Leahy Confronts White House on Subpoenas
July 1st, 2007 . by TexasFredWASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said Sunday he was ready to go to court if the White House resisted subpoenas for information on the firing of federal prosecutors.
“If they don’t cooperate, yes I’ll go that far,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. He was asked in a broadcast interview whether he would seek a congressional vote on contempt citations if President Bush did not comply. That move would push the matter to court.
Court is exactly where this entire matter belongs, no under the table deals, no he said, she said, take it to the Congress and CHARGE the parties involved and take it to open court, conduct interviews under oath and anyone that perjures themselves, hang ‘em…
“They’ve chosen confrontation rather than compromise or cooperation,” Leahy said. “The bottom line is in the U.S. attorney investigation, we have people manipulating law enforcement. Law enforcement can’t be partisan.”
And I couldn’t agree more, no one is above the law, not even the POTUS, but Sen. Leahy, don’t you think that the firings of some U.S. attorneys is just a bit of a trivial subject?? It is, after all, called politics…
Isn’t there something more serious, something with much more powerful political ramifications that you could be looking into??
Wouldn’t we be better served if you and you esteemed colleagues in Congress were to look into the accusations of WAR CRIMES and other high crimes that the Bush administration is still being accuse of by the American left and leftists from other nations??
Wouldn’t the American people be better served to put these nasty rumors to rest, one way or another?? A full Congressional investigation would go a long ways toward restoring American confidence in our government, and as a powerful Senator I’m sure you could use your considerable influence to make that investigation become reality…
The White House has urged the House and Senate Judiciary committees to withdraw the subpoenas and accept Bush’s offer to provide information in private briefings with lawmakers without a transcript.
Of course Bush wants this done over cigars and bourbon, with NO transcript, that way it’s impossible to commit perjury…
Bush isn’t as dumb as people think he is, he has some very good advisers, he knows that if he’s placed under oath he will be in DEEP trouble, one misspeak that can be construed as a lie will have him nailed on perjury charges, and if he tells a total lie and that lie can be substantiated, well, it’s all over, but here’s the trick, is there enough time left in the Bush administration to actually conduct an impeachment investigation and then prosecute it through the Senate??
And one more time I am going to ask, if George W. Bush is even suspected of being guilty of the charges he has been accused of HERE, why hasn’t the Dem controlled Congress jumped all over it and taken the Bush presidency down??
Are the Dems that gutless?? Are they that apathetic?? Or, is it possible that the Dems know the charges are nothing but hot air??
And just so no one can say I didn’t tell you before hand, this discussion WILL be limited to U.S. citizens, the voters of this nation, even left leaning Americans are welcome to comment on this, as long as they are American voters, I really want to hear what Dems and Libbers think of their Dem controlled Congress and their lack of bringing impeachment proceedings against George W. Bush too…
And as most all my readers know, there are many things that I totally disagree with this POTUS on but I have never accused him of WAR CRIMES…
War mismanagement?? YES… War crimes?? Not a chance in hell…
Full Story Here:
Leahy Confronts White House on Subpoenas
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Hi Fred, and thanks for the invite. You know full well that Lehey (leaky lehey remember that?) is full of gas. The President has full executive privilege in the hiring and firing of any federal attorney. That is a political move and advice to or advice not to fire comes under the scope that the USSC has already said that the Executive must have free and unfettered access to advice without the advisors fear that someday their advice will be aired. The USSC settled that case with Cheney and his energy panel.
Lehey couldn’t be trusted anyway with any info (again, the “Leaky Lehey” was FORCED to resign from the Senate Intelligence committee because of LEAKS he provided to the press). If the President does give “unsworn testimony” to Lehey, and doesn’t remember how Lehey got the sobriquet Leaky then anything that comes out will be Bush’s fault, so, given past performance, I wouldn’t doubt that at all.
In summation, screw Lehey and the horse he rode in on.
I’m a little confused about this. Are the papers, or whatever Congress is after, concerning national security? If so, I wouldn’t give ‘em to the leakers either. If not, then why shouldn’t they be released. Since they won’t release ‘em, I guess we’ll have to do a wait and see. Leahy chaps my hide, just on general principles.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Fred.
This firing of the US Attorneys is simply a smoke screen so the dems look like they’re accomplishing something. They don’t seem to understand the phrase “serve at the pleasure of” and what that implies-there doesn’t have to be a reason to fire them.
That being said, it’s much easier for the dems to do this than to actually put their (our?) money where their mouths are and investigate the numerous allegations they continue to make as far as war crimes, etc.
The fact they have spouted these talking points themselves is telling-particularly since they refuse to back up their talking points.
Yes, I agree there have been numerous mistakes made in this war-I don’t think we were fully prepared for the type of enemy we are facing and so weren’t able to engage them properly. However, such is the nature of war that mistakes are going to be made in the prosecution of it-and adaptations and corrections have to be made to compensate for those mistakes. That does not constitute war crimes, high crimes, or anything else the dems scream about. It constitutes war.
