White House Stonewalls Waxman’s Inquiry Into Cheney-Linked MZM Contracts
White House Stonewalls Waxman’s Inquiry Into Cheney-Linked MZM Contracts
On March 26, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote a letter to White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten demanding “all contracts, subcontracts, and task orders between MZM, Inc. … and the Executive Office of the President.”
As ThinkProgress has reported, there is good reason to believe fired U.S. attorney Carol Lam was targeting the White House’s connections to MZM contractor Mitchell Wade, who pled guilty to paying more than $1 million in bribes to former Rep. Duke Cunningham. Despite no record of having ever received a federal contract, Wade’s firm received a $140,000 contract in 2002 to provide a system to screen the President’s mail.
In his letter, Waxman requested that the White House provide documents relating to the White House-MZM contracts as soon as possible, but in no case later than Friday, April 6. But the North County Times reports Waxman has yet to receive the information he requested.
“The White House response is clearly not adequate at this point,” Waxman said in a written response to questions from the North County Times.
On Friday, the White House gave its initial response to Waxman’s March request, with President Bush’s special counsel Emmet T. Flood saying there would be a delay.
“Once we are able to fully evaluate the scope and implications of the letter’s requests, we will soon provide your committee with an appropriate response,” Flood wrote.
Asked about the committee request Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo would only say, “We have advised members of Congress that we are looking into this matter.”
[...]
On Tuesday, Waxman wrote the White House, saying in no uncertain terms that he expects some answers.
“Mr. Flood did not provide any of the information or documents the Committee requested,” he wrote in the letter.
Waxman said he is willing to grant an extension, but that “any extension should be accompanied by a firm and expeditious schedule for production.” He noted that on Jan. 23, his committee asked DHS to provide it with documents on the Department’s $30 billion contract with Boeing to design and build a comprehensive border security plan. Fifteen days later, he received 1,800 pages in documents in response to the request. By contrast, Waxman noted, “The [MZM] contract is small and complying with the request should not be complicated.”
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I know this is petty and has nothing to do with the story, but….. wow, Mitchell Wade is not an attractive person.
April 12th, 2007 at 4:39 pmPay close attention to this youtube Video of Bush in his own words talking about EMAILS. It starts 25 seconds into the video. Bush clearly talks about emails being pulled up as public record and that he doesn’t use emails.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo9BO00R2_w
April 12th, 2007 at 4:40 pmTime to storm the bastille…
April 12th, 2007 at 4:42 pmBush not using email is like Cheney not knowing Mitch Wade! Of course, both are erroneous – Bush uses RNC’s secret email site as he instructed all of his underlings to do. Cheney will be impeached due to his involvement with Mitch Wade.
My only nightmare is that these impeachments will be in reverse order – remember: Impeach Cheney first; then Impeach Bush. They’re both notorious “liars”.
April 12th, 2007 at 4:42 pmThank god for technology or Bush would get away with his ongoing lying to the american people. Will someone puleeze put together a tape of Bush’s multitude of lies soon? It would be amazing to see how many he’s stood there and not bat an eyelash at while he’s lying to the people….remember: we don’t torture! Is that, Mr. President, like “we don’t lie!”???
April 12th, 2007 at 4:44 pmMZM was a defense contractor, can you imagine what kind of “furniture” they came up with for Chainee’s office?
“How about a nice rack, Mr. VP? It’s very well preserved, 17th century, I believe, don’t mind the dark stains, its what tells you it is an original.”
“Or how about this totally awesome guillotine! oh, no? Don’t want anything French… hmm, I see, yes, the bad memories of how they wouldn’t cooperate going to war with you in Iraq”
“This is something relatively contemporary, I think you might like, it’s a waterboard!
April 12th, 2007 at 4:45 pm“Yes, you like it? Good, it’s completely made in the USA you know….”
So let’s get this straight: Yesterday they had to admonish Gonzales for not providing the documents they formally requested and today they are publicly admonishing The Dick, Cheney, for not providing the documents they formally requested. Both of these situations would warrant immediate firing. What the hell’s going on in DC??
April 12th, 2007 at 4:46 pm#3 I agree wholeheartedly and the people are getting fed up with this administration. If Congress fails to respect the wishes of the people, I wouldn’t be surprised to see people take to the streets so because of the filth and corruption. The people have had it up to their eyeballs and something needs to be done about it – and now.
April 12th, 2007 at 4:47 pm“We don’t use the internets, the Googles, or the emails.”
April 12th, 2007 at 4:48 pmMaybe we won’t even get a chance to get to 911 before these thugs are removed from office??
April 12th, 2007 at 4:48 pmI bet the Dukester could cough something up.
How about Duncan donuts Hunter? He was up to his eyeballs with MZM.
Carol Lam is a hero.
April 12th, 2007 at 4:49 pmShe was too tough for this bunch of wussies.
It’s going to be kinda’ hard to deny criminality at some point. There is a threshold that will be crossed – let’s hope the Dems are quick, agile, and strong enough to push these con men towards it. They are stealing our money and we won’t be getting it back.
April 12th, 2007 at 4:50 pmAsked about the committee request Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo would only say, “We have advised members of Congress that we are looking into this matter.â€
we are looking into this matter = f*ck you
April 12th, 2007 at 4:51 pm“Yes, you like it? Good, it’s completely made in the USA you know….â€
Comment by Raven — April 12, 2007 @ 4:45 pm
Funny post…
April 12th, 2007 at 4:54 pmAux armes, mes citoyens!
April 12th, 2007 at 5:19 pmApril 12th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
April 12th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
They need to impeach and remove each of the officals involved in this crime.
Then place the fired USA in charge of investigating the criminals in the WHite House.
Find a way to make it happen. Remove GOP Congress memeber from office who supported bush and have the states appoint new Senators and have speacial elections for the COngeress men and women.
April 12th, 2007 at 5:31 pmThey must be brought down – but bringing them down may be insufficient in itself. They must be held for charges.
April 12th, 2007 at 5:45 pm“Once we are able to fully evaluate the scope and implications of the letter’s requests, we will soon provide your committee with an appropriate response,†Flood wrote.
“Implication,” as in, does the information requested implicate Cheney or anyone else in the administration?
Nice choice of words, Mr. Flood.
April 12th, 2007 at 6:26 pmF*ck cheney. F*ck the chimp
IMPEACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 12th, 2007 at 7:16 pmHey #1, bobcat_grad- Dusty Foggo musta liked looking into those beady little eyes when he was,…… , uh,
April 12th, 2007 at 7:21 pmugggh.
THE white house SHOULD BE RENAMED “THE LYING WHITE-LIE HOUSE OF OBFUSCATION AND PREVARICATION”!!!!!
April 13th, 2007 at 12:00 am[...] (digby); Donklephant; The Impolitic; Michael P.F. van der Galiën; Firedoglake; Mother Jones; Think Progress; Crooks and Liars; Daily Kos; The Drudge Retort; The Left Coaster; Technorati Tags: Alberto [...]
April 13th, 2007 at 3:46 am