Category Archives: Trump Administration

Ding: After 2 Years, Tea Party Targeting 6,924 Documents Found

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Republicans want to know why Trump hasn’t fired the IRS head

*** and so do I…

FNC: Nearly two months into the Trump administration, the IRS commissioner House Republicans once threatened with impeachment remains on the job.

John Koskinen’s continued tenure may be surprising, considering how aggressively Republicans went after him under the Obama administration. But despite a sustained push by congressional Republicans to oust the IRS chief before his five-year term expires this November, President Trump so far has made no move to do so.

Just last week, Koskinen was seen in the Capitol and told Fox News he was there to meet with “old friends.” Asked if he intended to stay on as commissioner during the Trump administration, Koskinen simply said, “They haven’t talked to me.”

A White House official, asked about the commissioner’s future, also told Fox News on Wednesday they had no personnel announcements “at this time.”

House Republicans aren’t giving up their quest to show Koskinen the door.

“President Trump should fire Commissioner Koskinen and replace him with someone that will bring integrity and competence to the IRS,” House Judiciary Committee Chariman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told Fox News on Tuesday.

Just days after Trump took office, Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker, R- N.C., along with 53 other House Republicans, also wrote a letter asking the new president to remove Koskinen.

“The consideration of the impeachment of IRS Commissioner John Koskinen in the House in late 2016 was a clear indication that Congress and the American people have no confidence in Commissioner Koskinen or his ability to discharge his duties,” Walker wrote, nudging the president by citing statutory language giving him authority to strip Koskinen of his title. Doing so, he claimed, would “restore the credibility” of the federal tax authority.

“We have not received a response to our letter,” an aide at the Republican Study Committee told Fox News. “We understand, however, the administration remains busy putting its team in place, and we look forward to its response.”

A White House spokesperson told Fox News they received the January letter and “are currently reviewing it.”

Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., reportedly also asked Vice President Mike Pence at the GOP retreat in Philadelphia if he would seek Koskinen’s resignation. According to the report, the vice president told the congressman he would look into the matter and follow up with him the next week.

SEKULOW: KOSKINEN SHOULD RESIGN

Neither DeSantis’ nor the VP’s office responded to Fox News’ request for comment on whether there was any follow-up.

But DeSantis issued a statement to Fox News saying: “The IRS will not be reformed under Koskinen’s leadership and I urge [Treasury] Secretary Mnuchin and President Trump to take action to replace Koskinen with someone willing to reform this troubled agency.”

An IRS spokesperson told Fox News, “The Commissioner remains focused on the important tax administration work being done at the IRS, including a successful start to the nation’s tax season.”

GOP angst toward Koskinen stems from claims he obstructed their investigation of the targeting of Tea Party and other conservative groups before he was commissioner. The matter culminated at the end of 2016, when the full House turned back an attempt to impeach him.

The controversy itself hasn’t died off. Judicial Watch said Wednesday that the IRS reported to a U.S. District Court that it located an “additional 6,924 documents of potentially responsive records” relating to the FOIA lawsuit on the targeting scandal.

Goodlatte said it’s “outrageous” that “years have gone by” and no one at the IRS has been held accountable for the targeting.

At the IRS, the commissioner serves a five-year term—this, after a statute was added in 1998 in a bid to maintain continuity for the American people throughout the tax season in the first year of a new presidency.

Koskinen’s term is set to end Nov. 13, unless the president were to remove him.

Charles Rossotti, an IRS commissioner under then-President Bill Clinton and the first to serve the five-year term, defended the importance of the statute — telling Fox News while the head of the IRS is a political appointee, he or she is only in charge of administering the tax code.

“If you’re going to run an agency as huge as the IRS, you need time and continuity to make improvements, so the distinction was made as an administrative leadership management position as opposed to a policy position,” Rossotti said, citing the “demanding” situation that surrounds the April tax deadline. “You really wouldn’t want to have no commissioner when the administration changes just two months before Americans file their returns.”

While Koskinen is a favorite target of congressional Republicans, he and Trump do have a history.

In 1975, when the future president reached an agreement to purchase New York’s Commodore Hotel from the bankrupt Penn Central Transportation Company, Koskinen handled the sale of the properties in his capacity as vice president of consulting firm the Palmieri Company, according to a New York Times article.

The purchase was one of Trump’s first major real estate deals.

Fox News asked the White House for comment on the president’s relationship with Koskinen. “We don’t comment on the President’s personal relationships,” a White House spokesperson responded in an email.

Republicans and conservative groups alike say it would be “frustrating” to keep Koskinen through the end of his term.

But Rossotti defended both Trump and Koskinen.

“When I did the transition to Bush, if someone had come to me and said, ‘look, we don’t want you here,’ I wouldn’t have stayed,” Rossotti said. “But anybody sensible would look at this situation and decide there are a lot of people who need to file their tax returns next month.”

*** Meanwhile..

Two Years Later, IRS Locates 6,924 Documents Related to Tea Party Targeting

Agency will not commit to a timeframe to make the documents public

FreeBeacon: The Internal Revenue Service has located 6,924 documents potentially related to the targeting of Tea Party conservatives, two years after the group Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for them.

The watchdog group intended to find records regarding how the IRS selected individuals and organizations for audits that were requesting nonprofit tax status.

The agency will not say when it will make the documents available to the public.

“At this time, the Service is unable to provide an estimate regarding when it will complete its review of the potentially responsive documents,” the agency said. “The Service will begin producing any non-exempt, responsive documents by March 10, 2017, and, if necessary, continue to produce non-responsive records on a bi-weekly basis.”

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, is calling on President Trump to clean house at the agency.

“The corruption at the IRS is astounding,” Fitton said in a statement. “Our attorneys knew that there were more records to be searched but the Obama IRS ignored this issue for years. President Trump needs to clean house at the IRS as quickly as possible.”

Jewish Center Bomb Threats Includes the US and UK

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In defense of the Trump White House, the media was on an early attack that Donald Trump did not speak out in a heartfelt voice in support of the Jewish centers enduring bomb threats and destruction to Jewish cemeteries. The media has not given any energy to deeper investigations beyond that of the arrest of Juan Thompson. Trump, Sean Spicer and Mike Pence all did.

Perhaps The Trump White House should float the trial balloon of listing the PA as a terror organization.

However, how big is this attack on Jewish centers and what is the genesis of it all?

Investigators say threats to Jewish groups in US and UK are linked

WASHINGTON: Scotland Yard and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating more than a hundred bomb threats made to Jewish groups in the United States and Britain since Jan. 7, U.S. and UK law enforcement and Jewish community officials said.

Investigators said there is evidence that some of the U.S. and British bomb threats are linked. According to people in both countries who have listened to recordings of the threats, most of the them have been made over the telephone by men and women with American accents whose voices are distorted by electronic scramblers.

Waves of threats against U.S. Jewish groups – including community centres, schools, and offices of national organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) civil rights group – have been followed within hours by similar but smaller waves against Jewish organizations, mainly schools, in Britain, Jewish community representatives in both countries said.

FBI officials in Washington confirmed that the agency is investigating the threats against U.S. Jewish organizations. Sources in Britain’s Jewish community said London’s Metropolitan Police, otherwise known as Scotland Yard, is conducting its own investigation and collaborating with the FBI.

Scotland Yard did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

Some of the most recent threats were called in Tuesday to ADL offices in Atlanta, Boston, New York, and Washington. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said President Donald Trump’s administration would “continue to condemn them and look at ways to stop them.”

NO BOMBS FOUND

The threats, 140 of them in the United States alone, according to Jewish community leaders, usually have involved callers claiming that improvised explosive devices have been placed outside the buildings that have been threatened.

However, no homemade bombs have been found outside any of the threatened premises in either the United States or the UK, community officials said.

Earlier this month, all 100 U.S. senators signed a letter to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director James Comey expressing concern that the wave of threats will put innocent people at risk and threaten the finances of Jewish institutions.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan filed charges against Juan Thompson, a former writer for the investigative website The Intercept, earlier this month alleging that he was responsible for at least eight threats emailed to Jewish community centres as “part of a sustained campaign to harass and intimidate” a woman with whom he had a romantic relationship.

The Intercept, a news website, had fired Thompson months earlier for allegedly fabricating quotes.

Jewish community officials in the United States and Britain said they think the threats that investigators linked to Thompson were not related to the larger campaign against Jewish organizations in their countries.

*** Did some of it begin with the money Obama gave to the Palestinian Authority? This is not confirmed by a long stretch yet it must be part of the discussion. Was this another set-up plot by the previous administration?

***

State Department: Obama money reached Palestinian Authority
State Department confirms that millions which Obama earmarked for PA reached its destination, despite Republican efforts to the contrary

One of the first decisions the Trump government took after becoming President was to freeze $220.3 million that his predecessor President Obama earmarked for the PA just before he left the White House.

However, the State Department has confirmed that Obama’s money has reached its destination. Acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner said last night (Wednesday) in a press briefing that the money was mostly for humanitarian purposes in the Palestinian Authority and Gaza, and in part used to pay Israeli creditors of the PA.

“None of the funding was to go directly to the Palestinian Authority,” stressed Toner in response to questions on the subject.

At the same time, Toner criticized the conduct of UNRWA: “UNRWA is obviously something where …we’ve been very vocal about our concerns given some of the allegations … some of UNRWA’s programs and how it’s spent or used some of its funding…we certainly made those concerns clear to UNRWA’s leadership.”

The disbursal was one of President Obama’s last acts in the White House, and it was approved just hours before the exchange of Presidents.

Congress authorized the transfer amount to the PA, but at least two Republican lawmakers acted to prevent the fund transfer, due to PA actions attempting to join UN organizations as a sovereign entity.

State Department officials said they decided to delay executing the transfer until the new Secretary of State entered office – and it was assured that any funds transfer was consistent with the priorities of the Trump government.

As of now, at least according to Toner’s testimony, the frozen money ultimately was transferred to the PA.

*** It is curious that the Palestinian Authority has 20 embassies including one in Washington DC. and they needed the money. Mahmood Abbas is worth an estimated $100 million and his sons are also millionaires. Meanwhile, the PA continues to provide aid and support to terrorists.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas vowed to “make every effort to end the suffering of our heroic brothers and release them from the occupation’s prisons so they can take part in building the homeland for which they sacrificed,” the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported on Wednesday.

***

A new Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) youth camp will be named after the terrorist who orchestrated the deadliest attack ever carried out in Israel.

The PLO’s Supreme Council for Youth and Sports announced it will honor Dalal Mughrabi, the female Palestinian behind the bloody March 11, 1978 Coastal Road Massacre, in which terrorists hijacked a bus on the highway near Tel Aviv and embarked on a rampage with Kalashnikov rifles, mortars, grenades and explosives. Thirty-eight Israeli civilians were murdered, including 13 children, and 71 others were wounded.

Kinda all fits, or at least the discussion needs to continue as do the investigations.

 

 

C’mon Trump, the IRGC IS a Terror Organization

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For a full report performed by European Iraqi Freedom Association on Iran’s Destructive Role in the Middle East, click here. In their report, EIFA alleges that the IRGC is “directly involved in the hidden occupation” of Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon and “meddling” in the internal affairs of at least eight countries, including Egypt, Bahrein, Jordan and Lebanon.

Revolutionary Guards Leading Iran’s Ballistic Missile Drive, Nuclear Weapons Program — Through Control Over Docks

Despite the United States placing the Iranian regime “on notice” for test-firing medium-range ballistic missiles in January, Tehran has taken no steps to change its behavior. Indeed, reports indicate that Iran test launched a new pair of ballistic missiles over the weekend.

New evidence was uncovered about the extent of control that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is leading the mullahs’ ballistic missile drive, parallel to the nuclear program and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, has over this.

In London on Tuesday, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held a press conference revealing that the IRGC has a growing grip over Iran’s key economic hubs. The NCRI cited intelligence gathered by sources linked to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) from inside the regime, particularly among the IRGC rank and file. The data obtained in recent months clearly proves the IRGC has full control over 90 docks, which amount to 45% of Iran’s total official number of 212 piers.

Image result for irgc

The IRGC began setting up these “Bahman Docks” in 1982, by order of regime founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The group was instructed to manage its activities outside the authority of any state supervision and beneath the proverbial radar of international institutions.

Over the years since then, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered the expansion of IRGC activity at these docks, and the further intertwining of the organization with the country’s economy. The main goal today, and previously, is to bypass international sanctions.

As a result, the IRGC now has complete control over Iran’s ground, sea and air borders, flooding the economy with a variety of imports without paying a single dollar in customs.

The IRGC has ports in Bandar Lengeh in Hormozgan Province, two docks in Abu Musa Island and another two in the Greater Tunb Island — among others.

Image result for irgc docks control

In addition to exporting arms to Middle East militias, the IRGC takes advantage of these docks to smuggle oil, gasoline, natural gas, chemical products, cigarettes, narcotics, alcoholic beverages, mobile phones and pharmaceuticals. The IRGC reportedly pockets an annual revenue of around $12 billion from importing and exporting illicit goods through the docks.

According to the NCRI, the IRGC has also established a number of front companies tasked specifically with transferring weapons caches through the docks. This flow of arms continues non-stop, with only a small percentage having been discovered and blocked by the international community in recent years. And all this is in addition to the colossal official budget the IRGC receives from Tehran.

The new revelation is but another reason for the international community to take firm and swift action against the IRGC.

***

These PMOI sources helped to identify three organizations – Admiral Group, Hafez Daya Arya and Valfajr – as shipping companies being used as fronts for smuggling weapons to other countries throughout the region, in particular, Yemen.

Since most Yemani docks are closed to Iranian ships, the IRGC’s shell companies began using ports in nearby Oman to smuggle weapons into Yemen. The PMOI alleges that they primarily used Soltan Qaboos Port in Muscat, Sohar Port in North Oman and Salalah Port in South Oman. For the rest of their operations, the guard is operating in ports in the Hormozgan and Bushehr Provinces  along the Persian Gulf, as well as, the Farsi and Faror Islands, the group charged. More here.

***

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported that the IRGC is using civilian passenger jets operated by the Iranian airline Mahan Air to transfer weapons to Syria and Yemen and also to bring back the bodies of fallen fighters as well as injured fighters requiring treatment.

“In October 2016, a knowledgeable source at the U.S. Treasury Department told AP that the U.S. was trying to convince the E.U. to cooperate with American steps to disrupt Mahan Air’s financial flows. Five years ago, America leveled sanctions on Mahan Air due to its close ties to the IRGC and allegations that it was transferring weapons to Syria and Yemen, but thus far, the E.U. has not complied with these sanctions. More here.

Does the White House Know ‘all’ about North Korea?

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Check your personal cell phone, who manufactured it… ZTE is the No. 4 smartphone vendor in the United States, selling handset devices to U.S. mobile carriers AT&T Inc (T.N), T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.O) and Sprint Corp (S.N).

Since 1995, the United States has provided North Korea with over $1.2 billion in assistance, of which about 60% has paid for food aid and about 40% for energy assistance. As of early March 2010, the United States is not providing any aid to North Korea, except for a small medical assistance program. The Obama Administration, along with the South Korean government, have said that they would be willing to provide large-scale aid if North Korea takes steps to irreversibly dismantle its nuclear program. The main vehicle for persuading Pyongyang to denuclearize is the Six-Party Talks, involving North Korea, the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia. The Talks have not met since late 2008.

North Korea did not militarily threaten the region until the Obama administration. Since, North Korea has taken exceptional steps in the realm of illicit activities, collusion, theft and shadow companies to finesse sanctions. China is essentially in the diplomatic field responsible for checks and balances on North Korea and once again is calling for a truce of sorts. This objective is not new and has failed each time.

Enter Japan, where the Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe who has been in contact with the White House is escalating responsive military actions against North Korea. This could lead to a much more hostile region. It seems that the recent missile launches coordinated with Iran are part of a mission to strike U.S. bases in the region. There are 3 of distinction, however the United States maintains additional joint locations.

Image result for us military bases in japan 2017 Image result for us military bases in japan 2017

Rattled by North Korean military advances, influential Japanese lawmakers are pushing harder for Japan to develop the ability to strike preemptively at the missile facilities of its nuclear-armed neighbor.

Japan has so far avoided taking the controversial and costly step of acquiring bombers or weapons such as cruise missiles with enough range to strike other countries, relying instead on its U.S. ally to take the fight to its enemies.

But the growing threat posed by Pyongyang, including Monday’s simultaneous launch of four rockets, is adding weight to an argument that aiming for the archer rather than his arrows is a more effective defense.

“If bombers attacked us or warships bombarded us, we would fire back. Striking a country lobbing missiles at us is no different,” said Itsunori Onodera, a former defense minister who heads a ruling Liberal Democratic Party committee looking at how Japan can defend against the North Korean missile threat. “Technology has advanced and the nature of conflict has changed.”

*** Meanwhile, as an indication of illicit activities and fraud, below is a sample.

China’s ZTE pleads guilty, settles with U.S. over Iran, North Korea sales

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp <000063.SZ> has agreed to pay $892 million and plead guilty to criminal charges for violating U.S. laws that restrict the sale of American-made technology to Iran and North Korea.

