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Two weeks after their animated outcry to a coronavirus mask mandate went viral, South Florida Freedom Advocates dont care about being mocked by the likes of Jimmy Fallon, Whoopi Goldberg and Stephen Colbert.

Cristina Gomez said she isn't embarrassed about being mocked on national television by Jimmy Fallon, Whoopie Goldberg, Stephen Colbert and other pundits for her acerbic, finger-waving, anti-mask rant last month at the Palm Beach County Commission meeting heard round the world.

"Theyre bullies looking for laughs," the unemployed West Palm Beach resident said. "Thats OK. I have thick skin."

Few people know Gomez, 28, by name. But millions know her by the trending hashtag "Angry Florida Woman" and viral video clip of her impassioned public comments before commissioners passed a countywide mask mandate on June 23.

In a two-minute stream of consciousness, she threatens the countys health director with a citizen's arrest "for crimes against humanity," tells commissioners they belong "in a psyche ward" and rails about the devil, Bill Gates, Hillary Clinton, pedophiles, 5G cameras and "the deep state."

She wasn't the only self-proclaimed "pro freedom" fighter whose passionate reaction to the mandate raised the eyebrows of social media influencers including actors Jamie Foxx and Don Cheadle.

Co-starring in a viral montage on HBOs "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" was a supporting cast led by Arlindo "Butch" Dias, an engineer who pointed at the Stars and Stripes behind county commissioners and screamed, "Id die for that flag!"

Cindy Falco-DiCorrado, a former Boynton Beach advisory board member, is seen in a "Trump Girl" shirt calling the coronavirus crisis "a planned-demic" and asking "where do you derive the authority to regulate human breathing?"

Theresa Roberts sneered as she compared the mask mandate to Nazi Germany forcing Jews to wear a star. And Beth Bohon launched this memorable salvo: "I dont wear a mask for the same reason I don't wear underwear: Things gotta breathe."

The internet and late-night television went wild.

"That was like Crazytown," stunned co-host Sonny Hostin said on ABCs "The View," while co-host Meghan McCain compared it to "the rantings of someone at an airport bar."

A Twitter parody mixed memorable soundbites with footage of exasperated reactions from characters in the hit NBC show "Parks and Rec." Media outlets from as far away as England and Dubai carried stories about Florida residents linking a "devils mask law to the deep state."

"Yes, it appears America isnt just dealing with a deadly strain of coronavirus, it's also dealing with a deadly strain of stupidity," Trevor Noah said on Comedy Centrals "The Daily Show."

For local leaders trying to stem the coronavirus pandemic, the unwanted publicity 20 years after the 2000 presidential election fiasco gave the county another black eye.

"The images you saw on (June 23) of people loudly proclaiming that they're not going to wear masks were a poor reflection of our community and they don't reflect our community," State Attorney Dave Aronberg said three days later at a coronavirus briefing.

"What does reflect our community" he said, "is all the people out there who are socially distancing, who are wearing masks, who are taking care of one another. Thats Palm Beach County. Those are the people whose images should be shown worldwide."

We are just normal people

Despite the protests, officials say the mask mandate is widely supported in the county, where coronavirus cases have spiked in recent weeks, helping make South Florida one of the national hotspots of the deadly respiratory disease.

And since early April, scientists have been unified about the effectiveness of facial coverings significantly reducing the transmission of COVID-19, with recommendations coming from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Johns Hopkins University.

"Its really unfortunate the response we got for such a common sense mandate to happen in Palm Beach County," Dr. Sam Fahmy of Boca Raton Regional Hospital said on CNN.

"We know scientifically that masks are proven to prevent infection and transmissions from one person who is sick to another. The fact that people are fighting this hard against wearing masks is really disheartening."

But many protesters who opposed the mask mandate werent happy with the publicity, either.

They thought it focused too much on the most sensational comments and overlooked the movements larger messages of resisting government overreach and protecting personal freedoms.

"To be painted in the media like we are crazy people is really annoying," said Josie Machovec, a Boca Raton homemaker, who said the mask law "unconstitutionally" mandates that citizens wear "medical devices."

"Were just normal people. We just want to keep ourselves healthy in the way that we feel is best."

