Experts in the News

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WBUR

How Presidents Use Distractions To Get Things Done

The same night Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas, President Trump signed a directive banning transgender people from serving in the military. Historians Brian Balogh (@historyfellow) and Nathan Connolly (@ndbconnolly) tell Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson that presidents have often made controversial moves while public attention is focused elsewhere.
Brian Balogh
The Atlantic

The Bruising Experience of Testifying Before a Grand Jury

Investigations like these “are profoundly damaging to the good order and proper functioning of a working White House,” as Russell Riley put it in May. They serve as a grave distraction to all involved, whether inside or outside of an administration, keeping them from their normal work and chipping away at morale.
Russell Riley
PRI

LBJ's War: Parting the Curtains

For fifteen months, LBJ kept the country largely in the dark about the Vietnam War. Then, in February ’66, the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and its chairman William Fulbright, administered a strong dose of sunlight. Marc Selverstone is interviewed.
Marc Selverstone
Washington Examiner

Government watchdog says Ben Carson did not violate Hatch Act with Trump rally speech

A government watchdog has cleared Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson of an alleged Hatch Act violation following his August appearance at President Trump's campaign-style rally in Phoenix. Responding to a complaint from former Deputy Secretary of Labor Chris Lu, the Office of Special Counsel said in a statement Monday that, while Carson was introduced as "Secretary of Housing and Urban Development" by a White House official, his speech at the Aug. 22 rally did not violate the law.
Chris Lu
Government Executive

HUD Chief Carson Didn’t Violate Hatch Act at Trump Rally, Watchdog Finds

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson did not violate the Hatch Act when he was introduced in his official capacity during an August rally for President Trump, the Office of Special Counsel has determined. Carson was introduced at the Arizona rally by a White House staffer, and did not give this staffer permission to use his official title or know of the plan ahead of time, OSC said in a Sept. 11 email to Chris Lu, the senior fellow at the Miller Center and former Obama administration official who filed the complaint about the possible violation.
Chris Lu