And, there are way too many youtube videos of the dems fully backing this war on the intelligence they were given (although they insist they didn’t get it all in an attempt to backpedal now-the fact is they DIDN’T READ IT ALL) for them to fully prosecute their alleged allegations of POTUS-they would have to prosecute themselves on far serious charges and we know that’s not going to happen.
Right now, the dems have to look like they’re accomplishing something-when you run on a chimera of a platform, you’re plain not able to deliver. And, the grass roots has proven to be more than they can deal with, so they will continue wasting our money on frivolous things rather than working on things of substance.
God help us if they take the white house in 08-there will be no more America as we know it.
The democrats are working themselves into a corner where the only thing they’ll have to offer voters in 2008 is investigations and subpoenas. Bush did nothing wrong in firing those prosecutors - it may not have been nice, but he doesn’t have to be.
But…let’s keep the Dems spinning at high heat - that kind of rabid hatred is what gave Bush another term in office. Americans can’t stand that kind of myopic partisanship, and it will backfire.
The firing of US federal attorneys has always been covered under executive privilege. After all these attorneys do work for the POTUS under the US Attorney General. Clinton fired many US attorneys and not a damn thing was said. This is the way the Left takes a tempest in a teapot and turns it into a full blown gale.
As to ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ all those who support ‘amnesty for illegals’ and refuse to enforce the laws on the books already covering this issue are guilty of ‘treason’ and ‘treason’ is a ‘high crime’ if ever there was one.
Employees of the Executive Branch of the government serve at the will of the head of the Executive Branch — the President. They are “at will” positions. That means that they serve at the President’s pleasure. Each and everyone can be removed from office for any, or no reason. Some postions require the “advice and consent” of the Senate for hiring, but the employee still “works” for the President. If the employee feels unjustly fired, there are legal remedies for that. It is NOT the job of the Congress to interfere, or deal with it. If Congress is allowed to subpoena the President and his staff for any and all purposes, government will break down and the only solution will be dissolution. A certain level of independence and sovereignty is both implied and required by the Constitution.
As a still recovering Democrat, I am sooo ashamed of them. I wish they would all just go the hell away. I get sick to my stomach when I think the Dems might end up back in the Whitehouse.
I think if crimes have been committed, and I am not saying that they have, that those involved should be charged and tried. It is as simple as that, or at least it should be.
I have a feeling that the President isn’t making things readily accessible to anyone, and I sure that he is keeping secrets because of all of the potential for the information to leak to wrong people. The trade off here is that any time any one keeps a secret the rest of us who aren’t in on it are very skeptical, curious, and in a lot of instances paranoid.
I guess the bottom line for me is that I have come to distrust the Democratic party and all those that are members of it over the last few years. I have lost all faith in their ability to lead and govern. I have lost faith in their ability to make a decision that isn’t based on simply countering the other sides ideas. I won’t bore you with all the reasons at this time, as it is a lengthy list, and one most of you are probably familiar with.
A lot of those reasons do point to the fact that they are seriously out to do damage because of their overwhelming hatred of this administration. They don’t care what they harm in the process. Unfortunately I do, because they are directly undermining the authority of this great nation in a time of war, and sending all the wrong messages to the rest of the world. In my mind this is a crime, and with some of the Democratic players, these actions even border on treasonous. With that said, it also warrants a mention that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. In my opinion, if people in glass houses are throwing stones than they can’t be trusted.
Maybe they aren’t bringing the charges they are accusing simply because they have no real proof? If that is the case, perhaps they should just shut up about it as they are just making asses of themselves…just a thought.
I have rambled long enough…
Leahy is a jackass. He always has been. No doubt, he will one day make Hell even worse.
I went and read that article; IMO it’s just a rehash of what we’re hearing from the dems-who, apparently feel, they are entitled to every single bit of information regardless of any damage it may do the country.
They are not. The telling point of this article was, once again, Valerie Plame. When are the dems going to get it right? The name was leaked by Richard Armitage, not Scooter Libby. Further, at the time it was “leaked”, Plame was not covert. But, what are a few facts when it comes to ruining someone’s life and raping their name?
Further, I agree with Cheney that those that leak information to the press and those in the press that publish that information, in a time of war, when that information could have potentially heinous consequences on this country, should be prosecuted under the Espionage act. Those activities are treasonous in the extreme. Once again, though, what are a few facts to the dems?
Freedom of Information does NOT mean anyone is entitled to every little jot and tittle at any given time, particularly when national security is at risk. The CIC and his cabinet need to be able to discuss issues of national security unencumbered. Period.
As for the wailings about the surveillance? Well, two things. One, if you have nothing to hide, what’s your problem? Two, if it benefits national security-and it has, regardless of the wailings of the dems-then it is justified.
The difference between this war and all previous wars is the internet, with instant access to information, didn’t exist until the goracle invented it. However, just because there are things that are not publicly released for public consumption does not mean there are any conspiracies going on, or anything along that line. It does mean national security is more important than a dems perceived need to know every little thing at every instance and then announce anything he/she hears, a la diarhhea of the mouth, to those monitoring us for splits within the country and the people.
