As expected, Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused Friday to refer congressional contempt citations against President Bush's Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and the president's former counsel, Harriet Miers, to a federal grand jury, claiming that the officials did not commit a crime when they refused to testify before Congress.
The move sets the stage for a historic legal showdown between Congress and the White House over President Bush's far-reaching claims of executive privilege, an issue that will ultimately be decided by the courts and could have long lasting implications for future administrations.
"The department will not bring the congressional contempt citations before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute Mr. Bolten or Ms. Miers," Mukasey wrote in a letter Friday to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi responded swiftly, stating in a news release that she has given the Judiciary Committee authority to file lawsuits against Bolten and Miers in federal court.
"The American people demand that we uphold the law," Pelosi said. "As public officials, we take an oath to uphold the Constitution and protect our system of checks and balances and our civil lawsuit seeks to do just that."
Bolten and Miers were held in contempt of Congress after they failed to appear before the House Judiciary Committee last year to testify about the firings of nine United States Attorneys in late 2006. President Bush advised Bolten and Miers not to testify saying any information they may have about the US attorney firings was covered by executive privilege.
"The contempt of Congress statute was not intended to apply and could not constitutionally be applied to an executive branch official who asserts the president's claim of executive privilege," Mukasey wrote Pelosi. "Accordingly," Mukasey concluded, "the department has determined that the noncompliance by Mr. Bolten and Ms. Miers with the Judiciary Committee subpoenas did not constitute a crime."
Two weeks ago, the full chamber of Congress voted on contempt of Congress citation, the first time it has done so in 25 years, and referred the matter to Mukasey for prosecution.
John Conyers, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, indicated at the time the House voted on the contempt charges that a lawsuit would be filed against Bolten and Miers if Mukasey refused to prosecute the charges.
“The Privilege Resolution introduced [February 13] follows the suggestion first made by former Judiciary Committee chairman James Sensenbrenner last year and authorizes the House general counsel to file a civil suit to enforce the subpoenas," Conyers said. "That way, if the administration refuses to enforce the contempt finding, we can take action in the courts. . . . Although Mr. Sensenbrenner suggested a civil lawsuit as an alternative to contempt, the courts have made clear that statutory contempt must be tried first. In a lawsuit in the 1980s, when the Justice Department tried to get a civil court ruling after the House had found a former EPA administrator in contempt, the court ruled that it should 'defer to established statutory procedures' on contempt and that a civil lawsuit could be pursued only after statutory contempt remedies are exhausted. Here, a civil suit would be filed only after the administration refuses to allow statutory contempt to go forward."
On Friday, Conyers excoriated Mukasey's decision not to pursue the matter.
"Our investigation into the firing of United States Attorneys revealed an administration and a Justice Department that seemed to put politics first, and today’s decision to shelve the contempt process, in violation of a federal statute, shows that the White House will go to any lengths to keep its role in the US Attorney firings hidden," Conyers said. "In the face of such extraordinary actions, we have no choice but to proceed with a lawsuit to enforce the committee's subpoenas.”
In an interview recently, David Iglesias, the former US attorney for New Mexico who was fired on Election Day in 2006 for reasons that appeared to be based entirely on partisan politics, implored the Justice Department to allow Bolten and Miers to testify.
"Congress is exercising its legitimate oversight role in this unfinished matter," said Iglesias, who has written a book on the ordeal, "In Justice: Inside the Scandal that Rocked the Bush Administration," that is due to be published in June. "I implore the White House to do the right thing and produce Ms. Miers and Mr. Bolten to the Congress."
Iglesias said documents in the case released thus far goes far beyond the realm of circumstantial evidence and shows culpability--and perhaps criminal behavior--on the part of several high-level former Justice Department and White House officials who were involved in his firing and sought to cover-up their involvement. Iglesias points to a transcript of an interview with career Justice Department official David Margolis conducted by congressional investigators in May 2007 in which Margolis said that he participated in a "brainstorming" session with other senior DOJ officials to come up with a reason to sell to the public and to lawmakers in the event that questions were raised about why Iglesias was ousted.''
In testimony before Congress last year, Iglesias said that a few weeks before the 2006 midterm elections he received telephone calls from Domenici, and the state's Republican congresswoman, Heather Wilson, inquiring about the timing of an indictment against a popular Democratic official in the state who was the target of a corruption investigation. Iglesias told Domenici and Wilson he could not discuss indictments with them. Iglesias was added to a list of US attorneys to be fired on Election Day in November 2006. The official or officials responsible for drafting the list is still unknown.
Jason Leopold is editor of the online investigative news magazine The Public Record, http://www.pubrecord.org, and the author of the National Bestseller, "News Junkie," a memoir. Visit www.newsjunkiebook.com for a preview. He is also a two-time winner of the Project Censored award, most recently, in 2007, for an investigative story related to Halliburton's work in Iran. He was recently named the recipient of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation's Thomas Jefferson Award for a series of stories he wrote that exposed how soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been pressured to accept fundamentalist Christianity.
