Waxman Letter Sheds More Details About White House-MZM Contract: It Was ‘Related To WMD’
Waxman Letter Sheds More Details About White House-MZM Contract: It Was ‘Related To WMD’
On December 5, 2005, the LA Times reported that the White House awarded the defense firm MZM with a contract “to provide office furniture and computers for Vice President Cheney.” But Josh Marshall reported last month that the contract was really for screening the president’s mail, “presumably for Anthrax and other similar biohazards.”
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) reports that the White House counsel’s office has been “unable to identify any contracts for furniture within the Vice President’s office” but that there may be “a different contract ‘related to WMD.’” From a Waxman letter addressed to White House Counsel Fred Fielding:
On April 17, 2007, Mr. [Emmett] Flood contacted Committee staff by telephone to state that he did not yet have the requested documents or even a schedule by which some or all responsive documents would be provided. Instead, Mr. Flood stated that he had been unable to identify any contracts for furniture within the Vice President’s office, but that he had heard “rumors” about a different contract “related to WMD” that raised “certain sensibilities.” Mr. Flood requested one additional week to prepare a response to the Committee, to which Committee staff agreed.
Indeed, “certain sensibilities” have been raised. The White House awarded the one-month, $140,000 contract to an individual — MZM contractor Mitchell Wade — who never previously held a federal contract. Two weeks after he got paid, Wade used a cashier’s check for exactly that amount to buy a boat for now-imprisoned Rep. Duke Cunningham at a price that the congressman had pre-negotiated.
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Clinton, Carter, Johnson, you know the rest.
April 20th, 2007 at 5:58 pmSo can we get a refund on the yacht ??
April 20th, 2007 at 5:58 pmGee, what a coincidence...
April 20th, 2007 at 5:59 pmGood Lord, pulling back one curtain of arrogance, ideology, corruption and outright incompetence of this Administration just reveals another such curtain
April 20th, 2007 at 6:00 pmExact same amount? Just a coincidence don'tcha know? Why does TP hate 'merica?
/snark
April 20th, 2007 at 6:01 pmThat picture just screams:
YOU'LL BE SORRY, PEE WEE HERMAN!
April 20th, 2007 at 6:01 pmThose corrupt Republicans are a damn good-looking bunch, aren't they?
April 20th, 2007 at 6:01 pmClinton, Carter, Johnson, you know the rest.
Comment by michael — April 20, 2007 @ 5:58 pm
You mean men that produced sh*t that had a higher IQ than you? Yeah, we know the rest Jake*ss.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:02 pm#1
Bush shown on video robbing bank - TP
Other people robbed banks before Bush - Michael
(scroll)
April 20th, 2007 at 6:03 pmDidn't Carol Lam prosecute Cunningham? So, basically, Cheney just wanted to buy Duke a new boat (in exchange for what?) and when Carol Lam prosecuted Cunningham, she lost her job.
Yeah, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, you know the rest.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:03 pmTo Whom It May Concern, someone posting using the name "michael" at 5:58 pm is not me.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:03 pmSo, if I add all that up, it turns out that Duke Cunningham's boat was the long sought after weapon of mass destruction?
April 20th, 2007 at 6:03 pmGuess it all depends on who the captain is... alcohol does burn after all....
"Ayye mateys, fatten up the hatches and prepare to break wind!"
Looks like a direct connection to the white house to me.
Is it time to put impeachment back on the table yet, Nancy Pelosi?
April 20th, 2007 at 6:04 pmDraw the papers up already.....
#
So can we get a refund on the yacht ??
Comment by Manuel — April 20, 2007 @ 5:58 pm
#
The government already did when the FBI siezed it.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:05 pmthe river of dirty money runs through the banks of this administration like a torrent which can't be damed. and they bathe joyfully in it but no amount of money can rinse away the blood.
hows that for a metaphor! EAT IT COLBERT!
