Author: Frank V. Vernuccio, Jr.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s GOP members have issued a stunning report outlining the actions by the Biden Administration that led to the deaths of thirteen American We reproduce key excerpts:

Over the course of three years, House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans, led by Chairman McCaul, have conducted a thorough investigation into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan… The investigation has revealed five primary conclusions:

1.The Biden-Harris administration was determined to withdraw from Afghanistan, with or without the Doha Agreement and no matter the cost. Accordingly, they ignored the conditions in the Doha Agreement, pleas of the Afghan government, and the objections by our NATO allies, deciding to unilaterally withdraw from the country.

2. The Biden-Harris administration prioritized the optics of the withdrawal over the security of U.S. personnel on the ground. For that reason, they failed to plan for all contingencies, including a noncombatant emergency evacuation (NEO) and refused to order a NEO until after the Taliban had already entered Kabul.

3. The Biden-Harris administration’s failure to prepare for a NEO and order a timely NEO created an unsafe environment at HKIA, exposing U.S. Defense Department and State Department personnel to lethal threats and emotional harm. As a result, 13 U.S. servicemembers were murdered by a terrorist attack on August 26, 2021. It was the deadliest day for the U.S. military in Afghanistan since 2012.

4. In the aftermath of the withdrawal, U.S. national security was degraded as Afghanistan once again became a haven for terrorists, including al Qaeda and ISISK. America’s credibility on the world stage was severely damaged after we abandoned Afghan allies to Taliban reprisal killings — the people of Afghanistan we had promised to protect. And the moral injury to America’s veterans and those still serving remains a stain on this administration’s legacy.

5. The Biden-Harris administration misled and, in some instances, directly lied to the American people at every stage of the withdrawal, from before the go-to-zero order until today. This coverup included mid-level administration officials all the way up to the Oval Office. And as this investigation reveals, the National Security Council and NSA Jake Sullivan were of the source of the majority of that misinformation campaign.

The report presents the findings of the committee majority’s investigation into the BidenHarris administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is understood to encompass the U.S. military retrograde, beginning with the “Go to Zero” order officially announced by President Biden on April 14, 2021, through the noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO) ordered by President Biden on August 15, 2021, as well as related planning by the White House, U.S. Department of State, and other federal agencies and their decision-making processes. The withdrawal culminated in the Abbey Gate terrorist attack on August 26, 2021, which killed 13 U.S. servicemembers, wounding another 45, and killed more than 170 Afghan civilians. The withdrawal concluded on August 30, 2021, when the last U.S. military aircraft left Afghanistan.

Over the course of three years, House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans, led by Chairman McCaul, have conducted a thorough investigation into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, pursuant to the outlined methodology. The investigation has revealed five primary conclusions:

The Biden-Harris administration was determined to withdraw from Afghanistan, with or without the Doha Agreement and no matter the cost. Accordingly, they ignored the conditions in the Doha Agreement, pleas of the Afghan government, and the objections by our NATO allies, deciding to unilaterally withdraw from the country. The Biden-Harris administration prioritized the optics of the withdrawal over the security of U.S. personnel on the ground. For that reason, they failed to plan for all contingencies, including a noncombatant emergency evacuation (NEO) and refused to order a NEO until after the Taliban had already entered Kabul. The Biden-Harris administration’s failure to prepare for a NEO and order a timely NEO created an unsafe environment at HKIA, exposing U.S. Defense Department and State Department personnel to lethal threats and emotional harm. As a result, 13 U.S. servicemembers were murdered by a terrorist attack on August 26, 2021. It was the deadliest day for the U.S. military in Afghanistan since 2012. In the aftermath of the withdrawal, U.S. national security was degraded as Afghanistan once again became a haven for terrorists, including al Qaeda and ISISK. America’s credibility on the world stage was severely damaged after we abandoned Afghan allies to Taliban reprisal killings — the people of Afghanistan we had promised to protect. And the moral injury to America’s veterans and those still serving remains a stain on this administration’s legacy. The Biden-Harris administration misled and, in some instances, directly lied to the American people at every stage of the withdrawal, from before the go-to-zero order until today. This coverup included mid-level administration officials all the way up to the Oval Office. And as this investigation reveals, the National Security Council and NSA Jake Sullivan were of the source of the majority of that misinformation campaign.

The investigation upends the Biden-Harris administration’s continued claim that they “planned for all contingencies.” Instead, the State Department and White House’s tunnel vision that U.S. Embassy Kabul remain open resulted in a failure to properly prepare for worst case scenarios, including conducting an evacuation under Taliban rule. When that precise scenario manifested, the Biden-Harris administration was caught flat-footed and chaos ensued.

The failure to plan for all contingencies and order a NEO only after the Taliban seized Kabul directly resulted in chaos reigning at Embassy Kabul and HKIA. Droves of classified documents and systems were left behind, and American and Afghan passports were unnecessarily burned as pandemonium enveloped the embassy compound. One Embassy employee concluded, “We know that some of [the classified documents] are being used by the Taliban. Another Embassy employee explained there was no embassy roster available when it came time to evacuate. As a result, the employee went room to room to clear the embassy compound. Indeed, on the day of the evacuation, some embassy personnel were not even aware the Taliban had marched into Kabul. As consequence of the rapid military retrograde — rendering U.S. troop presence to less than 1,000 — and the failure to plan for a NEO, HKIA was overrun, and the airfield was forced to shut down for 48 hours.

