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Banned
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Background thread on Bush's "interview" in the Plame leak investigation:
"If Rove is Indicted, Will Media Mention Bush's Criminal Defense Attorney Jim Sharp?"
The potential is still here for an "express" double impeachment, reinstatement of Libby's prison sentence, since a co-conspirator in a criminal cover up, cannot validly issue a sentence commutation for a sentence associated with the same criminal matter..... but, only a potential for it to happen....at least for now:
Quote:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/08/duffy-waxman-plame/
Duffy: ‘White House Lawyers Are Concerned’ McClellan’s Book Will Reignite ‘The Valerie Plame Business’»
In his explosive new memoir, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan claims that Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, “and possibly Vice President Cheney” encouraged him to “repeat a lie” to the American people about the administration’s role in the leaking of Valerie Plame’s identity. This assertion, along with others, has led members of Congress, like House Oversight Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), to again ask questions about the CIA leak scandal.
On NBC’s The Chris Matthews Show today, Time magazine assistant managing editor Michael Duffy said that the renewed attention to the scandal is causing White House lawyers to be “very concerned”:
DUFFY: White House lawyers are concerned, very concerned, now that Scott McClellan’s book has led Henry Waxman and John Conyers to take another look at the Valerie Plame business. There may be hearings. Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald may be called. Just another way in which a Democratic Congress might make a difference during the fall.
Watch it: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/08/duffy-waxman-plame/
Quote:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...0,195629.story
Rep. Waxman seeks access to Bush, Cheney interviews on CIA leak
The leading Democrat says the memoir by former Press Secretary Scott McClellan raises new questions about the White House's role in divulging the identity of then-CIA operative Valerie Plame.
By Richard B. Schmitt
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 4, 2008
WASHINGTON — House investigators pressed their case Tuesday for access to interviews that a special counsel conducted with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in the CIA leak case.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) said in a letter to the Justice Department that the transcripts were needed to address what he described as troubling new questions about the role of the White House in divulging the identity of then-CIA operative Valerie Plame in 2003.
Waxman cited passages from the recent memoir of former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. McClellan wrote that he thought he had been deceived into telling reporters that then-White House aides I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Karl Rove were not involved in the episode. Aside from receiving assurances from the two men, McClellan described a meeting in which Bush and Cheney decided to have McClellan issue a special statement saying that Libby had no involvement.
Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the case. Rove was not charged, but he told investigators that he had spoken with reporters about Plame.
Plame's identity became public as the administration was scrambling to rebut criticism from her husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former U.S. envoy in Baghdad, about the decision to invade Iraq. He had taken a CIA-backed trip to the African nation of Niger that he said had disproved an administration claim that Iraq was seeking material there to make nuclear weapons. That claim was one of the grounds used to justify the invasion.
McClellan wrote in his memoir that he did not believe that Bush knew that Libby or Rove were involved in the leaks. But he said that he could not be certain what Cheney knew; at the time, Libby was the chief of staff to the vice president.
Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a letter to Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey on Tuesday that "it would be a major breach of trust if the vice president personally directed Mr. McClellan to mislead the public."
Waxman first asked for access to White House interviews with special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald in December as part of an investigation into how the White House handled and investigated the leak. The Justice Department made available some, but not all, of the information, including redacted versions of interviews with Rove, Libby and other senior officials.
Waxman said those transcripts revealed other information that needed to be pursued. One question, he said, was whether Cheney directed Libby to circulate the fact that Plame was employed by the CIA as part of a campaign to discredit Wilson and insinuate that his trip to Africa was the product of nepotism.
The White House referred calls for comment to the Justice Department.
"The Justice Department will review Chairman Waxman's letter and respond as appropriate," spokesman Peter A. Carr said Tuesday.
William Jeffress Jr., a lawyer for Libby, whose 30-month prison sentence for the perjury-and-obstruction conviction last year was commuted by Bush, criticized the congressional request.
McClellan, he said, testified before the grand jury and was interviewed by Fitzgerald more than once.
"You can be certain that if he had evidence that Scooter or Rove obstructed justice, Fitzgerald would have called him as a witness at trial," Jeffress said. It is "unbelievable that Rep. Waxman thinks there is something to be learned or accomplished by continuing this farce."
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Last week, Waxman sent a letter
to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, requesting that the Justice Department turn over FBI interviews of President Bush and Cheney that were conducted during the CIA leak scandal investigation. In the letter, Waxman cited “new revelations” from McClellan’s book, including the claim that “[t]he President and Vice President directed me to go out there and exonerate Scooter Libby.”
Additionally, White House lawyers are likely “concerned” that CIA leak special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald indicated this week that he would be willing to testify before Congress about alleged efforts to push him off of politically sensitive cases like the leak scandal.
As Duffy said, this “could make things rough for everyone who was affiliated with the Plame affair.”
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....and this, just in.....
Quote:
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1996
Monday, June 09, 2008
Administration Oversight
Committee Releases Proposed Abramoff Report
Chairman Waxman and Ranking Member Davis issued a proposed Committee report on White House contacts with Jack Abramoff that concludes that Mr. Abramoff had personal contact with President Bush, that high-level White House officials held Mr. Abramoff and his associates in high regard and solicited recommendations from them on policy matters, that Mr. Abramoff and his associates influenced some White House actions, and that Mr. Abramoff and his associates offered White House officials expensive tickets and meals.
Documents and Links
* Proposed Report: Jack Abramoff's Contacts with White House Officials (287 KB)
* Memo: Full Committee Business Meeting on Proposed Abramoff Report (40 KB)
* The 2006 Abramoff Investigation
* Deposition of Ruben Barrales (2 MB)
* Deposition of Jennifer Farley (2 MB)
* Deposition of Tracy Henke (2 MB)
* Deposition of Monica Kladakis (1 MB)
* Deposition of Ken Mehlman (3 MB)
* Deposition of Matthew Schlapp (4 MB)
* Deposition of Padgett Wilson (3 MB)
* Greenberg Traurig Documents (1 MB)
* White House Documents (3 MB)
* State Department Documents (294 KB)
* White House Photos (5 MB)
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Quote:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea.../20060126.html
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 26, 2006
...Q What do you hear or your staff hear about releasing of photographs of Jack Abramoff with you, Mr. President? If you say you don't fear anything, tell us why you won't release them?
THE PRESIDENT: She's asking about a person who admitted to wrongdoing and who needs to be prosecuted for that. There is a serious investigation going on, as there should be. The American people have got to have confidence in the -- in the ethics of all branches of government. You're asking about pictures -- I had my picture taken with him, evidently. I've had my picture taken with a lot of people. Having my picture taken with someone doesn't mean that I'm a friend with them or know them very well. I've had my picture taken with you -- (laughter) -- at holiday parties.
My point is, I mean, there's thousands of people that come through and get their pictures taken. I'm also mindful that we live in a world in which those pictures will be used for pure political purposes, and they're not relevant to the investigation.
Q Do you know how many?
THE PRESIDENT: I don't have any idea. ...
...Dana.
Q Mr. President, you talked about Jack Abramoff in the context of pictures, but it may not necessarily just be about pictures. He also had some meetings with some of your staff. So you remember, you ran on the idea of restoring honesty and integrity to the White House. So why are you letting your critics perhaps attack you and paint you with maybe a guilt by association? Why not just throw open your books and say, look, here is --
THE PRESIDENT: There is a serious investigation going on by federal prosecutors, and that's their job. And they will -- if they believe something was done inappropriately in the White House, they'll come and look, and they're welcome to do so. There's a serious investigation that's going on.
Q But, sir, don't you want to tell the American people look, as I promised, this White House isn't for sale and I'm not for sale?
THE PRESIDENT: It's hard for me to say I didn't have pictures with the guy when I did. But I have also had pictures with thousands and thousands of people. I mean, people -- it's part of the job of the President to shake hands and -- with people and smile. (Laughter.) And I do. And the man contributed to my campaigns, but he contributed, either directly or through his clients, to a lot of people in Washington. And this needs to be cleared up so the people have confidence in the system....
....Q Sir, back on lobbying. Never mind about the photographs, but can you say whether --
THE PRESIDENT: It's easy for a radio guy to say. (Laughter.)
Q Can you say, sir, whether you were lobbied by Jack Abramoff or other lobbyists, and what your policy is about lobbyists meeting with senior staff?
THE PRESIDENT: You know, I, frankly, don't even remember having my picture taken with the guy. I don't know him. And this investigation will -- needs to look into all aspects of his influence on Capitol Hill, and if there's some in the White House, I'm sure they're going to come and knock on the door. But I -- I can't say I didn't ever meet him, but I meet a lot of people. And evidently, he was just like you were the other day, at a holiday party -- came in, put -- the grip-and-grin, they click the picture and off he goes. And that's just -- I take thousands of -- I mean, somebody told me I maybe take over 9,000 pictures this holiday season. And he obviously went to fundraisers, but I've never sat down with him and had a discussion with the guy.
Q Do you meet with lobbyists?
THE PRESIDENT: I try not to. Have I ever met with one? Never having met with one is a -- if I ever say that, sure enough, you'll go find somebody. But, no, I don't have them come in. .....
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Last edited by host; 06-09-2008 at 10:35 AM..
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