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Banned
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ace....even with the extreme politicization of the DOJ by the Bush admin., corrupt republican officials were still being indicted and convicted....and that is a good thing....appointees of a republican president investigating crime and indicting and prosecuting those republicans who are too blatantly corrupt and dishonest to be overlooked or benignly neglected:
democrats now in control of the house and the senate, just want to be sure that justice will continue to be pursued, and right now....they don't have that assurance....here is a description of "the problem" that I outlined in my <a href="http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showpost.php?p=2234143&postcount=8">last post</a> over at the "two parties" thread. I think that I did a good job of supporting my contentions there with news articles, and what I posted there, matched nicely with this:
<b>Consider that the following "testimony" from Sampson happened on March 29, 2007.....and....even after Sampson's obvious lies and contradictions about the justification for firing Carol Lam was videotaped (click on link displayed in next quote box), Gonzales told the same obvious lies, while testifying under oath, 3 weeks later:
"Gonzales hedged the question, saying that Lam must have known that there was “interest” in and “concern” with her immigration performance. Members of Congress, Gonzales said, had complained about Lam’s performance. Gonzales allowed that she “may not have been told that if there is no change in policy, there will be a change,” but seemed to think that was an unimportant distinction." <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003055.php">Watch the Video</a>
</b>
Quote:
<b>Sampson Admits He Made Call To Silence FBI Complaints Over Lam’s Firing</b>
During today’s hearing, Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) questioned Kyle Sampson about the head of the FBI office in San Diego, Dan Dzwilewski, who told reporters in January that Carol Lam’s firing was a blow to efforts to prosecute ongoing cases.
At a hearing with FBI Director Robert Mueller this week, Feinstein said that Dzwilewski’s office had told her it had subsequently been contacted and “warned to say no more.” Under questioning today, Sampson acknowledged he had made a call to complain about Dzwilewski’s statement. But Sampson said he had merely “asked…why an FBI employee was commenting on that issue.” Watch it:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/29/sampson-feinstein/
Also today, Sampson claimed that the “real problem” with Carol Lam that Sampson referred to in an email “was her office’s prosecution of immigration cases.”
Feinstein told Sampson, “It is a real surprise to me that you would say here that the reason for her dismissal was immigration cases.” She then revealed a letter of commendation to Carol Lam dated Feb. 15, 2007, signed by the director of field operations of the United States Customs and Border Protection Agency. She read some excerpts to Sampson:
(Link to letter of praise from US Border Patrol to Carol Lam:
http://websrvr80il.audiovideoweb.com...ion-letter.pdf )
"To address the alien enforcement issue, your office supported the implementation of the Alien Smuggling Fast Track Program, and has demonstrated a commitment to aggressively address the alien smuggling recidivism rate.
In support of Border Patrol referrals for prosecution, your office maintains a 100 percent acceptance rate of criminal cases while staunchly refusing to reduce felony charges to misdemeanors and maintaining a minimal dismissal rate and supporting special prosecution efforts."
Transcript:
FEINSTEIN: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I’d like to go back to your answers to Senator Specter’s questions, when he asked you about the notice you received on the search warrant on May 10th, 2006, and you indicate — and he asked you if that was related — the real problem aspect was related to this case. And you said no, it was her immigration record. I’m sending — asking my chief counsel to give you a letter and asking that that letter be also distributed to the committee as well as to the press. This is a letter dated February 15th…
LEAHY: And does the senator want that in the record also?
FEINSTEIN: I would. Thank you very much.
LEAHY: Without objection.
FEINSTEIN: … September 15, 2007, signed by the director of field operations of the United States Customs and Border Protection Agency. It’s sent to Carol Lam. And it is a letter of commendation, and I will just read a few sections.
To address the alien enforcement issue, your office supported the implementation of the Alien Smuggling Fast Track Program, and has demonstrated a commitment to aggressively address the alien smuggling recidivism rate.
In support of Border Patrol referrals for prosecution, your office maintains a 100 percent acceptance rate of criminal cases while staunchly refusing to reduce felony charges to misdemeanors and maintaining a minimal dismissal rate and supporting special prosecution efforts.
In validation of enforcement initiatives, your staff aggressively prosecuted enrollees in the Sentry program who engaged in smuggling to support a zero-tolerance posture. They have focused on cases of fraud, special-interest aliens, prosecution of criminal aliens and supported our sustained disrupt operations.
The prosecution’s unit presented 416 alien smuggling cases, which represents a 33 percent increase over the 314 cases presented in ‘05. The prosecutions unit identified and pursued the prosecution of several recidivist alien smugglers and presented 30 non-threshold alien smuggling cases for prosecution, resulting in a 100 percent conviction rate. This represents a 329 percent increase over the seven non-threshold cases presented in 2005.
<h3>Additionally, a cumulation study done by USA Today places Carol Lam as one of the top three attorneys in the United States for the prosecution of these cases.</h3> It is a real surprise to me that you would say here that the reason for her dismissal was immigration cases. Now, if I might go on, who, Mr. Sampson, was Dusty Foggo or is Dusty Foggo?
SAMPSON: I understand from news reports, Senator, and from general knowledge, that he was an employee at the CIA.
FEINSTEIN: And who is Mr. Wilkes?