Additional issues cropped up at every step of the way during the evacuation because of the Biden-Harris administration’s failure to plan for a NEO, including, but not limited to: There were insufficient military planes to conduct an airlift of this size, and the U.S. Department of Transportation waited until August 20th — five days after the country fell — to allow foreign civil aircrafts to conduct their own flights. Throughout the NEO, logistics operations responsible for the provision of food, medical support, clean water, vehicles, and other critical supplies did not have more than a one-day supply on hand. U.S. government personnel were at great risk of running out of food and water.

“Lily pads” for evacuees were not secured before the NEO began. It was not until August 19th that all three primary lily pads in Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait were operable. This delay resulted in multiple operational pauses of the evacuation, limiting the number of Americans and Afghan allies able to escape. To compensate for the Biden-Harris administration’s failure to plan for the inevitable NEO, volunteer organizations across the country mobilized to assist Americans, green card holders, and Afghan allies escape the Taliban. These groups were made up of veterans, active duty servicemembers, journalists, former government officials, congressional staffers, and in some instances, average Americans with no ties to Afghanistan who wanted to do their part. They worked for free at great expense to themselves — emotionally and financially — to track down evacuees across the country, get them through the Taliban checkpoints in Kabul, and finally on a plane to safety.

To compensate for the Biden-Harris administration’s failure to plan for the inevitable NEO, volunteer organizations across the country mobilized to assist Americans, green card holders, and Afghan allies escape the Taliban. These groups were made up of veterans, active duty servicemembers, journalists, former government officials, congressional staffers, and in some instances, average Americans with no ties to Afghanistan who wanted to do their part. They worked for free at great expense to themselves — emotionally and financially — to track down evacuees across the country, get them through the Taliban checkpoints in Kabul, and finally on a plane to safety.

Abbey Gate Attack

The failure to prepare for a NEO had ramifications not only for Americans and allies in Afghanistan, but U.S. personnel on the ground forced to evacuate desperate civilians in a hostile environment. Those concerns were sidelined by the Biden-Harris administration in favor of optics. Rather than concede their negligence, U.S. servicemembers and foreign service officers were directed to prioritize evacuating as many people as possible, no matter the threat posed to their lives.

Threat stream warnings regarding an attack at HKIA were consistent but vague. As a result, personnel on the ground were aware an attack was likely but could not identify a potential attacker with certainty given the breadth and ambiguity of those alerts. Abbey Gate, in particular, was exposed to multiple threats because it served as a main inroad into HKIA. On August 25th, Major General Chris Donahue selected Abbey Gate as being at highest risk of an attack in an assessment shared with General McKenzie. Despite that knowledge, little was done to reinforce protections around the gate. And ultimately, a decision was made by Brigadier General Farrell Sullivan to keep Abbey Gate open, primarily because British forces were still using the gate to evacuate individuals from Baron Hotel into HKIA. At that point, State Department officials on the ground pulled back its consular officers leaving only the U.S. Marines around when the bomb went off at 5:36:52 PM Kabul time on August 26^th.

One hundred and eighty-five people were killed in the attack, including 13 U.S. servicemembers. Their names are: Marine Lance Corporal David L. Espinoza Marine Sergeant Nicole L. Gee Marine Staff Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Christian Knauss Marine Corporal Hunter Lopez Marine Lance Corporal Rylee J. McCollum Marine Lance Corporal Dylan R. Merola Marine Lance Corporal Kareem M. Nikoui Marine Corporal Daegan W. Page Marine Sergeant Johanny Rosario Pichardo Marine Corporal Humberto A. Sanchez Marine Lance Corporal Jared M. Schmitz Navy Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak Countless people were wounded including 45 U.S. servicemembers. It was the deadliest day in Afghanistan for the U.S. military since 2012.

After the Abbey Gate attack, President Biden and Vice President Harris showed disregard and disrespect toward the Gold Star families of the 13 U.S. servicemembers killed at Abbey Gate, and the servicemembers injured in the attack. Almost immediately after the dignified transfer at Dover Air Base for 11 of the 13 servicemembers, media outlets reported President Biden “checked his watch multiple times” during the event. The White House attempted to deny the allegation, until photos surfaced proving he did. Almost three years later, Ms. Psaki continued to perpetuate the lie that President Biden did not check his watch in her memoir. After media reports debunked her falsehood, she was forced to retract it.

The Fallout

The fallout from the ill-advised withdrawal and ill-prepared NEO created a tidal wave of problems in Afghanistan, the United States, and around the world.

Seven billion dollars of U.S. weapons and up to $57 million in U.S. currency were left behind in Afghanistan for the Taliban to use and profit off of by selling to other terrorist regimes. Despite their claims of amnesty toward former Afghan government officials, the Taliban continue to carry out systematic and brutal reprisal killings. In fact, a NATO report written by the Defence Education Enhancement Programme found the Taliban were using U.S. military biometric devices and databases to hunt down America’s Afghan allies.

