Whitehouse Will Appoint Yale "Bonesman" to Control "Plamegate" Prosecutor Fitzgerald - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

host · 08-07-2005, 10:38 AM

Are we "THERE YET ????" Maybe not.....quiite....but we are getting closer to it. It is clear that the Bush Whitehouse is not pleased with the direction that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation appears to have taken. His term expires in October, and the assistant Attorney General at the DOJ who Fitzgerald reported to is leaving his post........

Were you naive enough to think that the Bush/Rove "Ace in the Hole".....a plan....if necessary, to attempt to control CIA operative Valerie Plame leak investigator, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, would not be implemented?

Here is the first "credible" report....from a source so influential that the Bush administration, earlier this year....accused it....and the very same reporter, Michael Isikoff....of singlehandedly touching off a riot in Pakistan by reporting that US military prison authorities had investigated "Koran" abuse at Gitmo.

What do you believe are the implications of this development? Recall that Nixon attempted to fire the special prosecutor who was closing in on his administration.....resorting to conservative "poster child" Robert Bork to do the actual firing.....after Nixon Attorney General Elliott Richardson resigned in protest rather than carry out Nixon's firing order:

Quote:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...s/102173-2.htm
Nixon Forces Firing of Cox; Richardson, Ruckelshaus Quit
President Abolishes Prosecutor's Office; FBI Seals Records

By Carroll Kilpatrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 21, 1973; Page A01

...........Richardson resigned when Mr. Nixon instructed him to fire Cox and Richardson refused. When the President then asked Ruckelshaus to dismiss Cox, he refused, White House spokesman Ronald L. Ziegler said, and he was fired. Ruckelshaus said he resigned.

Finally, the President turned to Solicitor General Robert H. Bork, who by law becomes acting Attorney General when the Attorney General and deputy attorney general are absent, and he carried out the President's order to fire Cox. The letter from the President to Bork also said Ruckelshaus resigned. .............

..........These dramatic developments were announced at the White House at 8:25 p.m. after Cox had refused to accept or comply with the terms of an agreement worked out by the President and the Senate Watergate committee under which summarized material from the White House Watergate tapes would be turned over to Cox and the Senate committee.

In announcing the plan Friday night, the President ordered Cox to make no further effort to obtain tapes or other presidential documents.

Cox responded that he could not comply with the President's instructions and elaborated on his refusal and vowed to pursue the tape recordings at a televised news conference yesterday.

That set in motion the chain of events that resulted in the departure of Cox and the two top officials of the Justice Department and immediately raised prospects that the President himself might be impeached or forced to resign.

In a statement last night, Cox said: "Whether o

urs shall continue to be a government of laws and not of men is now for Congress and ultimately the American people." ..............

Quote:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8853002/site/newsweek/
Leak Investigation: An Oversight Issue?
—Michael Isikoff
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

Aug. 15, 2005 issue - The departure this week of Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who has accepted the post of general counsel at Lockheed Martin, leaves a question mark in the probe into who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Comey was the only official overseeing special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's leak investigation. With Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recused, department officials say they are still trying to resolve whom Fitzgerald will now report to. Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum is "likely" to be named as acting deputy A.G., a DOJ official who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter tells NEWSWEEK. But McCallum may be seen as having his own conflicts: he is an old friend of President Bush's and a member of his Skull and Bones class at Yale. One question: how much authority Comey's successor will have over Fitzgerald. When Comey appointed Fitzgerald in 2003, the deputy granted him extraordinary powers to act however he saw fit—but noted he still had the right to revoke Fitzgerald's authority. The questions are pertinent because law-yers close to the case believe the probe is in its final stages. Fitzgerald recently called White House aide Karl Rove's secretary and his former top aide to testify before the grand jury. They were asked why there was no record of a phone call from Time reporter Matt Cooper, with whom Rove discussed the CIA agent, says a source close to Rove who requested anonymity because the FBI asked participants not to comment. The source says the call went through the White House switchboard, not directly to Rove.

