
- Ronald Reagan
+++
“No arsenal, or no weapon in the
arsenals of the world,
is as formidable as the will and
moral courage of free men and women.”
- Ronald Reagan
+++
“If we ever forget that we’re one nation
under GOD, then we will be a nation gone under.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ordman's Good news Israel (edited.)
+++
Energy features high in the latest positive Israel newsletter. Hydrogen from trash; recharging Electric Vehicle non-lithium batteries in minutes; wave energy for Los Angeles, non-electric air-con and the Iron Beam. Plus energy-saving solutions for producing fabrics, recycling plastic and keeping food fresh. Thermal energy is being used in medical imaging, and energetic Hadassah surgeons performed a record number of transplants. Dynamic Israelis include the women in charge of Israel's security; Israeli humanitarian NGOs; and the bright stars that won the International Math competition. Also featured are the dynamic Israeli companies and huge investments that are contributing to Israel's increasingly strong, dynamic economy. Finally, Israel's runners and swimmers are proving to be golden dynamos, and the influx of new arrivals to the Jewish State continues at dynamic levels.
Please recommend www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com and forward this email to friends, family and colleagues and especially to any individuals who you think need to know about the good work that Israel does.
In the 21st Aug 22 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
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ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Disrupting tumor’s defenses. Researchers at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University have developed nanotechnology that prevents tumors from disabling the body’s Natural Killer (NK) cells. They used RNA molecules to stop the NK cells from expressing the gene that the tumor attacks. The NK cell is then free to destroy the tumor.
https://www.jns.org/bar-ilan-university-researchers-develop-new-nanotechnology-to-fight-cancer-cells/
https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.15252/emmm.202114073
Infecting gut bacteria to treat IBD. (TY Sidney & JNS) An international team of researchers led by Israel’s Weizmann Institute, has used macrophages (good viruses) to kill inflammation-causing gut bacteria that cause inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) such as Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s. “Good” bacteria are not harmed.
https://m.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-713952/amp
https://www.israel21c.org/study-shows-viruses-can-kill-gut-bacteria-of-crohns-bowel-disease/
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)00850-9
Saliva bacteria highlights PTSD. (TY JNS) Tel Aviv and Haifa University researchers have discovered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) sufferers share a similar microbial picture in their saliva. It can help future diagnosis of PTSD and may even lead to micro-biotic-related therapies.
https://www.israel21c.org/study-ptsd-sufferers-share-bacterial-footprint-in-saliva/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01704-6
Helping to breathe. Israel’s Synchrony Medical has developed LibAirty™ - a wearable vest that applies chest compressions on the patient's thorax which is synchronized with the patient's breathing cycle. It was conceived during the pandemic when patients with chronic lung conditions stopped coming to hospitals for treatment.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s17khn66q https://synchrony-medical.com/
Getting the heart to heal itself. Israel’s HeartPoint Global has developed a stent for patients with congenital heart conditions. The HeartPoint Global Implant System (HPGS) regulates the flow of blood coming in and out of the heart. For children, fixing the blood flow and pressure can heal the heart without surgery.
https://www.israel21c.org/stent-helps-kids-with-congenital-heart-defects-heal-themselves/
https://www.heartpointglobal.com/
Treatment for eating disorders. Israeli biotech Short Wave Pharma is to conduct a clinical trial of its novel treatment for anorexia nervosa at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center for Eating Disorders. The phase II study of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy is the first of its kind in Israel.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/r1mv2md05 https://www.shortwave-pharma.com/
IDF thermal imaging adapted for medical use. Israel’s Sheba Medical Center is partnering Opgal, a subsidiary of Israel’s Elbit Systems, to repurpose thermal imaging technologies previously reserved for military and security purposes. Energy and heat analysis can reveal many physiological processes in the body.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-terror-fighting-thermal-imaging-tech-being-adapted-for-medical-purposes/
Record number of transplants. Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem recently performed 6 liver and 6 kidney transplants in less than 14 days – a record for an Israeli hospital. The transplants were led by Israeli Arab Dr. Abed Khalaileh, Israelis’ altruistic kidney donations are also at a record level.
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-714781
World’s largest wellness conference. Tel Aviv is to host the annual Global Wellness Summit, the largest conference of its kind in the world, from Oct 31 – Nov 03. Participants include entrepreneurs and executives in hospitality, tourism, health, beauty and spa, food tech, fitness, medical tech, manufacturing, and more.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/worlds-largest-wellness-conference-to-make-tel-aviv-debut-this-year/
https://www.globalwellnesssummit.com/2022-global-wellness-summit/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Making music together. The Israel Integrative Orchestra comprises 40 musicians with and without disabilities who regularly rehearse together. It is a joint project of the nonprofit SHEKEL – Inclusion for People with Disabilities and the Yizhak Navon Community Unit of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.
https://www.israel21c.org/an-orchestra-for-musicians-with-and-without-disabilities/
Thousands to receive free baby formula. The National Food Security Initiative, funded by the Israel Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs and Colel Chabad, is to deliver baby formula to the homes of families in need. Beginning with 3,500 families, it will grow to 36,000 families who will receive 3.5 kg of formula per month.
https://www.jns.org/baby-formula-distribution-to-begin-as-part-of-israels-food-security-program/
Women at the top of Mossad. Israel’s Intelligence Agency, Mossad, has appointed a woman, known as “A” as Director of the Intelligence Authority. She joins “K”, another woman, who serves as head of the Iran Desk, the chief concern of the organization. It is the first-time women have held two senior positions in the agency.
