King Shark fills the tank role in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League but he’s also so much more. With the best Talents and the best Loadout‚ King Shark in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a force of nature. What is the best build for King Shark in Suicide Squad KTJL? King Shark’s best weapon is the Heavy Weapon thanks to the Talents. While using the Heavy Weapon‚ we’ll spend time airborne and launching into Atlantean Drops to close the gap‚ use Suicide Strike to make the surrounding enemies Shield Harvestable‚ and use your Melee to apply Bleed and Shield Harvest everyone around us. Best King Shark Talents in Suicide Squad KTJL Screenshot: PC Invasion The best King Shark build focuses on Suicide Strike‚ Shield Harvest‚ and using our Heavy Weapon and melee at close ranges. Here are the best Talents that highlight this playstyle: Firepower Blood Frenzy – Increases melee damage after Counters and applies Bleed to melee hits at five Combo...

Native Americans are those who are indigenous to the United States and there are still 574 federally recognized tribes. They have been around for centuries and continue to cherish their many sacred practices and traditions. From their clothing‚ language‚ and more‚ here are some unique things to know about Native Americans. While teepees are usually considered a symbol of Native American life... Source

During the summer of 1969‚ engineers discovered a deep‚ hidden secret about Niagara Falls. After draining the falls by cutting off the flow from one peak and redirecting it‚ what laid beneath was revealed. What they found‚ they never expected. Buried among the rocks was a finding that created far more questions than answers. What did they unearth? Continue reading and discover the truth that... Source

A Republican candidate for the House of Representatives ripped the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday‚ saying it was “mistreating residents” of East Palestine‚ Ohio. President Joe Biden announced Wednesday he would visit the city where the Feb. 3‚ 2023‚ train derailment occurred‚ fulfilling a promise to visit East Palestine made in March 2023. The derailment caused people to evacuate after chemicals were spilled. Dr. Rick Tsai‚ who is running for the House seat vacated when Rep. Bill Johnson‚ R-Ohio‚ resigned last month to become president of Youngstown State University‚ blasted the EPA and federal government during an appearance on WMAL-FM radio’s “The Vince Coglianese Show” in Washington. >;>;>; RELATED: KJP Refuses To Say If Biden Will Drink Water in East Palestine “I don’t think the world knows the whole truth about what happened here and is still going on in East Palestine‚” Tsai told Coglianese‚ who is also the Daily Caller’s editorial director. Officials warned of a possible “catastrophic blast” at the derailment site Feb. 6‚ 2023‚ and carried out a controlled burn of chemicals‚ the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. “The government put the entity that caused this catastrophe in control of the cleanup‚ and they’ve almost been like the Gestapo here‚ mistreating residents‚” Tsai added. Tsai has done his own testing of local creeks‚ saying he has found elevated levels of benzene‚ according to Cleveland’s WKYC-TV “As of yesterday or the day before‚ Ann Vogel of the Ohio EPA was saying they have no evidence of chemicals in our land or a creek‚” Tsai told Coglianese. “I can give a 7-year-old a stick and teach him how to find these chemicals. I don’t know how the EPA doesn’t do it with their millions of dollars at‚ you know‚ their beck and call.” Former President Donald Trump visited East Palestine in February 2023‚ donating bottled water and pallets of supplies to assist residents in the town. Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Biden EPA Has Acted Like ‘Gestapo‚’ Mistreated Ohio Residents in East Palestine Cleanup‚ House Candidate Says appeared first on The Daily Signal.

New research estimates that some students’ grades will never catch back up after falling during the pandemic. Recently‚ some in the mainstream media worried that the federal taxpayer money that lawmakers sent to K-12 schools during COVID-19 may not be enough to help schools turn things around. But public schools—also known as “assigned” schools—had money before the pandemic‚ and achievement gaps have persisted for decades among students from different economic backgrounds‚ long before COVID-19. Public education’s slow-motion attempts at meaningful improvement whilst holding checks from taxpayers have parents looking for alternatives. Small ones. “I thought schools today must have everything that I had‚ plus be 40 years better‚ only to find out that things had gone‚ if anything‚ backwards‚” said Kathryn Kelly‚ one of the growing number of entrepreneurs behind  microschools‚ small private schools that offer flexible schedules to students. A parent herself‚ Kelly started her school in Nevada years before the pandemic because her adopted sons were “really floundering in school” and needed help. Today‚ her school‚ called I-School‚ is attracting families from all walks of life who have tired of the radical political orthodoxy inside many public school districts along with teachers union campaigns for more taxpayer spending. Kelly is doing the opposite of what many public systems have tried. Instead of building new facilities and updating classroom technology‚ Kelly’s school in Carson City is situated in a building built in 1879 that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. She explains that the building‚ like her school’s focus on classic books and a traditional‚ liberal arts education‚ is meant to “give kids some magic” as they are surrounded by “history and character.” “The bar has been set so low” at assigned schools‚ Kelly said in an interview. She explains that her teachers want to get students “engaged and curious and interactive instead of meekly accepting what is being handed to them.” Kelly’s program also has an online option‚ and the combination of in-person and online teaching has reached a variety of students over the last 14 years. “We have full-time kids‚ have hybrid kids‚ we have kids that are part-time in the public school‚ part-time home-schooled. We try to be the school that I wanted when I started out‚ and that is very flexible for parent needs‚” Kelly says. And it’s working. Kelly explains that I-School has helped a child with cystic fibrosis remain in school while waiting for a lung transplant. Another student is one of the top-ranked high school wrestlers in Alabama who will be attending Columbia University. Parent interest in microschools surged during and after the pandemic. Families discovered that these schools were not only flexible but could allow parents to remain involved in their children’s education through part-time and other hybrid school schedules. Nationwide‚ microschool enrollment growth has been steady‚ but the schools are designed to be small‚ which means these modest operations are one part of a growing catalog of K-12 opportunities outside of assigned public schools. Combining her online school and physical location and her new faith-based Hope Academy‚ Kelly has 40 students enrolled. Some state lawmakers are making it possible for more families to take advantage of small learning settings like Kelly’s‚ along with classical private schools‚ private schools focused on STEM‚ and more. Policymakers in nine states have adopted the school choice options of either private school scholarships (i.e.‚ private school vouchers) or Education Savings Accounts for which all students in those states are eligible to apply. This year‚ Tennessee lawmakers are considering a proposal that would make their state the 10th to adopt such options. In some states‚ such as North Carolina‚ parents can use an Education Savings Account to pay tuition at microschools similar to I-School in Nevada. With an Education Savings Account‚ the state deposits a portion of a child’s funds from the state education funding formula that parents can then use to buy education products and services for their students (more than a dozen states have account-style opportunities for students today). Claims that $200 billion in COVID-19 funding was not enough for schools during the pandemic are hard to stomach while innovators such as Kelly can advertise education quality to families from inside a nearly 200-year old building. Students who are falling behind are not catching up because the assigned school system is not catching up. Struggling students—and all students—should not have to wait for public schools to decide what to do with new money before getting the chance at a great education. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post ‘Micro’ K-12 Schools Offer Big Solutions for Students appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Open Doors International‚ a nonprofit organization that supports persecuted Christians in over 70 countries‚ has released its annual 2024 World Watch List‚ which highlights and ranks countries in which Christians face the most severe persecution and discrimination. Each year‚ the report brings vital attention to brave Christians around the world who suffer because of their faith. Tragically‚ the 2024 report reveals that persecution against Christians is worsening. The previous year’s World Watch List found that more than 360 million Christians faced severe persecution and discrimination for their faith. Today‚ this figure has increased to more than 365 million people‚ with “dangerously violent” instances of persecution taking place in listed countries. Further‚ the 2024 report records a significant increase in the number of attacks on churches and Christian properties last year. According to Open Doors: “More than 14‚700 churches or Christian properties such as schools and hospitals were targeted in 2023. It marked a sevenfold increase compared with attacks recorded the previous year.” Additionally‚ in 2023 the total number of Christians who were forced to leave their homes for various reasons—including political instability‚ war‚ and extremism—more than doubled from the previous year. Nearly 300‚000 Christians had to flee their homes and approximately 3% of Christians in sub-Saharan Africa’s most dangerous countries were displaced. According to the report‚ North Korea is “the most dangerous place in the world for Christians.” If a person’s Christian faith is discovered‚ he or she is killed on the spot or shipped to a labor camp where the chances of survival are slim. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sees Christianity as a threat to the dictatorship and carries out an effective death sentence on believers. In China‚ General Secretary Xi Jinping similarly sees Christianity as a threat to the Chinese Communist Party’s power. Last year‚ at least 10‚000 churches (mostly underground house churches) were closed in China; other‚ state-sanctioned churches were required to display signs that read “Love the Communist Party; Love the country; Love the religion.” In Asia as a whole‚ 2 in 5 Christians are persecuted for their faith. Christians in India face violent attacks from Hindu extremists and are punished for violating anti-conversion laws in some states. Rishi‚ a church leader in India‚ told Open Doors: “Though I was attacked twice‚ still I can feel God’s protection in my life. I was attacked‚ yet was not crushed. I will continue to trust my God.” In Africa‚ 1 in 5 Christians are persecuted. Somalia was ranked No. 2 for countries in which Christians face the most extreme persecution. In Somalia‚ most Christians are Muslim converts and are consequently targeted by Islamist extremists‚ namely the terrorist group al-Shabaab‚ which has expressed its objective to eliminate Christians from the country. Nigeria‚ according to Open Doors‚ “remains the deadliest place to follow Jesus.” In 2023‚ nearly 5‚000 Christians were killed for their faith‚ with 82% of the slayings occurring in Nigeria. Ranked No. 6 on the 2024 World Watch List‚ according to Open Doors: “More Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than in all the other countries of the world combined.” For millions of Christians around the world‚ the cost of worshipping freely is high. Some even pay the price with their lives. Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List brings crucial attention to Christian persecution and discrimination— and is a vital tool for those who wish to help Christians around the world. Originally published by RealClear Policy Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Persecution of Christians Worsens Around Globe appeared first on The Daily Signal.

President Joe Biden tells a lot of tall tales about the border crisis‚ but his claim that he needs the reckless bipartisan immigration bill being negotiated in the Senate to give him the authority to “shut down the border” and he “would use it the day” he signs the bill into law to end the crisis is one of his tallest tales yet.  In truth‚ this deal is a political ploy that would support his open-border policy and fund his unlimited illegal immigration plan. Why is Biden’s claim a tall tale? Because federal immigration law already gives Biden the ability to close the border—and he‚ his advisers and his political allies know it.  And anyone who believes that‚ if this bill passes‚ Biden will close the border is a modern-day Charlie Brown who actually believed time and again that Lucy wouldn’t snatch the football away when he tried to kick it. The president’s already existing authority to shut down the border was specifically upheld in 2018 by the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. Hawaii over the so-called “travel ban” issued by then-President Donald Trump.  