Lawfare (website)

For other uses, see Lawfare (disambiguation).

Lawfare
Type of site
online multimedia publication
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.
OwnerThe Lawfare Institute
EditorsBenjamin Wittes, Roger Parloff
URLwww.lawfaremedia.org Edit this at Wikidata
CommercialNo
LaunchedSeptember 1, 2010
Current statusActive

Lawfare is an American non-profit publication dedicated to national security issues, produced by The Lawfare Institute in cooperation with the Brookings Institution.[1][2] It has received attention for articles on Donald Trump's presidency.

Background

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Lawfare was founded as a blog in September 2010[3] by Benjamin Wittes (a former editorial writer for The Washington Post), Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith, and University of Texas at Austin law professor Robert Chesney.[2] Goldsmith was the head of the Office of Legal Counsel in the George W. Bush administration's Justice Department, and Chesney served on a detention-policy task force in the Obama administration.[2] Its writers include law professors, law students, and former George W. Bush and Barack Obama administration officials.[2]

On June 28, 2023, Wittes said that Lawfare has become "a full-featured multimedia magazine" rather than blog.[4]

Coverage of the Donald Trump presidency

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Lawfare's coverage of intelligence and legal matters related to the Trump administration has brought the website significant increases in readership and national attention.[5][6]

Executive Order 13769

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Main articles: Executive Order 13769 and Reactions to Executive Order 13769

In January 2017 President Donald Trump tweeted "LAWFARE" and quoted a line from one of its posts that criticized the reasoning in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that blocked Trump's first refugee-and-travel ban.[2][7][8] The Lawfare piece called the ban "incompetent malevolence".[2] Trump tweeted the excerpt minutes after the line was quoted on Morning Joe.[7] Wittes, who supported the court ruling, criticized Trump for the tweet, asserting that Trump distorted the argument presented in the article.[8]

Dismissal of FBI Director James Comey

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Main article: Dismissal of James Comey

On May 18, 2017, Lawfare's editor-in-chief Benjamin Wittes was the principal source of an extensive New York Times report about President Trump's interactions with FBI Director James Comey, who is a friend of Wittes, and how those interactions related to Comey's subsequent firing.[9] Wittes also provided a 25-minute interview to PBS NewsHour on the same subject. According to him, Trump's hug "disgusted" Comey.[10] Wittes said Comey was not expecting a hug, adding "It was bad enough there was going to be a handshake."[9]

Trump's disclosure of classified intelligence

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Main article: Donald Trump's disclosure of classified information to Russia

Several Lawfare contributors argued that Trump's reported disclosure of classified intelligence to Russia in mid-May 2017 was "perhaps the gravest allegation of presidential misconduct in the scandal-ridden four months of the Trump administration". The column further alleged that Trump's reported actions "may well be a violation of the President's oath of office".[11][12]

Reception

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Columnist David Ignatius described Lawfare as "one of the most fair-minded chroniclers of national security issues".[13]

The website has been criticized by attorney and journalist Glenn Greenwald. He said it has a "courtier Beltway mentality" devoted to "serving, venerating and justifying the acts of those in power".[2]

References

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  1. ^ "About Lawfare". Lawfare. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Bazelon, Emily (March 14, 2017). "How a Wonky National-Security Blog Hit the Big Time". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  3. ^ "About Lawfare: A Brief History of the Term and the Site". Lawfare. May 14, 2015. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  4. ^ "Welcome to Lawfare's Shiny New Website". Lawfare. June 28, 2023. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
  5. ^ Abbruzzese, Jason (May 26, 2017). "This blog has become required reading in Trump's America". Mashable. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  6. ^ "Chesney's Lawfare Blog Makes Headlines, Reaches 10 Million People a Year". The University of Texas at Austin School of Law. May 30, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Trump quotes legal blog to argue travel ban ruling is 'a disgraceful decision'". Politico. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  8. ^ a b "Trump rips 'disgraceful' court decision in immigration ban". USA TODAY. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  9. ^ a b Schmidt, Michael S. (May 18, 2017). "Comey, Unsettled by Trump, Is Said to Have Wanted Him Kept at a Distance". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  10. ^ "Comey 'disgusted' by Trump hug, considered White House 'not honorable,' friend says". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  11. ^ "Bombshell: Initial Thoughts on the Washington Post's Game-Changing Story". Lawfare. May 15, 2017. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  12. ^ Dubenko, Anna (May 16, 2017). "Right and Left React to Trump's Sharing Classified Information With Russia, and More". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  13. ^ Ignatius, David; Ignatius, David (May 16, 2017). "Trump's presidency is beginning to unravel". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
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