 |
James P. Fleissner (Jim) is an American attorney and a Professor of Law at Mercer University School of Law in Macon, Georgia. While at Mercer, Fleissner has remained Special Assistant United States Attorney and Deputy Special Counsel. As Deputy Special Counsel, Fleissner was lead counsel in litigation regarding motions filed by journalists to quash subpoenas and contempt proceedings in the CIA leak grand jury investigation.
Also see CIA leak grand jury investigation
Fleissner is deputy to Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald in the Justice Department investigation into allegations that one or more government officials illegally disclosed the identity of a CIA agent. As Deputy Special Counsel, he briefed and argued the case to the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court. Fleissner argued that a First Amendment protection exists for reporters, but only in a limited way, such as for intimidation or bad-faith investigations.
Fleissner attended Marquette University High School where he was a championship debater for the school's Webster Club. After graduating in 1975, he went on to coach the debate team at his alma mater while attending Marquette University. As a debate coach, he became famous for his long-distance driving skills to tournaments, and became known forever as LDD. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in 1979 and earned a J.D. in 1986 from the University of Chicago Law School.
Fleissner has been a member of the Mercer Law Faculty since 1994. The courses he has taught include Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure: Constitutional Dimensions, Criminal Procedure: The Litigation Process, Trial Practice, and Evidence. He has been a visiting professor at Georgia State University College of Law, Spring 2002 (Criminal Law) and the DePaul University College of Law, Spring 2004 (Criminal Law), Summer 2004 (Evidence), Fall 2004 (Criminal Procedure), and Spring 2005 (Evidence).
Before joining the Mercer faculty, Fleissner worked as Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago from 1986 to 1994. During a leave of absence from Mercer Law School (January 2003-July 2005), Fleissner was Assistant United States Attorney and Chief of Appeals, Criminal Division, for the Office of the United States Attorney, Northern District of Illinois. Now, he is a Deputy Special Counsel in United States Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel. As Deputy Special Counsel, Fleissner managed litigation regarding motions filed by journalists to quash subpoenas and contempt proceedings in the CIA leak grand jury investigation. Fleissner is licensed to practice law in Illinois and Georgia.
After the Oklahoma City bombing, Fleissner appeared on the PBS "Newshour with Jim Lehrer," CNN, and MSNBC to discuss the prosecutions and other federal criminal matters.
A deposition in the law of the United States, or examination for discovery in the law of Canada, involves the taking of sworn, out-of-court oral testimony of a witness that may be reduced to a written transcript for later use in court or for discovery purposes. Depositions are commonly used in litigation in the United States and Canada. They are almost always conducted outside court by the lawyers themselves, with no judge present to supervise the examination.
Contempt of Congress is the act of obstructing the work of the United States Congress or one of its committees. Historically, the bribery of a U.S. senator or U.S. representative was considered contempt of Congress. In modern times, contempt of Congress has generally applied to the refusal to comply with a subpoena issued by a congressional committee or subcommittee—usually seeking to compel either testimony or the production of requested documents.
Patrick J. Fitzgerald is an American lawyer and partner at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom since October 2012.
Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665 (1972), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court invalidating the use of the First Amendment as a defense for reporters summoned to testify before a grand jury. The case was argued February 23, 1972, and decided June 29 of the same year. The reporters lost their case by a vote of 5–4. This case is cited for the rule that in federal courts, a reporter may not generally avoid testifying in a criminal grand jury, and is one of a limited number of cases in which the U.S. Supreme Court has considered the use of reporters' privilege.
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern civil procedure in United States district courts. They are the companion to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The FRCP are promulgated by the United States Supreme Court pursuant to the Rules Enabling Act, and then the United States Congress has seven months to veto the rules promulgated or they become part of the FRCP. The Court's modifications to the rules are usually based upon recommendations from the Judicial Conference of the United States, the federal judiciary's internal policy-making body.
Timothy Elliott Flanigan is an American lawyer and politician. On May 24, 2005, President George W. Bush nominated him as Deputy Attorney General of the United States, the second highest position in the Department of Justice. On October 7, 2005, his name was withdrawn from consideration. He was replaced by Paul McNulty.
The CIA leak grand jury investigation was a federal inquiry "into the alleged unauthorized disclosure of a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee's identity", a possible violation of criminal statutes, including the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, and Title 18, United States Code, Section 793.
Joseph Tate is an American attorney who represented government official Lewis Libby in the CIA leak grand jury investigation. Tate is a partner with the law firm Dechert LLP in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He specializes in defending clients against charges of complex white collar crime, in particular, antitrust and other regulatory issues. Previously, Tate worked in the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice.