April 20th, 2007 at 6:05 pmLOL
#11 is not me.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:07 pm#11 - then you'd better start using another, maybe Jake since that one's been abandoned.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:08 pmTo Whom It May Concern, someone posting using the name “michael†at 5:58 pm is not me.
Comment by michael
You're not "you" either, Jake. Stop using other people's names.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:08 pmo Whom It May Concern, someone posting using the name “michael†at 5:58 pm is not me. I understand the confusion, as it says the exact same thing that I always say, only more efficiently.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:08 pmReading between the lines, MZM did no work and defrauded the government. A government employee signed the contract and authorization for payment. Who was that person?
April 20th, 2007 at 6:08 pmOffice furniture.......WMD. Yeah, I always get those confused, too.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:09 pmI am not Jake.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:15 pmLOL
April 20th, 2007 at 6:16 pmand I'm not Rappaport.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:18 pmI am not Spock.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:20 pmHey! We could use the boat for something good! Like loading W and all his corrupt, theocratic cronies on it and sending them to IRAQ! Oh yeah, and give them all slingshots to fight the tara-rists.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:20 pm#21 Maybe that why Bush was looking around the furniture for WMDs in that "hilarious" set of slides for the White House Correspondents Association dinner a few years back?
He heard about WMDs and the office furniture and being how he and Abu Gonzales are crime-fighters, he was Johnny-on-the-spot to check out that swarthy-colored ottoman.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:21 pmhttp://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/20/top-10-the-dog-ate-my-homework-bush-excuses/
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/13/cafferty-cites-greenwalds-article-on-bushs-many-missing-documents/
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/04/12/lost_documents/index.html
April 20th, 2007 at 6:21 pmI am not Spartacus
April 20th, 2007 at 6:21 pmBut "maybe" the boat isn't big enough?
April 20th, 2007 at 6:22 pmI'm not Lisa.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:22 pmthe river of dirty money runs through the banks of this administration like a torrent which can’t be damed. and they bathe joyfully in it but no amount of money can rinse away the blood.
hows that for a metaphor! EAT IT COLBERT!
LOL
Comment by hil — April 20, 2007 @ 6:05 pm
You forgot the part about Bush's blood-soaked underwear.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:23 pmI'm not dead.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:27 pmThis is the biggest news yet. money thru the White House. Hello Exley? jj? venus?
April 20th, 2007 at 6:27 pmI'm not John Kennedy.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:30 pmSo, if I add all that up, it turns out that Duke Cunningham’s boat was the long sought after weapon of mass destruction?
Yeah Raven, i'm not sure what that story is about. A bit jumbled. MZM, WMD, furniture for Cheney's office, screening President's mail.
Maybe Faiz needs to do a rewrite, or take another look see.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:34 pmMaybe it's a coded message
April 20th, 2007 at 6:35 pmSo?
The guy bought a boat. What's the big deal? You really are getting desperate. Trying t dig dirt on GOP but not finding any conclusive.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:39 pmMaybe it’s an allusion to the Duke LaCrosse players?
April 20th, 2007 at 6:40 pmPerhaps this sheds more light.
"Examining the Executive Order that created the Silberman-Robb commission in the appendix to their report, the dates of the commission's authorization (February 2004) and dissolution (summer of 2005) coincide closely with the time period in which MZM received three White House contracts for intelligence services. "
April 20th, 2007 at 6:41 pmhttp://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/003875.html
This just in.... Federal authorities have charged Mitchell Wade with the theft of PeeWee Herman's bicycle.
The bicycle has not been recovered. It was last seen in the basement of the Alamo.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:43 pmI AM
April 20th, 2007 at 6:46 pmMay ALL Repulsivescum...
...continue to take communion...
...from the criminal Bushite junta...
April 20th, 2007 at 6:48 pmI am not Jake.
Comment by michael — April 20, 2007 @ 6:15 pm
Who ever you are, nobody cares.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:48 pmMore detail
"Crooked Contractor Tried to Bring "Democracy" to Iran
By Justin Rood - March 25, 2006, 7:42 AM
Knight-Ridder last night published new details about Mitchell Wade's "Iranian Democratization Foundation," a non-profit he founded in 2004 that we first reported.
