Author and legal scholar Jonathan Turley has once again displayed a bewildering relationship with factual dates. The basis of Turley’s latest chronological conundrum pertains to the Hunter Biden case, with him citing messages from 2018 involving “then vice president” Joe Biden—a year after Biden had already left office. His confusion over timelines didn’t end there, with Turley expressing bafflement that Trump’s January 6 trial might commence in January 2024, apparently forgetting an entire year had to pass before this could be a possibility.
The freshest cause of confusion, however, concerns the recent Michael Cohen news. Turley claimed that Judge William H. Pauley III— who passed away in 2021— had some harsh words for Cohen. A notable point to mention here, according to MeidasTouch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski’s tweet, is that it was actually Judge Jesse M. Furman who suggested Cohen’s past plea to Judge Pauley and Cohen’s 2023 testimony presented a double bind.
This particular error appears to be an odd one to make, considering Turley used a verbatim quote from the judge who confronted Cohen, stating the “two possibilities” of Cohen’s perjury. Further confounding the situation, is the fact that Turley referenced the deceased judge by his full name – William Henry Pauley III – information which is not common knowledge and likely required a search.
In response to the widespread coverage of this glaring mistake, Turley has since deleted the post. This isn’t the first instance of Turley’s tangled timelines attracting attention, with previous cases demonstrating a consistent struggle with understanding and accurately articulating events in the correct chronological order.