Wary of the snitch line

She said many of the protesters found each other on the Facebook page of a grassroots group called South Florida Freedom Advocates.

They include doctors, lawyers, nurses, even Junior League members. Many of them take cues from President Donald Trump, who refuses to wear a mask in public.

Some have attended public meetings and protests to decry coronavirus-related restrictions in other Florida communities. Many are anti-vaccine activists.

A pinned post on the groups page warns viewers about "a snitch line" and it lists a phone number for Palm Beach Countys COVID Education Compliance team, formed last month to take complaints about businesses that fail to follow social distance and safety guidelines and help them conform.

But the South Florida Freedom Advocates Facebook page encourages members to call the "snitch line" to "blast out the businesses and individuals that discriminated against them."

Machovec, one of four plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed June 30 to overturn the countys mask mandate, said she cant wear a mask because she suffers from asthma. She said she gets harassed by customers and employees when she goes shopping at Costco.

Angelique Contreras said she cant wear a mask because of anxiety stemming from abuse she suffered earlier in her life. She said she shouldnt have to explain herself to shop owners who confront her about not wearing a mask every time she goes shopping.

In a recent tweet, Contreras blamed the mask mandate on her asthmatic husband getting fired from his job at a restaurant.

Slaves comment preceded resignation

Fights and confrontations involving customers refusing to wear masks have erupted in stores and restaurants across Florida and the United States.

On May 29, workers at the Sunshine Flea Market in suburban Lake Worth Beach called Palm Beach County Sheriffs deputies after Gomez ("Angry Florida Woman") and her mother refused their order to leave the store. Gomez said she got kicked out for not wearing a mask.

The next day, Gomez returned to the flea market to stage a protest in the parking lot. She and Falco-DiCorrado, a 61-year-old grandmother, were both arrested on trespassing charges.

It was Gomezs 28th birthday. Falco-DiCorrados arrest that day was captured on video.

In 2017, Falco-DiCorrado resigned from the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, a volunteer advisory board, after being accused of making racially insensitive remarks during a public discussion about sanctuary cities.

Falco-DiCorrado allegedly told a resident at the meeting to speak "better English" and allegedly told black residents, "Youre lucky we brought you over as slaves, or else youd be deported, too."

At the time, Falco-DiCorrado said her comments were misunderstood and she didnt mean any harm.

I don't see anything crazy

As for the viral video clips from the June 23 County Commission meeting, she said she wasnt offended about being mocked on TV and in social media.

"When I watch it, I don't see anything crazy," Falco-DiCorrado said. "I see logic. I see people asking honest questions and being human. But I know they put the precursor there, like CNN did, to say, Oh look at these crackpots. I hope it wakes people up."

After video of the meeting went viral, Gomez said some critics tweeted her mug shot from her May 30 arrest.

A former bank teller and bar server, Gomez said she spoke from her heart and not from a script. She said she was surprised her remarks received so much attention.

"I have no credentials. Why don't you let the world hear a doctor tell about how bad a mask is," she said, referring to comments at the June 23 meeting by Dr. Heidi Schaeffer of Miami, who questioned the effectiveness of masks.

"All of a sudden everyone starts texting me. Youre on The View. Youre on the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon, and celebrities are posting me on their Instagram," Gomez said, referring to critical comments by Foxx and comedian Lil Duval.

Dias, the West Palm Beach man who identified himself on the video as "a patriot" before screaming at county commissioners, said some co-workers are mad at him because of the publicity he received. He asked that the name of the public agency he works for not be mentioned in this story.

Dias, 61, said it was the first time he spoke at a public meeting. If he sounded angry, he said, thats because he was offended that it seemed as if commissioners had already made up their minds before voting to pass the mask mandate and didnt care what the protesters were saying.

Is this some political stunt?

Part of Dias speech was singled out by Colbert on "The Late Show:" After Dias is shown screaming that he "would die for that Constitution," Colbert quipped, "Well, congratulations. If you dont wear a mask, you got a good shot at it."

Dias shrugged it off. "I don't watch any of that garbage," he said.

"They basically made us look like a bunch of kooks. But its funny that everybody that had a patriotic view loved it, everybody who had a Christian view loved it. Only the ones that had liberal views hated it."