As Biden’s political allies will no doubt remember‚ since they led the charge against it‚ Trump “shut down the border” to aliens from certain terrorist and other nations until the Department of Homeland Security could determine whether it was able to accurately verify and investigate the backgrounds of aliens from those countries. Trump acted under 8 U.S.C. § 1182‚ which states that when “the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States‚ he may by proclamation and for such period as he shall deem necessary‚ suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens … .” Trump also acted pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1185‚ which provides that the president can set the “rules‚ regulations‚ and orders” for entry of aliens into the U.S. “subject to such limitations and exceptions as the President may prescribe.”  The Supreme Court upheld the travel ban since these existing immigration statutes give “deference to the President” to decide when the entry of aliens should be restricted‚ and provide him with “‘ample power’ to impose entry restrictions in addition to those” already outlined in federal immigration law. Moreover‚ the Supreme Court refused to second-guess Trump’s national-security rationale for issuing the travel ban because such national security determinations made by the commander in chief are entitled to great deference‚ since courts are not in a position to make such determinations. In addition to this broad‚ virtually unlimited authority‚ the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection‚ acting Commissioner Troy Miller‚ is authorized by 19 U.S.C. § 1318 (b)(2) to “close temporarily” any port of entry into the U.S. “when necessary to respond to a specific threat to human life or national interests.” The open southern border of the U.S. is clearly a national security problem of the highest order and is obviously a threat to our “national interests.” Millions of illegal aliens are overwhelming communities across the country‚ and human traffickers‚ drug smugglers‚ criminals and terrorists are freely entering with little to no obstacles in their way.  A coalition of former FBI officials recently issued a warning to Congress about the “imminent danger” we face from this flood of aliens‚ which those officials say is “one of the most pernicious ever to menace the United States.” As they point out‚ “military-aged men from across the globe‚ many from countries or regions not friendly to the United States‚ are landing in waves on our soil by the thousands—not by splashing ashore from a ship or parachuting from a plane‚ but rather by foot across a border that has been accurately advertised around the world as largely unprotected with ready access granted.” Biden doesn’t need this Senate bill to fix this problem. install barbed wire fencingWhat he needs to do is to exercise the will power to actually shut down the border; accept the help of states and cooperate in their efforts‚ like those of Texas‚ to install barbed wire fencing and eventually a wall everywhere it is needed; stop his “catch and release” policy; quit unlawfully granting mass parole and work permits to illegal aliens; reinstate the “remain in Mexico” policy for asylum-seekers; and take the many other actions to enforce federal immigration law that have proven effective in the past. In other words‚ quit sitting on the sideline telling tall tales and get into the arena‚ and do the right thing. The country is waiting‚ but its patience has run out. Originally published at FoxNews.com Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Biden Needs a Spine‚ Not New Laws‚ to Shut Down Open Border appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Washington glitterati assembled at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in October to celebrate federal employees making a difference in government. Hosted by CNN anchor Kate Bolduan‚ the black-tie affair featured in-person appearances by top Biden White House officials‚ including Chief of Staff Jeffrey Zients‚ Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco‚ and Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack. Midway through the evening’s festivities‚ Max Stier‚ president of the group sponsoring the event—the Partnership for Public Service‚ a $24 million nonprofit based in Washington that recruits individuals to work in the civil service—took the stage to thank his high-profile guests. “Great leaders are the heart and soul of effective organizations‚” Stier said‚ “which is why I am so thankful to see so many of our government’s amazing leaders here tonight.” Stier also acknowledged one federal employee‚ his wife‚ Judge Florence Y. Pan‚ who sits on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Pan would soon need no introduction. Earlier this month she made headlines by asking former President Donald Trump’s lawyers whether the presidential immunity he sought in connection with alleged Jan. 6 crimes was absolute. “Could a president order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival?” Pan asked Trump lawyer John Sauer. “That’s an official act—an order to SEAL Team Six?” she clarified. Although the back and forth between Pan and Sauer was inconclusive as to the question about a president’s criminal liability‚ many mainstream outlets misconstrued the exchange while lionizing Pan for posing a question that