While a guilty plea deals a blow to ZTE’s reputation, the resolution could lift some uncertainty for a company that relies on U.S. suppliers for 25 percent to 30 percent of its components.

A five-year investigation found ZTE conspired to evade U.S. embargoes by buying U.S. components, incorporating them into ZTE equipment and illegally shipping them to Iran.

In addition, it was charged in connection with 283 shipments of telecommunications equipment to North Korea.

“ZTE Corporation not only violated export controls that keep sensitive American technology out of the hands of hostile regimes like Iran’s, they lied … about their illegal acts,” U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.

The investigation, spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Commerce, followed reports by Reuters in 2012 that ZTE had signed contracts to ship millions of dollars worth of hardware and software from some of the best-known U.S. technology companies to Iran’s largest telecoms carrier.

The Justice Department noted one Reuters article in its statement announcing the plea deal on Tuesday. The original report can be read here: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-telecoms-idUSBRE82L0B820120322.

The company’s guilty pleas, which must be approved by a judge, will take place in U.S. District Court in Texas. The Shenzhen-based company has a U.S. subsidiary in Richardson, Texas.

In March 2016, ZTE was placed on a list of entities that U.S. firm could not supply without a license. ZTE acted contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests, the Commerce Department said at the time.

ZTE purchases about $2.6 billion worth of components a year from U.S. technology companies, according to a company spokesman. Qualcomm (QCOM.O), Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Intel (INTC.O) are among its suppliers.

Items shipped in violation of U.S. export laws included routers, microprocessors and servers controlled under export regulations.

Authorities said executives at ZTE approved the scheme to prevent disclosure of the sales. The scheme included a data team that destroyed or sanitized materials involving ZTE’s Iran business after March 2012.

“Despite ZTE’s repeated attempts to thwart the investigation, the dogged determination of investigators uncovered damning evidence,” said Douglas Hassebrock, director of the Commerce Department office that led the investigation.

Last year, Commerce released internal documents showing senior ZTE executives instructing the company to carry out a project for dodging export controls in Iran, North Korea, Syria, Sudan and Cuba.

The company on Tuesday agreed to a seven-year suspended denial of export privileges, which could be activated if there are further violations. A denial order would bar the receipt of U.S. origin goods and technology.

The denial order is key to keeping ZTE in line, said Eric Hirschhorn, former Under Secretary at the Commerce Department, who was involved in the investigation.

“If the suspension is removed, they’ll probably be put out of business,” he said.

ZTE also agreed to three years of probation, a compliance and ethics program, and a corporate monitor.

The settlement includes a $661 million penalty to Commerce; $430 million in combined criminal fines and forfeiture; and $101 million paid to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The action marks OFAC’s largest-ever settlement with a non-financial entity.

ZTE also agreed to an additional penalty of $300 million to the U.S. Commerce Department that will be suspended during a seven-year term on the condition the company complies with requirements in the agreement.

In addition to being one of the world’s biggest telecommunications gear makers, ZTE is the No. 4 smartphone vendor in the United States, selling handset devices to U.S. mobile carriers AT&T Inc (T.N), T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.O) and Sprint Corp (S.N).

 

Fisherman Get Lawyers in Case Against Barack Obama

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Fisherman Complaint

In December 2016, President Obama established the first national marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean. Situated 150 miles southeast of Cape Cod, the designation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, protects 4,913 square miles of deep-water habitat. This designation phases out commercial fishing and prohibits other extractive activities such as mining and drilling. In his final week of office, Obama expanded the California Coastal National Monument protecting more than 20,000 rocks and small islands located off the California coastline. Originally designated by President Clinton in 2000, the site has already been expanded by Obama once, when he added Point Arena-Stornetta in Mendocino County in 2014. The California Monument, was expanded by 6,230 acres and includes protection of six new sites under Obama. More here.

*** Unwinding Obama’s presidential legacy one step at a time. Likely, there will not be a section in his new presidential library that will include the Northeast Canyons…

***

American Antiquities Act of 1906

16 USC 431-433

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who shall appropriate, excavate, injure, or destroy any historic or prehistoric ruin or monument, or any object of antiquity, situated on lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States, without the permission of the Secretary of the Department of the Government having jurisdiction over the lands on which said antiquities are situated, shall, upon conviction, be fined in a sum of not more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned for a period of not more than ninety days, or shall suffer both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court. Read more here.