Please show me where Roosevelt, Truman and/or Eisenhower behaved differently during their wars? We just didn’t have access to what we do now. And those that released information WERE prosecuted under the Espionage act. Perhaps the main crime here is the fact it hasn’t been enacted, regardless of the overwhelming evidence of its need at this time.
You want a response Patrick W??
Here’s my response, your comment was NOT deleted and you were not banned, until now…
You insist on calling me out in your little rag and in other folks blogs??
Fine, that’s YOUR style, so, turnabout IS fair play in this case…
I will NOT allow my blog to be cluttered with the loony tirades of a libber liar, you Patrick W, I have had several very good comment makers on this blog that ARE Dems or Libbers and their sane comments were quite welcome but your back handed insults and attacks on other blogs are reminiscent of the tactics employed by the likes of DU and DailyKos, maybe that’s where you came from, maybe not, but you’d fit right in with that crowd…
I prefer to keep things like this private, and I have until now, but here’s the deal, now you’ll keep your ass OFF of my blog, I just made sure of that, I have you banned, and it’s NOT a rumor or one of your lies regarding you being banned, it IS a fact, you won’t be posting here any more, put that on your whiny ass little nothing blog so all 3 of the folks that read it can see what a bad ass you are…
You are only going to accuse me of doing something just so many times Patrick W, and you have stepped over the line by making false accusations against me once too often…
I have never made an issue of banning anyone before, but Patrick W, you are an annoying little asshole and it is MY pleasure to ban you from MY blog…
Oh no, no, no, they won’t do anything that would clear things up; the water is just fine with all the mud and silt as it is….all the better to give the appearance of an administration gone crazy and illegal.
Leahy and the rest only care about the party and its power…tsk, tsk, tsk.
Here’s a link to an image I put on a post on Thurs about the wiretap subpoenas etc., I think you’d approve
http://bp0.blogger.com/_ZD7FsKlBKkc/RoV9juKjXwI/AAAAAAAAAWU/arsZHQFe-kQ/s400/Harry+Pat+and+Chuck.jpg
Fred you’re spot on brother when you state “nothing but politics”…… as this is done by every single president without a second thought, and the p***y republicans again, as they’ve done repeatedly throughout Bush’s term just ignored this attack at the outset, allowing it to fester into this political hay like HIV in a bathhouse.
Only uneducated left wing kozbots repeat this supposed transgression over and over without any compunction in regards to it’s validity and the lazy mstream americans take it as fact ’cause they hear it on the six o ‘clock news night after night again too lazy to check it’s validity, friggin idiots….
As a matter of known fact El Camino Slick fired 93, yes ninety friggin three of them, to the Sounds Of Silence from anyone on the left or the right for that matter at the time, nor even now do you ever hear this fact referred to.
(http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2007/cyb20070314.asp#1)
That is because it is such commonplace they never gave it a second thought obviously that this act needed to be defended, ya know… The dems have written this new rule book that applies only when they want it to, and they get away with this crap endlessly because the lapdog crotch licking MSM are the ones that should be checking these bozos and arent for the past 7 years. AAARRGHHHH (kicking the dog.!!!.. lol just kidding)
He’s the boss…he can fire who he wants. At least he had the balls to fire the few he wanted, instead of putting 93 folks on the street just to not make himself look bad.
I don’t agree with Bush all the time either. The amnesty thing forced me to really get pissed at him. But…no president is going to be great on all fronts, it’s the nature of the beast. That’s why it is so vital to have a congress in place that listens to, AND VOTES ACCORDING TO the majority of the constituents in their districts.
THAT’S NOT HAPPENING WITH THE CURRENT CONGRESS! I’m so sick and tired of the kindergarten games the Libs are playing. They cannot accomplish ONE PIECE of legitimate business because they are spending all of their time and all of our money trying to keep it personal amongst their little “clique”. CONGRESS IS NOT A CLIQUE! They stay up at night conspiring to dig up the next dirt, ANY DIRT…EVEN MADE UP DIRT…on the next guy. In the meantime, the country is going to hell in a hand basket and we are left swinging in the wind.
The only thing we can do is just what Bush did. Keep the ones that can be team players and work toward the common good of the nation, and FIRE THE REST…VOTE THEIR DUMB ASSES OUT OF OFFICE FOREVER.
We in Nevada will start with “Stinky Pinky” Harry Reid. I just hope that when they vote him out…they don’t let him live in Nevada anymore
Keep on Truckin Fred…
Politics from the left wing as usual. It is a gotdam do nothing congress that the dim-a-crits promised to be an ‘action’ congress with all that bullshit they were onna do the first 100 days. Thus far They have Just barely managed to keep the dishonoroable representative from La out of he slammer…damn that was cold cash, huh?
We have upwards of 20 million illegalaliens in he country and millions more who are abetting the illegals. The country is farther in debt than I know how to write the zeros and we are atwar with theragheads and losing. And the dim-a-crits want to argue about whether or not it was a political firing? Fck it…it was and all numnuts Bsh has to do is say Fuck it..it was and fuck off dim-a-crits.