they then used to advance their description of Trump as a lawless menace. The exchange‚ which Pan prompted when she posed the pre-arranged hypothetical at beginning of the hearing‚ has raised new questions about the impartiality of judges hearing politically charged cases. For months progressives have been insisting that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from any case that involves Trump because of his wife Ginni Thomas’ political involvement and participation in the events of Jan. 6. Those same interests have yet to express similar worries about Pan’s objectivity‚ despite her husband’s longtime political activism and current opposition to another Trump presidency. Power couples are the lifeblood of Washington so it’s not unusual for political activists‚ judges‚ and White House bigwigs to rub elbows at fancy soirees like the October gala at the Kennedy Center. But Stier’s longtime ties to the Democratic Party‚ his access to key Biden administration officials‚ and his suggestion that Trump represents a threat to democracy at the same time his wife is handling sensitive matters related to the Department of Justice’s prosecution of the former president should raise questions about her impartiality. A member of former President Bill Clinton’s legal team during the Monica Lewinsky scandal‚ Stier‚ 57‚ has been a Democratic Party fixture for nearly three decades. Since 2001‚ he has run the Partnership for Public Service‚ which is funded by some of the most generous benefactors of progressive causes‚ including the Gates Foundation‚ Democracy Fund‚ and the Ford Foundation. In 2020‚ the Partnership launched an effort tied to the diversity‚ equity‚ and inclusion movement‚ pledging to demand what it considers greater diversity in government agencies and institutions. In a letter to mark the group’s 20-year anniversary‚ Stier lamented the country’s democratic “crisis” caused by “a violent insurrection against Congress and growing suspicions about the results of a legitimate election.” Recently‚ Stier has joined the growing chorus of Beltway voices warning that a second Trump presidency would pose a unique “threat” to the country’s future. Stier and others are particularly concerned with Trump’s promise to convert tens of thousands of federal bureaucrats into political appointees‚ meaning they could be fired without cause by the president. Such a plan‚ according to Stier‚ undermines the Constitution and the law. “You wind up with a workforce that is not only going to deliver poor service‚ but also that is going to be a tool for retribution and actions that are contrary to our democratic system‚” Stier said in a December 2023 Politico interview. “If you are selecting people on the basis of their political persuasion or their loyalty as opposed to their expertise and their commitment to the public good‚ you’re going to wind up with less good service and more risk for the American people.” “I don’t think we have a deep state today‚” he said. But “the proposals that are on the table would create a deep state‚ rather than the effective state that we all should be pursuing.” Stier is doing more than just discussing the issue in media interviews; he is working directly with Biden officials to prevent Trump from following through on his pledge if he wins in November. Stier has called Trump’s plans to reform so-called Schedule F employees “an assault on our civil service‚ the core to our system of government and democratic institutions.” When Republicans threatened to shut down the government last year over disagreements with Democrats on federal spending levels‚ Stier warned it would sideline what unions estimate as 4 million government employees. “[It] is the equivalent of burning down your own house‚” he said of a potential shutdown. But Stier is perhaps best known for his involvement in attempting to thwart Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Stier and Kavanaugh attended Yale University together in the mid-1980s. In September 2019‚ while reporting on a sexual abuse accusation made by another Yale student‚ Deborah Ramirez‚ The New York Times disclosed Stier’s account of an incident he allegedly witnessed during their freshman year. Two Times reporters‚ in their first-person-plural “analysis” favoring Kavanaugh’s accusers‚ wrote: A classmate‚ Max Stier‚ saw Mr. Kavanaugh with his pants down at a different drunken dorm party‚ where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student. Mr. Stier‚ who runs a nonprofit organization in Washington‚ notified senators and the F.B.I. about this account‚ but the F.B.I. did not investigate and Mr. Stier has declined to discuss it publicly. We corroborated the story with two officials who have communicated with Mr. Stier; the female student declined to be interviewed and friends say she does not recall the episode. Stier’s still unproven allegations are included in a new documentary‚ “Justice‚” about the Kavanaugh scandal. The film‚ which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival‚ centers on Ramirez and features a recording of Stier’s never-before-heard 2018 call to the FBI tip line detailing what he claimed to have seen and heard.  Washington Post entertainment reporter Jada Yuan wrote in January 2023: In the previously unheard recording‚ Stier says classmates told him not just that Kavanaugh stuck his penis in Ramirez’s face‚ but that afterward‚ Kavanaugh went to the bathroom to make himself erect before allegedly returning to assault her again‚ hoping to amuse an audience of mutual friends‚ In the film‚ Ramirez says she’d suppressed the memory so deeply she couldn’t recall this second incident. … Stier’s message to the FBI also cites another incident involving a different woman‚ which he says he witnessed “firsthand”: A severely inebriated Kavanaugh‚ his dorm mate‚ pulling his pants down at a different party while a group of soccer players forced a drunk female freshman to hold his penis. Stier did not appear as an interview subject in the film. Some speculated that Stier’s involvement in the Kavanaugh matter was retaliation against former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell‚ R-Ky.‚ for allowing his wife’s earlier nomination as district judge to expire with the end of the Obama administration. Pan‚ 57‚ a Taiwanese American‚ has longstanding ties to the Democratic Party. A graduate of Stanford Law School‚ Pan worked for Clinton’s departments of Justice and Treasury before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia in 1999. In 2009‚ then-President Barack Obama nominated her to serve as an associate judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. As his tenure drew to a close‚ Obama then nominated her unsuccessfully to serve as a United States district judge for the District of Columbia. After Trump left office in 2021‚ Pan became one of President Joe Biden’s first judicial nominees‚ tapped again to serve as a U.S. district judge in Washington. Less than a year later‚ Biden promoted her to the D.C. appellate court; in both instances‚ Pan replaced Ketanji Brown Jackson as she made her way to the Supreme Court. She is the first Asian American to serve on both benches. “This is a perfect example of how the deep state defends its interest‚” Russell Vought‚ president of the Center for Renewing America‚ one of the organizations pushing for the Schedule F reforms‚ told RealClearInvestigations. “In and out of government‚ multiple branches of government‚ relying on personal networks‚ even marriages‚ to defeat President Trump and thereby protect a permanent‚ unaccountable bureaucracy.” During her brief tenure on the appellate court‚ Pan has found herself on an unusually high number of politically charged cases. A panel of three judges initially hears appeals before the full court selected out of 11 sitting judges. Pan has been seated on two such panels regarding cases involving Jan. 6 and Trump. In both cases she provided the key vote in a split 2-1 decision that sided with the government. In Fischer v. USA‚ Pan acknowledged that the government was making a “novel” use of a post-Enron statute that addressed tampering with documents to increase the legal jeopardy of individuals who disrupted the Electoral College count on Jan. 6. “To be sure‚ outside of the January 6 cases brought in this jurisdiction‚ there is no precedent for using 1512(c)(2) to prosecute the type of conduct at issue in this case.” Nonetheless‚ Pan applied a “broad reading of the statute” to allow application of the law. Pan reached the same conclusion in Robertson v. USA on the same matter in another 2-1 decision. Her opinion in the Fischer case is now before the Supreme Court; legal observers predict the court might reverse her opinion‚ essentially overturning how the Justice Department has interpreted the statute’s language to charge more than 300 Jan. 6 protesters with the felony count. (This would put Kavanaugh in the unique position of voting against a decision written by the spouse of one of his accusers.) Unusual GOP Dissent on Court Pan also upheld another controversial lower court ruling that favored the DOJ and worked against Trump‚ one that recently resulted in a harsh rebuke from some of her colleagues on the circuit court. U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell‚ another Obama appointee‚ in 2023 authorized an application from special counsel Jack Smith to obtain a search warrant for Trump’s Twitter data in his Jan. 6 case against the former president. Not only did Howell force the company to produce the records‚ which included direct messages and draft posts‚ she signed a nondisclosure order to prevent Twitter—now X and owned by liberal bête noire Elon Musk—from notifying its customer‚ Trump‚ about the warrant for 180 days. X appealed Howell’s nondisclosure order; Pan backed Howell’s decision and ruled against the company’s appeal‚ citing the need to “safeguard the security and integrity of the investigation” and “avoid tipping off the former President about the warrant’s existence.” But Pan’s conclusions were wrong‚ four Republican-appointed judges on the D.C. Circuit Court wrote last month in what legal observers described as an unusual 12-page statement related to the appeal. “The Special Counsel’s approach obscured and bypassed any assertion of executive privilege and dodged the careful balance Congress struck in the Presidential Records Act‚” Judges Neomi Rao‚ Justin Walker‚ Gregory Katsas‚ and Karen Henderson wrote in an order filed Jan. 16. “The district court and this court permitted this arrangement without any consideration of the consequential executive privilege issues raised by this unprecedented search. We should not have endorsed this gambit. Rather than follow established precedent‚ for the first time in American history‚ a court allowed access to presidential communications before any scrutiny of executive privilege.” But it was Pan’s exchange with Trump’s defense attorney during oral arguments related to Trump’s claims of presidential immunity against criminal prosecution that caught the media’s attention. Trump is seeking to dismiss Smith’s Jan. 6 indictment on immunity grounds; Judge Tanya S. Chutkan issued a landmark ruling in December denying Trump’s motion and concluded that presidents are subject to criminal prosecution. Roughly one minute into the Jan. 9 discussion‚ Pan interrupted Trump lawyer Sauer with her hypothetical question. The exchange went as follows: Pan: Could a president order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival? That’s an official act‚ an order to SEAL Team Six? John Sauer: He would have to be and would speedily be impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution. Pan: But if he weren’t … there would be no criminal prosecution‚ no criminal liability for that? Sauer: Chief Justice’s opinion in Marbury against Madison … and the impeachment judgment clause all clearly presuppose what the Founders were concerned about … Pan: I asked you a yes or no question. Could a president who ordered SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival who was not impeached‚ would he be subject to criminal prosecution? Sauer: If he were impeached and convicted first. Pan: So your answer is … no. Sauer: It is a qualified yes. Despite Sauer’s answer‚ figures in major media nonetheless reported that Sauer claimed a president could not be prosecuted for ordering the assassination of a political rival. (It was unclear whether Pan suggested the order or the act itself was illegal.) Legal analysts‚ cable news hosts‚ and columnists praised Pan regardless of the plausibility of such a scenario. Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman told MSNBC host Chris Hayes that “after Judge Pan asked that hypo about SEAL Team Six‚ Sauer … was a dead man walking. He will lose. He should lose.” Writing for The Atlantic‚ former federal prosecutor and Trump antagonist George Conway described Pan’s hypothetical as a way of setting a “trap” for Team Trump. He further suggested Pan could host “Meet the Press” if she decided to pursue a different career outside the judiciary. Conway continued to praise Pan in a CNN interview‚ calling her SEAL Team Six line of inquiry an “intellectual tour de force.” Democrats also seized on Sauer’s response. Rep. Adam Schiff‚ currently running for the U.S. Senate in California‚ denounced Trump and his legal team‚ insisting “there is no immunity for murder.” A reporter asked Trump about the exchange during an appearance on Jan. 11. “Do you agree with your lawyers‚ what they said on Tuesday‚ that you should not be prosecuted if you ordered SEAL Team Six to kill a political opponent?” Trump replied that presidents “have to have immunity‚” otherwise every president would be prosecuted by that leader’s successor of the opposite political party. Some pundits took Pan’s hypothetical a step further. MSNBC contributor Elie Mystal misrepresented Sauer’s answer‚ then proposed that Biden could “launch a preemptive strike on a rebel stronghold at Mar-a-Lago” under Trump’s way of thinking. Paul Rosenzweig of the anti-Trump conservative site The Bulwark wrote that Trump’s reasoning meant Biden could assassinate Trump without any consequences. The controversy presumably will continue to swirl until Pan’s panel issues its ruling. It could be weeks until the opinion is filed. Until then‚ Trump’s March 4 trial date is on hold and looks less likely by the day‚ which is why Smith asked the court to fast-track the announcement to expedite the process as it inevitably heads toward the Supreme Court. Considering the political composition of the three-judge panel—two judges appointed by Democratic presidents—most observers expect the appellate court to uphold Chutkan’s ruling. Meanwhile‚ Pan’s hypothetical scenario of a presidentially ordered hit likely will figure prominently in any opinion. This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post The Beltway Judge Hearing Trump Cases and Her Anti-Trump‚ Anti-Kavanaugh Husband appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Trucker Convoy Headed to the Border Held a Rally in Central Texas With Special Guests

Things Are Much‚ MUCH Worse Than You Fear in Education