United States v. Libby was the federal trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a former high-ranking official in the George W. Bush administration, for interfering with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's criminal investigation of the Plame affair.
The Plame affair was a dispute stemming from allegations that one or more White House officials revealed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent Valerie Plame Wilson's undercover status. An investigation, led by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, was started, concerning the possibility that one or more crimes may have been committed. The initial focus was on Scooter Libby; however, he was not the primary source of the leak.
A Pitchess motion is a request made by the defense in a California criminal case, such as a DUI case or a resisting arrest case, to access a law enforcement officer's personnel information when the defendant alleges in an affidavit that the officer used excessive force or lied about the events surrounding the defendant's arrest. The information provided will include prior incidents of use of force, allegations of excessive force, citizen complaints, and information gathered during the officer's pre-employment background investigation. The motion's name comes from the case Pitchess v. Superior Court.
Grand juries in the United States are groups of citizens empowered by United States federal or state law to conduct legal proceedings, chiefly investigating potential criminal conduct and determining whether criminal charges should be brought. The grand jury originated under the law of England and spread through colonization to other jurisdictions as part of the common law. Today, however, the United States is one of only two jurisdictions, along with Liberia, that continues to use the grand jury to screen criminal indictments.
Robert Joseph "Bob" Eatinger was Deputy General Counsel for Operations for the Central Intelligence Agency, serving as Acting General Counsel of the CIA from 2009 to March 2014. He has served as a lawyer in various capacities, in the CIA and Navy during the U.S. War on Terror, during which the CIA held dozens of detainees in black site prisons around the globe.
In re Oliver, 333 U.S. 257 (1948), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court involving the application of the right of due process in state court proceedings. The Sixth Amendment in the Bill of Rights states that criminal prosecutions require the defendant "... to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation...and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence." In this case, a witness in a Michigan grand jury hearing was convicted and sentenced to jail without either notice or attorney assistance.
The Mueller special counsel investigation was an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies, and possible obstruction of justice by Trump and his associates. The investigation was conducted by special prosecutor Robert Mueller from May 2017 to March 2019. It was also called the Russia investigation, the Mueller probe, and the Mueller investigation. The Mueller investigation culminated with the Mueller report, which concluded that though the Trump campaign welcomed Russian interference and expected to benefit from it, there was insufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy to charge members of the campaign. The report did not reach a conclusion about possible obstruction of justice by Trump, citing a Justice Department guideline that prohibits the federal indictment of a sitting president. The investigation resulted in charges against 34 individuals and 3 companies, 8 guilty pleas, and a conviction at trial.
This is a timeline of events in the first half of 2019 related to investigations into the many suspicious links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies relating to the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It follows the timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, both before and after July 2016, until November 8, 2016, the transition, the first and second halves of 2017, the first and second halves of 2018, and followed by the second half of 2019, 2020, and 2021.
The United States Department of Justice under the Trump administration acquired by a February 2018 subpoena the Apple iCloud metadata of two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, several others associated with the committee, and some of their family members. The subpoena covered 73 phone numbers and 36 email addresses since the inception of the accounts. Seizing communications information of members of Congress is extraordinarily rare. The department also subpoenaed and obtained 2017 and 2018 phone log and email metadata from news reporters for CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times. Apple also received and complied with February 2018 subpoenas for the iCloud accounts of White House counsel Don McGahn and his wife. Microsoft received a subpoena relating to a personal email account of a congressional staff member in 2017.
The United States Justice Department investigation into attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election began in early 2021 with investigations and prosecutions of hundreds of individuals who participated in the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol. By early 2022, the investigation had expanded to examine Donald Trump's inner circle, with the Justice Department impaneling several federal grand juries to investigate the attempts to overturn the election. Later in 2022, a special counsel was appointed.
The Smith special counsel investigation is an ongoing investigation opened by U.S. Attorney General, Merrick Garland, on November 18, 2022, to continue two investigations that had been initiated by the Department of Justice (DOJ). Garland appointed Jack Smith, a longtime federal prosecutor, to lead the independent investigations. Smith was tasked with investigating former president Donald Trump's role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, and Trump's mishandling of government records, including classified documents.
Matthew Evan Corcoran is an American former federal prosecutor who became a white-collar crime defense attorney and who gained prominence due to his role in the FBI investigation into Donald Trump's handling of government documents as Donald Trump's attorney.