NEWS AND OPINION:
Fox News prime-time host and attorney Greta Van Susteren is pondering the ever-evolving legal scenarios for Corey Lewandowski, Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s campaign manager, now charged with battery after a less-than-harmonious encounter with a female reporter during a Florida campaign stop. The incident prompted 16 other female reporters to demand Mr. Trump fire his employee. Ms. Van Susteren is not happy with what she sees.
“It is stunning — Lewandowski has not had a trial and these women have convicted him. We have a judicial system in this country not mob rule. As an aside, I have tried many, many, many criminal cases and I will tell you this: There is reasonable doubt in this one. This is a very easy defense case. Don’t believe me? Ask any lawyer,” Ms. Van Susteren wrote on her personal blog.
“And now look what these women have done to their own work covering the campaigns! These women reporters may want to pull themselves off the presidential campaign coverage since they have obviously shown their bias. They need to ask themselves — can they be fair in all their presidential campaign coverage based on this? There is a big difference between waiting for a jury to decide facts and a verdict whether a crime has been committed and just taking sides and calling for someone’s head,” the Fox News host concluded.
JEB BUSH NOW POISED FOR THE PODIUM
The very high-profile Washington Speakers Bureau noted in a quick tweet Wednesday that it is “honored to announce we will again be exclusively representing Jeb Bush.” Indeed, the former presidential hopeful and ex-Florida governor gets a glowing review from his agency: “A successful governor and business, economic, education and health care reformer, Jeb Bush elevates the conversation on how to address the key challenges facing America today.”
The podium is popular among Mr. Bush’s presidential peers. The bureau also represents other former hopefuls, including Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Rick Perry and Bobby Jindal.
POPULAR MECHANICS DEFUSES A NUKE
Just in time for the nuclear summit commencing Thursday in the nation’s capital, North Korea has released a two-minute video ablaze with music and special effects, detailing a plan for a “pre-emptive nuclear attack” on Washington. “The aggressors and provocateurs will face the most absurd and painful of self-destruction of digging their own tombs with their hands,” warns a narrator in English.
But Kyle Mizokami, who writes on security issues for Popular Mechanics, finds the claim wanting: “Could North Korea actually hit Washington D.C.? No. North Korea’s current arsenal could hit Alaska and maybe Hawaii, but for now the lower 48 states appear safe.”
Mr. Mizokami calls the video “odd and bombastic,” but also references the Musudan missile — a ballistic missile based on a Russian design that made its worrisome public debut during a 2010 North Korean worker’s parade.
“The latest version of the Musudan missile is projected to be able to hit the West Coast with a light warhead payload in the near future. Whether or not it has mastered such a warhead was the subject of considerable speculation earlier this month when North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was photographed standing in front of a model warhead — and the Musudan missile in the background,” Mr. Mizokami adds.
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE SUMMIT
“Global solutions for nuclear security; Nuclear security in newly nuclear nations; Nuclear governance in a new century; Managing cyber threats; Securing the use, storage and transport of radiological and strategic nuclear materials; The role of the nuclear industry in the world.”
— Five forums at the Nuclear Industry Summit 2016, now underway in the nation’s capital to coincide with the Nuclear Security Summit, hosted by President Obama at a convention center just blocks away and drawing leaders from 56 nations. Russia, incidentally, is not attending the event.
CAMPAIGN ADVICE: GRAB THE GOOD BOOK
“Presidential elections are rarely kind and congenial affairs, but many pundits and politicos — and even the current president — think this year’s primary season has been more abrasive than usual. Aside from the candidates and their teams practicing civility, is there anything else that might improve the tenor of American political discourse?” asks an analysis from Barna Group, a nonpartisan research group based in California.
In conjunction with the American Bible Society, the organization found that 51 percent of Americans say “politics would be more civil” if politicians engaged in regular Bible reading. Another 53 percent think politicians would be “more effective if they read the Bible on a regular basis,” while 46 percent wish the Bible had greater influence on American society.
TO SUPPORT THE VICTOR, OR MAYBE NOT
Do voters care if presidential candidates who lose the nomination refuse to offer their support to the victor in the name of party unity? Not so much.
“Just 23 percent of likely U.S. voters think candidates who don’t win their party’s presidential nomination should be required to publicly support the person who is nominated,” notes a new Rasmussen Reports survey. “Given the insistence of Republican Party leaders that Donald Trump pledge to support the nominee no matter what, it’s interesting to note that only 31 percent of GOP voters believe he should be required to do that. This compares to 22 percent of Democrats and 16 percent of voters not affiliated with either major party.”
POLL DU JOUR
• 64 percent of Americans expect a terrorist attack on U.S. soil in the next six months.
• 63 percent say the use of torture can be “justified” against suspected terrorists.
• 57 percent overall are concerned for their safety at airports or train and bus stations.
• 49 percent are concerned attending a public rally, 41 percent at a sporting event, 39 percent at a concert.
• 33 percent are concerned for their safety at a bar or club, 26 percent at a place of worship, 23 percent at their workplace.
Source: a Reuters/Ipsos poll of 1,976 U.S. adults conducted March 22-28.
Nitpicky complaints, accolades to jharper@washingtontimes.com
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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