County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, a frequent target of the protesters because of her staunch support for coronavirus protections, said she was disappointed that people who identified themselves as doctors and nurses spoke against the mask mandate.

"The Florida Medical Association put out a statement begging local governments to take action and implement mask ordinances and here they have doctors facing us and saying its all nonsense," said McKinlay, whose district includes farming communities around Lake Okeechobee that have been hit hard by the pandemic.

"They follow their nonsense claims by standing in the back of our room raising a gigantic Trump 2020 flag. It's like, Really? What is this all about? Is this really what's best for the public or is this some political stunt?"

Dismissing claims by the protesters that mask supporters want to vote Trump out of office, McKinlay pointed out that at least two Republican mayors in Florida Carlos Gimenez of Miami-Dade County and Lenny Curry of Jacksonville put mask mandates in place.

We are not going away

A handful of the same "pro freedom" fighters showed up at the most recent county commission meeting on Tuesday. Mayor Dave Kerner stopped the meeting at one point and threatened to remove one person from the room because she wasnt wearing a mask.

"I want them to realize we are not going away. We are not just going to accept their mandate," said Machovec, who appears in some of the viral video montages, including the "Parks and Rec" parody. "They are not kings and queens. They are elected officials who need to be held accountable."

Like many other protesters, Machovec said she doesnt know of any friends or relatives who have contracted COVID-19. "The truth of the matter is the survival rate of this virus is 96.6 percent, so I have a higher chance of dying in a car accident than I do from contracting COVID-19," she said.

County Commissioner Gregg Weiss said he was disappointed that the publicity gave the world an inaccurate portrayal of how the community feels about coronavirus precautions.

"This is a small minority of people who live in Palm Beach County. They are entitled to represent their views and beliefs, but they don't represent what the majority of Palm Beach County believes and what the majority of our residents are concerned about," he said.

On the talk-show "The View," host Whoopi Goldberg offered a deal for the Palm Beach County mask protesters.

"You don't want to wear a mask? We just need to have your name and phone number so when you get sick and you go rushing to the hospital for help, people can actually say, Oh, you're the one who said don't wear a mask and here you are (because) you're ill," she said.

"I want to run it into your face because that means that you, because of your insanity, have taken time away from a doctor who could be working on someone who did do the right thing who got it anyway. ... Please don't be ridiculous. Just do this. Nobody cares about your political vision. We're talking about your health."

Staff writer Hannah Morse contributed to this story.

jcapozzi@pbpost.com

@JCapozzipbpost

This story originally published to palmbeachpost.com, and was shared to other Florida newspapers in the USA TODAY Network - Florida.

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Floridas mask foes shrug off national TV bullies poking fun at them - The Ledger

Shortly before midnight on 8 November 2016, Hillary Rodham Clinton dozed off in the bedroom of her Manhattan hotel. The presidential candidate was exhausted from the rigours of a bruising election campaign and rattled by a flurry of early results that suggested the verdict was far from a foregone conclusion. She closed her eyes as the slight favourite to become the USs first female president. She opened them to a nightmare and a world turned upside down.

Clintons shock loss to Donald Trump the embodiment of chaos to her bastion of control left so much destruction in its wake (a victory party mothballed, shell-shocked staffers out of work, 66m futile votes) that it was easy to overlook the small matter of 2,000 hours of behind-the-scenes campaign footage, shot in a spirit of cautious optimism but now left to languish. Clintons office suggested cobbling it together as an official record, an insiders account of what went wrong. Butfilm-maker Nanette Burstein recoiled when the idea was put to her. Too soon, she says now. Too raw. Too disturbing for the public. I know I wouldnt want to watch that myself, never mind make it.

Instead, Burstein received clearance to use the footage for a bolder, more wide-ranging project. Hillary, the result, is a four-part biography that frames Clintons life against the arc of the womens movement and recasts her career as a series of giant leaps and bounds. Significantly, it ends not in despair but in hope. Clinton, insists longtime adviser Cheryl Mills, is so much more than another stumbling pretender to the throne. Shes a mould-breaker and a risk-taker. The tip of the spear the person who blazes the trail.