The catastrophic withdrawal at the hands of the Biden-Harris administration has created a crisis within the U.S. military and among American veterans. Recruitment and retention within the military are down, with experts pointing to the withdrawal as a significant factor. Servicemembers and veterans are also facing devastating moral injury. Each day, they are forced to reckon with the reality that terrorists they fought against for two decades — who their brothers and sisters died to defeat — are once again in power. They are also forced to stand by while their Afghan allies are trapped in Afghanistan, at the mercy of the Taliban. Scott Mann, the founder of Task Force Pineapple and a Green Beret testified to the committee, “Relinquishing Afghanistan…has become a moral injury on our veterans and military families. A moral injury is an injury to the soul. A violation of what we know to be right by leaders whom we trusted.”

Fears by the military regarding the United States’ limited over-the-horizon capabilities postwithdrawal have also come to fruition. The Biden-Harris administration has not conducted a single strike against ISIS-K since 2021. Meanwhile, according to a March 2024 Washington Institute study, “In the past year, [ISIS-K] has planned twenty-one external plots or attacks in nine countries, compared to eight plots or attacks in the previous year and just three between 2018 and March 2022.” The Biden-Harris administration’s willful blindness has left the United States once again vulnerable to attacks emanating from Afghanistan.

Indeed, on June 11, 2024, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested eight individuals with ties to ISIS-K who entered the U.S. illegally through the southern border. That same month, the Department of Homeland Security identified over 400 persons of interest from Central Asia who had illegally crossed the U.S. southern border with the help of an ISISrelated smuggling network. Our adversaries, like Russia, China, and Iran, saw weakness during the chaotic and deadly evacuation, emboldening them. Less than one year later, Russia launched a full invasion of Ukraine. Today, Iran’s proxies are conducting a brutal war against our ally Israel, attacking our servicemembers in the region, and threatening global trade in the Red Sea. And China continues to ratchet up aggression in the Indo Pacific, including against Taiwan and the Philippines.

In language which will certainly have repercussions for the New York County case, the Supreme Court states that  “[a]llowing prosecutors to ask or suggest that the jury probe official acts for which the President is immune would thus raise a unique risk that the jurors’ deliberations will be prejudiced by their views of the President’s policies and performance while in office. The prosaic tools on which the Government would have courts rely are an inadequate safeguard against the peculiar constitutional concerns implicated in the prosecution of a former President.”

This ruling is not absolute.  As is pointed out in a footnote intended to address concerns expressed in the concurring opinion of Justice Coney Barrett, Chief Justice Roberts states that “in a bribery prosecution [for instance], excluding ‘any mention’ of the official act associated with the bribe ‘would hamstring the prosecution’…of course the prosecutor may point to the public record to show the fact that the President performed the official act. And the prosecutor may admit evidence of what the President allegedly demanded, received, accepted, or agreed to receive or accept in return for being influenced in the performance of the act…[w]hat the prosecutor may not do, however, is admit testimony or private records of the President or his advisers probing the official act itself. Allowing that sort of evidence would invite the jury to inspect the President’s motivations for his official actions and to second-guess their propriety.”

In the New York criminal case, Donald Trump was not charged with receiving bribes or any similar wrong doing.  He was accused of falsifying his business records in an effort to conceal another crime, which remained unspecified until the time of his trial.  Those other crimes were an alleged violation of New York State election law, which was allegedly committed in an effort to violate either federal election law, federal tax law, or to falsify business records (yes, you read that right – Donald Trump allegedly falsified his business records, in an effort to falsify his business records).

As described by CNN, “Trump’s lawyers argued in a 55-page filing that the jury’s guilty verdict should be vacated because the district attorney’s office relied on evidence at trial related to Trump’s official acts as president, which Trump’s lawyers asserted should not have been permitted in light of the Supreme Court’s recent immunity decision….[i]n their filing, Trump’s lawyers pointed to testimony at trial – including from White House officials Hope Hicks and Madeleine Westerhout – they argued should not have come before the jury…'[a]ll of Hicks’s testimony concerning events in 2018, when she was serving as the White House Communications Director, concerned official acts based on {Presidential} authority for which President Trump is entitled to absolute immunity,’ Trump’s attorneys argued. ‘[the Supreme Court’s ruling] specifically forbids prosecutors from offering ‘testimony’ from a President’s ‘advisers’ for the purpose of ‘probing the official act.’” https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/11/politics/trump-new-york-conviction-argument/index.html

The filing by the former President’s defense team also asserts that “Westerhout was forced to testify about national security matters and her work for Trump, calling prosecutors’ questioning ‘invasive…[t]his invasive compelled testimony included information regarding President Trump’s official-capacity ‘work habits,’ ‘preferences,’ ‘relationships and contacts,’ and ‘social media’ practices at the White House,’ Trump’s lawyers argued.”

Most galling to Donald Trump’s lawyers is the fact that Judge Merchan was asked to delay the New York trial until after the Supreme Court had issued its immunity ruling. As CNN reports, [a]t bottom, the ‘pressure campaign’ theory turned on [District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s] efforts to assign a criminal motive to actions that President Trump took in 2018 as the Commander in Chief responsible for the entire Executive Branch,’ his lawyers wrote. The Manhattan district attorney ‘urged this Court to front-run the Supreme Court on a federal constitutional issue with grave implications for the operation of the federal government and the relationships between state and federal officials. The record is clear: [Bragg] was wrong, very wrong.’”

Will these arguments succeed?  Will Judge Merchan reverse Donald Trump’s conviction?

Judge Merchan did delay the former President’s sentencing while he considers the motion to dismiss.  But if we are to predict Judge Merchan’s actions in the future, we should be guided by his actions in the past.  By this measurement, I don’t recommend holding your breath while you wait for justice from this judge.

To continue with the blunt analysis I provided to Congress regarding Judge Juan Merchan’ s conduct of the trial of Donald Trump, this court has taken every opportunity possible to violate the former President’s rights.  Instead of dismissing a legally insufficient indictment, that failed to apprise Donald Trump of all the crimes with which he was charged, Judge Merchan allowed the prosecution to add additional charges during trial, and then instructed the jury that they did not have to return a unanimous verdict regarding those added charges.

Judge Merchan repeatedly allowed prejudicial testimony to be entered into evidence against Donald Trump (who could forget the titillating, and entirely irrelevant testimony of Stormy Daniels), and prevented the former President from testifying in his own behalf, by allowing prosecutors to use the civil verdicts and penalties assessed against Donald Trump, were the former President to have testified.

Further, Judge Merchan did not recuse himself from hearing the case, despite having displayed his bias against the former President by making contributions to the Biden campaign and to anti-Republican organizations.  He then compounded this error by staying on the case, even after it was revealed that his daughter was profiting from the trial by raising money for Democrat candidates. 

Now we have evidence that Judge Merchan allowed testimony regarding Donald Trump’s official acts as President, acts which enjoy absolute immunity and which cannot be used against him, or even be entered into evidence in a criminal trial, a situation which could have been avoided had Judge Merchan delayed the trial until he’d received the guidance of the US Supreme Court.

Knowing that Judge Juan Merchan committed the errors I outline above during trial, I believe he will find a way to justify his actions once again, and let stand the unlawful conviction of former President Donald Trump.

Don’t look for justice from Judge Juan Merchan.  Instead, continue to expect a reversal of Donald Trump’s illegal conviction from the New York State Court of Appeals.

Judge John H. Wilson served on the bench in NYC

Photo: Pixabay

In Trump v. United States, the US Supreme Court set up a three tiered system for examining claims of Presidential immunity.  The first tier are acts within the President’s constitutionally mandated authority which are subject to “absolute immunity.”  The next are acts that may have “presumptive immunity,” and are subject to examination with evidence that rebuts the presumption of immunity.  The third are acts which are unofficial, and which enjoy no immunity. 

That case involved the indictment brought by Jack Smith in Washington DC federal District Court, which sought to criminalize former President Trump’s efforts to combat potential voter fraud in the 2020 Presidential election, and his actions on January 6, 2021.  The Court found that Donald Trump’s conversations with the US Attorney General and other Justice Department officials were subject to absolute immunity, but his efforts to convince Vice President Mike Pence to delay certification of the election results may be subject to only a presumption of immunity.  Further, Trump’s comments and speech on January 6th may have been made in his capacity as a candidate for office, and not in his official capacity as President.  Therefore, the case was returned to District Court Judge Tanya Chutkin to determine which acts were official, which were not, and whether the presumption of immunity can be rebutted by Jack Smith’s prosecutors.

While we await the DC District Court’s evaluation, the Supreme Court’s decision has opened another door for the Trump defense team.  Building upon the ruling in Trump v. United States, a motion to reverse the verdict in New York County Supreme Court, Criminal Term, has been filed with the trial judge, Juan Merchan.

As we recently testified before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government,  “[b]ased on my experience, I can tell you in no uncertain terms that former President Trump did not receive a fair trial from Judge Juan Merchan.  In fact…Donald Trump’s conviction is assured reversal, a reversal that will be premised upon the fundamental errors committed by Judge Juan Merchan. If I may be blunt – Donald Trump was railroaded, and Juan Merchan was the driver of that train.” 

Our statement outlined the most significant errors committed by Judge Merchan, but we also mentioned that there were other mistakes which could lead an appellate court to reverse Donald Trump’s conviction.  Now, using the language contained in the Supreme Court’s opinion, another avenue has opened up which may lead to Judge Merchan reversing the conviction himself.

Significant to our analysis here is the statement made by Chief Justice Roberts in his majority opinion in the Presidential Immunity case; “Presidents cannot be indicted based on conduct for which they are immune from prosecution. On remand, the District Court must carefully analyze the indictment’s remaining allegations to determine whether they too involve conduct for which a President must be immune from prosecution. And the parties and the District Court must ensure that sufficient allegations support the indictment’s charges without such conduct. Testimony or private records of the President or his advisers probing such conduct may not be admitted as evidence at trial.”

The Court notes that “[t]he government…contends that a jury could ‘consider’ evidence concerning the President’s official acts ‘for limited and specified purposes,’ and that such evidence would ‘be admissible.'”  In rejecting that argument, Chief Justice Roberts states “[t]hat proposal threatens to eviscerate the immunity we have recognized. It would permit a prosecutor to do indirectly what he cannot do directly – invite the jury to examine acts for which a President is immune from prosecution to nonetheless prove his liability on any charge.”