Quote:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/po...rssnyt&emc=rss
Lawyers Fought U.S. Move to Curb Tobacco Penalty

By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: June 16, 2005

WASHINGTON, June 15 - Senior Justice Department officials overrode the objections of career lawyers running the government's tobacco racketeering trial and ordered them to reduce the penalties sought at the close of the nine-month trial by $120 billion, internal documents and interviews show.

The trial team argued that the move would be seen as politically motivated and legally groundless.

"We do not want politics to be perceived as the underlying motivation, and that is certainly a risk if we make adjustments in our remedies presentation that are not based on evidence," the two top lawyers for the trial team, Sharon Y. Eubanks and Stephen D. Brody, wrote in a memorandum on May 30 to Associate Attorney General Robert D. McCallum that was reviewed by The New York Times.

The two lawyers said the lower penalty recommendation ordered by Mr. McCallum would weaken the department's position in any possible settlement with the industry and "create an incentive for defendants to engage in future misconduct by making the misconduct profitable."

At the close of a major trial that dozens of Justice Department lawyers spent more than five years preparing, the department stunned a federal courtroom last week by reducing the penalties sought against the industry, from $130 billion to $10 billion, over accusations of fraud and racketeering......

.............The newly disclosed documents make clear that the decision was made after weeks of tumult in the department and accusations from lawyers on the tobacco team that Mr. McCallum and other political appointees had effectively undermined their case. Mr. McCallum, No. 3 at the department, is a close friend of President Bush from their days as Skull & Bones members at Yale, and he was also a partner at an Atlanta law firm, Alston & Bird, that has done legal work for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, part of Reynolds American, a defendant in the case............

Quote:

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journal...l/12212606.htm
Posted on Sun, Jul. 24, 2005

Deal reeks like old ashtray

Providence Journal editorial

Onlookers were dumbfounded last month when U.S. Justice Department lawyers abruptly scaled back the money they sought in a suit against the tobacco companies.

In a nine-month trial, a government expert, Dr. Michael Fiore, had testified that an effective nationwide stop-smoking campaign would cost $130 billion over 25 years. But when it came time for closing arguments, the trial team said $10 billion would do.

The change had the earmarks of political interference. An internal memo by two of the government’s litigators reportedly expressed strenuous objections.

The judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, noted that perhaps this sudden, illogical move revealed that “additional influences have been brought to bear on what the government’s case is.” Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate.

The trial lawyers were apparently obeying their supervisor, Associate Atty. Gen. Robert McCallum Jr. A Yale classmate of President Bush, McCallum once worked for an Atlanta firm that has represented R.J. Reynolds, a defendant in the case.............

The question for each of us to ask ourselves is how will you react if it comes to pass, in the next few weeks, that the President appoints a close friend and fellow member of a "Secret Society" whose members have demostrated, for 150 years....a loyalty to each other and to an ethic of secrecy, to be the "Justice" Department official who oversees the activities of the Special Prosecutor who is about to issue a final report on the two year investigation involving possible criminal misconduct of the President, and Vice-President's closest aids ?

Quote:

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/sto...date=7/25/2005
Justice in secret
A federal court takes a restrictive view of open deportation hearings

........ A contrary but less radical view might be that the circumstances of the past 13 months or so require more openness, not more secrecy. Such a view would require the government to sharpen its sights and identify the terrorist networks that operate within the United States. Such a view would curtail the tendency to aim too broadly and direct the crucial war on terrorism on the wrong targets. Indeed the Justice Department can conduct business as it has been, and as it pleases. Assistant Attorney General Robert McCallum calls the appellate court's ruling ``a victory ... for every American relying on the government to take every legal step possible to protect our nation from acts of terror while preserving constitutional liberties.''

Think about that. Upholding civil liberties is now secondary to maintaining national security, in the eyes of the Justice Department and a federal court. From an uneasy balance to, seemingly, no balance at all........

Take note of the (in comparison....) minor little matters that attract the most posting interest on this forum. Ask yourselves....why? Do you really think that these "thugs" who are in the final stages of their so far successful attempt to diminsh most of your "rights" while they completely insulate themselves from any accountability, will let you know when it is time to confront them and attempt to thwart their efforts? IMO, that "time" is NOW, folks, and...it may already be too late!

host · 08-07-2005, 11:39 AM

If you are skeptical about what I wrote in the opening post, here is some new "news" for you to consider:

Quote:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...itics-national
August 7, 2005
latimes.com : National Politics

Inquiry Into Lobbyist Sputters After Demotion
# The unusual financial deal between Jack Abramoff and officials in Guam drew scrutiny.

