Vice President Cheney and former Attorney General Gonzales indicted in Texas.
By on Nov 18th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Vice President Cheney and former Attorney General Gonzales indicted in Texas.
A South Texas grand jury has returned multi-count indictments against Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County’s federal detention centers:
The indictment accuses Cheney and Gonzales of engaging in organized criminal activity. It criticizes Cheney’s investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and “at least misdemeanor assaults” on detainees by working through the prison companies.
Gonzales is accused of using his position while in office to stop an investigation into abuses at the federal detention centers.
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
64 Responses to “Vice President Cheney and former Attorney General Gonzales indicted in Texas.”
View Most Popular
Advertisement
What We're About
What We're Fighting For
What We're Fighting Against
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Bachmann
Boehner
Bush
Cheney
Civil Rights
Congress
Corporate Ethics
DADT
Economy
Energy
Environment
Ethics
Fox News
Gingrich
Global Warming
Guantanamo
Hannity
Health Care
International Relations
Iran
Iraq
Justice
LGBT
Limbaugh
Liz Cheney
McCain
Media
Military
O'Reilly
Obama
Palin
Pelosi
Race
Radical Right
Religion
Rove
Sanford
Sotomayor
Steele
Supreme Court
Terrorism
ThinkProgress
Tiller
Torture
Women's Rights
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Reports
In-depth studies on select topics
Got a hot tip?
Have a hot news tip? We'd love to hear from you. Use the form below to send us the latest.
ArchivesBlog Roll
Who was the person who sang that song "We've only just begun.....". I hope this is the first of about 8000 indictments of the Bush crime family.
November 18th, 2008 at 5:58 pmHoly f ucking shit!!
November 18th, 2008 at 5:59 pmSure but Bill Clinton got a blowjob... Don't you people have any priorities?
November 18th, 2008 at 6:02 pmWell this kinda takes the sting out of Lieberman getting away with being rewarded for being a giant douchebag.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:04 pmWhere will it go though? Nowhere.
It's now very apparent that nobody gets held accountable anymore.
Wow! It starts sooner than I thought!
November 18th, 2008 at 6:05 pmWell, we can now add Gonzo to the pardons list.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:06 pmWow! And who knew? An indictment from Texas. Seems like Texas is doing the job that Congress and Senate couldn't do. And it's about time!
November 18th, 2008 at 6:07 pmTexas? You have got to be kidding me. Are you sure this didn't come from the Onion?
November 18th, 2008 at 6:07 pmMay be they can plead guilty before Jan 20, so to qualify for a presidential pardon!
November 18th, 2008 at 6:07 pmHallelujah!
November 18th, 2008 at 6:08 pmLet the games begin !!! 62 days left in office and the indicments already started. I LOVE my country !
November 18th, 2008 at 6:09 pmThis just in!
"The members of the South Texas Grand Jury have been invited on an all-expense hunting trip to be hosted by VP Dick(less) Cheney. This is to reward them for all their hard work performed in the Grand Jury room. Alcohol, (un)loaded guns and free medical attention to be included."
November 18th, 2008 at 6:09 pmI'm floored! I hope this proceeds, that Bush doesn't pardon all these people, and that justice will begin to be done. WOW!!!!
November 18th, 2008 at 6:13 pmNovember 18th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
McAllen is where all the snowbirds fly to. I can't help but think of jailbirds now.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:13 pmI'm starting to get prouder every day of the real America.
Alberto Gonzales is the first Attorney General whose primary job was to stop investigations.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:15 pmMay this be the first of many happy returns.
With all their huge worldwide RICO Cabal, who would have thought that this could be their undoing.
OTOH - next step will be to overrule Shurb on executive priveledge to ignore the courts
November 18th, 2008 at 6:16 pmWOOOOOHOOOO!!!!!!
Note to self: Don't get too excited....
November 18th, 2008 at 6:18 pmI just burst into tears.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:20 pmI tried to say:
Where are all the nay sayers about the change?
First ted stepehens and now this.....this could be big news, I hope it is.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:21 pmC'mon people. Surely you know by now that these guys are above the law. Nothing will happen to them.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:23 pmThere are hundreds of crimes these two have committed, will they serve time for any of them???
Maybe when Eric Holder is AG, maybe we can see some form of justice performed, but I am not holding my breath.
Hang them both, they deserve it.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:26 pm"Curlew Says:
Who was the person who sang that song “We’ve only just begun…..”. I hope this is the first of about 8000 indictments of the Bush crime family."
Karen Carpenter.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:27 pmLike ted stephens. This is a local grand jury.....not so easy to manipulate.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:29 pmSo?