The Chief Justice explains the basis for this ruling. “If official conduct for which the President is immune may be scrutinized to help secure his conviction, even on charges that purport to be based only on his unofficial conduct, the ‘intended effect’ of immunity would be defeated…[t]he President’s immune conduct would be subject to examination by a jury on the basis of generally applicable criminal laws. Use of evidence about such conduct, even when an indictment alleges only unofficial conduct, would thereby heighten the prospect that the President’s official decision making will be distorted.”

Judge John H. Wilson’s article concludes tomorrow

Photo: Pixabay

In 2022, Bishop Garrison, the senior advisor to the secretary of defense for human capital and diversity, equity and inclusion. said the “need for diversity, equity and inclusion should be a consideration or a part of all decisions in the military.”

A Tampa Free Press story notes that he U.S. military and Pentagon have turned into a “vast DEI bureaucracy under the Biden administration. The Biden administration has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives…since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.”

The report is based on an Arizona University study which stated “The sole purpose of the U.S. Armed Forces is to defend the nation against its external enemies. The service academies train officers committed to fulfilling this mission. This mission—defense of the nation—makes the U.S. Armed Forces arguably the most important institution in the United States…Given its importance, the U.S. Armed Forces should not be a laboratory for social experimentation, especially one based on Critical Race Theory, a contentious and abstract social theory. Yet, as this Commission Report on Civic Education in the Military shows in great detail, Critical Race Theory is promoted within Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training throughout the military from the Pentagon through the ranks and in our service academies. Critical Race Theory is based on an assumption that no matter what progress is made on ensuring equal rights for minorities, ‘white privilege’ and ‘sub-conscious’ racism continues to prevail among whites, no matter their professed support for diversity and inclusion in their workplace, community, or immediate and extended families. Critical Race Theory assumes that racism is systemic from the very founding of the United States and that the U.S. Constitution was drafted to ensure the white privilege of slaveholders. Whatever the appearance of progress—constitutional amendments and legislation to protect equal rights for racial minorities—is a façade that still preserves white privilege. Critical Race Theory is based on assumptions, not empirically derived evidence, and is by nature divisive. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, which rely on Critical Race Theory, should not be seen as workplace sensitivity training.”

Its not only about DEI. In a press release issued on June 12, The Department of Defense Announced “Environmental Justice Listening Sessions…to solicit input from the public on its environmental justice (EJ) strategy. DOD is updating its EJ Strategy in accordance with Executive Order (E.O.) 14096, Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All, and to pursue a whole-of-government approach to advancing EJ.” 14096 was issued by Biden in 2023.

A 2022 Federal Times study, using data from a Reagan National Defense survey, disclosed that the actions of some  presidents have predominantly caused the perception that the Defense Department is overly politicized. 

Breitbart reports that “The vast majority of U.S. active duty military members believe the Pentagon has become politicized, according to data obtained exclusively by Breitbart News. Sixty-eight percent of active duty members say they have ‘witnessed a growing politicization,’ while 53 percent say the military has become ’too politicized.’  Sixty-eight percent also say such politicization would impact their decision to encourage their children to join the military.”

The politicization comes at a substantial cost. A National Review article reported that “The Department of Defense wants taxpayers to foot a $114 million bill for its ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’  programs. The FY 2024 President’s Budget request demonstrates the DoD’s commitment to DEIA and includes $114.7 million for dedicated diversity and inclusion activities.” 

The cost of politicization is also seen in discouraging enlistment in the military. In 2023, the military fell short of its recruitment goal by an astounding 41,000. A Military Times report stated that “One possibility [for missing recruitment goals]  that is increasingly resonating with veterans is that the military is too ‘woke.’ Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., for example, is among a group of Republican senators who have repeatedly blamed recruiting problems on the Biden administration for trying to build a ‘woke Army.’”

Photo: Dept. of Defense

The mission of the Department of Defense is to defend the nation. The pride of the American military is its history of not getting involved in domestic politics.

Its vital role of discouraging enemies from attacking the U.S.  has been fulfilled so far, despite budget challenges. However, many both within and close to the military correctly perceive the armed forces as being focused on and distracted by issues and programs unrelated to its mission.

The issue arose to prominence during the Obama and Biden Administrations. A 2013 Investors article   noted  that Obama cleansed the military  of any officer suspected of “disloyalty to or disagreement with the administration on matters… An important example includes relieving General Carter Ham, who was dismissed as head of U.S. Africa Command after only a year and a half because he disagreed with orders not to mount a rescue mission in response to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi. In addition, Rear Adm. Chuck Gaouette, commander of the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group, was relieved in October 2012 for disobeying orders when he sent his group on Sept. 11 to ‘assist and provide intelligence for’military forces ordered into action by Gen. Ham. Other removals include the sacking of two nuclear commanders in a single week — Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, head of the 20th Air Force, responsible for the three wings that maintain control of the 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles, and Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, the No. 2 officer at U.S. Strategic Command.”

Breitbart listed at least 197 officers relieved of duty by President Obama “for a laundry list of reasons and sometimes with no reason given….” According to Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely, who stated that “He’s (Obama) [is] intentionally weakening and gutting our military, [the] Pentagon and reducing us as a superpower, and anyone in the ranks who disagrees or speaks out is being purged’.”

The controversy continues under the Biden Administration, with a focus on distracting the services from their core defense mission with unrelated priorities.

Almost immediately after taking office, President Biden focused on emphasizing DEI in the military.

 In January 2021, President Biden signed multiple Executive Orders (E.O.) to advance equity across multiple focus areas:

• E.O. 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, January 20, 2021, calls on Federal and DoD agencies to advance equity through identifying and addressing barriers to equal opportunity that underserved communities may face.

 • E.O. 13988, Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender – Identity or Sexual Orientation, January 20, 2021, which emphasizes the need to prevent and combat discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation and fully enforce Title VII and other laws that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

• E.O. 14004, Enabling All Qualified Americans to Serve Their Country in Uniform, January 25, 2021, advances policy that all transgender individuals who wish to serve in the U.S. military and who meet the appropriate standards shall be able to do so openly and free from discrimination.

On June 25, 2021, President Biden issued E.O. 14035 (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce), which promotes “the vital role DEIA plays in cultivating a workforce needed to mitigate the threats of tomorrow. Consistent with the government-wide priority for each agency to provide DEIA leadership at the senior-most level, DoD appointed the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness as the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer (CDIO) who will provide cohesive oversight and integration for DEIA efforts. Increased cohesion and integration allows the Department to strategically approach DEIA beyond the traditional focal areas of demographic representation to better achieve DoD’s broader mission of providing the forces necessary to secure the nation.”

The article concludes tomorrow

Photo: Dept. of Defense

It is long past time for a fresh look at the role of the Democratic Party.

Democrats have engaged in suppression of news they found inconvenient.

They wholly made-up false claims about “Russian Collusion.” Despite the result of intensive investigation indicating that the whole allegation was an intentional fraud by a Democrat campaign, neither the originators of the fraud nor those in Congress who dragged the nonsense on, virtually tearing the nation apart, have ever been punished.

Despite the extreme nature of the moves against the White House since President Trump took office, Rep. Adam Schiff, (D-California 28^th District), Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, crossed a new line when he knowingly uttered blatantly false statements regarding the White House conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.  When confronted, Schiff attempted to justify the false statements by calling them “a parody.”

The evidence is now undeniable and clear.  The machinery of the federal government has been hijacked for partisan political purposes by Democrats. The leaders of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI are not elected officials. They are answerable to them. They have done everything possible to stonewall investigations embarrassing to Democrats.

The DOJ as well as its subdivision the Federal Bureau of Investigation, now operates in part as a wing of the Democratic Party. The refusal to prosecute Hillary Clinton for her wanton destruction of federal evidence, the lack of interest in Biden influence peddling, ignoring Senator Schumer’s threats against justices of the United States Supreme Court (as well as the reluctance to provide adequate protection to physically threatened conservative justices), the bizarre tarmac meeting between then-attorney general Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton regarding the Hillary misdeeds,  the extreme measures taken against Trump campaign officials, and more are all overt hits against the concept of an impartial DOJ.

That is just one part of the federal government. While in her position, the Internal Revenue Service’s former Lois Lerner used her office to discriminate and discourage conservatives.  Because of DOJ’s lack of interest, the matter was eventually settled in a civil law suit by discouraged victims.

The financial ties between China and the Biden Administration are well known. The relationship appears to have begun when Hunter Biden flew to China with then-Vice President Joe Biden aboard Air Force 2, and returned home with a vast financial gain, in return for no discernable commercial service.

As described by Sean Hannity of Fox News, “Let’s start with the obvious. We know Chinese nationals, why were they spending millions of dollars and giving private equity deals to Hunter Biden? No expertise that we can find. Nothing on his resume that stood out to us … these Chinese nationals, what were they looking for? They were buying access, meaning buying influence. The question… is, just how much access did they get?” 

Since then, Joe Biden has downplayed Beijing’s rapidly growing military and economic misdeeds and threats. Just one example: during an Iowa campaign stop, he stated, against all contrary evidence, “China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man. I mean, you know, they’re not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They’re not competition for us.”

Chinese communists have already made extensive use of the California Democratic Party to conduct surveillance on American political activity.  Senator Dianne Feinstein’s chauffeur, who according to CBS News, ”also served as a gofer in her Bay Area office and was a liaison to the Asian-American community (who) even attended Chinese consulate functions for the senator” was a Chinese spy, reporting to the Chinese government about local California politics for 20 years. 

The Democratic Party has punished the political opponents. They unlawfully allowed in millions of people from across the world, and in some states issued drivers licenses to many of them which could allow them to register to vote.

 In a recent published article, they discussed putting Trump in a “Bullseye.”

 In Congress, they recently voted against basic legislation that simply sought to ensure that only registered voters could cast ballots.

Democrat leaders hid Biden’s incapacity from the public.

Their leadership rigged the primary system.

They have been hesitant to fully condemn antisemitism.

 They have repeatedly disparaged the Supreme Court.

Americans and in  particular, those who support the Democratic Party in 2024, must examine their conscience and decide whether they must change course.

Illustration: Pixabay

After President Joseph Biden retrieved his hat from the ring and decided not to run for a second term, Vice President Kamala Harris, now the candidate,  selected her running mate – Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. CNN reports that “[i]n a remarkable two-week period, Walz ascended from a third-tier candidate to a final contender in the view of Harris and her vetting team. He was propelled by support from across the Democratic Party, progressive and moderate groups alike.” 

Of course, such a quick vetting period could miss certain liabilities in a Walz candidacy.  For instance, according to Breitbart, Walz “has listed on his official biography a higher military rank than the one he ultimately retired with, drawing criticism from some veterans and accusations of stolen valor. Walz served in the Minnesota Army National Guard and retired at the rank of master sergeant, or an E-8. However, on his official website bio, he lists a higher rank that he served at for a short period that ultimately was rescinded, as he did not complete all the requirements to serve at that rank. However, his bio implies that he retired at the rank of command sergeant major, or an E-9.” 

More disturbing are the statements reported by Breitbart which are made by  retired Army Command Sergeant Majors Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr, both of whom served with Walz.  In a letter co-authored by the two, they write that “[i]n early 2005, a warning order was issued to the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion, which included the position [Walz] was serving in, to prepare to be mobilized for active duty for a deployment to Iraq. On May 16th, 2005 [Walz] quit, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its Soldiers hanging; without its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, as the battalion prepared for war. His excuse to other leaders was that he needed to retire in order to run for congress.” 

This allegation is far more serious than the issue of Stolen Valor. According to Sergeant Major Behrends  “'[a]s soon as the shots were fired in Iraq, [Walz] turned and ran the other way and hung his hat up and quit’…Behrends, [who] replaced Walz on the deployment to Iraq after he quit,” also said, “The public needs to know how pathetic his leadership was as a National Guardsman…He abandoned us. What the hell kind of leader does that?”

Indeed.  Just what kind of a leader is Tim Walz?

Perhaps the best way to determine the man’s qualifications to be Vice President is to review his record as Governor of Minnesota.  First elected in 2018, Walz was in his first term when petty thief George Floyd met his demise while being placed under arrest by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin.

As the riots that followed the death of Floyd are described by left leaning Vox, “[a]t least two people died during the violence in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, more than 600 arrests were made in the initial days of unrest, and the whole span of rioting and law enforcement response made it one of the most costly and destructive periods of civil unrest in US history. Minneapolis and Saint Paul sustained hundreds of millions of dollars in damage during those riots, and hundreds of buildings were heavily damaged.”  While “Walz wasn’t the main authority in charge of responding to the unrest – that was the task of local officials, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey…[t]he main line of criticism of Walz’s response to the…riots hinges on the time it took for him to deploy the Minnesota National Guard and coordinate with other state and local officials in restoring order.” 

According to Vox, it took Walz several days to authorize the use of the National Guard to control the increasingly violent protests. “Walz…did not sign an executive order authorizing National Guard deployments until…much of the city had shut down, businesses were closed and boarded up to prevent looting, and buildings were smoldering after overnight arsons. [The] night [before Walz sent in the National Guard] saw some of the worst rioting, violence, and arson, as well as one of the indelible scenes of the protests: the breach and burning of the Minneapolis police’s Third Precinct police station. A few hundred National Guard and Minnesota State Patrol officers had been deployed to Minneapolis by then, but were charged with protecting federal buildings and downtown areas of the city, as well as escorting first responders, instead of immediately going to hot spots.”

Even Walz knew his delay in sending in troops was a mistake. “At a press conference…Walz would take responsibility for the state patrol’s mishandling of the [situation], saying, ‘There is absolutely no reason something like this should happen. Calls [for assistance] were made immediately … I failed you last night in that.’”

So far, Tim Walz’ record reveals a leader who failed to act decisively, except when it came to avoiding a call to arms on behalf of his country.  But for those concerned with whether or not a candidate for Vice President of the United States will be respectful of the civil liberties of the American people, the worst aspects of Governor Walz’ history are cause for much trepidation on this score.

In my book, Not Wasting a Crisis, The Lawless Biden Administration,   we describe the extreme responses of mostly-Democrat local and state officials to the Covid-19 pandemic. “[W]e discussed multiple violations of the Constitutional Rights of US citizens and residents by state and local authorities, all under the guise of guarding the health and welfare of their residents…too many state and local governments did not know where the powers of the state end and the rights of the individual begin.  Various ‘stay at home’ orders were promulgated, along with orders to close businesses and churches as ‘nonessential entities,’ as we discussed at length…”

In addition to being governor during the George Floyd riots, Tim Walz was also in charge of Minnesota during the pandemic, and as governor, Walz showed no respect for the freedoms and the basic civil rights of the residents of his state.

In March of 2020, Walz issued a series of Executive Orders which he describes in Emergency Executive Order 20-20; “On March 13, 2020, I issued Executive Order 20-01 and declared a peacetime emergency because this pandemic…threatens the lives of Minnesotans, and local resources are inadequate to address the threat. On March 15, 2020, I issued Executive Order 20-02 ordering the temporary closure of public schools. On March 16, 2020, I issued Executive Order 20-04 ordering the closure of bars, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation.” 

He then went on to order that “[b]eginning on Friday, March 27, 2020 at 11:59 pm through Friday, April 10, 2020 at 5:00 pm, all persons currently living within the State of Minnesota are ordered to stay at home or in their place of residence except to engage in the Activities and Critical Sector work set forth below…[a]llowed activities and work performed in the above Critical Sectors should, to the maximum extent possible, be conducted in a manner that adheres to Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Standards and the Minnesota Department of Health and CDC Guidelines related to COVID-19, including social distancing and hygiene…a person who willfully violates this Executive Order is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction must be punished by a fine not to exceed $1,000 or by imprisonment for not more than 90 days.”

These orders, originally intended as temporary measures to “stop the spread,” turned into years of lock downs, mask mandates and other restrictions placed on the freedoms and civil rights of Minnesotans.  As late as May of 2021, in Executive Order 21-22, Walz continued to extend his “Emergency” Orders from March of 2020. “Even as we end public health restrictions across our State, the need for emergency response remains…the pandemic is not over and our work to protect our communities continues…I have determined that the COVID-19 pandemic…continues to endanger life and property in Minnesota, and local resources are inadequate to address the threat. The COVID-19 Peacetime Emergency must therefore continue.” 

As Governor Walz’ handling of the pandemic is described in Reason, “Walz’s coronavirus policies were extremely heavy-handed and restrictive; under his leadership, the state endured the pandemic in a fundamentally anti-libertarian fashion.”  His Executive Orders and multiple restrictions led to “one of the stupidest COVID-19 rules: Diners at restaurants had to wear masks while walking to their table and moving about the establishment but were allowed to go maskless as long as they were eating and drinking… in November and December of 2020, Walz issued and extended orders for restaurants, gyms, and other businesses to shut down. This included outdoor dining service for eating establishments. Over 150 businesses formed the Reopen Minnesota Coalition and urged the governor to relent, but Walz was unmoved.” 

In addition to his draconian Covid restrictions, the governor of Minnesota is best known for his “snitch line,” that is, “[a] hotline set up by Gov. Tim Walz’s administration to monitor compliance with his 2020 stay-at-home order [which] generated thousands of reports from Minnesotans who snitched on their neighbors for things like playing basketball in a park, walking their dogs, and throwing small parties.”  The hotline was “launched in March 2020 and law enforcement continued to monitor it until November, well after the stay-at-home order ended. In October 2020, it was used to alert authorities to a church service that didn’t fit with the governor’s ‘legal requirements.’ This type of complaint was not uncommon.” 

This hot line was not halted until the middle of 2022, long after almost all pandemic restrictions had been lifted. According to Hot Air, “[w]hy did [the snitch line] apparently stop in 2022? Walz faced voters in a re-election campaign, which probably prompted the state to quietly shut down its COVID snitch operations.” 

The use of such a hotline is particularly troubling from a civil liberties standpoint.  Hot Air continues: “If you think the comparison to the Stasi [the East German Secret Police} is overwrought, read the linked 2015 article from Der Speigel. It describes just how the Stasi managed to impose such an effective police state by deputizing everyone to rat each other out. The Stasi understood that they could manipulate slights and grudges between neighbors, co-workers, and even family members to gain leverage over practically anyone and everyone. And it didn’t cost the state a dime to employ most of its subjects as domestic spies.”

In 2023, Walz revealed a certain level of hypocrisy regarding his use of the “snitch line.”  As reported by The Daily Wire, “[t]he hotline flew in the face of the message Gov. Walz sent in 2023 regarding LGBT issues; ‘In Minnesota, we mind our own damn business. We don’t need you in the exam room. We don’t need you telling us who we can love. And we sure don’t need you attacking our teachers, students, and schools.'” 

This hypocrisy continues to the present day; consider these comments made by now-Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz in the context of “reproductive freedom”:  “Some of us are old enough to remember when it was Republicans who were talking about freedom. It turns out now what they meant was that the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office. In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and their personal choices that they make. Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule, ‘Mind your own damn business.’” 

The final evidence of Tim Walz’ disdain for the rights and civil liberties of the American people comes during an interview he gave to MSNBC in December of 2022; “There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy,” he stated. 

Infowars puts this comment in perspective: “if the COVID pandemic taught us anything, it’s that the establishment cannot be trusted to dictate what is and isn’t ‘misinformation,’ and that their covert power-hungry motives guide their censorship efforts.” 

If we are to judge Tim Walz by his actions and words, we are left with a portrait of a cowardly, hypocritical totalitarian, someone who will use the power of the state to trample the rights and liberties of those unlucky enough to reside within his jurisdiction. Someone who will cry “freedom” and “mind your own business” when it comes to leftist causes like abortion and LBGTQ rights, but encourage Minnesotans to inform on their neighbors when Walz’ draconian Executive Orders are violated.   We are also left with the impression of someone who cannot be relied upon to either protect the lives and property of these same Minnesota residents, nor to answer the call when his country (and his fellow soldiers) require his service.

Under these circumstances, Kamala Harris has made the right choice of running mate.  She has managed to pick someone for her Vice President who will fit right in with a government that, if elected, would undoubtedly continue the lawless and repressive activities of the Biden Administration.

Judge John H. Wilson (ret.) served on the bench in NYC