Waxman threatens AG with contempt unless he gets FBI's Cheney transcripts
07/08/2008 @ 11:33 am
Filed by Nick Juliano

Source

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) says his committee will vote next week to hold Attorney General Michael Mukasey in contempt if the Bush appointee continues to refuse to hand over transcripts of an FBI interview with Vice President Dick Cheney.


Waxman says the interview transcript is vital to the Oversight Committee's investigation of the outing of former CIA agent Valerie Plame. In a letter to Mukasey (.pdf), Waxman noted that Cheney's former aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby told the FBI it was "possible" that Cheney told him to expose Plame after her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, publicly undercut the administration's claim that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa.

"The arguments you have raised for withholding the interview report are not tenable," Waxman told Mukasey. "When the FBI interview with the Vice President was conducted, the Vice President knew that the information in the interview could be made public in a criminal trial and that there were no restrictions on Special Counsel Fitzgerald's use of the interview."

Continued

Once again, when the hell does Waxman sleep? I believe his mustache has special powers that recharge his internal battery while sitting the Chairman's chair, man...

Oh, and prepare for the "outrage" by, oh I dunno, The Boner perhaps...and as many stalling tactics as possible...asshats.



xoxoxo

It's starting to get boring.

I'm very impatient at this point too!
I'll wake you when something happens.

YES!!

WAXMAN
the
AXMAN!!!!

That cartoon is accurate. The Bush crime family doesn't feel in any way threatened by the Congress.

At least Waxman is doing something! You've gotta give him credit for that!!

How could anyone be anything other than thoroughly disgusted by every person in the White House current and these past 7 yrs...

Is there a single person or act anyone can point to we can be proud of?

How odd. I wonder what the Honorable Congressman Waxman's position is on the FBI seizing the files of Congressman Jefferson (D-LA)?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6052201080.html

Now he wants FBI files? Maybe Congressman Waxman will get the same answer from the FBI that Congressman Jefferson gave to the FBI.

Best Regards,

<<Sarcasm>> The line of people who are in contempt of congress is getting quite long. Can anyone really take Coongress seriously given their lack of self-respect and refusal to be respected?

apples and oranges

from your link

An unusual FBI raid of a Democratic congressman's office over the weekend prompted complaints yesterday from leaders in both parties, who said the tactic was unduly aggressive and may have breached the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government.


in one case you have someone who probably received bribe money for votes...

in another case a political party used its powers to commit treason and cause the country to go in a direction, to war, that was a very big mistake...you could only compare the two if you hadnt experienced the effect this war has had on some people.

I am not familiar with the devastating effect the crooked Dem Congressman has had...

also, lets make a deal, 25 yrs from now person A is going to accept bribe money and in return sell national secrets jeopardizing our country, we wont bother with asking for the FBI transcripts to further the case because of this Democratic Congressman nobody ever heard of, that is how justice works?

Truth!

If they keep at it, it will go the way of a flat roof with the storm drains clogged. The water will keep rising during even a light rain, rising till the weight of the water will finally break through.

Yes there is! Former EPA deputy associate administrator Jason K. Burnett.

Thanks for making it public Waxman. How long before Pelosi drops in and says, "Holding Bushco in contempt is off the table"?

Oh yes, this is UNPRESIDENTED !!! Fact is history shows it is not. Neocons are really stupid arrogant bastards to me, where did they get those traits, zombies I tell ya, zombies.

The AG through confirmation process, indicated he would resign before becoming a patsy to clown(s), I am paraphrasing that. Would have to ask Chuckles the Clown Schumer exactly what he said since Chuckles was so anxious to shove this guy up. Anyway the AG has several options, be arrogant and ignorant, uphold the rule of law or resign.

Speaking of which, over in Philadelphia a Federal Prosecuter resigned. There is an "official" release on Spincter's website. I will not conjecture on any other meaning to this resignitation as I am not really into torturing or abusing myself emotionally or mentally with known unknowns.

Yee Haw! Time to impeach Mukasey!

Washington Post article:
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 8, 2008; 2:45 PM

Members of Vice President Cheney's staff censored congressional testimony by a top federal official on the health threats posed by global warming, a former Environmental Protection Agency official said today.

In a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, former EPA deputy associate administrator Jason K. Burnett said an official from Cheney's office edited out six pages from the testimony of Julie L. Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last October.

Several media outlets, including The Washington Post, reported at the time that Gerberding had planned to say that "CDC considers climate change a serious public health concern," among other passages.

Boxer said the administration feared that Gerberding's testimony would force it to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. The White House has opposed mandatory limits and insisted that voluntary measures and increased research are the best way to address the problem.
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"The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Office of the Vice President (OVP) were seeking deletions to the CDC testimony," Burnett, a 31-year old Stanford-trained economist and a Democrat, wrote in response to an inquiry from Boxer's committee. "CEQ requested that I work with CDC to remove from the testimony any discussion of the human health consequences of climate change."

Burnett, a member of the wealthy Packard family, has given more than $100,000 to Democratic campaigns in recent years, including $3,600 to the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama (Ill.). He did not identify who in the vice president's office called him.

"I'm not interested in pointing fingers at any individual," he said at a news conference with Boxer this morning, adding he was focused on seeing how the federal government will address climate change in response to last year's Supreme Court decision requiring EPA to deal with the issue of rising carbon dioxide emissions. "I'm interested in helping inform the next administration to help make those decisions, while recognizing Congress could act to pass a better law."

Boxer demanded that, in light of Burnett's allegations, EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson turn over "every document related to the agency's finding that global warming poses a danger to the public" -- a determination the EPA reached late last year -- and issue a rule finding that greenhouse gases endanger public welfare. The White House has refused to open the e-mail making that finding, which Burnett sent over on Dec. 5, thereby leaving the recommendation in limbo.

"I'm calling on Mr. Johnson to act now, and if he doesn't have the courage or the strength or determination to act, he should resign," Boxer said.

Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride declined to comment in detail on Burnett's allegations, saying, "We don't comment on internal deliberations."

However, White House spokesman Tony Fratto noted that White House officials in past administrations have vetted congressional testimony from agency officials.

"There's absolutely nothing unusual here in terms of the interagency review process, whether it's testimony, rules or anything else," Fratto said in an interview. "The process exists so that other offices and departments have the opportunity to comment and offer their views. There's nothing unusual about that, there's nothing nefarious about that, and there's nothing different here from previous administrations."

Frank O'Donnell, who heads the advocacy group Clean Air Watch, said the latest revelations confirm that the vice president has been steering the nation's environmental policy during President Bush's tenure.

"For years, we've suspected that Cheney was the puppeteer for administration policy on global