If this makes it sound as if Hillary comes to praise Clinton not bury her well, thats broadly the case (largely flattering, remarked the Hollywood Reporter). Yes, the documentary is at pains to cover its subjects myriad missteps and controversies, be it the lucrative Wall Street speeches, the Whitewater real estate investment affair or the overcooked saga of her private email server. But the talking heads are effectively defence witnesses, solid representatives of blue state USA. We hear nothing from Newt Gingrich, Sean Hannity, Lindsey Graham, or indeed any of her tormentors from the other side.

This, Burstein says, was not for want of trying. But Hillary is so toxic in that community that any association is seen as bad. I made it clear that it was an objective film and that I wanted their point of view. But they also knew that she was participating, which meant that it wasnt going to be some rightwing take-down of her and anything short of that was unappealing. There was no upside, it was just a risk. All of them right away said no.

In the event, the director spent a week at the Clintons home in Chappaqua, a hamlet 30 miles north of New York City. She sat with Hillary for 35 hours of interviews, going back over her various and often conflicting incarnations as lawyer, first lady, senator and globe-trotting secretary of state. Perhaps most compellingly, she sat with Bill, who brokenly recalls his cataclysmic affair with Monica Lewinsky, likening himself to a weary boxer who grabs for something, anything, that might momentarily distract him from the fight. Im a totally different person now than I was 20 years ago, he insists and the physical evidence would appear to bear him out. The former president, arguably the consummate politician of his age, now looks hollowed out, diminished and somehow older than his years.

As for Hillary, who can say for certain? Shes not a confider, one friend needlessly points out. Instead, she sits ramrod straight in her book-lined sitting room, sipping coffee as make-up artists periodically dip in to attend to her hair. Shes candid, impressive and radiates a certain blunt warmth. But on a personal level, shes as guarded as Fort Knox. Every question is a potential hazard. It needs to be quickly checked for tripwires and trapdoors.

There is, of course, good reason for this. With the possible exception of Trump, no US politician inspires such fear and loathing. Shes like a bespoke trigger for the red state white male. There they are the MAGA army, the deplorables burning her effigy at a rally in Kentucky and hollering Iron my shirt! inside the town hall meet-and-greet. Smile! orders a shaven-head in camouflage pants as the candidate walks by and, ever the pro, Clinton duly obliges.

But its small wonder that her smile is a firewall and her laugh flak. Shes hemmed in on both sides, damned either way, regarded as an establishment neocon by the left and a radical feminist harpie by the right. Depressingly, these prejudices sometimes hop the fence: Clintons decision to remain in her marriage only proved how weak she was, right up until the moment it proved that she was Lady Macbeth, a cold-blooded careerist. Im the most investigated innocent person in America, she snorts at the end of one interview session, when she perhaps believes herself to be off-mic.

Burstein previously co-directed The Kid Stays in the Picture, a spry documentary about the Hollywood producer Robert Evans. She freely admits to being a Clinton supporter and feels that most of her problems were caused by forces beyond her control, a reflexive sexism in the land at large. But Burstein does believe that, occasionally, Clinton could have handled herself better. Maybe relaxed her defensive lawyerly crouch, or eased back on the well-paid corporate speaking gigs for the sake of her public image, if nothing else.

The more you get used to seeing women in positions of power, the more likely you are to vote for it

If she has a flaw and she has a few its the optics. Maybe shes not in the pocket of Wall Street, but to give speeches at a time when the banks are being bailed out, all the while knowing shes going to run for president it looks bad. And she has this self-righteous quality that is her blind spot. She thinks, Well, Im not doing anything wrong, no one should think Im doing anything wrong, so who cares what it looks like? And thats what gets her into trouble again and again.

Bill, no doubt about it, was more adept at rolling with the punches, charming his way out of trouble, while Barack Obamas special power was rising nobly above the fray. But its a fools game to use past giants as a kind of roadmap to the White House. Both men (each pioneers in their way) still had to contend with a different set of hurdles to those faced by Hillary. And both, finally, could afford to be looser, less apologetic and more at ease with who they are.

Greatness of spirit is the most important quality that a politician can have, says Joe Klein, one-time Time magazine columnist and bestselling author of Primary Colors, a loosely fictionalised novel about Bills 1992 presidential campaign. The successful Democrats Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama have all had it. To have greatness of spirit, you have to be optimistic and you have to at least give the appearance of openness. Hillary, he concludes, was never going to be that.

Burstein, thank heavens, spies the obvious problem with this. Its a very male thing to say. I mean, OK, maybe theres some truth to the idea that its hard to pick a woman who has the kind of charm or the greatness of spirit that you see in a man. But is that because it doesnt exist? Or is it because it comes in a different package that we dont know how to recognise?

Undeniably, Hillary offered a different package to the one presented by Donald Trump, the bait-and-switch conman who now sits in the Oval Office, presiding over a 100,000 Covid-19 death toll and an economy in the toilet. For all that, Burstein chooses to end her series not in the ash and rubble of November 2016, but amid the green shoots that have sprung up since. She spotlights the 5 million-strong Womens March that followed the inauguration, the 2018 midterms that turned the lower house blue and the vibrant attempts of Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris to run for president. Obviously, it would have been heartening if one had secured the Democratic nomination. But cant narrow defeats and near misses be markers of progress, too?

Well, yeah, Burstein says. Because change happens incrementally. The fact that all those women ran for president in and of itself is a triumph. What happened in the midterm elections thats a triumph as well. Because this is how it works. The more you see it happening, the more you get used to it. And the more you get used to seeing women in positions of power, the more likely you are to one day vote for it.

Clinton forged the path. Many others now walk it. Two steps forward, one step back.

Hillary is on Sky Documentaries and Now TV from 11 June.

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'As guarded as Fort Knox': the inside story of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign - The Guardian

We interrupt the hellscape that is 2020 with the news that we are somehow still talking about Hillary Clintons emails.

Clintons legal team argued before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday against a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch. Clinton was noticed for an in-person deposition, and argued against attending. U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled against Clinton in March, saying she had to be deposed in person. After that, Clintons team pulled out an interesting and seldom-successful legal maneuver: they filed a petition for mandamus against the judge. Mandamus is a legalese for forcing a government official to do their job properly.

Typically, litigants unsatisfied with adverse rulings simply appeal those rulings; petitioning for mandamus is far from a go-to legal strategy. And yet, two very high-profile cases hit courtrooms this week, both hoping that mandamus will save them.This particular case is extra odd, even for mandamus cases.

The appellate court first invited and then ordered the DOJ to come to oral arguments over Clintons deposition.

At those arguments on Tuesday, lawyers for Clinton (and her longtime aide Cheryl Mills, who was also noticed for a deposition) argued that Clinton and Mills have already turned over tens of thousands of messages, and that the real purpose for the depositions was to harass them on the national stage. Clintons attorney, David Kendall, called the deposition social media fundraising and said that Judicial Watch sought it solely to create video footage that can be used for partisan, political attack ads.

Whatever one thinks of Benghazi and the emails and the SCIF and all of that, though, there appears to be something just under the surface here that requires a little attention. The Justice Department was not nearly as interested in saving former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from a deposition as it was from rescuing Donald Trump, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross or former Vice President Dick Cheney from depositions. The difference may be related to the fact that theres another high-profile mandamus case going on in the D.C. Circuit. That one is about the prosecution of Michael Flynn.

The D.C. Circuit ordered U.S. District JudgeEmmet Sullivanto explainwhy he didnot to immediately dismiss theFlynn prosecution, despite the DOJs motion to drop the case. Sullivan responded, as ordered, by Monday. The appellate court ordered this explanation after Flynns legal team filed an emergency petition for a writ of mandamus in the hopes that Sullivan would be directed to dismiss the case. On Tuesday night, the D.C. Circuit ordered oral arguments in the case.

On the Flynn case, Judge Sullivans lawyer Beth Wilkinson wrote that It is unusual for a criminal defendant to claim innocence and move to withdraw his guilty plea after repeatedly swearing under oath that he committed the crime.

It is unprecedented for an Acting U.S. Attorney to contradict the solemn representations that career prosecutors made time and again, and undermine the district courts legal and factual findings, in moving on his own to dismiss the charge years after two different federal judges accepted the defendants plea, they argued.

The DOJ went to bat Flynn against Sullivan, saying that although a writ of mandamus isdrastic and extraordinary it is entirely appropriate and warranted in this case.

The district court plans plans to subject the Executives enforcement decision to extensive judicial inquiry, scrutiny, oversight, and involvement. Under the Supreme Courts and this Courts precedents, it is clear and indisputable that the district court has no authority to embark on that course, DOJ concluded.

Oralargumentsin the Clinton case were held telephonically due to the pandemic and went nearly three times longer than the court had scheduled. During the arguments, both Judge Nina Pillard (a Barack Obama appointee) and Judge Thomas Griffith (a George W. Bush appointee) called mandamus an extraordinary remedy to be used only rarely.

Those statements seemed to dovetail with Judicial Watchs argument against mandamus, calling such a writ the most potent weapon in the judicial arsenal.

Mark Freeman, arguing on behalf of the DOJ, said that Clintons would-be deposition was different from past cases in which the DOJ did oppose the depositions of high-level policymakers. And hows this for some more legal crossover? Judge Sullivan was the one who slammed Clintons use of a private email server, saying that, we wouldnt be here today if this employee had followed government policy. Whats more, Beth Wilkinsonrepresented Clinton staffers during the FBI investigation into the former Secretary of States use of a private server.

While the Flynn case was not specifically mentioned during Tuesdays oral arguments, it loomed large in the courtroom. Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins (another Obama appointee) is currently the only judge assigned to both the Clinton case and the Flynn case. However, as these cases proceed, it is possible that the entire D.C. Circuit could eventually join the fray.

[screengrab via CBS]

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DOJ Backed Writ of Mandamus in Michael Flynn Case, But Opposed It When Hillary Clintons Emails Were Involved - Law & Crime

Former US Secretary of StateHillary Clinton on Tuesday slammed her former election rival US President Donald Trump over attacking the peaceful protestorsat the Lafayette Square in Washington DC. Taking to Twitter, she stated that it was a "horrifying" use of presidential power against the citizens of the country. She further added that this act has no place anywhere.

The US Law Enforcement on Monday used tear gas, rubber bullets, and other tactics to clear out the peaceful protesters before the given curfew at the Lafayette Square in Washington DC so that Trump could take a photo in front of the St John's Church. While the curfew was 7 pm, the protesters were tear-gassed around 6:30 pm.According to international media reports, the law enforcement had given no warning and the firing was sudden. The protesters were protesting against the tragic death of George Floyd who was killed by a police officer.

Read:US President Trump spends Memorial Day retweeting sexist personal attacks on women

George Floyd's tragic death hasnot only angered millions across the world but it has also fueled a fresh wave of protests in various US states. Several protestors also converged outside the White Houseshouting "Black Lives Matter" and "I can't breathe". The focus of the protests is the alleged institutional bigotry and consequent brutalityin American police forces. Meanwhile, severalpolice squads have also joined the protestors in order to express their stand against police brutality and racism.

On Sunday, as many as40 cities and Washington DC across the United States imposed curfews in response to the continuing protests. According to international media reports, around 5,000 National Guard members have been activated in 15 states, as well as in Washington DC, along with 2,000 other members who are prepared to activate if needed. Meanwhile, around 4,000 people across the US States have been arrested during the protests.

Read:Protesters tear-gassed so Trump can walk to photo-op Church; outrage scorches Twitter

Police officer Derek Chauvin had handcuffed George Floyd and made him beg for breath after arresting him in Minnesota. In a video of the incident that went viral all over the social media, Chauvin was kneeling on Floyd's neck which resulted in hisdeath. According toCommissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (MDPS) John Harrington, the police officer has been fired from his job and has been takeninto custody by the criminal bureau. He added that a trial for the case will begin soon, with the officer facing third-degree murder and manslaughter charges.

Read:WHO pushes to keep ties with US despite Trump's exit plan

Read:Listen to the sirens blare as Trump triggers 3 rows in one go amid George Floyd protests

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Hillary Clinton slams Trump for tear-gassing peaceful protestors; calls it horrifying - Republic World - Republic World

A three-judge appeals court panel heard arguments this week from Hillary Clintons lawyer and Judicial Watch as the former secretary of state seeks to avoid a deposition about her private email server and the Benghazi attack talking points.

Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, argued Tuesday that the depositions of Clinton and Clinton's former chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, ordered by a D.C. district court judge was necessary to understand whether Clinton attempted to avoid the Freedom of Information Act when she improperly used a private server to conduct her State Department business and whether the agency adequately searched for all her emails.

It is certainly within the authority of the district court to hear from the agency head herself about whether there was intent," said Judicial Watch attorney Ramona Cotca.

Clinton wanted to short-circuit this process by using the most potent weapon in the judicial arsenal to prevent the district court from ever being able to reach a determination of whether there was ever an adequate search," Cotca said.

The FBI investigated Clinton's use of the server, hosted in the basement of her home in Chappaqua, New York, while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Although former FBI Director James Comey found Clinton was extremely careless in handling classified emails, no criminal charges were recommended against anyone following the bureaus "Midyear Exam" investigation. Clinton deleted 33,000 supposedly non-work-related emails.

Why is it that four years after the FBI closed its investigation that there are still additional Clinton emails that are being produced. Why were they not searched or produced or located earlier? Cotca asked, later adding, Even today, the State Department does not know what is the universe of Clinton emails from the State Department that is the significant issue here."

The Judicial Watch lawyer said deposing Clinton would help determine if she had tried to "thwart FOIA."

Clintons legal team asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to issue a writ of mandamus, a corrective order which would instruct the lower court to change its ruling ordering Clinton and Mills to be deposed. U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth said in March, "It is time to hear directly from Secretary Clinton."

We intervened in the case Secretary Clinton did when it became clear that her deposition might be an issue, said David Kendall, Clinton's attorney, who was also appearing for Mills.

Two of the three judges on the panel Obama appointee Nina Pillard and George W. Bush appointee Thomas Griffith stressed that issuing a writ of mandamus would be an extreme move. Pillard also claimed that Judicial Watch's concern about a leaky vessel during the State Departments search for Clinton's emails appeared unfounded."

Judge Robert Wilkins, another Obama appointee on the panel, asked: Why wouldnt it be relevant to depose Secretary Clinton or Ms. Mills to clarify who may have corresponded with either of them or in general about the Benghazi talking points?"

Kendall contended that the only relevant question was: Are there any more documents to produce?

The Clinton lawyer claimed that the real purpose" of the depositions "is harassment."

A State Department review of email practices of dozens of former agency officials and aides to Clinton found some instances of classified information being inappropriately introduced into an unclassified system. But investigators uncovered no persuasive evidence of systematic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.

Mark Freeman, the Justice Department attorney representing the State Department, said the Trump administration didnt support Clintons petition for mandamus.

The State Departments approach to all of these [Clinton] cases from the beginning has just been to get through them to respond to the FOIA requests, to push through any district court litigation, and to bring all these cases, and indeed the entire chapter, to a close, Freeman said, adding, "We have not asked this court to issue the extraordinary remedy of mandamus, and we have not supported the petition at issue here.

The virtual hearing stretched over an hour and a half. The appeals court will likely issue an opinion on whether they will be granting Clinton's request to avoid the deposition in the next few weeks.

Judicial Watch also wants to question Clinton and Mills about the talking points for former United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice's appearances on television shows following the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. Members of Ansar al Sharia launched a coordinated assault on Sept. 11, 2012, killing U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, foreign service officer Sean Smith, and CIA contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Clinton, Rice, and others incorrectly blamed the attack on a YouTube video.

Some of the Tuesday arguments were reminiscent of the debate over the Justice Departments move to drop charges against retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. Instead of immediately agreeing with that decision, D.C. District Court Judge Emmett Sullivan appointed an outside amicus, after which the Flynn legal team pursued a writ of mandamus with the D.C. appeals court in an effort to force Sullivan to allow the case to be dismissed. DOJ lawyers weighed in in favor of mandamus in that case.

Cheryl Mills's attorney, Beth Wilkinson, is representing Sullivan in that case. Wilkins is on the three-member panel that will decide whether to grant mandamus.

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Hillary Clinton asks appeals court to help her dodge Judicial Watch deposition on emails and Benghazi - Washington Examiner