Pretexts

But they keep using human rights and freedom of speech as pretexts, asserting that these organizations have not committed any crime within their territories,” the memo says.

For Republicans, the investigations into Clarence Thomas and his friendship with Harlan Crow, a Texas billionaire, are just pretexts for an attack on the legitimacy of the Supreme Court.

Russian president Vladimir Putin offers familiar, insultingly spurious pretexts to international press conferences, the well-worn “pre-emptive strike” analysis.

Ayala says she believes he was looking for pretexts to evict her.

He’s ordering punitive prosecution of Azzopardi on the flimsiest of pretexts.

In discrimination cases, courts look for pretexts.

The job that the fraudster offered him was a dating job with high returns and fooled the trader to make payments to him under different pretexts.

The US has covered their terrorist acts by false humanitarian pretexts, but all in vain, as the truth of their terrorism was eventually revealed through field facts on the ground.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington denounced the visa action and said the US accusations on human rights violations were "made-up pretexts" for interfering in China's affairs.

They would set up an appointment with an identified victim under false pretexts.

It was just silly things at first: staring at me, touching me under the slimmest of pretexts.

They look for pretexts to attack Muslims and target their economy and livelihoods.

Abrams offered to "cooperate" with the investigators, but always failed to do so on various pretexts.

It seems that the king was skillful at extracting money from his subjects on many pretexts including that of war with France or war with Scotland.

Rather, he combined it with legal pretexts in his efforts to augment the boundaries of his kingdom.

Tacitus, The Annals, I 9 According to the second opposing opinion: filial duty and national crisis had been merely pretexts.

The "rejection" of the German proposal was one of the pretexts used for the German aggression against Poland on 1 September 1939.

Whistleblowers may also be disciplined, suspended and reported to professional bodies upon manufactured pretexts.