Image result for Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument  CBS Boston

New England fishermen challenge Obama’s
marine national monument

Creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument exceeded the Antiquities Act, which authorizes monuments only on federal land, not the ocean

BOSTON, MA;  March 7, 2017: A coalition of New England fishermen organizations filed suit today over former President Barack Obama’s designation of a vast area of ocean as a national monument — a dictate that could sink commercial fishing in New England.

The organizations filing the lawsuit are the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s Association, Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, Rhode Island Fisherman’s Alliance, and Garden State Seafood Association.

They are represented, free of charge, by Pacific Legal Foundation, a watchdog organization that litigates nationwide for limited government, property rights, and a balanced approach to environmental regulations.

The lawsuit challenges President Obama’s September 15, 2016, creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, 130 miles off the coast of Cape Cod.

“By declaring over 5,000 square miles of ocean — an area the size of Connecticut — to be a national monument, President Obama set this entire area off-limits to most fishing immediately, with what remains of fishing opportunities to be phased out over the next few years,” said PLF attorney Jonathan Wood.  “This illegal, unilateral presidential action threatens economic distress for individuals and families who make their living through fishing, and for New England communities that rely on a vibrant fishing industry.”

A monumental abuse of presidential power

President Obama claimed to be relying on the federal Antiquities Act.  But as today’s lawsuit makes clear, his decree far exceeded the authority granted to presidents by that 1906 statute.  The Antiquities Act was enacted to protect ancient antiquities and human relics threatened by looting, giving the president broad powers to declare monuments consistent with that purpose.

However, the statute permits creation of national monuments only on “lands owned or controlled” by the federal government.  Moreover, any designation must be “confined to the smallest area” needed to protect the artifacts or objects that the monument is intended to safeguard.

“President Obama violated both of those core requirements of the law when he created the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument,” Wood noted.  “Most fundamentally, the ocean, where the monument is located, is not ‘land,’ nor is it federally owned or controlled.  The monument designation is also not confined to the smallest necessary area; on the contrary, its sprawling boundaries bear no relation to the underwater canyons and seamounts it is supposed to protect.  In short, the designation of a vast area of ocean as a national monument was a blatant abuse of presidential power.

“Unfortunately, the Antiquities Act has morphed into a favorite tool for presidents to abuse,” Wood continued.  “Today, presidents use it to place vast areas of federal lands off limits to productive use with little input.  Monument designations are particularly common at the end of a chief executive’s term, once the president can no longer be held accountable.

“Former President Obama was the king of Antiquities Act abuse, invoking it more times than any prior president and including vastly more area within his designations than any predecessor,” said Wood.  “Our lawsuit is intended to rein in abuse of the Antiquities Act and underscore that it is not a blank check allowing presidents to do whatever they want.  The creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is a clear example of a president exceeding his authority, and we are suing to make sure this edict is struck down and the rule of law prevails.”

No environmental justification

“Beyond its violation of the law, the monument designation also threatens to harm the environment by pushing fishermen to other, less sustainable fisheries, and increasing conflicts between their gear and whales,” said Wood.  “The president’s proclamation cites protection of coral as one of the reasons for the monument.  But the corals remain pristine after more than four decades of commercial fishing because fishermen know where the corals are, and carefully avoid them, out of environmental concern and because coral destroys their gear.

“Instead of punishing New England’s fishermen — and shutting down their businesses — federal officials should be acknowledging their positive role as stewards of the ocean’s environmental resources,” Wood added.  “This is shown in their laudable efforts to promote sustainability.  PLF’s clients, for instance, have spent years working to improve their methods and equipment and to retire excess fishing permits, knowing that these costly sacrifices will provide long-term benefits to their industry and the environment.  The monument designation undermines those sustainability efforts, by depriving the fishermen of any reward for their sacrifices.”

With a ‘stroke of the pen,’ Obama’s illegal action ‘puts men and women out of work’

“We are fighting every day to keep the men and women in the commercial fishing industry working, but with one stroke of President Obama’s pen — and his abuse of the Antiquities Act — they are out of work,” said Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association.

“The monument designation will have a negative rippling effect across the region as fishermen will have to search for new fishing grounds — only to find they are already being fished,” she said.  “The shoreside businesses will also feel the impacts, as fishermen have to go further and further to harvest their catch, leaving less funds to reinvest in their businesses.

“We are extremely grateful to have PLF at our side as we fight back against this legal travesty, which is causing so much hardship for the commercial fishing industry here in the Northeast.”