By Walter F. Roche Jr., Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — A U.S. grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, <h4>but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor and the inquiry ended soon after.</h4>

The previously undisclosed Guam inquiry is separate from a federal grand jury in Washington that is investigating allegations that Abramoff bilked Indian tribes out of millions of dollars.

In Guam, an American territory in the Pacific, investigators were looking into Abramoff's secret arrangement with Superior Court officials to lobby against a court revision bill then pending in the U.S. Congress. The legislation, since approved, gave the Guam Supreme Court authority over the Superior Court.

In 2002, Abramoff was retained by the Superior Court in what was an unusual arrangement for a public agency. The Times reported in May that Abramoff was paid with a series of $9,000 checks funneled through a Laguna Beach lawyer to disguise the lobbyist's role working for the Guam court. No separate contract was authorized for Abramoff's work.

Guam court officials have not explained the contractual arrangement. At the time, Abramoff was a well-known lobbyist in the Pacific islands because of his work for the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas garment manufacturers, accused of employing workers in sweatshop conditions..........................

.............A day later, the chief prosecutor, U.S. Atty. Frederick A. Black, who had launched the investigation, was demoted. A White House news release announced that Bush was replacing Black.

The timing caught some by surprise. Despite his officially temporary status, Black had held the acting U.S. attorney assignment for more than a decade.

The acting U.S. attorney was a controversial official in Guam. At the time he was removed, Black was directing a long-term investigation into allegations of public corruption in the administration of then-Gov. Carl Gutierrez. The inquiry produced numerous indictments, including some of the governor's political associates and top aides.

Black also arranged for a security review in the aftermath of Sept. 11 that was seen as a potential threat to loose immigration rules favored by local business leaders. In fact, the study ordered by Black eventually cited substantial security risks in Guam and the Northern Marianas.

Abramoff, who then represented the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, alerted his clients in a memo about the expected report and warned: "It will require some major action from the Hill and a press attack to get this back in the bottle."........................

Quote:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2004Nov7.html
Abramoff Allies Keeping Distance
Lobbyist Under Scrutiny for Dealings With Indian Tribes

By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 8, 2004; Page A23

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...004Nov7_2.html
........... Later, Abramoff brought in Reed, who was paid $4.2 million from 2001 to 2003 to mobilize Christians to oppose the plans of those threatening Abramoff's Indian gaming clients. In 2001, Abramoff left Preston Gates and joined the Miami-based law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP.

In 1995, Abramoff took on another major client, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, an American protectorate in the Pacific. Again, he capitalized on his ability to exploit conservative ideology.

The Marianas sought to retain exemptions from U.S. immigration and labor laws to import laborers from China at $3.05 an hour -- $2 under the federal minimum wage -- to make garments labeled "Made in the U.S.A." Abramoff portrayed the Marianas as a case study of the success of the free market unfettered by wage and immigration laws.

DeLay became Abramoff's strongest ally, leading the fight against Democratic efforts to impose wage, hour and immigration regulations on the protectorate. On a trip to the Marianas, DeLay told officials, according to media accounts:

"When one of my closest and dearest friends, Jack Abramoff, your most able representative in Washington, D.C., invited me to the islands, I wanted to see firsthand the free-market success and the progress and reform you have made."

Now, however, DeLay and many of Abramoff's past friends and allies are keeping their distance. DeLay's staff has issued a statement in his name declaring that "if anybody is trading on my name to get clients or to make money, that is wrong and they should stop it immediately."..........

Quote:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in693628.shtml
Lobbyist Had Close W. House Ties
(Page 1 of 3)

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2005

(AP) In President Bush's first 10 months, GOP fundraiser Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts with the new administration as they pressed for friendly hires at federal agencies and sought to keep the Northern Mariana Islands exempt from the minimum wage and other laws, records show.