SAMPSON: I don’t know. I understand, again from news reports, that he’s affiliated somehow with Mr. Foggo.<br>
<h3>It should be an outrage to the sensibilities of any thinking person, to read that the recently resigned Chief of Staff of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, would answer, "I don't know"....when asked, while testifying under oath, if he knew who the named, principle briber of Randy Cunningham was, since Cunningham was sentenced, just 14 months ago, to the longest federal prison term ever meted out for corruption while in office related offenses, more so....since Wilkes was also the best friend of the #3 official at CIA, who was indicted by US Attorney Lam's office on charges related to bribery, just as Cunningham's crimes were.....WTF are the interests and priorties of Gonzales and Sampson???? - host </h3>
FEINSTEIN: And are you aware that on May 10th Carol Lam sent a notice to the Department of Justice saying she would be seeking a search warrant of the CIA investigation into Dusty Foggo and Brent Wilkes?
SAMPSON: I don’t remember ever seeing such a notice.
<b>FEINSTEIN: But the next day you wrote the e-mail</b> which says, The real problem we have right now — right now — with Carol Lam that leads me to conclude we should have someone ready to be nominated on 11/18, the day after her four-year term expires, that that relates to her immigration record.
SAMPSON: The real problem that I was referring to in that e-mail was her office’s failure to being sufficient immigration cases.
FEINSTEIN: OK.
SAMPSON: The attorney general in the month before had been subject to criticism at his — at a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee. And thereafter at the Department of Justice, in our senior management meeting with the deputy attorney general and others, there had been a robust discussion about how to address that issue.
The department was being criticized for not doing enough to enforce the border, largely by House Republicans. And the attorney general was concerned about it. And he asked the deputy attorney general to take some action to address that issue.
I recall also that the deputy attorney general was scheduled to meet with the California House Republicans, who were critical of Carol Lam, on May 11th.
<b>FEINSTEIN: Let me just move on.
On January 13th, Dan Dzwilewski, the head of the FBI office in San Diego, said that he thought Carol Lam’s continued employment was crucial to the success of multiple ongoing investigations.
FEINSTEIN: Did you call FBI headquarters and complain about those comments?
SAMPSON: I did.</b> I called Lisa Monaco (ph), who serves as a special assistant to the director of the FBI, and asked her why an FBI employee was commenting on that issue.
FEINSTEIN: And why would you think that the special agent in charge in the area should not comment on whether her termination was going to affect cases?
SAMPSON: I understood that Carol Lam was a political appointee, and that a decision had been made in the executive branch to ask her to resign so that others could serve.
FEINSTEIN: OK.
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Quote:
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/...007-04-23.html
Miers weighed Yang’s firing according to Sen. Feinstein
By Susan Crabtree
April 24, 2007
Former White House Counsel Harriet Miers discussed firing ex-U.S. Attorney Debra Yang, who was leading an investigation into lucrative ties between Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) and a lobbying firm before she left her government post voluntarily last fall, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) charged in a hearing last week.
Feinstein has repeatedly questioned the circumstances surrounding Yang’s departure, but until last week she provided no reasons for her suspicions. Last Thursday, however, during the questioning of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales late in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Feinstein flatly stated that Miers had discussed “whether to remove Debra Yang from Los Angeles.”
A Feinstein spokesman indicated only that the senator had learned that Miers had considered ousting Yang “through interviews” and did not respond to repeated questions to elaborate. Andrew Koneschusky, a spokesman to Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is leading the probe, also did not respond to questions about whether Miers had targeted Yang and any evidence Feinstein may have about it.
Yang resigned last October, months before Democrats began reviewing the Justice Department’s decision to fire eight other federal prosecutors. According to a report in the American Lawyer, she was lured away by a $1.5 million-plus offer to become a partner at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher LLP, which is defending Lewis in the probe.
Yang will co-chair the firm’s crisis-management practice group, along with Theodore B. Olson, the former solicitor general of the Bush administration who is now at the firm’s D.C. office. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Fuchs, Yang’s colleague at the Los Angeles U.S. attorney’s office, also has joined her at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher. Yang and Fuchs have recused themselves from working on Lewis’s defense.
Fuchs did not respond to The Hill’s queries. Yang responded by e-mail yesterday but gave no details, saying only she had been busy with work and had not followed Feinstein’s comments about Miers.
In an interview with The Hill last month, Yang dismissed questions about the timing of her departure, which occurred about a month before seven other U.S. attorneys were fired late last year. She argued that she left for personal reasons based on financial concerns and the fact that she is a single mother. She said it had nothing to do with the firings of other U.S. federal prosecutors.
While Feinstein has repeatedly questioned the motive behind Yang’s decision to leave the U.S. attorney job, she provided no reasons for her suspicion before the hearing.
“I have questions about Debra Yang’s departure and I can’t answer those questions right at this time,” Feinstein told reporters on March 20. “Was she asked to resign, and if so, why? We have to ferret that out.”
Feinstein also contends that former San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam’s firing is connected to her role in the investigation of former GOP Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (Calif.), who is in jail for accepting bribes in return for contracts. The Lewis probe is related to the Cunningham probe, which has recently ballooned to include the former third-highest ranking official at the CIA as well as a San Diego businessman.......
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Last edited by host; 04-25-2007 at 11:21 PM..
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