Waxman threatens contempt vote for Mukasey.
Waxman threatens contempt vote for Mukasey.
On June 16, the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena to Attorney General Michael Mukasey for documents related to the CIA leak scandal. In a letter today, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) notes that Mukasey has not yet “complied with this subpoena” and threatened to hold him in contempt unless he produces a key FBI interview with Vice President Cheney:
I regret that your failure to produce responsive documents has created this impasse, but Congress has a constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the executive branch. Therefore, unless all responsive documents, with the exception of the FBI interview report of President Bush, are provided to the Committee or a valid assertion of executive privilege is made, the Committee will meet on July 16 to consider a resolution citing you in contempt. I strongly urge you to reconsider your position and comply with the duly issued subpoena.
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Sigh. Another day, another letter. Wake me up when Congress actually follows through on some of their threats.
Based on the past, I predict that when the Committee meets on July 16, the worst they will do is send another letter.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:56 pmWhen the HELL is Waxman going to stop waxing his chair with his ass and actually DO something other than letters?
FTS!
July 8th, 2008 at 12:59 pmThat letter will be marked ‘return to sender’. That’s it.
Contempt is in their toolbox; do you really think it’ll be used?
At some point in time, Waxman, et al, have to DO SOMETHING!
All they’ve done to date is allow NeoCons to set a precedent of non-compliance. This started with the Libby suit, and has grown legs.
Inherent Contempt is a tool to be used on tools.
…oh, & thanks again, Schumer & Di-Fi. You really supported a winner. /snark
July 8th, 2008 at 1:00 pm.
Q U E S T I O N:
What depths have we sunk to where the Nation’s Attorney General has to be held in contempt?
.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:02 pmSounds like more Executive Privilege orders from the Fuhrer…
July 8th, 2008 at 1:06 pmIf all they will do is send letters, why not send them straight to the Brat in Chief?
July 8th, 2008 at 1:06 pmIf I or any other normal citizen ignored a subpoena, we’d be slapped in irons and marched before a judge. Why are these ratbastards above the law?
July 8th, 2008 at 1:08 pmIt’s long past time for ending the political posturing that tip-toeing Democrats seem to think is a substitute for fulfilling their oversight responsibilities. Legal “action” is the only thing that a guilty party will react to because no guilty party will ever voluntarily put their own head on a chopping block. At this point, the only things that should be coming out of congressional committees are subpeonas and formal charges. Everything else is empty rhetoric that does absolutely nothing to hold guilty parties accountable. Guilty people do not voluntarily incriminate themselves. Waxman knows that better than anyone.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:08 pmHey Henry:
July 8th, 2008 at 1:13 pmThey are laughing at you. BTW, why not? All your blather has resulted in NOTHING!
Sew your cojones back on and charge inherent contempt to MuKasey, Rove, Miers, and Bolton. Otherwise, you are merely mentally masturbating.
“Your Justice Dept. is doing their part to conserve precious natural resources by retasking these periodic plaints into useful material: as packing, for seized merchandise; detainee pillow-stuffing at federal detention centers; and executive-washroom toilet paper.“
July 8th, 2008 at 1:14 pm…the Committee will meet on July 16 to consider a resolution citing you in contempt…
More empty threats? We’ll see, I’m not holding my breath.
What has this country come to when the nation’s top law enforcement officer thumbs his nose at the law?
http://progressiveworldreview.com
July 8th, 2008 at 1:16 pmA reliable source says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is urging the House Judiciary Committee NOT to go forward with contempt against former Bush political adviser Karl Rove.
“Congressman John Conyers and the Judiciary staff are battling for it but this has become an infight among Democrats,” the source says. “It’s time to burn up the phone lines.”
July 8th, 2008 at 1:16 pmYep, it’s official, the fact that there’s no action taken against criminal activity is what is now news.
they’re gonna . . they’re getting ready . . they’re about to . . . nope, false alarm, still nothing.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:17 pmI admire Waxman but I’ll repeat my opnion the last time this issue came up on the threads:
July 8th, 2008 at 1:18 pm1)Maintain the protocol by issuing the invite to testify on a certain date no later than a fortnight from the invitation and DEMAND an acceptance or refusal within 48 hours.
2)If refused then immediately issue a subpoena to appear on the date already stated and DEMAND acknowledgment of compliance within 24 hours.
3) Ignore any crap about executive privilege–they can argue that in person before the committee.
4) If the subpoena is ignored, have the witness arrested and charged with contempt of congress.