The meetings between Abramoff's lobbying team and the administration ranged from Attorney General John Ashcroft to policy advisers in Vice President Dick Cheney's office, according to his lobbying firm billing records.

Abramoff, a $100,000-plus fundraiser for Mr. Bush, is now under criminal investigation for some of his lobbying work. His firm boasted its lobbying team helped revise a section of the Republican Party's 2000 platform to make it favorable to its island client.

In addition, two of Abramoff's lobbying colleagues on the Marianas won political appointments inside federal agencies.

"Our standing with the new administration promises to be solid as several friends of the CNMI (islands) will soon be taking high-ranking positions in the Administration, including within the Interior Department," Abramoff wrote in a January 2001 letter in which he persuaded the island government to follow him as a client to his new lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig.

The reception Abramoff's team received from the Bush administration was in stark contrast to the chilly relations of the Clinton years. Abramoff, then at the Preston Gates firm, scored few meetings with Clinton aides and the lobbyist and the islands vehemently opposed White House attempts to extend U.S. labor laws to the territory's clothing factories.

The records from Abramoff's firm, obtained by The Associated Press from the Marianas under an open records request, chronicle Abramoff's careful cultivation of relations with Bush's political team as far back as 1997.

In that year, Abramoff charged the Marianas for getting then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush to write a letter expressing support for the Pacific territory's school choice proposal, his billing records show.............

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...28_page2.shtml
...................Abramoff is now under federal investigation amid allegations he overcharged tribal clients by millions of dollars, and his ties to powerful lawmakers such as House Majority Leader Tom DeLay are under increasing scrutiny.

The documents show his team also had extensive access to Bush administration officials, meeting with Cheney policy advisers Ron Christie and Stephen Ruhlen, Ashcroft at the Justice Department, White House intergovernmental affairs chief Ruben Barrales, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles and others.

Most of the contacts were handled by Abramoff's subordinates, who then reported back to him on the meetings. Abramoff met several times personally with top Interior officials, whose Office of Insular Affairs oversees the Mariana Islands and other U.S. territories.

In all, the records show at least 195 contacts between Abramoff's Marianas lobbying team and the Bush administration from February through November 2001.

At least two people who worked on Abramoff's team at Preston Gates wound up with Bush administration jobs: Patrick Pizzella, named an assistant secretary of labor by Bush; and David Safavian, chosen by Bush to oversee federal procurement policy in the Office of Management and Budget.

"We have worked with WH Office of Presidential Personnel to ensure that CNMI-relevant positions at various agencies are not awarded to enemies of CNMI," Abramoff's team wrote the Marianas in an October 2001 report on its work for the year. ...................

It is up to you to choose what subjects that you want to focus on. My advice is to note who is apologizing and making excuses to minimize the threat that this administration poses to the US Constitution and to the American people, by minimizing the malfeasance and "transgression" of these thugs.
Post about "biking to work", "Schiavo", and "literacy tests"....that is your choice.....but consider what is unfolding under your noses, and how you are reacting to these news reports. Your president has already summarily dismissed one prosecutor who was digging too closely. Will you notice when Patrick Fitzgerald is "brought under control"?

Locobot · 08-07-2005, 05:01 PM

I already predicted this on another thread:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locobot

No, I don't expect anything to come of the Karl Rove thing. This
administration is corrupt to the core, the accountability the Republicans preach for everyone else does not apply to their own. I fully expect Bush to dismiss the special counsul (like Nixon with Watergate) and or Rove will receive a presidential pardon. George will go on tv and say, "golly, it just got so confusimated." It will be unbelievable and scandalous beyond reason and then they'll release the Dukes of Hazzard movie and Jessica Simpson will shake her tits around and pretty much everyone will forget about the whole thing. Meanwhile, the few of us who can remember back to 1996 know, that if this story were breaking then, we would have a new president by now.

Now who's ready for that Dukes movie!

politicophile · 08-08-2005, 08:22 AM

Sorry, shouldn't this be under "Tilted Paranoia"?

08-08-2005, 08:22 AM	#4 (permalink)
politicophile Addict	Sorry, shouldn't this be under "Tilted Paranoia"? __________________ The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty