CBS senior contributor Ted Koppel joined Alice down the rabbit hole during Sunday Morning as he spent his over 10-minute segment spinning a crackpot conspiracy theory which claimed President Trump was getting ready to activate so-called “Presidential Emergency Action Documents” or PEADs. The activation of these secret documents, according to Koppel and his cast of lefty loons, would allow Trump to “suspend our constitution,” stripping away all our rights ahead of the election. One loon said it was the “blueprint to dictatorship.”
Koppel began his segment by playing clips of Trump bombastically bragging about his powers as president. Trump’s vague pontifications gave Koppel just the footing he needed to hold up his conspiracy theory. “We can't know for sure, but what the President appears to have been referring to are his Presidential Emergency Action Documents, often referred to as PEADs,” he told viewers.
The segment then looked to former Senator Gary Hart (D-CO) to explain how the secret documents Trump was supposedly alluding to were “based on the research, is suspension of the Constitution, basically. And that's what's worrying, particularly on the eve of the national election.”
Elizabeth Goitein, of the leftist Brennan Center, told Koppel that PEADs were “essentially presidential orders that are drafted in anticipation of a range of hypothetical worst-case scenarios,” and that they began in the Eisenhower administration. They covered “things like martial law, and the suspension of habeas corpus, and the roundup and detention of no suspected of any crime.”
Of course, the liberals were only concerned about PEADs now that Trump was president. This was obvious with Koppel’s interview with David Cole of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) (Click “expand”):
DAVID COLE (ACLU): I think I know as much about the PEADs as any other American citizen, which is almost nothing at all.
KOPPEL: David Cole is national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. And he is concerned about the vast array of presidential emergency powers that we know about. Under the national emergencies act of 1976 alone, the president can declare a national emergency just by signing a proclamation.
COLE: We've got a president, who in his first week in office essentially declared ban Muslims from coming into the country. More recently, declared a widely understood to be a fake emergency in order to build a border wall when Congress told him they would not give him the funds to create a border wall, and most recently, has declared he may need to delay the election, which would be an emergency authority that doesn’t even exist. So, I think you have to be very concerned.
To ratchet up the panic a bit, Koppel introduced viewers to UC Berkley law professor John Yoo, who “while serving at the Justice Department after 9/11, he drafted the memo that justified the use of enhanced investigation of terrorism suspects.”
After Yoo noted that he and his old DOJ office would review the legality of PEADs, Koppel ominously warned: “Just a couple of weeks ago, Professor Yoo was at the White House discussing executive power with President Trump.”
Koppel soon followed up with a clip of Goitein stoking fear of what the Trump administration was doing in the shadows to take over America:
These PEADs undergo periodic revision. And we know that the Justice Department is in the middle of one of these periodic reviews and revisions. So, we have to imagine what the Trump administration might be doing with these documents and what authorities this administration might be trying to give itself.
While Koppel would admit that Yoo was fine with select members of Congress being brief on the PEADs, Koppel leaned on Hart for the theatrics. “I want them public because they reflect the freedom and liberty and rights of every American citizen. I can’t say it any better. This is a blueprint for dictatorship,” Hart declared.
And as he wrapped up his segment, Koppel edited Hart’s warnings around a soundbite of the President, the clip was Trump declaring the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency (Click “expand”):
HART: This goes to the core of our country and our founding. And if there is what amounts to the capability to suspend our constitution, that's not just another issue. That's serious.
TRUMP (with COVID Task Force): To unleash the full power of the federal government through this effort today, I am officially declaring a national emergency.
HART: Keep in mind--
TRUMP: Two very big words.
HART: -- the current incumbent President has declared seven national emergencies, and he has stated, repeatedly, that he has more power than most people know about.
The situation was apparently so dire that both Hart and Koppel shared a laugh at the end.
This attempt to whip up the public into a hysteria against Trump was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Sleep Number, Allegra, and Febreze. Their contact information is linked if you want to tell them about what they’re funding. You could also contact CBS at this number: (212) 975-4321.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Sunday Morning
August 16, 2020
9:06:40 a.m. EasternJANE PAULEY: The President of the United States is often called the most powerful person on Earth. But where do those powers begin and end? A question for senior contributor Ted Koppel to consider.
[Cuts to video]
KOPPEL: The power of the president is enormous.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have the absolute right to declare a national emergency.
KOPPEL: And this president is not bashful in describing powers that go well beyond simple declarations.
TRUMP: The authority is total, and that's the way it has got to be.
KOPPEL: There are, it's true, some restraints on most presidential authority, but those might not apply to all of the president’s powers.
TRUMP: I have the right to do a lot of things that people don't even know about.
KOPPEL: We can't know for sure, but what the President appears to have been referring to are his Presidential Emergency Action Documents, often referred to as PEADs. Former Senator Gary hart.
GARY HART: Even though I've had security clearances for the better part of 50 years, and then in and out of national security matters during that half-century, I had never heard of these secret powers.
KOPPEL: Do you know what they are, now that you've heard of them?
HART: Only vaguely, due to research done at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School. What these secret powers are, apparently, based on the research, is suspension of the Constitution, basically. And that's what's worrying, particularly on the eve of the national election.
ELIZABETH GOITEIN (The Brennan Center): These are essentially presidential orders that are drafted in anticipation of a range of hypothetical worst-case scenarios.
KOPPEL: The Brennan Center research that Senator Hart referred to has been spearheaded by Elizabeth Goitein, the co-director of its national security program and a contributing writer at the Atlantic.
Several times during his administration, President Trump has made illusions to secret powers that he has that we don't know about. Is he making that up?
GOITEIN: Well...not exactly. And what’s alarming about that is that no one really knows what the limit of those claimed of authorities might be because they're often developed and kept in secret.
KOPPEL: Elizabeth Goitein says what little we do know about PEADs comes from references to them in other documents, some of which are now declassified.
GOITEIN: They originated in the Eisenhower administration, as part of an effort to try to plan for potential Soviet nuclear attack. But since then, they've expanded to address other types of emergencies as well. No presidential emergency action document has ever been released or even leaked, not even Congress has access to them. Which is pretty extraordinary when you consider that even the most highly classified, covert, military and intelligence operations have to be reported to at least eight members of Congress. The gang of eight.
KOPPEL: So, you’re saying they are not consulting with Congress?
GOITEIN: Exactly. Congress is not aware of what’s in these documents, and from public sources, we know at least in the past, these documents have purported to do things that are not permitted by the constitution, things like martial law, and the suspension of habeas corpus, and the roundup and detention of no suspected of any crime.
HART: The reason these documents are secret is, for 11 administrations, people in power did not want to frighten the American people or to demonstrate what might happen to their constitutional rights and liberties.
KOPPEL: And keep going. And you're saying what they're for.
HART: Well, these -- every administration, including Democratic administrations, has revised and updated these powers. And I started contacting friends of mine, of both parties, who had been in senior positions, and I got two responses -- or one response, which is: I never heard of these powers. And these are people in senior cabinet positions. Or I got no response at all. And it was the no response at all from people I knew that began to worry me because they're not only is secrecy around these powers, there is a mystery around the secrecy.
KOPPEL: Tell me what you know about these PEADs.
DAVID COLE (ACLU): I think I know as much about the PEADs as any other American citizen, which is almost nothing at all.
KOPPEL: David Cole is national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. And he is concerned about the vast array of presidential emergency powers that we know about. Under the national emergencies act of 1976 alone, the president can declare a national emergency just by signing a proclamation.
COLE: We've got a president, who in his first week in office essentially declared ban Muslims from coming into the country. More recently, declared a widely understood to be a fake emergency in order to build a border wall when Congress told him they would not give him the funds to create a border wall, and most recently, has declared he may need to delay the election, which would be an emergency authority that doesn’t even exist. So, I think you have to be very concerned.
KOPPEL: Which brings us back to those mysterious Presidential Emergency Action Documents.
Tell me about those PEADs. You're the only person I have met so far who will even admit to knowing what the hell they are and having seen one.
JOHN YOO: Really?
KOPPEL: Yes, really.
John Yoo is a law professor at the University of California Berkeley. While serving at the Justice Department after 9/11, he drafted the memo that justified the use of enhanced investigation of terrorism suspects.
Just to reassure our viewers just a little bit John, you've seen these PEADs?
YOO: I am not allowed to say whether I have or not.
KOPPEL: Let me put it this way: You were at the Justice Department; presumably the Justice Department would’ve had to deal with these PEADs if a president wanted to implement one?
YOO: Yes, that’s fair. The Justice Department and the office I worked in would review the legality of the PEADs because they would draw on presidential powers and congressional powers delegated to him.
KOPPEL: Just a couple of weeks ago, Professor Yoo was at the White House discussing executive power with President Trump.
YOO: Because you never know what the emergency is going to be. So, these PEADs and similar contingency planning documents, when we look back historically at them, sometimes they seem comic.
KOPPEL: The notion that there are executive powers, based on something that has never been vetted by Congress, giving the president almost limitless powers to do what he needs to do in the event of a crisis, that's not funny to me. That's scary.
YOO: Forgive me, I don't mean this whole question as comic. You are right, Ted, there’s dangers to that. And we’ve seen in our history where presidents have gone too far. I guess, there’s a balance, and I guess the founders, they balanced in favor of giving the president that kind of ability to face emergencies, even understanding that a bad intentioned president might abuse those powers.
GOITEIN: These PEADs undergo periodic revision. And we know that the Justice Department is in the middle of one of these periodic reviews and revisions. So, we have to imagine what the Trump administration might be doing with these documents and what authorities this administration might be trying to give itself.
YOO: That's why the framers created the presidency, because it could act quickly. I would want President Obama or President Biden to respond quickly to a hurricane or a terrorist attack just I would want President Trump too.
KOPPEL: That's fairly benign, John. But what if what the president was planning to do was the suspension of habeas corpus, how would you feel about it then?
YOO: I’d be the first to admit that in emergencies the executive branch can make mistakes. And that is sometimes the price of swift action. Congress is more likely to get things right, the founders thought that, but Congress is too large and too slow to act decisively.
KOPPEL: Having said that, Professor Yoo would be comfortable giving a few, select members of Congress classified access to the secret PEADs. Gary Hart doesn't think that goes far enough.
HART: I want them public because they reflect the freedom and liberty and rights of every American citizen. I can’t say it any better. This is a blueprint for dictatorship. Now, I think the more attention it gets, the less likely those in power are going to use them.
KOPPEL: We have so much publicity, Senator Hart. We have so many different voices being raised in anger, in outrage, in fury. I'm not sure what a few more voices, raising an issue like this, what impact that's going to have.
HART: This goes to the core of our country and our founding. And if there is what amounts to the capability to suspend our constitution, that's not just another issue. That's serious.
TRUMP (with COVID Task Force): To unleash the full power of the federal government through this effort today, I am officially declaring a national emergency.
HART: Keep in mind--
TRUMP: Two very big words.
HART: -- the current incumbent President has declared seven national emergencies, and he has stated, repeatedly, that he has more power than most people know about.
KOPPEL: And you find that frightening?
HART: I will not reverse the question. [Laughter]
KOPPEL: [Laughter] All right.