With Mukasey stonewalling for Bush (damn Feinstein and Schumer for letting him get the pass to be AG) maybe Pelosi will put impeachment back on the table.
This is criminal stuff that can't be ignored and impeachment hearings would eliminate the cloak of executive immunity they inappropriately hide behind.
by
Rob Kall (721 articles, 3749 quicklinks, 304 diaries, 1485 comments)
on Friday, February 29, 2008 at 8:57:26 PM
Don't hold your breath, I don't want to see you turn blue. When congress let the Tillman murder slide with Executive Privilege,which is found nowhere in the constitution,that said all I need to know. Something about means,motive and opportunity escapes this congress' watchful eyes,like the anthrax attack.
by
tjb (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 169 comments)
on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 5:10:31 AM
Feinstein is a Bilderberg member and Schumer is a Trilateralist. Both part of the corporate machine. And they are not the only members among our elected that belong to the numerous power groups.
by
Rae (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 217 comments)
on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 1:56:23 PM
Pelosi responded swiftly, stating in a news release that she has given the Judiciary Committee authority to file lawsuits against Bolten and Miers in federal court.
So when the Judiciary Committee files the lawsuit the federal court considers and then makes a ruling.
How long though would this process take? Days, weeks, months?
by
Brett Paatsch (0 articles, 2 quicklinks, 16 diaries, 770 comments)
on Friday, February 29, 2008 at 9:49:14 PM
Pelosi and Conyers both indicated that they had a lawsuit already prepared and ready to be filed in DC federal court. But I think it's safe to say that Pelosi could very well change her mind or delay filing for one reason or another. It took Congress nearly a year to pass a contempt citation against Bolten and Miers. But if and when the lawsuit is filed it could very well take years for the case to reach a conclusion what with all the motions, appeals, etc.
by
Jason Leopold (101 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 8 comments)
on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 8:03:48 AM
John Conyers sent out an e-mail to all and sundry boasting that Congress was going to sock it to the Bush Administration. It's about all he has to brag about. And they've crossed the Rubicon! They're going to file suit! The courage of the congressional leadership is breath taking. Their integrity is a light to show us the way. Excuse me if I get sick on your shoes, Mr. Conyers. Give my best to fearless leader, Pelosi.
by
Joseph Danison (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Friday, February 29, 2008 at 10:58:17 PM
Re: Mukasey Rebuffs Pelosi, Refuses to Prosecute Bush Aides
Miers and Bolten are never going to testify in federal court. Not against their handlers. This ruthless cabal especially Rove who was working behind the scenes with the illegal voter caging tactics are all watching each others backs. They're operating above the law. The wipe their arse's with the Constitution. If there was only the slightest chance of this going to the Supreme Court, but how would they rule?
We owe a great deal of gratitude to Chucky Schumer, who recommended Mukasey to Bush in the first place! Imagine that?
The only other recourse we have is to vote each and everyone of these son of a bitches outta office, which would take years.
by
Munich (0 articles, 44 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 632 comments)
on Friday, February 29, 2008 at 11:24:40 PM
they lie about war = a crime; they toss the Geneva Conventions, posse coitatus, and habeas corpus; they deny due process of prisoners = a crime, they admit that they are breaking the law by spying on Americans.
The democrats confirm Mukasey, Rice, Alito, etc. ?
Why? Why? Why?
it's the money of course, they don't want to piss off their campaign contributors
they all feed from the same trough
they aren't spineless, they just don't have any integrity
they are just as dishonest as the rethuglicans, because they are accomplices
by
Houston Radical (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 70 comments)
on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 12:44:24 AM
This is exactly the problem when you take away your one tool of inforcement -- impeachment. Now, why would anyone in this Administration care what Congress wants, after the law breakers hear the response to the age old question "what are you going to do if I did?" And, Pelosi responds, "nothing, I'm taking all punative action off the table so I can tell you nicely, don't do that." Working pretty well don't you think?
by
Peter Wedlund (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 119 comments)
on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 8:08:30 AM
Emboldened by years of democratic capitulations the Executive believes itself invulnerable and immune from any restraint. One can plainly see how the "chickens have come home to roost" and how the complicities and cowardice of the democratic leadership have aided and abetted the neoconservative cause until now I fear it far too late.
The lawsuit will , if it is indeed carried out at all, wend its way to the Federal Court system , where judges appointed by Bush and approved by Congress will rule upon it. Should the unlikely occur and an unfavorable to this administration rulling be handed down it will be appealed to the Supreme Court, you know, the ones who appointed Bush in the first place.....
