Jonathan Turley Profile picture
Law professor, columnist, New York Times best-selling author, and legal analyst. "Rage and the Republic," #2 NY Times (NF): https://t.co/ekKoPevUKz
Apr 28 5 tweets 1 min read
Todd Blanche is speaking now and says that there are other cases similar to the Comey indictment where guilty pleas have been entered or cases are going to trial... ...Director Kash Patel just confirmed that this has been investigated for almost a year. He emphasized that career employees found this evidence and a grand jury returned this true bill. He noted that the grand jury was made aware that Comey withdrew the posting and apologized. That is an interesting fact since it will be raised in any trial, if this makes it to a trial.
Apr 28 4 tweets 1 min read
James Comey has reportedly been indicted for a second time. Last September, he was charged with lying to Congress over leaks to the press. The case was then dismissed by a federal judge who found that the interim US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia had been improperly appointed. ...Late last year, the first indictment was dismissed over the challenged status of the acting United States Attorney. The Administration may now have cured that deficiency. The original indictment was disjointed due to the rejection of one count. It is not clear what the array of charges may be and whether it is again focusing on false statements under 18 U.S.C. 1001. jonathanturley.org/2025/11/25/try…
Apr 27 6 tweets 1 min read
At the DOJ presser, Acting AG Todd Blanche just said the Cole Allen said that this was the floor above the ballroom with "hundreds of agents" between him and the President of the United States... ...He is pushing back on the notion that there was a security failure. He confirmed three charges: attempted assassination of the President (up to life imprisonment); interstate transport of a firearm (up to 10 years); discharge of the firearm in a crime (5 years)...
Apr 21 4 tweets 1 min read
Democratic politicians continue to condemn the U.S. campaign against Iran in the midst of critical talks. Yet, few have come close to the extremes of Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.), who just responded to a report of 26 Iranian vessels evading the U.S. blockade with "awesome"... ...For decades, U.S. politicians followed the model of the "loyal opposition" in times of war. Of course, when John Hobhouse used that term in 1826, he could hardly imagine the likes of Chris Murphy applauding alleged Iranian propaganda.
Apr 20 6 tweets 2 min read
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has issued another sole stinging dissent. In a 7-2 decision (with liberal justice Elena Kagan joining the majority), the Court upheld the authority of police to make a stop based on the totality of the circumstances... ...Jackson wrote that "I cannot fathom" how the seven justices could second-guess the lower court in rejecting the police claims. She accused her colleagues of mere "wordsmithing." Just for the record, it would be useful to review those words...
Apr 16 4 tweets 1 min read
It appears that in 2019 Politico went from "Me Too" to "Meh." Michael Trujillo says that they had the story, but (when Swalwell dropped out of the presidential race) "the energy disappeared to potentially take him out." So allegedly raping women was no longer a story?... ...This was just after the wall-to-wall Kavanaugh stories with Swalwell leading the mob. However, Trujuillo said "we had to make sure he couldn’t get away like he did in 2020." Well, he didn't really "get away" in 2020, right? The media let him go, according to your account...
Apr 13 4 tweets 2 min read
The jury is in: Sen. Ruben Gallego wins the 2026 Claude Rains award. Swalwell's friend, campaign chair, and travel mate on luxurious foreign junkets is officially and publicly "shocked": "I am equally as shocked and upset about what has transpired." I bet. ...Here is Sen. Gallego apparently expressing his shock on a trip after he and Swalwell accepted roughly 100k to frolic at the Four Seasons in Doha. foxnews.com/politics/flash…
Apr 13 4 tweets 1 min read
In one week, Eric Swalwell was forced to drop out of the California race, put under criminal investigation in New York, and is the subject of a bipartisan expulsion effort. He was even kicked out of the home of a billionaire who was letting him crash. However, that is not all... ...Swalwell is unlikely to avoid expulsion, but he may not have his law degree to fall back on. If these rape and sexual harassment claims are established, he is likely to face disbarment demands. Even his prior boosters at MS NOW and CNN are unlikely to offer him a media deal...
Apr 13 4 tweets 2 min read
Swalwell is now out of the governor's race, but his friends are still looking for political shelter. This photo of Sen. Ruben Gallego (D., Ariz.) has not aged well. Notably, Gallego and Swalwell accepted roughly 100k to frolic at the Four Seasons in Doha. foxnews.com/politics/flash…Image ...The Democratic establishment and the media is now insisting that they were unable for years of Swalwell's conduct despite the allegations being well known to many in Washington. ...jonathanturley.org/2026/04/12/pel…
Apr 4 5 tweets 2 min read
The Hill just posted my column on the possible need for a 28th amendment on citizenship after the Supreme Court rules in Trump v. Barbara. The combination of open borders and open-ended citizenship is an existential threat to this Republic...thehill.com/opinion/immigr… ...There would be no better time to reaffirm the meaning of citizenship than the 250th anniversary of our Constitution. Chief Justice John Roberts is correct: “It is the same Constitution” that created this republic, but we are the same people vested with the responsibility, as Benjamin Franklin put it, “to keep it.”
Apr 2 5 tweets 1 min read
The news of the departure of Pam Bondi hit with a thunderclap in Washington. There were some recent rumors, but nothing concrete in the prior week. Bondi is the ultimate loyalist who, like Todd Blanche (the new acting AG), earned her bones in the trenches with the President in impeachment and criminal trials... ...The President has certainly removed prior cabinet officers out of obvious displeasure from Bill Barr to most recently Kristi Noem. There is no known "bad blood" with Bondi, who has actually drawn fire for her loyalty to Trump...
Apr 1 12 tweets 2 min read
Early on, John Sauer faced a gulp moment when the Chief Justice referred to his examples of different classes to show the narrower meaning are "quirky." Sauer is doing, as usual, an excellent job... ... Another worrisome moment is when Gorsuch said, "I am not sure how much you want to rely on Wong Kim Ark." The Administration, and others, insist that the Court expressly noted in that decision that the parents were "resident aliens."...
Mar 23 4 tweets 1 min read
The Supreme Court may have put a dent in announced plans of Democratic politicians to arrest ICE officers and unleash sweeping prosecutions once they retake power. The Court just reversed the Second Circuit, holding that a Vermont officer had immunity in a protester's injury... ...In Zorn v. Linton, the Court voted 6-3 that officers are generally shielded from civil liability unless prior case law put the unlawfulness of an action "beyond debate." While a civil case, the Court has shown the same deference in criminal cases...
Mar 23 6 tweets 1 min read
For a No Kings guy, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey sure seems to have a royal problem. Frey claimed on MS NOW that President Donald Trump could simply hire more TSA agents rather than deploy ICE officers. Yet, that would be done without congressional approval and appropriations... ...The MS NOW host did not correct the disinformation. It is telling that Democrats are opposing the effort to relieve the congestion at airports. Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA) appeared to welcome the chaos and "pain" caused to citizens at the airports as leverage for a deal...
Mar 18 4 tweets 1 min read
NY Gov. Kathy Hochul is asking "high net worth" taxpayers to "go down to Palm Beach and see who you can bring back home" "to support the generous social programs we have in our state." There is another novel approach: change your policies to make people want to come back... ...The reason they are done in Florida is that the state has maintained low taxes as well as high-performing schools and services. Rather than put your hopes on peer pressure, try good policies and see what happens...
Mar 14 4 tweets 1 min read
Judge James Boasberg has another controversial decision in throwing out a duly issued grand jury subpoena of Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Boasberg declared that “There is abundant evidence that the subpoenas’ dominant (if not sole) purpose is to harass and pressure Powell."... ...I have been skeptical of the basis and motivation of the criminal investigation into Powell. However, Boasberg could face serious appellate questions over his basis to toss out a valid subpoena based entirely on his view of the underlying criminal investigation...
Feb 18 4 tweets 1 min read
The Judicial Conference has released a new policy that could materially alter the character of the federal courts, allowing judges to comment on what they deem “illegitimate forms of criticism and attacks.” It is not just injudicious, it is dangerous... jonathanturley.org/2026/02/18/rul… ...The added freedom afforded to judges to engage in commentary will do little to change the debate. It may, however, greatly erode the trust in what was once considered “our least dangerous branch.”
Feb 6 4 tweets 1 min read
The Clintons are again suggesting that they might not agree to a deposition after previously yielding to the threat of a contempt vote. Today, Bill Clinton declared on X that "I will not sit idly as they use me as a prop in a closed-door kangaroo court"...jonathanturley.org/2026/01/14/now… ...Clinton is not being asked to "sit idly by" but to sit for a deposition like other citizens. His posting suggests that he is again opposed to compliance after a bipartisan vote was again delayed by the earlier concession...
Jan 31 4 tweets 1 min read
The decision of the federal court to reject the effort to enjoin the immigration operations means that Attorney General Keith Ellison could not come up with a single cognizable claim of illegality to shoulder this burden... ...Now that a Biden appointee judge has rejected this meritless effort, will Gov. Walz, Attorney General Ellison, and Mayor Frey finally come clean and admit that these operations are lawful? One can disagree with them, but they are solidly within federal law...
Jan 24 12 tweets 2 min read
Gov. Walz is again inflaming the mob. He is effectively declaring this to be the murder of a citizen who had a permit to carry this weapon. He is saying that the state not the federal government will control the investigation. He does not have that authority... ...The state can clearly have a parallel investigation and the federal government can do a joint investigation. However, he cannot dictate how or who will conduct the investigation...
Jan 24 5 tweets 1 min read
Frey is again denouncing the officers in the latest shooting before any investigation into the shooting. Gov. Walz preceded him. Frey just said "your children will ask you what side you are on" and "what did you do?" Those words will be taken as a license for escalating these confrontations... ...Many of us have watched this videotape. The view of the hands of the suspect are not clear. We hear the shoot followed by a series of shots. We need to know if the suspect had pulled the gun or the reason for the officers to use lethal force. That would not seem an unreasonable expectation before public condemnations from the governor and the mayor...