|
Banned
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by djtestudo
I'm not exactly sure what the problem is here. Bush consulted an attorney, who also represented Ken Lay and someone from Iran-Contra?
|
That damn "liberal" press....always out to "get" Bush.....
It's about "access", folks. This White House will see to it that journalists who do their jobs and ask more than soft ball questions, get no access....as in the example of Helen Thomas....
Quote:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200507080006
Posted to the web on Friday July 8, 2005 at 6:04 PM EST
Plamegate: Why won't the White House press corps ask about Rove's role?
Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser known as "Bush's Brain," has become increasingly tangled up in the investigation into who outed CIA operative Valerie Plame. But the White House press corps has yet to ask a single question about Rove during any of the four White House press briefings held since Rove's lawyer admitted that Rove was a source for a reporter to whom information about Plame was leaked, as Think Progress has noted.
|
Quote:
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/07/08/corps-silent-6/
Posted by Judd July 8, 2005 1:32 pm Filed Under: Media, Ethics
Day 6: WH Press Corps Silent on Rove
The White House just released the transcript of today’s Gaggle.
For the fourth straight time since his lawyer admitted that Rove was one of Matt Cooper’s sources, no member of the White House press corps asked a question about Rove’s role. (And there are plenty of questions to ask.)
A major figure in the White House is deeply entangled in a major scandal. Why is the White House press corps ignoring the story?
|
The curious things about this story are that Scott McClellan seemed upset by routine questions from reporters as to who James Sharp is and when he was retained to represent Bush. With the latest developments, Sharp's name should at least be mentioned in current press coverage, but it is not, and neither is Bush's June 24, 2004 "interview" with prosecutor Fitzgerald. If the press is "liberal as charged", the news that Bush and Ken Lay are represented by the same D.C. criminal defense lawyer would be reported relentlessly, if nothing else, to embarass Bush.
Bush and his advisors, just five months before last year's election, did not need the media associating Bush with Sharp's previous clients, but the press did even not bother to give the story "Runaway Bride", or "missing white girl in Aruba" style coverage.
There is a reason that has not been disclosed as to why Bush selected nearly anoymous attorney Jim Sharp, especially with the Lay "connection" and the consideration that it is easy to predict that Sharp would be associated with his past clients, Iran Contra figure Richard Secord, and Watergate defendant
and Nixon aid, Jeb Stuart McGruder. Why is Sharp so "low key"? How did Kem Lay and Bush and Secord, for that matter, even know to retain his services?
Where is the press? Where were they when this story broke, 13 months ago?
Here is more on private presidential counsel, James E. Sharp:
Quote:
http://web.archive.org/web/200406211...04ramares.html
Who is James Sharp and why is George W. Bush talking to him?
By Kéllia Ramares
Online Journal Associate Editor
June 14, 2004—The White House revealed recently that George W. Bush has spoken with a private attorney about the criminal probe into the leak of an undercover CIA operative's name.
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said Bush would probably retain attorney Jim Sharp of Washington D.C., if he thinks he needs the lawyer's advice while a Federal grand jury investigates the leak of the name of Valerie Plame as a CIA covert operative. Bush is not believed to be a target of the probe, but he anticipates being questioned about the leak.
Plame was identified as CIA by veteran Washington journalist Robert Novak. He said her name was leaked to him by two senior administration officials. Plame is the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.
In February 2002, Wilson went to Niger to investigate the claim that Niger sold yellowcake uranium to Iraq. Wilson found no credible evidence of such a sale. Documents concerning such a sale were crude forgeries. Nevertheless, on January 29, 2003, in his State of the Union Address, George W. Bush said, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Wilson believes that the leak concerning his wife was retaliation for his unwillingness to back the White House's Niger-Iraq claims.
Where's the White House Counsel?
Bush spoke to a private attorney and not a White House counsel because there is no attorney-client privilege between a president and a White House counsel that allows the counsel to withhold information from a Federal grand jury.
In 1997, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the case In re: Grand Jury Subpoena Duces Tecum that "the White House may not use [a governmental attorney-client] privilege to withhold potentially relevant information from a federal grand jury." In 1998, the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals said in the case In re: Bruce Lindsey that "a government attorney may not invoke the attorney-client privilege in response to grand jury questions seeking information relating to the possible commission of a federal crime." Both cases were brought by then-Independent Counsel Ken Starr. The first related to his Whitewater investigation, the second to Monica Lewinsky.
Why Jim Sharp?
A search, earlier this month, of the Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory through its Lawyer Locator search engine showed the entries for Sharp and his law firm were totally barebones. (Legal directories are like telephone directories; they publish the information given to them by their listees). Placing Sharp's name and city in the search engine, turned up James E. Sharp of Washington, DC, and the firm Sharp and Associates. According to this entry, Sharp was born in 1940, received his B.S. from the University of Arizona, received his law degree from the University of Oklahoma, and was admitted to the bar in 1965. There were no indications of where Jim Sharp was admitted to the bar. Many attorneys are admitted in multiple jurisdictions. Sharp did not list any awards, publications or memberships in prestigious professional associations. Nor did he list any practice specialties.
The entry states that Sharp is "Rated AV," which is a Martindale-Hubbell legal ability and general ethical standards rating. An AV rating means "a lawyer has reached the height of professional excellence. He or she has usually practiced law for many years, and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity."
The personal entry had no street address, email address, phone or fax number for the firm. One has to search the Lawyer Locator by firm and then all that turns up is the street address, K Street N.W., a street famous as the home of businesses catering to government officials. None of the "Associates" of Sharp & Associates were listed in the firm entry.
The West Legal Directory, which is where legal columnist John Dean of Findlaw.com got his information, contains the firm's phone and fax number as well as an email address. It also does not list any "Associates" for Sharp and Associates. The practice area WLD lists for James E. Sharp is a rather strange one given the situation that has brought his name to media attention; it's estate planning. That's wills and trusts and setting up college funds for the grandkids. It's not about what to say if you are questioned by a Federal criminal grand jury probing the leak of a CIA covert operative's name. Why turn to an obscure estate planner for advice about a criminal grand jury?
Is James E. Sharp Really an Estate Planner?
Other sources paint Sharp as an excellent trial lawyer, with a white collar crime practice, a private person but one whose accomplishments are well known to older Washington, DC, lawyers. Articles in the New York Times on June 3 by Eric Lichtblau and David E. Sanger and on June 5 by Michael Janofsky, plus a transcript of the June 3 CNNﾒs American Morning with senior legal analyst Jim Toobin, paint the following portrait of Sharp's legal career:
He began practicing law in Navy JAG and also served as assistant US District Attorney for the District of Columbia. In about four decades of law practice, he has represented Richard Nixon friend Bebe Rebozo, Nixon advisor Jeb Stuart McGruder during the Watergate scandal, and Gen. Richard V. Secord during Iran-Contra. Sharp has also numbered former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay and author Clifford Irving among his clients. Maybe that's where the estate planning comes in. Despite the list of well-known Republican clients, his political donations go mostly to Democrats, including the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry.
Janofsky's article quotes attorney Richard Hibey, a friend of Sharp's describing Sharp as " . . . publicity averse. To do the kind of work we do, it's important to stay out of the limelight."
And What Kind of Work Would that Be?
Hibey's own resume gives a clue. He joined the Washington D.C. law firm of Miller and Chevalier, Chartered, in September of 2002. The Miller Chevalier press release announcing the addition of Hibey to their litigation department noted that Hibey has represented "Ferdinand Marcos, former President of the Philippines; Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard; and Iran-Contra figure Clair George, who was the CIA's espionage chief." The press release does not mention Hibey's failure to object to the imposition of a life sentence against Pollard, in violation of his plea agreement.
The Miller Chevalier press release also states that "Mr. Hibey has represented a number of high profile clients in cases ranging from espionage, human rights violations, RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations], and other white collar crimes to complex civil matters."
International law Prof. Francis Boyle, of the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign does not know Jim Sharp personally. But he wonders if Sharp has a very special type of law practice:
"There is sort of a CIA bar out there as it were," Boyle says. "That is, lawyers who have worked for the CIA in the past or have been CIA agents, either covertly or overtly or whatever. And oftentimes, they are the ones called upon to engage in legal matters related to the CIA, either when they are defending a CIA agent or when the CIA is somewhat involved.
"It's sort of a very small clique of lawyers there in Washington, D.C. with expertise when it comes to the CIA, covert operations and things of that matter.
"One thing we know about both Presidents Bush is that they are CIA. President Bush, Sr., of course, Director of the CIA . . . As for President Bush, Jr., we do know, it was reported in the New York Times, that Bush Sr. sent him out to work for a CIA front organization for a summer. I think it was up in Alaska. So it does not surprise me that Bush Jr. went to a lawyer, an unknown lawyer, who represented Secord, who again is probably tied into the CIA somewhere.
"And, as you know, this investigation does involve the leaking and public identification of the name of a CIA agent, which is a felony under the United States law. So the CIA is shot through this whole thing and it wouldn't surprise me if Bush got a lawyer who might have ties to the CIA."
Is James E. Sharp Part of the "CIA Bar?"
We may never know. But it is a safe bet that George W. Bush has consulted with this private criminal defense attorney and private man to discuss the old Watergate question, "What did the president know and when did he know it?"
|
Quote:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=A+T...b-t&fl=0&x=wrt
A Top Lawyer Who Kept Out of the Limelight, Until Now
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY NY Times
Published: June 5, 2004
Correction Appended
WASHINGTON, June 4 - James E. Sharp, the lawyer President Bush intends to hire if he is questioned in the case involving the disclosure of a C.I.A. officer's identity, may be one of the best lawyers in Washington the public has never heard of.
He is also a contributor to several Democrats, including John Kerry's presidential campaign.
In a legal career spanning nearly four decades, Mr. Sharp, who is 63, has represented his share of high-profile clients, including an author (Clifford Irving), a presidential friend (Bebe Rebozo), a presidential adviser (Jeb Stuart Magruder), a senator accused of bribery (Daniel B. Brewster of Maryland), a Filipino general (Fabian C. Ver) accused of murdering the president of his country and a fallen corporate leader (Kenneth Lay).
Advertisement
But unlike some lawyers attracted to fame through publicity, Mr. Sharp has remained well below the radar screen of Washington celebrity.
"He's an absolutely superb trial lawyer, but as good as it he is, he's a very private guy," said Tom Mills, managing partner of the Washington office of the law firm, Winston & Strawn, where Mr. Sharp worked several years ago. "From the president's standpoint, he was a superb choice. From Jim's standpoint, he probably loves the client but hates that he raises his profile."
Richard A. Hibey, a lawyer at Miller & Chevalier and a friend of Mr. Sharp's since they served together as assistant United States attorneys for the District of Columbia, said: "Jim's just publicity averse. To do the kind of work we do, it's important to stay out of the limelight."
Mr. Sharp did not return a call seeking comment. Nor did his son, Jess, who works for the Bush administration's Domestic Policy Council.
Mr. Sharp's former colleagues said they did not believe that he and Mr. Bush knew each other before Mr. Bush sought him out as a potential lawyer in the spy matter. A grand jury is investigating who disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame, a C.I.A. undercover officer, to Robert D. Novak, a syndicated columnist.
But they were certain that Mr. Sharp's reputation as an effective lawyer, rather than any political considerations, led the president to seek him out. Indeed, donor records indicate that Mr. Sharp has given money to many more Democrats than Republicans.
Federal records show that over the last 12 months, he has contributed to Democratic Senators Tom Daschle of South Dakota, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray of Washington, Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey and Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Mr. Sharp also gave to the presidential campaigns of Representative Richard A. Gephardt and Mr. Kerry.
The only Republican benefactor during the same period was Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, a former Democrat.
Mr. Sharp, however, has been entirely nonpolitical in giving his time and expertise. During the Watergate scandal of the 1970's, Mr. Sharp represented Mr. Magruder, the deputy director of President Richard M. Nixon's re-election campaign who was charged with obstruction of justice and was sentenced to four years in prison. He served less than a year.
Mr. Magruder was so appreciative of Mr. Sharp's counsel that he thanked him with an acknowledgement at the beginning of his 1974 book "An American Life: One Man's Road To Watergate."
"He was a great guy and a great attorney," Mr. Magruder said from Columbus, Ohio, where he is a Presbyterian minister and consultant to churches and schools. He recalled the early days of the Watergate investigation when his cover story was that the $250,000 he was given for break-in activities was "to protect the convention against antiwar protestors."
"I told that to the prosecutors, the grand jury and to Judge Sirica," he said, referring to Judge John J. Sirica, who presided over the first Watergate trials. "Sharp came over to my office and said, 'Jeb, that's a wonderful story, but if anything's not true, do you know how perjury works?' I told him not really."
Mr. Magruder continued: "He told me, 'Every time you tell a story under oath, that's five years. I'm sure your story is accurate, but go home and check it out.' I went home and got up to 80, times 5. That was 400 years. I called him the next day and said. 'Maybe we need to talk.' ''
Mr. Sharp, a native of Oklahoma, received his bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona and his law degree from the University of Oklahoma law school. He began his legal career as a Navy JAG and led an investigation into the series of explosions that led to a huge fire on the aircraft carrier Forrestal off the coast of Vietnam in 1967.
Later, he served as a federal prosecutor before moving into private practice in Washington, where he has alternated working in small firms, as he does now, and larger ones.
Mr. Hibey said Mr. Sharp's profile may be so low that many younger lawyers in the capital might not know much about him. "But Jim is well known by his peers, lawyers of my generation who are still alive and kicking.''
He added, "The president could not have reached out to anyone better.''
Correction: June 10, 2004, Thursday
An article on Saturday about James E. Sharp, the lawyer President Bush intends to hire if he is questioned in the case involving the disclosure of a C.I.A. officer's identity, misidentified the victim of a murder in which a client of Mr. Sharp was acquitted. The client, Gen. Fabian C. Ver of the Philippines, had been accused in the death of Benigno S. Aquino Jr., the nation's opposition leader, not President Ferdinand E. Marcos.
|
I know I keep repeating this, but as I read the posts in the politics forum, I become even more convinced (if that is still possibe), that most of the posters have strong opinions, but do not "know" what they think that they know. The "Attack in London" thread wins the prize....so many minds made up with no place to go.... They've solved the "case", assigned all the blame, and now square off to prosecute or defend the "muslim" perpetrators....amazing! |