The group appears to have been a failed attempt to cadge U.S. funds for democracy-building. (I shudder to imagine what Wade's lessons on democracy would cover.)
Wade, admitted briber of jailed former lawmaker Randy "Duke" Cunningham, formed the group with two pals. Behrooz Behbudi, a Canadian resident, was a big-money GOP donor and a former friend of the late shah of Iran. Sonny Lee, a New York real estate developer, also donated heavily to the Repubs.
From what the Knight-Ridder fellows found, the project never got off the ground. As Lee told the reporters, the project was stopped "after the government told us they would take care of that themselves." No record of funds to the group could be found."
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/week_2006_03_19.php
April 20th, 2007 at 6:49 pmSo, the White House considers Anthrax to be a WMD? Well, that would blow a big giant hole in their "No terrorist attacks on US soil since 9/11" bullsh!t. Anthrax was sent to the Democratic leaders of congress and some other Bush critics after 9/11.
Anybody heard anything about the investigation?
Yeah, doesn't seem like Bush can catch any bad guys. Even ones that still walk amongst us.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:49 pmI am not a crook!
April 20th, 2007 at 6:49 pmI am...I said
April 20th, 2007 at 6:49 pmI am the deciderer.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:50 pmI don't remember...
I can't recall...
I have no memory...
Of anything at all.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:50 pmSo Mitchell Wade is one more crook bilking US taxpayers through a phony war. His face belongs on the cover of War Mongers Magazine, along with Bush's.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:50 pmI am the walrus.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:50 pmI am Spartacus!
April 20th, 2007 at 6:51 pmDon't ask and I won't tell.
Only my hairdresser knows for sure.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:52 pmBehrooz Behbudi, a Canadian resident, was a big-money GOP donor and a former friend of the late shah of Iran. Sonny Lee, a New York real estate developer, also donated heavily to the Repubs
The plot thickens. So we have another connection to the SHah of Iran, who's secret police could out-torture Saddam's on a good day.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:52 pmI'm not a dry drunk.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:53 pmI'm Professor Harold Hill
April 20th, 2007 at 6:54 pmI think therefore I am.
Just wish I could remember who the hell I am.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:54 pmI love you, Spartacus!
April 20th, 2007 at 6:55 pmI'm not your stepping stone.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:55 pmBringin’ in th’ thieves…
…bringin’ in th’ thieves…
…we shall all rejoice when…
…bringin’ in th’ thieves…
April 20th, 2007 at 6:56 pmYeah, doesn’t seem like Bush can catch any bad guys. Even ones that still walk amongst us.
Comment by Spudge_Boy
May I point out that only Democrats and "liberal" papers were the targets of the Anthrax attacks.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:56 pmThat is why Bush wasn't worried about them.
I’m Professor Harold Hill
Comment by Robert Preston — April 20, 2007 @ 6:54 pm
Oooh we got trouble, right here in River City, capital t that rhymes with p and that stands for pool...
April 20th, 2007 at 6:58 pmYer doin' a heckuva job, Al-ber-TOE!!
April 20th, 2007 at 6:58 pmI'm Brian, and so's my wife!
April 20th, 2007 at 6:59 pmThis guy Mitch Wade gets around
Scandal Limo Co. Owner Speaks
By Paul Kiel - April 11, 2007, 11:29 AM
Finally, we hear from Christopher Baker of Shirlington Limousine. Now that his champion Duke Cunningham's in the slammer, he's lost his contract with the Department of Homeland Security, and he's not happy about it.
And in the interview, he finally airs his views on the characters in the Cunningham saga. Brent Wilkes? He's a nice, upstanding guy. But Mitch Wade? He's got a "bad spirit."
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/cats/hookergate/
But above all, he wants the world to know that he's no pimp. Just bad luck with customers.
From The Hill:
A Washington transportation company that was questioned in the Randy “Duke†Cunningham investigation is on the verge of losing its contract with the Department of Homeland Security, but has gone to federal court to keep it.
Shirlington Limousine and Transportation Inc. filed a lawsuit last week accusing the department of “caving†to “political pressures†surrounding the Cunningham case by illegally changing its shuttle-services contract to exclude Shirlington....
In an interview, Baker said he did nothing wrong in his interaction with Cunningham, Wilkes and Wade, or in his performance of the Homeland Security contract. He said he became a scapegoat in the Cunningham scandal and was a convenient target for Democrats in election-year politics.
“It’s like someone has an axe to grind and they’re just going to make it happen,†Baker said. “I feel like one of the Rutgers girls. All this happens, and now I’m treated like I’m a pimp.â€
April 20th, 2007 at 7:00 pmSomebody explain to me where I put the last 7 years. They seem to be missing.
April 20th, 2007 at 7:02 pmI'm not resigning.
April 20th, 2007 at 7:03 pmI am your worst nightmare
April 20th, 2007 at 7:04 pmMay I point out that only Democrats and “liberal†papers were the targets of the Anthrax attacks.
That is why Bush wasn’t worried about them.
Comment by Wayne
Since the terrorists that did it were never caught I guess we can only guess at who it must have been... lets see..
Item #1) A letter that was written like a westerner that was trying to pretend to be a muslim telling the recipient to take cipro... him... a WESTERNER ... pretending to be a muslim terrorist ... a terrorist that gives advice on how to survive the attack...
Sounds more like a WARNING FROM RIGHTWING AMERICAN IN THE US GOVERNMENT .... than a real muslim ....
When Hillary or whoever becomes president can they use the Patriot Act to copy off all the harddrives of possible rightwing suspects without their knowledge to find out who this terrorist is that used biologic warfare against the American democratic party and the US media?
April 20th, 2007 at 7:05 pmYou sure can and I would point you here.
April 20th, 2007 at 7:05 pmEarmarks made by Congress may be partially responsible for the tremendous growth in the black defense and intelligence budget. The USA Today has written about how former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) and Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) wielded earmarks in the classified defense budget to benefit Mitchell Wade's MZM. You've got to wonder what other questionable earmarks are in the black Pentagon budget that are or aren't directly connected to the growing Cunningham-Brent Wilkes-Wade scandal.
April 20th, 2007 at 7:05 pmhttp://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/intelligence/index.html
The Black Budget Bonanza
The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments' Steven Kosiak has estimated (pdf) the "black" or classified defense budget has ballooned to $30.1 billion, or 19%, of the total fiscal year 2007 Department of Defense budget request (via TPMMuckraker). This total is split roughly evenly between research and development (R&D) funding and acquisition programs. The amount spent on classified acquisition has nearly doubled since the mid-1990s--a rate much faster than unclassified acquisition programs.
As Kosiak notes, the record of black programs has been mixed. Though programs like the F-117 stealth fighter have been considered highly successful, the failed A-12 Navy stealth bomber was a massive loss for the taxpayer because of the lack of oversight:
"Restrictions placed on access to classified funding have meant that DoD and Congress typically exercise less oversight over classified programs than unclassified ones. This lower level of scrutiny, coupled with the compartmentalization of information generally associated with classified efforts has contributed to performance problems and cost growth in a number of programs, such as the Navy’s ill-fated A-12 attack aircraft program."
Earmarks made by Congress may be partially responsible for the tremendous growth in the black defense and intelligence budget. The USA Today has written about how former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) and Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) wielded earmarks in the classified defense budget to benefit Mitchell Wade's MZM. You've got to wonder what other questionable earmarks are in the black Pentagon budget that are or aren't directly connected to the growing Cunningham-Brent Wilkes-Wade scandal. With questions starting to swirl around Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), who until last year was the chairman of the Defense appropriations subcommittee in the House and is now the chairman of the full Appropriations committee, we probably haven't seen the end of this.
