Court tosses military panel proceedings against suspected USS Cole attack mastermind

A federal appeals court in Washington on Tuesday rejected yearslong proceedings against the accused mastermind of the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. The proceedings were conducted by a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The three-judge panel unanimously ruled that the military judge in the terrorism case against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri improperly presided over the trial at the same time he was seeking a job with the Justice Department (DOJ) as an immigration judge. In the panel's ruling, Judge David Tatel wrote that retired Air Force Col. Vance Spath's application for the DOJ position "created a disqualifying appearance of partiality" and vacated all orders issued by Spath in the case after he applied for the job in 2015.

"We cannot permit an appearance of partiality to infect a system of justice that requires the most scrupulous conduct from its adjudicators," said Tatel, who was joined in the ruling by Judges Judith Rogers and Thomas Griffith. In a further twist, Col. Shelly Schools, who'd briefly replaced Spath, was also removed after it was revealed that she also sought to become an immigration judge.

The ruling likely means that the prosecution of al-Nashiri in the Cole bombing, which killed 17 American sailors and wounded 37 more while the vessel was being refueled in Yemen's Aden harbor, will have to begin anew. Al-Nashiri has been in U.S. custody since 2002 but was not arraigned in the Cole bombing until 2011, and the case has been delayed several times over various legal and logistical issues. Spath himself called a halt to proceedings last year following the discovery of microphones in a room where al-Nashiri met with his lawyers, and the lawyers' subsequent decision to resign from the case for ethical reasons. Spath touted his role as the presiding judge over al-Nashiri's case in his employment application, including submitting an order he had issued as a writing sample, the appeals court said. He was hired as an immigration judge last year. But "while Spath made sure to tell the Justice Department about his assignment to al-Nashiri's commission, he was not so forthcoming with al-Nashiri. At no point in the two-plus years after submitting his application did Spath disclose his efforts to secure employment" as an immigration judge, Tatel wrote. The court was also critical of prosecutors, the Justice Department and the Court of Military Commission Review, which upheld many of Spath's orders.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/court-tosses-military-panel-proceedings-against-suspected-uss-cole-attack-mastermind.amp

Cohen (D): Trump is ‘Torching the Entire Structure of Government’ Like the Notre Dame Fire

Rep. Steve Cohen (D., Tenn.) said President Donald Trump is doing to the Constitution what Monday's devastating fire did to the Notre Dame Cathedral in France, saying he is "torching the entire structure of government." Cohen appeared on MSNBC's Hardball to discuss the pending release of the Robert Mueller report later this week. During the interview, he said he believes there is a case President Donald Trump committed obstruction of justice.

"I filed articles last year. I haven't brought them up this year, but we are getting so far along in seeing what this president has done and what he's done to the Constitution, what he's done to the people's respect for our government," Cohen said. "What he has done to the Constitution and the rule of law is as bad as [what] that fire did to Notre Dame." "He's torching the entire structure of government and the people's respect for it and the Congress needs to act," Cohen added. "The facts were supposed to be in the Mueller Report. We'll get them. We'll find the court and we'll go to the court, and I think we'll be allowed to see them because the redacted testimony, the grand jury testimony can be seen and there's precedent for it being given to Congress."

This isn't the first time Cohen has made a hyperbolic comparison about Trump. In 2017, he compared Trump to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who brutally ruled Cuba for nearly five decades, and he described Trump as a "cancer" on the United States. Cohen also got in hot water when he joked then-Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) should jump off a bridge while she was running for U.S. Senate.

https://freebeacon.com/politics/cohen-d-trump-is-torching-the-entire-structure-of-government-like-the-notre-dame-fire/

Trump vetoes congressional resolution to end U.S. involvement in Yemen war

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has vetoed a congressional resolution that sought to end U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, the White House said on Tuesday. “This resolution is an unnecessary, dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities, endangering the lives of American citizens and brave service members, both today and in the future,” Trump said in the veto message. The resolution passed the House of Representatives in April and the Senate in March, marking the first time both chambers of Congress had supported a War Powers resolution, which limits the president’s ability to send troops into action.

Neither the 247-175 tally in the Democratic-majority House nor the 54-46 vote in the Republican-led Senate would be enough to override the veto, which would require two-thirds majorities in both chambers. Backers of the measure said the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen had made the humanitarian crisis worse, harshly criticizing Riyadh for killing civilians.

They also argued that U.S. involvement in Yemen violated the constitutional requirement that Congress, not the president, should determine when the country goes to war. The four-year-long civil war in Yemen, which pits the Saudi-led coalition against Houthi rebels backed by Iran, has killed tens of thousands of people and spawned what the United Nations calls the world’s most dire humanitarian crisis, with the country on the brink of famine.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-yemen/trump-vetoes-congressional-resolution-to-end-u-s-involvement-in-yemen-war-idUSKCN1RS2GH?il=0