https://worldisraelnews.com/israel-women-break-the-glass-ceiling-in-top-intelligence-agency/
Developing ties with Indonesia. An Israeli delegation of tech professionals, investors, and trade officials recently returned from a trip to Indonesia to foster connections through technology ventures, social impact initiatives, and investments. The most populous Muslim country has no diplomatic relations with Israel.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-delegation-fosters-tech-innovation-ties-in-indonesia/
World Humanitarian Day. To mark World Humanitarian Day on Aug 19th, the Society for International Development (SID)-Israel compiled images to show the faces behind some of Israel’s humanitarian organizations. See the many NGOs featured previously in this newsletter.
https://www.israel21c.org/18-images-of-israeli-humanitarian-aid-workers-in-action/
UN recognizes Zionism. The United Nations awarded NGO Special Consultative Status to the American Zionist Movement (AZM). The AZM can participate in UN events and debates, plus hold events within the framework of the UN. Israel’s UN Ambassador and AZM’s President hailed it as a great day for Zionism.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357577
International Math competition winners. (TY IsraPundit) Students from Tel Aviv University won first place in the International Mathematics Competition for University Students (IMC) in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. The TAU students beat prestigious teams including from Cambridge UK and University College London.
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/technology-science/1660661534-israeli-students-take-first-place-in-international-math-competition
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Turning non-recyclable trash into Hydrogen. (TY UWI) Israeli-Swedish-Polish startup Boson Energy uses Israeli technology to harvest hydrogen continuously from non-recyclable waste and biomass. Plasma Assisted Gasification (HPAG) generates hydrogen, captures CO2, and turns residual ash into usable glass material.
https://www.israel21c.org/startup-harvests-hydrogen-from-local-nonrecyclable-trash/ https://bosonenergy.com/
More sustainable Lycra. The Lycra Company of the US has partnered with Israel’s Browzwear (see here previously) to produce garments without wasting samples or failed designs. Browzwear’s Fabric Analyzer ] ensures the 3D versions of Licra’s fabrics result in true-to-life simulations of the garments.
https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-fashion-tech-to-help-lycra-save-time-and-waste/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOU3lclnY0k
Pepsico’s pallets from recycled plastic. PepsiCo is ordering 30,000 eco-friendly shipping thermoplastic pallets from Israel’s UBQ (see here previously) that makes them out of household waste. PepsiCo used 830 UBQ pallets in a March trial as part of a pilot to reduce the carbon footprint of its shipping pallets.
https://nocamels.com/2022/08/pepsico-30000-ecofriendly-pallets-ubq/
The food-waste solution. (TY WIN) Israeli startup Microbiome keeps food fresh longer by replacing harmful bacteria with good bacteria. Microbiome’s natural probiotic compound protects food from mold, fungi, and pathogenic bacteria over long periods of time. https://microbiome-pro.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu6Zl8D2xiY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L39bOKr8MxE
Buried lithium discovered from space. The technology of Israel’s Asterra (see here previously) has led to the discovery of an underground reserve of lithium, vital for the electronics market until replaced by safer, more common materials. Asterra's algorithms and AI use satellite synthetic radar (SAR) data to locate buried lithium.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hjtt9c8aq
Another Israeli 5-minute EV battery recharger. (TY UWI) Israel’s EExion is developing “Energize-N’-Go” – an energy-storage technology that can rapid-charge e-mobility vehicles in just five minutes. It uses chemically manipulated supercapacitors, eliminating the need for the rare and hazardous metal lithium. (See also StoreDot)
https://www.israel21c.org/5-minute-electric-vehicle-battery-recharge-could-come-soon/
https://www.eexion.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51iG4ZcgNl4
Air-con without electricity. Israel’s Green Kensho has developed an outdoor air conditioner that needs no electricity. It silently blows out a jet of freezing (easily available) nitrogen gas at -10C (14F) that cools the surrounding area with no pollution. The first models are to be piloted in August at six Tel Aviv restaurants.
https://nocamels.com/2022/08/worlds-first-nitrogen-powered-air-con/
https://unitedwithisrael.org/cool-story-israelis-invent-electricity-free-air-conditioner/
Revolutionizing online restaurant booking. Israel’s Ontopo has developed a restaurant seating management system that allows customers to reserve a table online. It works with 730 out of 1,300 restaurants in Israel. Some 5 million people have searched for a place through Ontopo, making about 1.6 million reservations.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/32asz7uxc
How the Iron Beam works. (TY UWI) Interesting video about Israel’s new Iron Beam laser defense system and how working with the US can help improve its life-saving capabilities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1frHtUEqd4E
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
The first annual fiscal surplus in 15 years. (TY WIN & I24) Israel's fiscal surplus in July 2022 was NIS 2.6 billion, resulting in a cumulative surplus of NIS 9.7 billion for the year. It is the first annual surplus since 2007, resulting from reduced Covid-19 expenditure and higher tax revenue from increased economic activity.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-israels-fiscal-surplus-climbs-to-06-1001420787
Advancing technology in factories. Israel’s Ministry of Economy is providing another NIS 20 million to the Advanced Manufacturing Institute to implement innovative technologies and advanced production methods in factories and improve productivity. It is in addition to funds already allocated to establish the institute.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/b1hlk7urc
International supermarkets will bring down prices. (TY Hazel & Nevet) French supermarket giant Carrefour is on track to open its branded shops by the end of this year (see here previously). Now Dutch-owned international supermarket chain SPAR has also signed agreements to open branches in Israel.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-netherlands-based-retail-chain-spar-to-enter-israel-1001418985
https://www.timesofisrael.com/arrival-of-french-supermarket-giant-carrefour-will-drop-living-costs-lapid-predicts/
More intelligence for Europe. Israeli defense electronics company Elbit Systems has been awarded a $660 million contract to provide intelligence systems to a European country. The contract will be undertaken over four years, plus 10 more years’ maintenance. In June, Elbit Systems won contracts worth $838 million.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-elbit-systems-wins-660m-european-intelligence-deal-1001417908
So Nice. Israeli software company Nice just reported second quarter total revenues up 16.1% to $530.6 million on the same period in 2021. Gross profit for Q2 was $365.7 million compared to $306.3 million last year.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/h1ibtsjc5
Even better for Amdocs. Israel’s Amdocs (see here previously) reported record revenues of $1.16 billion in the second quarter of 2022 8.8% more than the corresponding period in 2021. It also has a record orders pipeline of nearly $4 billion. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/h1ec100ypc
Growing kids in South Korea. Israel’s Nutritional Growth Solutions (NGS) – see here previously – has launched its Healthy Heights growth formula in South Korea through a deal with Coupang, Korea’s largest retailer with 18 million customers. Healthy heights helps children ages 3 – 9 reach their maximum height.
