Saturday, February 25, 2017

Law professors file misconduct complaint against Kellyanne Conway

 

The Washington Post logoWashington Post - Washington Post

The Washington Post

Sari Horwitz1 day ago

 

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway speaks Thursday during the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland’s National Harbor.© Joshua Roberts/Reuters White House counselor Kellyanne Conway speaks Thursday during the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland’s National Harbor.

A group of law professors from around the country has filed a professional misconduct complaint against White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, a graduate of George Washington University Law School who was admitted to the D.C. Bar in 1995.

The letter, filed with the office that handles misconduct by members of the D.C. Bar, said Conway should be sanctioned for violating government ethics rules and “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation,” the letter says.

The 15 professors, who specialize in legal ethics, cite several incidents, including a television interview in which Conway made the “false statement that President Barack Obama had ‘banned’ Iraqi refugees from coming into the United States for six months following the ‘Bowling Green Massacre,’ ” and the use of her position to endorse Ivanka Trump products.

“We do not file this complaint lightly,” the professors said in their filing. “We believe that, at one time, Ms. Conway, understood her ethical responsibilities as a lawyer and abided by them. But she is currently acting in a way that brings shame upon the legal profession.”

The professors teach at law schools such as Georgetown University Law Center, Yale Law School, Fordham University and Duke University.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The letter was sent to the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the chief prosecutor for disciplinary matters that involve active or inactive attorneys who are members of the D.C. Bar. Conway is listed as a D.C. Bar member under her maiden name, Kellyanne E. Fitzpatrick, but is a suspended member for not paying her dues, according to the disciplinary filing.

D.C. Disciplinary Counsel Wallace “Gene” Shipp Jr. said that his office receives about 1,500 complaints a year but investigates only between 400 to 500 of them. The actions that can be taken range from dismissal of the complaint to the prosecution of charges and possible disbarment, he said.

Since she has been serving as counselor to President Trump, Conway has been caught up in several controversies. Last month, during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” she said the White House had put forth “alternative facts” regarding the size of Trump’s inauguration crowd.

“ ‘Alternative facts’ are not facts at all; they are lies,” the professors said in their filing.

Conway was also criticized for using her position during a Feb. 9 interview on Fox News to endorse Ivanka Trump’s fashion products.

“Federal rules on conflicts of interest specifically prohibit using public office ‘for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise, or for the private gain of friends, relatives or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity,’” the complaint said.

Abbe Smith, a Georgetown Law Center professor and director of the Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic, said she has never filed such a complaint before and generally does not believe that lawyers should routinely face discipline under the broad rule they cited, which includes conduct outside the practice of law.

“But Ms. Conway’s conduct was so outside the norm for a member of the legal profession,” Smith said. “What prompted our complaint was a combination of the specific conduct that Ms. Conway engaged in plus the fact that she holds such a high public office.”

Above is from:  http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/msn/law-professors-file-misconduct-complaint-against-kellyanne-conway/ar-AAnh6qH?ocid=spartandhp

Trump rejects DHS intelligence report on travel ban

 

FOX News logoFOX News

FOX News

Edmund DeMarche

4 hrs ago

 

Officials in President Trump’s administration Friday downplayed an intelligence report by the Homeland Security Department that contradicts the White House’s main argument for implementing a travel ban on seven predominantly Muslim countries.

The report, which was viewed by The Wall Street Journal and Associated Press, determined that the "country of citizenship is unlikely to be a reliable indicator of potential terrorist activity."

The Trump administration has taken the position that immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries should be blocked from the U.S. due to their terror risk. Trump used terrorism a primary justification when he announced the now court-blocked travel ban in late January.

The intelligence report found that in the past six years, foreign-born individuals who were “inspired” to strike in the U.S. came from 26 different countries.

Senior White House Policy Adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News' "First 100 Days" Tuesday that a revised version of the travel ban would "have the same basic policy outcome."

A senior administration official told The Wall Street Journal that the DHS report’s assessment overlooked key information and the finished product that the White House requested has not been completed. The White House called the report politically motivated. Officials said it overlooked some information that supported the ban.

“The president asked for an intelligence assessment,” the official said. “This is not the intelligence assessment the president asked for.”

The draft report determined that few people from the countries Trump listed in his travel ban have carried out attacks or been involved in terrorism-related activities in the U.S. since Syria's civil war started in 2011.

Gillian Christensen, a DHS spokeswoman, does not dispute the report's authenticity, but says it was not a final comprehensive review of the government's intelligence.

“It is clear on its face that it is an incomplete product that fails to find evidence of terrorism by simply refusing to look at all the available evidence,” she said, according to The Journal. “Any suggestion by opponents of the president’s policies that senior (homeland security) intelligence officials would politicize this process or a report’s final conclusions is absurd and not factually accurate. The dispute with this product was over sources and quality, not politics.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Above is from:  http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-rejects-dhs-intelligence-report-on-travel-ban/ar-AAnkWi8?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp