Jul 27, 2007 at 11:46 PM by Political Chase
I was catching up on some of the Congressional hearings this week and came across Rep. Phil Gingrey’s (R-GA) questioning of witnesses in the House Hearing on National Intelligence Estimate held earlier this week. After viewing Congressman Gingrey’s line of questioning, three things became perfectly clear: (1) why Republicans lost control of Congress in Nov. 2006; (2) why Democrats are unable to enlighten Republicans change is paramount; and, (3) the necessity to put a greater focus on the imbeciles running our government.
Accordingly, I have initiated the TPC Wingnut of the Week award, and Rep. Gingrey is the winner this week. Of course, many might expect Alberto Gonzales to be the hands-down winner this week, but as you will see, Gingrey makes Gonzales look brilliant and inspirational.
In Gingrey’s questioning of the intelligence officials, he draws an analogy between fighting al-Qaeda and treating a cancer patient. Sheer genius.
Add ice, stir, and make your own jokes.
Duration 03:33
Jul 27, 2007 at 2:05 PM by Political Chase
In a press conference (HTML or PDF) yesterday, Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer (NY), Dianne Feinstein (CA), Russ Feingold (WI), and Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) called for the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate “possible wrongdoing” (read: criminal activities) by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales related to Gonzales’ false statements to Congress and the firing of nine U.S. attorneys (read: U.S. attorney matter, illegal wiretapping, etc.). I wouldn’t get my hopes up on this; the White House will surely block the request if at all possible.
Senator Schumer absolutely blistered Gonzales in the press conference.
Duration 01:01
Transcript:
The Attorney General took an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Instead he tells the half-truth, the partial-truth, and everything but the truth. And, he does it not once, not twice, but over, and over, and over again. His instinct is not to tell the truth, but to dissemble and deceive. Enough is truly enough. Not for us. Not even for the Senate, but for the 90,000 employees of the Justice Department and for 300 million Americans, who at the very minimum need an attorney general who can tell the truth.
The Senators cited three predominate reasons for demanding the Special Counsel:
- To look at whether in fact the [Justice] Department has been politicized;
- To evaluate his misleading and often untrue statements to the Congress; and
- To look at the Administration’s decision to block any United States Attorney from pursuing charges of contempt of Congress against officials who have refused to comply with Congressional subpoenas.
The request was sent to Solicitor General Paul D. Clement - about three to four levels lower than normal procedure calls for. Clement was chosen because all other Justice Department officials have recused themselves or resigned. Deja vu - the Saturday Night Massacre during Watergate.
Clement has 30 days to respond to the request and furthermore, I would not bet on Clement assigning anybody. Clement is part of the Justice Department and George Bush has forbidden anyone from the Justice Department to be assigned to Executive Privilege related cases. I believe Bush will view this as part and parcel to his standing order.
Jul 27, 2007 at 11:34 AM by Political Chase
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow accused Democrats yesterday of attempting to divulge classified information. When MSNBC’s Chris Matthews (Hardball) asked Snow about FBI Director Robert Mueller’s House Judiciary Committee testimony, he said, “There’s an attempt right now on Capitol Hill to try to get members of this administration to talk in open session about highly classified matters.”
Duration 00:52
Snow’s contrived diabolical scheme is flat out wrong. Nobody was trying to reveal classified information. Snow’s statements are the White House’s plan to cover for Gonzales, and everything else for that matter. When the White House is asked controversial questions, the answers suddenly become classified. In the words of Patrick Fitzgerald, throwing sand in the umpire’s eyes. The Committee was simply trying to further determine if Abu Gonzales’ testimony was accurate.
Jul 27, 2007 at 11:05 AM by Political Chase
I’ve been away for a couple of weeks and will tell you more about that later, but first I want to catch up on the extremely busy day in Washington yesterday. The first item on the list is Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday.
Gonzales Lies to Congress
As most of you probably know by now, in his testimony, Gonzales committed political suicide and possibly opened the door for perjury and other criminal matters. In the following video, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) unequivocally nails Gonzales for lying about the meeting that led to the late-night attempt by Gonzales and Andrew Card to strong-arm former Attorney General John Ashcroft while critically ill in the hospital.
The high point is in the last few minutes of the video; however, if you haven’t been following this situation rather closely or need a refresher, I suggest watching the entire video. (Time permitting, I may post an abbreviated version of the exchange between Schumer and Gonzales.)
Duration 08:40
The salient point is Gonzales has dissembled and flip-flopped about the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program and more specifically the emergency White House Meeting to discuss renewal of the program. Gonzales previously testified the emergency meeting was about the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) and then changed his testimony by saying the meeting was about other intelligence programs. Lying about the subject matter of the meeting is notable, but the actual topic, rather than Gonzales’ flip-flopping, has far more serious legal implications, which I will get into later.
Evidence of Perjury
After Gonzales testified to the House Judiciary Committee, the Associated Press obtained documents that contradicted Gonzales testimony - tangible, documented proof of perjury. Gonzales maintained in his testimony to Senator Schumer that the emergency White House meeting and mad dash to Ashcroft’s hospital bedside was about “other intelligence activities” and not the TSP. The AP documents state the meeting was about the TSP, provides a list of attendees, and other information. The documents obtained by the AP were a four-page memo from then-Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte to then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.
Furthermore discrediting Gonzales July 24 testimony, four attendees of the meeting, including Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), disputed Gonzales’ account of the meeting.
FBI Director Contradicts Gonzales
As if Gonzales did not already have sufficient damning evidence against him, FBI Director Robert Mueller delivered a devastating blow in his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday. In the following video, Mueller confirms, so to speak, to Congresswoman Jackson Lee that TSP was discussed in Ashcroft’s hospital room; not “other intelligence activities” as Gonzales testified on July 24.
Duration 02:49
Coming up - Tony Snow’s comments on the controversy surrounding Gonzales.