https://themarketherald.com.au/nutritional-growth-solutions-asxngs-enters-south-korean-market-2022-08-03/
Students develop transportation drones. Engineering students at Israel’s Shenkar College of Engineering and Design have developed the Dronet system – 4 network-connected drones to transport loads efficiently. It includes an app to control a drone’s flight path and transport cargo in a safe and stable manner.
https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/tech-and-start-ups/article-713966
Wave energy for Los Angeles. (TY UWI) Israel’s Eco Wave Power (see here previously) is installing its first US deployment in September at the 35-acre campus AltaSea eco-friendly business center in Los Angeles – the busiest seaport in the US. The Israeli startup has a total projects pipeline of 327.7MW.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-sea-wave-electricity-plant-heads-to-la/
A matchmaker for tech jobs. The Layoffs Project is a non-profit website developed by Israel’s fresh.fund (see here) and US-based Angular Ventures that matches out-of-work tech workers with current tech vacancies. Some 350 people have signed up at the site to look for jobs and 324 companies have signed up to hire people.
https://www.israel21c.org/a-new-website-matches-tech-jobless-with-open-jobs/ https://www.layoffs.org.il/
https://www.fresh.fund/
Selina opens more Israeli hostels. (TY Nevet) Israeli-founded Selina (see here previously) has opened two new locations in Israel. The Selina Desert Garden in Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev has 20 glamping tents, a large Bedouin tent, plus family rooms with a jacuzzi. The other hostel is the Selina Metula in the Upper Galilee.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-selina-opens-hostels-in-metulla-and-mitzpe-ramon-1001420125
Vegan steak in London. (TY Hazel) Israel’s Redefine Meat (see here previously) is introducing its 3-D printed vegan flank steaks and other plant-based meat alternatives at several London restaurants including Mr. Whites, German Gymnasium, Chotto Matte, and Gillray’s Steakhouse and Bar. It is also available at Selina’s.
https://thebeet.com/redefine-meat-flank-steak/
Exits, takeovers & mergers. Israel’s Stratasys acquired Covestro AG for $43.8 million; Unity Software is acquiring Israeli-founded ironSource for $4.4 billion. Remitly Global acquired Israel’s Rewire for $80 million; Israel’s eToro acquired US options trader Gatsby for $50 million.
Investment in Israeli startups to 21/8/22: Flow (Adam Neumann) raised $350 million; DriveNets raised $262 million; Guesty raised $170 million; Hibob raised $150 million; Pliops raised $100 million; Shopic raised $35 million; GrowSpace raised $25 million; Agora raised $20 million; BioAg raised $18 million; BigPanda raised $15 million; Equalum raised $14 million; Hoopo raised $10 million; SaNOtize raised $10 million; Mesh Security raised $4.5 million;
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT`
Jerusalem under the Sturgeon Moon. (TY Sharon) “Sturgeon” - the last supermoon of 2022 - gave rise to several cultural events in Israel’s capital. Free klezmer shows, Shakespeare in the rough, and Parties in the Park. And see the new Vietnamese Ambassador present his credentials to the Israeli President in national costume.
http://rjstreets.com/2022/08/14/jerusalem-under-the-sturgeon-moon/
Another friendly Iranian Judoka. (TY WIN & I24 News) Iranian judoka Alireza Bahranifard made friends with Israeli judoka Sagi Muki. Like fellow Iranian Judoka Saeid Mollaei (who now competes for Azerbaijan), Alireza has now emigrated from Iran and currently resides in Germany.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa1C6hI0ljc
Israel wins European team marathon. Israel won gold in the men’s team marathon event at the European Athletics Championships in Munich. Israel’s Marhu Teferi and Gashau Ayale won silver and bronze respectively in the individual competition. Israel’s fastest three runners had the best combined time.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-wins-gold-in-team-marathon-event-at-european-athletics-championships/
Another gold for Anastasia. Israeli swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko (see here previously) successfully defended her title, winning the gold medal in the 200m Individual Medley at the European Championships in Rome. She previously won the event in 2021 in Budapest. https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-714883
THE JEWISH STATE
Just a game. (TY WIN & I24 News) Archaeologists have found a rare collection of knuckle bones used for gambling and divination in Southern Israel, dating back approximately 2,300 years to the Hellenistic period.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bxJRWFtsnk
Happy kids heal faster. Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod has opened a pediatric playroom. Thanks to Brooklyn-based Toys for Simcha, it features a lounging area, a video game corner, a reading library, a foosball table, a play kitchen, toys and tech for patients and their families, from toddlers to teens.
https://www.jns.org/new-pediatric-playroom-opens-at-medical-center-in-ashdod-south-of-tel-aviv/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is a gutsy Member of Congress whose questioning puts him at risk of being smeared, targeted if not assassinated.
I understand why this sleazy member of our Justice Department seeks to hide behind an ongoing investigation ruse which involves stonewalling facts from ever reaching the light of day because we have developed a double standard of applying the law in this nation and that is why "Plumber Joe" distrusts our government, our system etc.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FBI Director Christopher Wray Tried to Keep the Bureau Out of Politics. Then Came Mar-a-Lago Search.
Bureau’s director responds to threats against agents after the search of Mar-a-Lago in an interview halfway through his tenure
By Aruna Viswanatha
It was the sort of threat that Mr. Wray has made it a bureau priority to counter. But the first two questions from the press were about former President Donald Trump. Two days earlier, 1,500 miles away in Florida, FBI agents had seized more than two dozen boxes from Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in a criminal investigation into the handling of classified documents there.
The seizure set the political world ablaze, with many Republican lawmakers and officials rallying around the former president and describing the unprecedented action of searching an ex-president’s house as the Biden administration weaponizing the Federal Bureau of Investigation against its opponents.
It also thwarted what Mr. Wray has been trying to achieve since Mr. Trump appointed him to the job five years ago for a 10-year term: keeping the bureau out of partisan politics and the Washington media maelstrom after being at the center of both for years, prompted by errors in the handling of investigations into presidential candidates in 2016.
Meanwhile, Mr. Wray has sought to broaden the bureau’s focus to include other priorities, especially economic espionage by the Chinese government and the growing blizzard of cyberattacks that have the potential to paralyze the American economy.
But the Mar-a-Lago search promises to keep the FBI and the Justice Department, which oversees it, under scrutiny that will only intensify if Republicans take control of the House in November’s midterm elections. It has already prompted a rash of new threats against agents, a development Mr. Wray addressed in an interview Thursday in his office on the seventh floor of FBI headquarters in Washington, where a plaque on his wall memorializes the nine agents killed in the line of duty under his tenure.
“I have faith in the American people and I think most people rightly condemn violence and threats of violence, but there are a noisy few who seem to believe otherwise,” he said, noting that the bureau was bolstering its own security.
While Mr. Wray didn’t address the Mar-a-Lago search in the interview, people familiar with the matter say he was involved in weeks of discussions with Attorney General Merrick Garland and other senior DOJ and FBI officials about the decision to execute the search warrant at Mr. Trump’s Florida home. They said Mr. Wray came to believe it was a step that had to be taken to recover classified documents there.
The day before his meetings in Omaha, Mr. Wray met with officials in Iowa including Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. “If the FBI isn’t extraordinarily transparent about its justification for yesterday’s actions and committed to rooting out political bias that has infected their most sensitive investigations, they will have sealed their own fate,” Sen. Grassley said in a statement after their meeting.
“Preserve your documents and clear your calendar,” top House Republican Kevin McCarthy tweeted at the attorney general after the search, saying he would investigate the FBI’s actions if Republicans win the House.
FBI agents who searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as top secret, according to a search warrant released by a Florida court Friday
Mr. Wray, 55 years old, took over the agency in the wake of Mr. Trump’s firing of former FBI director James Comey. Along with the fallout from the report of an internal watchdog that in 2019 found serious failures in how the FBI sought to monitor a former 2016 Trump campaign adviser, prompting wide-ranging reforms, he inherited an agency that had made other missteps. A 2021 inspector general report found FBI agents disregarded allegations by Olympic gymnasts that they were sexually assaulted by their former national team doctor Larry Nassar and later made false statements to cover their mistakes.
During the Trump administration, Justice Department officials said they were unsure from one week to the next whether Mr. Wray might be fired. A year and a half into Biden’s term, the FBI’s reputation remains tangled up with Mr. Trump. The White House said on Mr. Biden’s second day in office that he planned to keep Mr. Wray on the job.
“To all the pundits, they think what we do looks easy, and they have no shortage of opinions about how we should do it,” Mr. Wray told a group of graduating FBI agents last week in Quantico, Va. “Follow the facts wherever they lead, no matter who doesn’t like it,” he said.
“Trust me, there’s always somebody who doesn’t like it.”
That same morning, a Trump supporter and military veteran tried to use a nail gun to breach bulletproof glass at the FBI office in Cincinnati, following through on a call for violence he posted on his Truth Social account soon after the Mar-a-Lago search. Police officers later killed him in a shootout after an hourslong standoff.
Mr. Wray said he viewed the increase in threats against the FBI as part of two trends: a rise in attacks on all law enforcement, with more officers killed last year than in any since 9/11, according to FBI data, and the increase of Americans across the political spectrum resorting to violence to manifest their views.
“Too many people seem to keep forgetting: It’s a very special and unique kind of individual who is willing to sacrifice his or her life for a total stranger,” Mr. Wray said of law-enforcement officers, including those he oversees.
Mr. Wray has said he is seeking to restore “a bit of calm and normality” to the bureau after a turbulent time, and his preference is to let the FBI’s investigative work speak for itself while showcasing its initiatives. Last month, for instance, he flew to London to issue a joint warning with the head of Britain’s domestic security service about the industrial espionage threat posed by the Chinese government, and to New York with the National Security Agency director to warn that Russia posed a potential threat to the November midterm elections. China has denied wrongdoing, and Russia has denied interfering in U.S. elections.
Mr. Wray’s low-key approach has drawn the support of many agents, said Brian O’Hare, the president of the FBI Agents Association, whose members are current and retired agents. Others say it won’t be sustainable in the current politically heated environment and that he might need to be more vociferous in defending the bureau and articulating his rationales for action.
“I’m concerned that in this polarized and disinformation-driven environment, more may be required,” said Greg Brower, a former senior FBI official who worked alongside Mr. Wray. “You may see him in his next five years be more outgoing as the reality has changed and perhaps does require the FBI director to be more outward in terms of defending the bureau and explaining the bureau’s work.”
Mr. Wray has grown more visibly relaxed and off-the-cuff in public during his tenure, to the point of telling self-deprecating jokes. He described talking to an FBI agent when deciding whether to take the job who told Mr. Wray that the bureau could “use a little boring.” Mr. Wray said he told the agent: “All right! I’m your man. I can suck drama out of anything.”
A former senior Justice Department official and corporate lawyer who rowed crew at Yale, Mr. Wray stresses teamwork. In Omaha he met with local police officers who described working with the FBI to take on a violent gang, made up largely of children of Sudanese and Liberian immigrants, that had turned a local park into a drug market and had fights often triggered by tribal battles in their homelands.
“So shooting over here—over friction points over there?” Mr. Wray said, asking an FBI official how the bureau was engaging with the African immigrant community. The official said the community was reluctant to cooperate but was happy after the bureau and local police had worked together to make several arrests and stop the shootings, giving them back access to the park. “That’s what it’s all about,” Mr. Wray said.
In the interview, Mr. Wray identified a number of moments that have stuck with him from his tenure so far: seeing a sea of law-enforcement personnel when he stepped out at the Miami Dolphins stadium to speak at the funeral service for two agents who were shot and killed last year while executing a search warrant in Florida in a crimes-against-children investigation; and the bureau’s effort in 2018 to quickly identify and arrest Cesar Sayoc in a terror plot that targeted senior Democrats and vocal opponents of Mr. Trump, from a fingerprint taken from one of the mail bombs he sent. Mr. Sayoc was later sentenced to 20 years in prison.
A range of sensitive matters have continued to keep the FBI in the middle of the political storm. The investigation into the Jan. 6 riot has moved beyond the violence of that day—which has already resulted in the arrest of around 850 members of the mob—and closer to those in Mr. Trump’s orbit. One former Trump adviser, Steve Bannon, was convicted of contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena from the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, and another former Trump adviser, Peter Navarro, who has denied wrongdoing, is headed for trial later this year on the same charge.
Mr. Wray said the bureau has taken on board the lessons of the past few years. “The FBI, at its best, is zealously committed to rigor and objectivity and professionalism and excellence,” he said, before adding: “We are humans.”’
In the days following the Mar-a-Lago search, Mr. Wray went about regular business. In Omaha, he got an update on a child-pornography case and other matters, viewed a new software tool to help write affidavits, spoke to the new recruits at Quantico and took pictures with their families.
But the controversy over the search was never far from the scene. When asked to address it at the Omaha press conference, he responded in keeping with bureau practice of not commenting on continuing investigations. “As I’m sure you can appreciate, that’s not something that I can talk about,” he said.
Sadie Gurman in Washington contributed to this article.
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Ex-FBI agent: Biden’s DOJ pushed FBI to raid Mar-a-Lago
By Art Moore(WND)
The Justice Department may have pressured the FBI to raid Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate at the instruction of the Biden administration, a former bureau special agent said.
Maureen O’Connell, an FBI specialist in forensics, gangs and cartel-level narcotics from 1991 and 2016, said the DOJ was “trying to push” the FBI “to do this warrant.”
“They were trying to push the bureau to really, really hit this situation hard,” she said in an interview Thursday with Fox News anchor Bret Baier.
“And my guess would be that the bureau was the one going against the DOJ in this particular situation, because when you consider which entity has more to lose — the FBI clearly has much more to lose from this situation,” she said.
O’Connell said there were “spirited conversations going on for a couple of weeks, and … it seems to me the DOJ is the heavy in this situation.”
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Honest Reporting wins another one.+++
NYT reportedly cuts Gaza stringer loose for urging murder of Israelis
Paper severs ties with Fady Hanona after Honest Reporting pro-Israel advocacy and media watchdog uncovers his antisemitic social media posts, including one in which he calls for a genocide of Jews "like Hitler did."
The New York Times cut ties with Gaza-based stringer Fady Hanona after Honest Reporting uncovered a string of his antisemitic social media posts, the watchdog said Saturday.
Honest Reporting published a list of post by Hanona, who was a contributor to at least six articles published by the Times during the latest flareup of violence in the Gaza Strip.
Most recently, he shared a now-deleted propaganda video of terrorist groups in Jenin on Facebook, calling on Palestinians to return to "the culture of fighting and killing Israelis."
"I don't accept a Jew, Israeli or Zionist, or anyone else who speaks Hebrew. I'm with killing them wherever they are: children, elderly people, and soldiers," Hanona wrote. "The Jews are sons of the dogs… I am in favor of killing them and burning them like Hitler did. I will be so happy."
A spokesperson for The New York Times told Algemeiner Journal, the paper "had worked with this freelance reporter only in recent weeks. We are no longer doing so."
Honest Reporting also said that during the 2014 IDF operation in Gaza, known as Guardian of the Walls, Hanona took to social media to threaten the murder of Ghassan Alian, an Israeli Druze who commanded the IDF's Golani Brigade at the time.
Then, on August 18, 2014 – days before a ceasefire took effect between Israel and Hamas — he urged the Palestinian "resistance" to reject a truce and continue its missile attacks on Tel Aviv, which had at that point already cost the lives of five civilians. In another post from the same month, he went as far as invoking Adolf Hitler to support his point about the strength of Gazan fighters. "As Hitler said, give me a Palestinian soldier and a German weapon, and I will make Europe crawl."
According to Honest Reporting, Hanona has also been hired by the BBC, The Guardian, and VICE News. The watchdog has called on the media outlets to terminate his employment as well.
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Are we led by idiots? This op ed writer believes we are.
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The Case for an American Revolution in Morals
By Barton Swaim
It’s hard to contemplate American public life in the 21st century and not arrive at the unhappy conclusion that we are led by idiots. The political class has lately produced an impressive string of debacles: the Afghanistan pullout, urban crime waves, easily foreseen inflation, mayhem at the southern border, a self-generated energy crisis, a pandemic response that wrought little good and vast ruin. Then there are the perennial national embarrassments: a mind-bogglingly expensive welfare state that doesn’t work, public schools that make kids dumber, universities that nurture destructive grievances and noxious ideologies, and a news media nobody trusts.
Readers may object to parts of this list, but few will deny feeling that the country’s government and major institutions are run by people who don’t know what they’re doing. A similar situation obtained seven centuries ago in Europe, as I learned recently from “Virtue Politics: Soulcraft and Statecraft in Renaissance Italy.” The 2019 book, by Harvard historian James Hankins, is a study of Italian humanist writers and statesmen beginning with Francesco Petrarca (1304-74), known to English speakers as Petrarch. Fourteenth-century humanism arose, Mr. Hankins writes, from a widespread disgust with the venality and incompetence of political and ecclesiastical leaders in late-medieval Italy.
The humanists basically rejected the central question of Greek and Roman political theory: What is the best regime? For Petrarch and his followers over the next century, “constitutional form was far less important than the character of rulers,” Mr. Hankins writes. By the early 14th century European political thought had degenerated into narrowly legalistic arguments about why this or that ruler has a superior claim to office. To the humanists, that preoccupation was being beneath the notice of serious thought. Their goal “was to uproot tyranny from the soul of the ruler, whether the ruler was one, few, or many.”
The Western political tradition would ultimately move in a different direction, toward rights-based constitutionalism and the rule of law. “Virtue politics,” as Mr. Hankins terms the political ideal developed by the Italian humanists, “aimed primarily to bring to power rulers who were good and wise; constitutional thought aimed primarily to limit the damage that might be done by bad and foolish rulers.” In this respect the humanists were totally unlike that other Italian Renaissance writer—Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527). He counseled a less principled, more calculating and brutally realistic approach to leadership. The Italian humanists—Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Leon Battista Alberti and others—produced, Mr. Hankins writes, a “distinctive way of thinking about politics that amounts to a lost tradition of political prudence.”
My own attachment to classical liberalism makes me skeptical of any philosophy purporting to empower “good” and “wise” leaders without first attending to the limits on their authority. But I have to admit: At the moment American constitutional democracy doesn’t seem very good at limiting the damage done by bad and foolish officials. In fact we seem overrun with rulers who possess lots of Machiavellian guile but no Machiavellian competence. Maybe we have something to learn from virtue politics?
On a recent visit to Mr. Hankins’s home, I ask about the American conviction that the way to reform society is to reform laws and institutions and create new agencies. “The Renaissance humanists didn’t think that way,” he says. “Part of the reason had to do with their relationship to the Catholic Church.” In late antiquity—roughly the fifth century—Christians redesigned the liberal arts as a set of skills: grammar, logic, rhetoric and so on. Their idea was that Christianity would transform the heart—education wasn’t going to do that. The Renaissance authors of the 14th and 15th centuries, by contrast, had a more difficult relationship with the Catholic Church, which was extremely corrupt at that time. “You weren’t going to reform society through the church,” Mr. Hankins explains. “What you could do is improve the sort of person who occupied high positions in city-states, in kingdoms, in the church. . . . And you could do it through a certain kind of education. This is why the humanities were invented.”
These days that term “the humanities” signifies a hodgepodge of squishy disciplines, from literary theory to cultural studies. For the original humanists, “it meant you understood the true potential of human nature to be good, to achieve nobility—true nobility, not inherited nobility.” They wanted students at their elite institutions to be immersed in works that turned the mind to nobility of character. “The ‘Aeneid’ of Virgil, which was full of examples of noble behavior. Also the ‘Lives’ of Plutarch. They wanted men and women—and humanism addressed both men and women, unlike [medieval] scholasticism—to know what it’s like to be noble. . . . These are the core disciplines of the humanities: grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry, moral philosophy. Why history? Because history is the teacher of prudence.”
Mr. Hankins calls what the humanists proposed “political meritocracy.” Americans usually use “meritocracy” (coined by the British writer Michael Young in his 1958 book “The Rise of the Meritocracy”) to mean a society run by high-achieving people with superior technical proficiency. What the humanists envisioned was rule by the wisest, most virtuous people.
Our ruling class certainly think they’re virtuous. Walking through Somerville and nearby Cambridge on the way to Mr. Hankins’s house, I noted many yard signs proclaiming tribal membership in the inane language of modern progressivism: “Science is real,” “Love is love,” “Black lives matter,” “Embrace diversity,” “Empower the powerless.” Mr. Hankins’s interpretation of his neighbors’ strange fragments: “They’re enjoying the approval of their own consciences without training their minds in any serious way through moral effort.”
Clear and precise language, Mr. Hankins notes by contrast, was at the center of the Renaissance humanists’ program. Lucidity of expression, Petrarch wrote, was “the highest proof of intelligence and knowledge.” For the humanists, the good and wise ruler was able to draw on his skills in language to persuade people to act for the common good. “The humanists were opposed to the scholastic idea that you could argue someone into good behavior,” Mr. Hankins says. “They thought you needed the whole person—you had to engage the passions and appetite . . . precision of language and eloquence in the service of nobility.”
What would a modern Petrarch say about American elites? “That they’re contemptible,” Mr. Hankins says. “I keep a list. Whenever someone in Washington does something admirable, something not for political advantage but for the country, I write that person’s name on the list.” I know the punch line, and I wait for it: “It’s a short list.”
Part of the problem is what Mr. Hankins calls “scientism.” Meaning? “The belief that science will solve all your problems, that you can abandon judgment, that you can abandon what the Greeks called phronesis, practical wisdom, which comes through the study of the past and from reading the great works of the past, like Aristotle’s ‘Politics,’ which is about the art of making wise decisions.”
We saw the abandonment of phronesis most clearly, Mr. Hankins says, in the Covid response. “It became evident very early on that science didn’t speak with one voice on the subject. There were different opinions about what it all meant, different views of the data. But elites determined to subject themselves to the science.” He emphasizes the definite article. “That’s always the giveaway, when you call it the science.”
Mr. Hankins’s book was published a year before the Covid pandemic came to the U.S., and so he notes but doesn’t emphasize Petrarch’s experience of the Black Death of 1347-49. The great humanist scholar lost close friends to the plague, as virtually all survivors did. Was his dim view of Italian elites shaped by that experience? “He tended to see the plague as God’s punishment for the corruption of the age, but I think the answer to that question is yes. Petrarch was highly critical of the learning of his day, which he always compared unfavorably with that of antiquity. In general he thought the sciences of his time—natural, legal, medical—were arrogant, corrupt and venal. He thought doctors were arrogant and overconfident about their own scientific knowledge. His main criticism, though, was reserved for astrology, which was part of university curricula back then. He thought it was completely fraudulent. I’m not sure what he would say about some social sciences of our own day.”
In one sense, the Italian humanists’ argument, as Mr. Hankins explains it, is both apposite and unassailable. At a time when nearly everybody worries about the perceived legitimacy of our most important institutions—Congress, the Justice Department, the presidency itself—it’s refreshing to hear somebody say it out loud: These institutions are losing their legitimacy because the people who run them are bad and stupid. But in another sense the obvious counterpoint is that it’s naive about the human capacity for virtuous behavior.
The American constitutional order, as Mr. Hankins acknowledges, is profoundly Augustinian in its outlook—it reasons from the fallenness of humanity. The U.S. Constitution assumes, as the Founders did, that bad rulers were a normal and inevitable part of political life. The way to deal with that reality—so an Augustinian like me might say—would be to erect legal checks on political power and not, as Petrarch and other humanists thought, to cultivate a more virtuous ruling class.
Mr. Hankins considers himself a classical liberal—“I think less government is better than more.” But he doesn’t see Anglo-American constitutionalism as the final word on political thought. “Look at the humanities George Washington was trained in,” he says. “If you read about Washington’s education, it was basically on a Renaissance humanist model—not only memorizing moral maxims but reading Plutarch and Roman history and the famous plays of antiquity that were so crucial in communicating proper forms of behavior.”
I try to suggest a compromise: Surely we’re not going back to virtue-based politics, but maybe there are things we can learn from the humanist tradition? Mr. Hankins rejects the premise. “I’m not sure I agree with that. You need a moral revolution to make it happen, but political meritocracy is something that can be revived, in my view.”
Mr. Hankins, 67, has been teaching at Harvard for 37 years and speaks with affection about his students. “The younger generation out there is disgusted with the older one,” he says. “The people who get all the attention from the press are the woke, but there’s another big part of the young population that’s ready for a moral revolution.”
And not just in the U.S. He has traveled and taught in China and says “it’s happening there, too, subterraneously. It’s building. The scientism. The abdication of moral judgment. The idea that our leaders are just following the science, following the algorithms, following the experts, and we’re not even going to look into the faces of people who are losing their jobs because we shut the economy down? We’re going to let our grandparents die in isolation and talk to them on iPhones as they’re dying? It’s obscene.”
All this talk about venal, incompetent leaders made me wonder about that short list of Mr. Hankins’s. Who’s on it? “I think, for example, of some genuinely accomplished people who went to work for the Trump White House out of a sense of duty, knowing the hell they’d take for it. James Mattis, William Barr, Mike Esper, Don McGahn, some others.”
On the subject of Donald Trump, we each lament the inability of some otherwise serious people, on the left and the right, to talk about the 45th president in anything but the language of civilizational catastrophe. Why is Mr. Hankins, the author of a 700-page book on virtuous political leadership, not similarly undone by Mr. Trump? Because his profession has prepared him to take the long view.
“I think of it as an historian,” he says. “Many people don’t think deeply about what it would be like to live in a different time. They have no sense of comparison. Thinking long about history, you get a much broader view of human life. History is a road to sanity.”
Mr. Swaim is an editorial page writer for the Journal.
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When Iran's goal has been accomplished (ability to make a nuclear bomb) you have some leeway to be beneficent:
And:
Iran drops ‘red line’ demand for US to delist IRGC as nuclear talks climax
‘If we are closer to a deal, that’s why,’ senior Biden official tells CNN, adding that Tehran also no longer demanding that US delist several firms tied to Revolutionary Guard
By TOI staff and Jacob Magid
Members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) march during the annual military parade marking the anniversary of the outbreak of the devastating 1980-1988 war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, in the capital Tehran, on September 22, 2018. (Stringer/AFP)
Iran has dropped its demand that the US remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in exchange for Tehran returning to compliance with the nuclear agreement it signed with world powers in 2015.
After months of unconfirmed reports on the matter, the Biden administration revealed in May that it would not be heeding the Iranian demand in what was assumed to amount to a significant blow to the negotiations aimed at restoring the agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
But a senior administration official told CNN on Friday that Iran has dropped the “red line” demand amid reports that the sides are nearing an agreement on a joint US-Iranian return to compliance with the JCPOA. A senior US official confirmed the report to The Times of Israel.
In 2018, former US president Donald Trump withdrew from the deal that traded sanctions relief for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program. He then instituted a “maximum pressure” sanctions regime targeting various Iranian sectors, leading Tehran to respond by expanding its nuclear program in violation of the JCPOA. US President Joe Biden entered office vowing to try and revive the deal and his administration has spent the past year-and-a-half in on-and-off indirect negotiations with Iran to achieve that goal.
While the sides had been pessimistic about prospects of a deal for months, progress has been reported over the past week.
The senior administration official speaking to CNN said that in its response to the draft nuclear deal agreement proposed by the European Union Iran did not include the IRGC delisting demand.
“The current version of the text, and what they are demanding, drops it,” the official said. “So if we are closer to a deal, that’s why.”
“The President has been firm and consistent that he will not lift the terrorism designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps.”
The official also revealed that Iran had dropped other demands for the US delist to delist several companies with ties to the IRGC.
While the deal is now “closer than it was two weeks ago, the outcome remains uncertain as some gaps remain. President Biden will only approve a deal that meets our national security interests,” the official said.
Another administration official speaking to CNN was similarly cautious, explaining that progress may be slow moving forward but that there was indeed more momentum now than there was over the past year.
On July 26, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell submitted a proposal to Iran on returning to the nuclear deal, with a deadline for it to respond by this past Monday at midnight.
According to a Politico report citing a senior Western official, the Iranian response was received Monday evening Brussels time and focused on remaining questions related to sanctions and “guarantees around economic engagement.”
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency offered no details on the substance of its response, but suggested that Tehran still wouldn’t take the European Union-mediated proposal, despite warnings there would be no more negotiations.
Top Israeli officials have warned their counterparts in the US and Europe against the deal and called for the negotiators to give up on the talks.
National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata will head to Washington, DC, next week to conduct a series of meetings with US officials on the Iran nuclear program.
Israel believes Iran wishes to build a nuclear bomb, has revealed intelligence it says reveals the Iranian weapons program and has reportedly carried out sabotage operations within the Islamic Republic to delay the development of such a weapon.
Iran has denied any nefarious intentions and claims its program is designed for peaceful purposes, though it has recently been enriching uranium to levels that international leaders say have no civil use.
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Appeals court upholds ruling ordering DOJ to release memo on Mueller report
By Julia Shapero
The Department of Justice must release a 2019 memorandum supporting then-Attorney General Bill Barr's decision to clear former President Donald Trump of obstruction of justice, a federal appeals court in Washington ruled on Friday.
The big picture: Special Counsel Robert Mueller's 2019 investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election found that while he could not conclude that Trump committed obstruction of justice, Mueller's final report "does not exonerate" the former president.
After Mueller sent his then-confidential report to Barr, the former attorney general sent a letter to Congress explaining that the report did not sufficiently show Trump had obstructed justice.
State of play: A nonpartisan government watchdog organization sued the Justice Department in 2019 for documents related to Barr's decision to clear Trump, including a memorandum from the department's Office of Legal Counsel to Barr.
A district court judge ruled in May 2021 that the DOJ must release the memorandum, after finding the department's claim that it was used in the decision-making process to be "disingenuous."
Some documents can be exempted from public records requests if they were used internally to make decisions, an exemption known as the deliberative-process privilege.
However, the judge in 2021 found that the memorandum, which was finalized after Barr sent the letter to Congress, could not have been part of the decision-making process.
Driving the news: The three-judge panel unanimously upheld the lower court ruling on Friday, rejecting the DOJ's argument that the memo was part of the decision-making process of how to convey the report to Congress and the public.
"The court determined that the Department had failed to carry its burden to show the deliberative-process privilege applied," wrote Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan, who was joined by Judges Judith Rogers and David Tatel.
"In particular, the court held that the Department had not identified a relevant agency decision as to which the memorandum formed part of the deliberations. The Department's submissions, the court explained, indicated that the memorandum conveyed advice about whether to charge the President with a crime. But the court's in camera review of the memorandum revealed that the Department in fact never considered bringing a charge."
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