{"id":2230317,"date":"2024-04-25T17:06:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T21:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-doj-says-droning-american-citizens-is-totally-fine-because-obamas-doj-said-so\/"},"modified":"2024-04-25T17:09:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T21:09:11","slug":"biden-doj-says-droning-american-citizens-is-totally-fine-because-obamas-doj-said-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-doj-says-droning-american-citizens-is-totally-fine-because-obamas-doj-said-so\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden&#8217;s DOJ Approves Drone Strikes on American Citizens Based on Obama&#8217;s Precedent"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-doj-says-droning-american-citizens-is-totally-fine-because-obamas-doj-said-so%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2230317&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Biden \u200bDepartment of Justice defended <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/president-biden-to-announce-plan-to-pull-all-us-troops-from-afghanistan-by-september-11\/\" title=\"President Biden To Announce Plan To Pull All US Troops From Afghanistan By September 11\">drone strikes<\/a> on American citizens based on Obama&#8217;s DOJ\u2064 stance before\u2064 the Supreme\u200d Court. Special counsel Jack\u200b Smith\u200c accused former\u200d President Donald Trump, advocating for jail time over election result questioning.\u200c Justice Kavanaugh raised\u200d inquiries about presidential power scope, including Obama&#8217;s drone strikes, stressing DOJ&#8217;s careful\u2064 legal analysis to ensure presidential compliance with laws.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<figure>                         <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Biden\u2019s Department of Justice (DOJ) argued Thursday before the Supreme Court that droning American citizens is permissible because Obama\u2019s DOJ said so, whereas questioning election results isn\u2019t OK because the government also says so. <\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court heard arguments on the scope of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-kyle-rittenhouse-could-sue-media-outlets-for-defamation\/\" title=\"Report: Kyle Rittenhouse Could Sue Media Outlets for Defamation\">presidential immunity<\/a> after special counsel Jack Smith alleged that former President Donald Trump should be tossed in jail for questioning the administration of the 2020 election. <\/p>\n<p>Justice Brett Kavanaugh <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/oral_arguments\/argument_transcripts\/2023\/23-939_l5gm.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">posed a series of hypotheticals<\/a> to DOJ attorney Michael Dreeben about the scope of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/21-states-file-lawsuit-against-biden-to-overturn-controversial-canceling-of-keystone-xl-pipeline\/\" title=\"21 States File Lawsuit Against Biden To Overturn Controversial Canceling Of Keystone XL Pipeline\">presidential authority<\/a>, asking whether Gerald Ford\u2019s pardon of Richard Nixon in 1976 could have been investigated for obstruction of justice \u201con the theory that [Ford was] interfering with the investigation of Richard Nixon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dreeben suggested that particular case would fall under \u201cpresidential responsibilities that Congress cannot regulate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow about President Obama\u2019s drone strikes?\u201d Kavanaugh asked. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo the Office of Legal Counsel looked at this very carefully and determined that, number one, the federal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/furious-police-sound-off-after-women-convicted-in-slaying-of-19-year-old-are-released-early\/\" title=\"Angry cops express outrage as women involved in 19-year-old's murder are released prematurely\">murder statute<\/a> does apply to the executive branch,\u201d Dreeben said. \u201cThe president wasn\u2019t personally carrying out the strike, but the aiding and abetting laws are broad, and it determined that a public authority exception that\u2019s built into statutes and that applied particularly to the murder statute, because it talks about unlawful killing, did not apply to the drone strike.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo this is actually the way that the system should function. The Department of Justice takes criminal law very seriously,\u201d Dreeben continued. \u201cIt runs it through the analysis very carefully with established principles. It documents them. It explains them. And then the president can go forward in accordance with it. And there is no risk of prosecution for that course of activity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/25\/alito-criminalizing-close-election-contests-would-destabilize-entire-foundation-of-american-democracy\/\">[READNEXT:[READNEXT:<strong> <\/strong>Alito: Criminalizing Close Election Contests Would Destabilize Entire Foundation Of American Democracy]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In other words, Obama could not be charged for his use of more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebureauinvestigates.com\/stories\/2017-01-17\/obamas-covert-drone-war-in-numbers-ten-times-more-strikes-than-bush\/#:~:text=Obama%20embraced%20the%20US%20drone,to%2057%20strikes%20under%20Bush.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">560 drone strikes<\/a> that murdered somewhere between 384 and 807 civilians because his own DOJ cleared him to do so. <\/p>\n<p>Obama\u2019s Attorney General Eric Holder <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.nytimes.com\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2013\/05\/23\/us\/politics\/23holder-drone-lettter.html\">admitted<\/a> to Congress that at least four Americans were murdered by the drone strikes. Three of the four were \u201cnot specifically targeted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-bans-affirmative-action-in-ruling-against-race-conscious-college-admissions\/\" title=\"Supreme Court outlaws affirmative action in college admissions based on race.\">conservative justices expressed skepticism<\/a> about the lack of presidential immunity throughout oral arguments, with Justice Samuel Alito saying a president would be in a \u201cpeculiarly precarious position\u201d if he had to worry about being indicted for actions taken while in office. <\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s lawyer, D. John Sauer, argued that \u201cwithout presidential immunity from criminal prosecution, there can be no presidency as we know it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor 234 years of American history, no president was ever prosecuted for his official acts,\u201d Sauer argued. \u201cIf a president can be charged, put on trial and imprisoned for his most controversial decisions as soon as he leaves office, that looming threat will distort the president\u2019s decision-making precisely when bold and fearless action is most needed.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-image data-amount=\"5\">\n<h2>Popular<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Biden&#8217;s DOJ defends drone strikes on US citizens, citing Obama&#8217;s precedent. The Supreme Court reviews presidential immunity amid Jack Smith&#8217;s claims against Donald Trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2230318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/16047251189_f97d4aeaf4_k-e1714076531911.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2230317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/16047251189_f97d4aeaf4_k-e1714076531911.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2230317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2230318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2230317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2230317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2230317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}