Regarding the secret intelligence budget, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Inspector General Britt Snider wrote in 2003 (pdf):
"In addition, until recent years, both committees followed an unwritten rule that Members would not be allowed to insert “pork†into the intelligence authorization bill because they recognized the potential for abuse if Members were allowed to authorize funding for pork barrel projects in their home states as part of a list of classified projects that escaped public scrutiny. If appropriations were to be authorized by the committees for what could be considered a pork barrel project, the authorization would be made (in general, unclassified terms) as part of the public bill. According to reports I have received from both congressional and executive branch sources, however, this longstanding policy has eroded significantly in recent years. If, indeed, this is so, it is unfortunate and cause for concern. The committees ought not to allow their Members to hide pork barrel projects behind the veil of security classification. If such projects are considered worthy of funding, the committees ought to do it in the open."
With the norm against pork on the intelligence authorization bill gone, did Cunningham or anyone else use their position on the House Intelligence Committee to benefit MZM or any one of the Brent Wilkes-connected companies? Several different investigations, including one by the House Intel Committee itself, are examining whether or not this is the case.
-- Nick Schwellenbach
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/20/mzm-wmd/#comment-3761242
April 20th, 2007 at 7:06 pmI am your worst nightmare
Comment by dick chainee #68
...that will go away...
...as soon as you awaken...
April 20th, 2007 at 7:07 pm"MZM's Mitchell Wade, as you'll recall, provided bribes and prostitutes to jailed Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham, illegal campaign contributions to Katherine Harris and poker parties to Porter Goss' #3 at CIA, Kyle Foggo. As it turns out, MZM was also well acquainted with General Hayden. As TPM Muckraker reports today"
April 20th, 2007 at 7:09 pmhttp://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/cat_natl_security.htm
Well, I get bombed for breakfast,
April 20th, 2007 at 7:10 pmlunch,
dinner time and tea,
I'm a genuine example,
of a social disease...
So now the White House moves from just corruption to full-out embezzelment. When will those impeachment hearings begin?
April 20th, 2007 at 7:25 pmSounds more like a WARNING FROM RIGHTWING AMERICAN IN THE US GOVERNMENT …. than a real muslim ….
Comment by Gerald Gibson Jr — April 20, 2007 @ 7:05 pm
Are you trying to make me believe that conservatives really are the compassionate ones? My money's on the Muslims
April 20th, 2007 at 7:33 pmI'm Chevy Chase - and you're not.
April 20th, 2007 at 7:35 pmthe anthrax story, it was sent to critics and dems who did not like the patriat act, then within 10 days the 3 scientists that were working at the Utah lab where it was made died. Connect the dots, Bush Cheney are the ones that ordered the anthrax hits, mmm, go figure.
Hating the Repuke Mafia daily
April 20th, 2007 at 7:54 pmMy bad, it was 5 scientists. Just google Anthrax Scientists Deaths....this is how far these psychos will go for power.
Hating the Repuke Mafia daily
April 20th, 2007 at 8:01 pmClinton, Carter, Johnson, you know the rest.
Comment by michael
Would you quit living in the past you pathetic apologist for corruption.
April 20th, 2007 at 8:22 pmBehold the face of a cutout man. Hard to believe that Cheney would need to bribe Cunningham, but nothing at all surprises me anymore.
April 20th, 2007 at 8:24 pmOffice furniture - WMD - beware where you sit in VP Cheney's office.
April 20th, 2007 at 8:57 pmthat was not me, zep tepi
April 20th, 2007 at 10:40 pmi am the deleter!
the emails, go get the emails, the emails, dammit!
they NEVER believed they would EVER get caught. HA!
April 20th, 2007 at 10:46 pm#83 We know Mikey, there was no inane question.
April 21st, 2007 at 1:12 amTransparency is coming!
Watch out corruption!
April 21st, 2007 at 2:10 amGod told him to do it.
April 21st, 2007 at 4:44 amThe plot thickens...I hope Waxman puts the screws on these rats soon.
April 22nd, 2007 at 1:06 am