5) Issue another subpoena and repeat as necessary.
Don’t wave a dull sword, Waxman — just do it!
July 8th, 2008 at 1:19 pmInvest in Weyerhauser, paper stocks are on the rise!
July 8th, 2008 at 1:20 pmYeah, yeah, yeah. Put it in my Inbox, I’ll deal with it later.
And Alice…did you send Diane her bouquet of roses this week? Don’t forget that OK? She was very helpful to us and we want to let her know how much we appreciate it.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:26 pmIf the roles were reversed the Sgt.at Arms would be busy throwing those in contempt into the Senate jail cell, formal charges would have been filed months ago, and there would be no executive privalige since the prez would already be impeached. Party logos should be changed to bullies and pussies.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:29 pmBut, what sort of contempt is Waxman talking about? If he cites Mukasey with criminal contempt, then Mukasey gets to decide whether or not to arrest himself.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:44 pm“the Committee will meet on July 16 to consider a resolution citing you in contempt”?
How about, “the Committee will meet on July 16 to cite you with contempt”.
And then issue a warrant, and arrest and charge these people.
As long as Congressional Democrats do nothing more than consider their options, the criminals will continue thumbing their noses at the American people, and they will walk away with their millions and retire to the Wyoming countryside while the rest of us pick up what’s left.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:44 pmWhat part of Michael Mukasey being just another Bush front-man do they not understand?
He is a Bushie, that congress stupidly gave the job to, and that means he is loyal to his King, GWB, not America, not the America people, but for Bush’s Fascist Corporate America.
Is this so hard for congress to understand, he is another Mafia-Bushco-bootliker.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:45 pmDid our founding fathers actually intend for the Attorney General to be the Administration’s personal lawyer/protector?
July 8th, 2008 at 1:45 pmWhy doesn’t Waxman change this into a criminal case? At least executive privilege could not be used, he could get the needed documents much easier and if they contain what we all feel they contain, there’s your evidence. Treason sounds like the appropriate charge to start with.
Attention, attention: All laws in the USA are meaningless. Rule of might is all that applies. It is now OK to lie, cheat, steal and kill as long as you have enough power and money to ignore what’s left of the broken legal system.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:50 pmHere’s my understanding of what guides Waxman’s actions:
1) There can be no complete investigation of anything, nor any justice nor appropriate consequences whilst the DOJ is still a wholly owned subsidiary of BushCrimeCo.
2)Waxman is sticking to the rules, not bending or braking them as Bush and the GOP have done, despite Waxman being inherently justified in doing-so–he’s maintaining the moral and legal high ground which is very important.
3)The Ethics committee is a joke (a bi-partisan one too) so he can’t use that at all.
4)As much of what Waxman is investigating is clearly either criminal or impeachable offenses and should any of these hearings actually prove such offenses the next step would be criminal prosecution or impeachment ( or both).
Impeachment is not going to work given the margins of power in the Congress and certain players–because of skeletons and/or the usual collective self-interest.
If impeachment WERE approved, Bush wou;ld just issue pardons.
If a criminal prosecution were required there’s the DOJ to contend-with and as executive privilege is so often invoked there’s also the stacked Supreme Court to bear in mind ( the accused will insist their cases are constitutional issues, not mere criminal ones.) Even without appeals to the SCOTUS Bush could still commute or pardon.
5)Finally Congress can act like a grand jury against it;s members and peers, but not as a criminal GJ and it doesn’t have the power to prosecute criminal cases so for a case to go from a House committee hearing based solely on the evidence provided by the committee would I guess be problematic.
If the crimes we all KNOW are to be successfully prosecuted, if how thses crimes were commited is to be revealed, if we are to protect ourselves from any reption of these crimes and if justice is to be served than it is my understanding that nothing truly relevant can be accomplished until AFTER we get a new President, a new DOJ and a significant DEM majority in Congress, nothing is going to happen.
BUT, Waxman should have tons of evidence to get the ball rolling very quickly and to present very thorough cases.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:57 pmWhy doesn’t Waxman say he wants this, this and that by such-a-such date at 12:00p. Then tell them at 12:01p what to expect. THEN DO IT. Why give repugs time to lie, shread and destroy government documents? We know they don’t play fair. So stop treating them as if they do.
Outing a CIA operative is very serious, especially since the government to which they work for did the outing.
Very Serious.
So I take it all CIA personal is under chimpy’s dark cloud/rule, if they aren’t I would quit ASAP because he could out your ass if you don’t follow his one rule.
Despicable!
July 8th, 2008 at 1:59 pmdarkch-ching: *grumble*grumble*fart*eatsboogie* “Subpoenas make good TP.” *grumble*grumble*fart*eatsboogie*
July 8th, 2008 at 2:07 pmH. Waxman’s telehone number is (202) 225-3976.
Call him. I did.
This is a DISGRACE!
July 8th, 2008 at 2:20 pm#25 Game Of Life
“Why give repugs time to lie, shread and destroy government documents?”
I’m with you there.
July 8th, 2008 at 2:21 pm>A reliable source says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
I abhor this lady. What does this congress have to show for thier accomplishments? 20 cents extra for minum wage when the cost of living has doubled? capitulation on FISA? chriist on his throne, can we not make an organized effort to help get her out of office in november? or are we going to collectively bend over and let this wrinkled hag do it to us?
July 8th, 2008 at 2:21 pmtrollsbwild…
I’m not going to call him as you suggest because…see #24 ( and I sent him my suggestions at #14 a while back.
July 8th, 2008 at 2:26 pmI;m not saying he shouldn’t be taken to task for what appears to be a lot of noise without result, but it;s the result that maters more than how and when one gets i ( see #24). Waxman’s just keeping the ball in play at the moment and I commend him for it.
Chocolate Jesus….
Yeah, Pelosi has been craptacular.
July 8th, 2008 at 2:29 pmWaxman threatens contempt vote for Mukasey. I think “threatens” is the operative word here.
July 8th, 2008 at 2:44 pmThat would be the sweetest of the sweet if they charged Mukasey with Inherent Contempt. He is a very contemptuous person. He is a disgraceful Attorney General, that’s for sure.
July 8th, 2008 at 2:44 pmMemo to Waxman and Conyers: These criminal clowns are deaf ears to the word “subpoena” and “contempt.” And Mukasey is using every method in the world to stall or cover Bush’s hindparts. Inherit contempt and arrest for all the loyal Bush cronies carrying the executive privilege gold card include the AG and Tubby McTreason Rove.
July 8th, 2008 at 2:47 pmSince Conyers clearly no balls, he should have his dick chopped off so he can no longer pollute the gene pool.
He is a political eunich, so he should REALLY become a physical one as well.
Samurai sword anyone?
July 8th, 2008 at 2:53 pmSamurai sword? With his teenie weenie, a cigar trimmer would surfice.
July 8th, 2008 at 3:06 pmAnother Strongly worded letter for the war criminals.
Have mercy Waxman.
Democrats are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Vote them all out.
July 8th, 2008 at 3:10 pmJebus creebus, Rep. Waxman!!!
SO JUST FLARKING DO IT ALREADY!!!!!!!
July 8th, 2008 at 3:21 pmI really loath Mukaka! oh please, oh please, oh please! I hope, I hope, I hope, and pray and pray and pray! I really, really hate that torture-loving f@#k!… Oh, pleeeeeze!
July 8th, 2008 at 3:24 pmthere’s gotta be some relation, some kissin’ cousin or other between Mukaka and Dick.
July 8th, 2008 at 3:25 pmI ahte that guy, haaaaaate him, aaaahhh!
July 8th, 2008 at 3:26 pmoops, hate, duh ninique!
July 8th, 2008 at 3:27 pmStrongly worded stern letters are now being prepared.
Oh, my.
July 8th, 2008 at 3:45 pmENOUGH already! IMPEACH the bastards…starting with Mukasey…
July 8th, 2008 at 5:51 pmNO nominee from Bush should EVER be confirmed again…None whatsoever. I don’t care if he’s the nicest guy in the world and can charm the hardest heart, it’s clear that they know what to say in front of the confirmation hearings…the Democrats continue to get screwed over and over again willingly…
July 8th, 2008 at 5:53 pmI’m not sure Waxman knows what the word “contempt” means.
July 8th, 2008 at 6:13 pmThe completely useless Michael Mukasey was brought to you by Chuck “The Schmuck” Schumer (NY, DemoRat)!!!!!
Another traitor to this country! And Fascist Corporate Suck-Up!!
He loves Israel FIRST!!!
July 8th, 2008 at 7:29 pmIf ever we were to lose our country and our liberty, it would first start with the corruption of our Justice system.
Congress creates the laws, but the Justice Department enforces the laws. Once the Justice system decides which laws it will enforce and which one it will ignore the rule of law is dead, along with our freedom and liberties.
Our Justice system is either the strength of our system, or its greatest weakness.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:35 am