November 18th, 2008 at 6:29 pmThis will likely get buried, or a blanket pre-emptive pardon will get issued Jan 19, 2009.
Later,
November 18th, 2008 at 6:30 pmThanks Bonzo. I could hear the words but couldn't put an artist on them.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:30 pmMaybe I should take out the champagne!
November 18th, 2008 at 6:34 pmSomewhere in Texas a idiot has had an epiphany .I hope the state of Texas can redeem itself here !
November 18th, 2008 at 6:39 pmMuchos gracias y buenos suarte .
From TPM:
An odd report out of South Texas where a Willacy County grand jury has apparently indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. But this doesn't look like the comeuppance so many have hoped for. I can't piece together from the news reports what the precise allegations are but they don't seem to implicate Cheney or Gonzales directly in any wrongdoing. In fact a little googling shows the district attorney down there has been embroiled in one controversy after another, including getting arrested himself at one point, though he was later cleared. So this one may be entertaining but not for the reasons the headlines might suggest.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:40 pmIn unrelated news, in Japan a former Vice Minister of Health, Welfare and Labour (a career position--not a political appointment) and his wife were found stabbed to death near their front door on Tuesday morning (JST). Around 6:30 Tuesday evening the wife of another former Vice Minister of HWL was stabbed several times as she answered the door for what she thought was a deliveryman. She survived, with serious but not life-threatening injuries. Her husband wasn't home at the time. This is big news in a country where the murder rate is much, much lower than that in the USA.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:41 pmAbout time too!
November 18th, 2008 at 6:42 pmBadmoodman Says:
When did you see anything like this happen in the past 8 years.....it's a start.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:43 pmTP - Constitutional question for you.
Does the President's constitutional authority to grant pardons extend to state and local laws, or only federal laws? Wouldn't the Governor of Texas have to be the one to issue pardons to them?
November 18th, 2008 at 6:47 pmRelax everybody - the DA's a nut job. Remember all that DeLay nonsense? It is still Texas.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:47 pmThis indictment is somewhat flaky, at least in regard to Dick Cheney. How many investors does the Vanguard Group have?
Saying the prison guards (who committed the crimes) are agents of Cheney, solely from his role as an investor seems a stretch.
However, such a lawsuit might be a reason to pardon Dick.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:51 pmThis is great news, but I won't be happy until they are behind bars.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:54 pmCan the President pardon a state crime? I'm just guessing, but isn't the President limited just to Federal crimes.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:54 pmThe whole state/federal issue needs sorting out. The detention center is federally run.
The federal government is very difficult to sue and prevail against.
Dick Cheney would need to have a direct role in any illegal behavior, have ordered/approved policies or practices that were obviously illegal. Those documents would be in his man sized safe, well away from the South Texas grand jury.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:03 pmPlease tell me this is not just an Onion story!!!
November 18th, 2008 at 7:04 pmlet's go to prison!
:)
November 18th, 2008 at 7:05 pmWhat a smack in the face to Speaker Pelosi who got paid to keep the impeachment off the table. Americans have taken America back and let's clean out the Branches of Govenment too.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:13 pmAnd Bush's pardon list will get longer.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:20 pmDick Cheney would need to have a direct role in any illegal behavior, have ordered/approved policies or practices that were obviously illegal.
Not necessarily. There is a difference between blame and responsibility. You can be responsible for something, even go to jail for it, even if you were not in any way to blame for it. That's what being responsible means. As a child, your parents were responsible for what you did, and some parents have gone to jail for what their kids did.
If the shareholders were responsible, then they have to face the consequences, too.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:21 pmtwo things:
one, re federal/state:
article ii, section 2 says:
"The President [...] shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment."
that makes me think "Offenses against the United State" means federal crimes. i've looked around but i haven't found anything corroborating that. and i left my constitutional law books at the office. drat.
two, i haven't investigated the d.a., but if it's the same crackpot d.a. who went after tom delay, this may be much ado about nothing. my immediate thoughts were whether the point of the indictment was to get bush to pardon them, since you can't pardon someone for a crime he hasn't been charged with yet. if the indictment were very broad and included technical charges for everything under the sun, and bush pardoned them, it would be effective even against other jurisdictions.
that is, south texas indicts them for war crimes, conspiracy to commit murder, corruption, violating FISA, violating the Hatch Act, kicking al gore's dog, stealing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and public indecency. even if there's no evidence to link these charges to specific crimes, i think that bush would then be able to issue pardons to cheney and gonzo for "war crimes, conspiracy to commit murder, corruption, violating FISA, violating the Hatch Act, kicking al gore's dog, stealing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and public indecency" and that would be binding on any state or u.s. court and prevent any criminal prosecution on those grounds.
i should research that, but that's my gut feeling.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:39 pmCould this be compared to Al Capone finally being imprisoned on income tax evasion?
November 18th, 2008 at 7:45 pmstateofthedivision Says:
The federal government is very difficult to sue and prevail against.
---
yes, the feds are hard to sue *civilly* for *money damages*. here we're talking about criminally prosecuting two obvious criminals who are and were members of an outgoing administration. i imagine any documents that still exist and/or would prove their guilt will be easier to obtain legally after january 20.
true, there are other roadblocks that could be put up to moving the criminal cases along, jurisdictional challenges, appeals, motions to change venue, etc. to me it smells of subterfuge. is the south texas d.a. the only one in the country with the cojones to indict the bush criminal network? does that make sense? and to then do it so vaguely and half-assed as it seems it's been done? does that make sense?
maybe i'm jaded or just congenitally cynical, but i'm not holding my breath on this one.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:46 pmits the real deal, and more than Ceney and Gonzo are charged.
From the Brownsville paper:
A Willacy County grand jury under District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra returned multi-count indictments Monday against Vice President Dick Cheney, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, plus several other public officials.
The indictment accuses Cheney and Gonzales of engaging in organized criminal activity. It criticizes Cheney's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees by working through the prison companies.
Gonzales is accused of using his position while in office to stop an investigation into abuses at the federal detention centers.
Another indictment charges state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. with profiting from his public office by accepting honoraria from prison management companies.
Also indicted are state District Judges Janet Leal, state District Judge Migdalia Lopez, The GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut Corporation), former U.S. Attorney Mervyn Mosbacher, Gus Garza and Gilberto Lozano.
They all face a stream of criminal charges including abuse of office, profiting from office, and murder.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:46 pmstateofthedivision,
The Vanguard surely has a lot of investors but I'm willing to bet none that can manipulate American policy to enrich themselves quite like ole tricky Dick
Still this will go nowhere, fun to read, but just as accountability doesn't seem to touch anybody that really deserves it, it wont touch Dick
November 18th, 2008 at 7:48 pmMarie Says:
Could this be compared to Al Capone finally being imprisoned on income tax evasion?
---
hehe, can you imagine if bush were convicted and sent to texas' death row? does the texas appeal process last more than 8 years? or is that only if you have a lawyer who stays awake during your murder trial?
November 18th, 2008 at 7:49 pm"Also indicted are state District Judges Janet Leal, state District Judge Migdalia Lopez, The GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut Corporation), former U.S. Attorney Mervyn Mosbacher, Gus Garza and Gilberto Lozano."
(thank you wayne)
---
i get very skeptical when people start naming judges in criminal or civil complaints. in my experience, it's a nutjob flag.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:51 pmstjack Says:
i get very skeptical when people start naming judges in criminal or civil complaints. in my experience, it’s a nutjob flag.
People were murdered in association with this scandal, this thing won't just go away. And there are no statute of limitations for murder.
November 18th, 2008 at 8:02 pmCAN I VOLUNTEER FOR JURY DUTY !
UNFORTUNATELY I WOULD RENDER A GUILTY VERDICT BEFORE THE TRIAL BEGAN
November 18th, 2008 at 8:02 pmIt's interesting hearing people mentioning the sleeze ball de-lay and calling the District Attorney in that case a nut job. I heard a lot of this type of character assassination taking place when hot tub tom was still in Congress complaining he was innocent. At the time of de-lay's pending indictment, I remember coming across a considerable amount of information that directly contradicted what was being said in a deliberate attempt to discredit the D.A.
Now when there's a report that two members of the bush crime family are being investigated by a legal body having legal jurisdiction, we hear people trying to conflate the District Attorney and the Grand Jury in this case with those involved in the de-lay case, as if the two possess the same degree of credibility, without any corroborating facts. It's as if they are hoping to make use of the lies told back then to reinforce their false contention that every high-ranking member of the bush administration is innocent of having committed any and all crimes during the bush-2 administration.
And now that the full impact of the disasterous bush administration policies and performance are beginning to come to light, it mystifies me as to why these thugs are willing to continue defending the criminals.
November 18th, 2008 at 8:04 pmSo when does the idiot get indicted? Anytime soon? Plenty of charges to be brought against the freak!