The solution to this crisis of governance lies not with Congress, the Judiciary or the Executive branch of government. The solution to this lies with an electorate unwilling or intellectually unable to see outside the box, to understand that your government works no longer for you. As long as this situation exists the voters will continue to elect and re-elect the same folks who will make the same mistakes, again and again and again.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 9:43:16 AM
...continue to do their mastery. My newest motto to things that go bump in the night against our US Constitution in the Bush/Cheney administration is, "Hey, man; they're Republican." In other words, as many have said above and elsewhere, we are not surprised.
But...if Pelosi and the Dems cave AGAIN...it's all-out political war at the grassroots. Already, many of us are identifying people across the nation to take the places of those in Congress up for re-election who have defied the US Constitution in the name of politics. For too long too many of us have been calling for impeachment hearings against Bush/Cheney!
And our nation is SUFFERING!
We do not think for one minute that things will get better if Obama is elected president; he's the right choice, a good person, a savvy legislator and advocate for the people, but we know our country is in the biggest, swirling, hurricane we've been in since the Great Depression. And mending it, avoiding drowning in it, has become nearly impossible. The ship is battered and torn and listing mercilessly. Without the concerted and organized work of the people under a strong and LONG leadership of a good government, we will sink. I've said this before and I will say it again: NOT ON MY WATCH!
You know this already, if you're reading this, but we are sinking in this Bush/Cheney quagmire for ONE reason: we have allowed them to continue their corrupt and illegal activities for 7-and-a-half years! Think of it! WE LET THEM!
Well, let this latest "choice" by Mukasey, in the name of Bush/Cheney, to ignore the US Constitution be as if a warning shot across the bow of that churning ocean of pain we are being sucked into day after day after day:
We WILL fight even stronger for immediate impeachment hearings against ALL who have been involved in this aggregious disloyalty to the people of the United States and the world. And if this is not done while the Bush administration reigns, we WILL go to The Hague after they are out of office!
We will not stand by and wait for "a good person" to be elected and hope that we can, then, get back our democracy.
We will fight NOW to show that NO self-righteous behavior among our leaders who ignore the will of the people, ignore the well-being of the infrastructure of the US, call a clear "recession" a "slowdown," hide the REAL "evil-doers" in the bushes (pun intended) until someone else is in the White House...none of this will be tolerated.
We will have justice that is honest and real and purposeful without the ersatz Justice Department and the corrupt Mukasey, and without the cowering US Congress, if this is what they once again do in the face of this contempt!
These are "Democracy Thieves" and they must be brought down and held accountable NOW, and We, the People WILL do it if the US Congress OR the US Supreme Court will not.
We're seasick as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore!
Professor Fandel
by
Professor Fandel (4 articles, 2 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 34 comments)
on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 10:19:52 AM
All of this, and a good many of the rest of our political ills, are directly traceable to the entrenchment of political parties (private, non-governmental, non-Constitutional entities) who have completely taken over our government. Our "representatives" and executive branch "leaders" do not work for us at this point - they work for the parties.
Partisan politics should be banned at the capitol steps. Any attempt to influence an elected person by the threat of punishment or promise of a reward from anyone else via the party system should be a felony. This would cover things like office location, campaign support, committee memberships, and on and on - anything that can be given or withheld due to a politician's level of loyalty to a party.
The parties are killing us. Let's kill the parties.
by
Techknowledgie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 34 comments)
on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 12:16:32 PM
why not consider increasing the number of political parties represented in our government? With the GOP and the Democrats simply two sides of the same coin in many respects the solution would seem to be looking outside the box and not committing mayhem.....
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 12:35:43 PM
The people are the problem, and the parties merely reflect what they do and think. It won't matter if you have 2 parties or 10 if those in office do not feel they need to represent the people they serve, or at least if the people they serve are not their true constituents.
I wouldn't be so negative. Last night on PBS there was a discussion with the person running John Edwards campaign (he ran Howard Dean's in 2003). He noted the Obama campaign is showing the power that comes from the bottom up (the people) is far, far stronger than the power that comes from the top down (from the leaders) as in the Clinton campaign. As the internet has taken hold, so has the ability to mobilize people, to move masses of people and connect people with common goals. That is a far more powerful force than the old politics where the leaders decided what would happpen, who would be the next nominee or what the peoples agenda would be. If people stay connected and involved through the internet, text messaging and other tools there is tremendous hope we can make change happen far more effectively and efficiently than by waiting for leaders to recognize the need for change. That is a tremendous message of hope for Democracy which is "for the people, by the people and of the people." We the people are now in a position to become the drivers of change and hold those who represent us accountable by rapidly mobilizing our forces. At the very least, we have the power through the internet to let them know their time in office is limited if they do not respond to the will of the people.
by
Peter Wedlund (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 119 comments)
on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 2:26:12 PM
I respect your right to choose the candidate you will support, will you respect my right to view the same evidence and form a different conclusion?
I believe that the support you see as an uprising of the people for your chosen candidate is based , not upon his fitness for office, not upon his track record in governance ( he hasnt got any), not upon his history of standing up against the corporatists, the warmongers, the profiteers, because he hasnt got one. That the electorate is desperate for change, frantic to find a leader who will listen to us is the primary cause of this groundswell of support for Senator Obama. Those who support Barak Obama refuse to view his voting record because it shatters their illusion of hope, they refuse to read his book because it contains a paeon to globalism, they refuse to look closely at his list of donors as it mirrors that of his opponent, they will not note that his staff includes a highly placed head of a sub prime mortgage factory who is currently under federal investigation. I do not wish to denigrate Barak Obama, or hope itself for that matter, but this is certainly no way to choose a candidate to support.
Regardless of which of the democratic candidates ultimately wins this increasingly sordid race matters not at all. As long as the two parties are our only choices we really have no choice at all. I stated above and will do so again as long as necesary that I believe both the GOP and Democratic Party pander to the corporations and not to the will of the people.
Unless and until we elect folks pledged to refrain from the influence of that sector of our nation and instead follow an agenda dictated by their constituency we are doomed to the same governance we now get.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 5:35:52 PM
It is well past time to put everything and everybody into a third party run.
Short of revolution, that is practically the only thing left.
Ralph Nader has integrity and would be a start, but he cannot do anything alone, it needs the grass roots people that support Kucinich, Ron Paul, Mike Gravel and the green party to have a few meetings and get behind ONE of them, and to take advantage of the groundswell of anger and contempt of Congress that the people are undoubtedly feeling.
If 'divide and rule' politics wins, we have all lost, and perhaps for ever.
How long will it take for the world to gang up on Amerika like they did against Hitler and Japan? Better to do something now before the rumblings from Russia and China, and the people in nearly every country in the world seize the moment.
This is a class war and we are losing because we were asleep with the cable TV crap and the high tech trinkets. How will you entertain yourself when you are hungry, have no electricity and the only way to get things done is to rely on your neighbors? I predict, with the world wide slow down, when it turns into a collapse of the systems, that more than one population will rise up against these soul-less profit war mongers.
You in Amerika don't see the news from other countries, where their are already riots about price rises on fuel and food. And you sure don't see anything that is happening with the Palestinians either.
When the excrement strikes the fan I fear for the scapegoats, just as there were 'good Germans' there are 'good Jews' but you only have to see the mounting incoherent rage against anybody who the ignorant can label as the culprits. The fact that a lot of Jews are rich does not make every Jew culpable, but a blanket accusation, just like the blanket accusation perpetrated on 'Islamofascists' will work just fine for most people.
Mob rule never has any coherent ideas and are so easily led.
Just look how the Americans are gobbling up all the propaganda, even when Bush tells you straight to your faces that it takes many repetitions to push the propaganda, you know the clip I'm sure.
by
ibrahim turner (21 articles, 7 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 144 comments)
on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 2:39:17 PM
you have outlined the strategy most likely to rescue this nation and its democratic processes. I would add only that it behooves all who understand this course of action to also understand that this is a long term solution and will require a patience and determination rarely found among us these days.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 7:47:09 AM
smirk and scorn the Democratics....and the spineless, pitiful Democratics will weep at the injustice and the meaness and cave, as always....then expect us to believethey can "protect" us from bothforeign and domestic enemies...contemptible...!
by
Susan Nelsen (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 217 comments)
on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 5:16:12 PM
It's no wonder that Mukasy defies Congress. That body has shown no backbone in years. For Pelosi et al. to try to say that they are trying to do their jobs is a joke. If any one in Congress would stand up and have a modicum of courage to impeach the criminals in the White House, we might believe this story. What we, the people, must do is vote these lily livered morons out of office and make sure that people are elected who will perform their duty to protect and defend the Constitution.
We can't wait for the next election. The reason we can't wait is that nothing will change at that time. Obama might be a good person but he is a whore to the insurance companies and other mega corporations as is Hillary. The fact that neither of these people would commit to a not for profit health care plan is testament to that.
Congress should quit with their stupid hearings about Roger Clemens and do what they were elected to do. Who cares whether or not Roger used steroids? It doesn't change the path of our country. Clemens has been one of the most exciting figures in baseball. Also it seems strange that Congress should claim that they don't want to waste time with impeachment but strangely they have time to muck about with sports figures who broke no laws. Do they think we are all stupid? Again I say - throw the bums out!!! We, the people, want impeachment and we want it now!!!!! If they can't or won't do it, we must elect other, more courageous people who will do what they were hired to do. Because, don't forget, we pay their salaries. We are their employers and they must do what we tell them to do. Let the government fear the people again rather than the way it is now.
by
Caronome (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 186 comments)
on Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 8:16:12 AM