November 18th, 2008 at 8:15 pmRobert M.
i suspect part of that may be aimed at me. it's true, i have not investigated the d.a., as i mentioned. my recollection was that he was, shall we say, unconventional, and not particularly methodical. it struck me as odd that it would be this d.a. out of the thousands in the u.s. who could file as similar indictment, who chose to do so. in texas. and in a half-assed way, through some kind of conflict of interest/vicarious liability argument. something's wrong with this picture.
don't get me wrong. i'm not defending the administration. far from it. i have doubts that this will result in anything good, and suspect it's been orchestrated to produce something really really bad.
November 18th, 2008 at 8:19 pmBelieve me, I want Bush and Cheney to pay for their numerous crimes against humanity. I'd just hate to see a pardon excuse come from a spurious case.
If this compels testimony that leads to more serious charges, I support the effort. But, what's published looks weak.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:08 pmRepublicans did things worthy of indictment? Shocked, just Shocked! It's about fricking time that they were called upon to account for their inexcusable behavior.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:27 pmIf they get convicted for murder, do they get the rope or the chair in Texas?
November 18th, 2008 at 11:32 pmNow this is an interesting quandary. I really don't think the death penalty is right. But my worse nature wishes I did, in this case...
stjack,
Very astute observations at #45.
Get the V.P. and Bozo Gonzo charged with a lesser crime just to render a blanket pardon that makes them immune from any further charges that include torture, war crimes, murder...
I fear that this may be just a move in the grand chess game at play, too.
.
November 19th, 2008 at 3:02 amI wasn't trying to attack anyone in particular, stjack. I don't know what your particular leanings are.
There's a definite culture in Washington D.C. that takes in newly elected officials and guides them around, "teaching" them the ropes. In other words, they become convinced that they need to go along with the way things are done, or they will have no support from their colleagues. That Washington culture exists to support the interests of power, wealth, and big business.
I'm not a heavy Obama backer. I distrust him in many respects, and his Senate career didn't do a lot to foster any hope that a vote for Obama was a vote for change. I believe he was brought to heel pretty quickly.
Having said that, there is one aspect to Obama's campaign that stood out from the start. In his public speeking he always used the terms "we," "our," and "us." He understands the nature of the divisiveness that's been used to split the electorate down the middle on wedge issues in order to create a false sense of opposition and antagonism between the People.
Whatever Obama says or does, if the People of this nation do not come together pretty quickly, the United States will not recover from the economic turmoil currently afoot.
I can't let what seems to me to be character assassination taking place without pointing out how this generally indicates the tactics of those who have divided us. This particular technique diverts attention from the person/entity/issue that threatens the income stream of the elites, and attempts to discredit whoever is speaking out on the side of justice and the welfare of the People of the U.S.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:01 pmRobert M:
my bad. perhaps i'm paranoid as well as congenitally cynical.
in response to your point, i do agree that there's been a lot of illegitimate character assassination going on, mostly to hobgoblinize the gop's many opponents because the gop candidates can't compete with them directly otherwise.
but that wasn't what i was trying to do. i may have been inartful about it, but what i was trying to do was bring a little of my own experience to the discussion about the importance of these indictments. and i think a look at who brought the indictments, the nature and substance of the indictments, and the abuse of the system that could occur as a result of the indictments are all relevant to that discussion.
turns out the d.a. is a lame duck and probably won't be around to actually prosecute the indictments. i figure it's just as likely they'll be dismissed by the incoming d.a. as it is that bush will use the indictments as a pretext to issue bulletproof pardons, preventing any prosecution of cheney and gonzo in any u.s. or state court. those are my concerns around this issue specifically.
in a more general sense, i think a big part of what's wrong with our government right now is that the powers given to check the abuse of power were not necessarily placed in the hands of those who would be incentivized to use it. Example: if it's true (and i honestly don't know whether it is) that the reason the dems wouldn't impeach bush and cheney is that they feared their own involvement in, e.g., warrantless wiretapping, would be exposed, then it doesn't make sense to give the power of impeachment solely to a body that could be implicated in the same malfeasance. solution: like the power to propose constitutional amendments, the power should be shared with the state legislatures who could not possibly end up in the same bed with the administration on foreign policy and national security deliberation and decision.
that's what i think would bring real change: make sure the checks in government are given to those who would be incentivized to make the most robust use of them.
November 19th, 2008 at 2:58 pmI don't believe the fear of having the public learn of the role Dem's played in warrantless wiretapping, torture, and other bush/cheney/rove policies played that big a roll in what's taken place in Washington.
To me, it seems like the money that backed the Dem's put pressure to go along with the plan. And from the administration, remember those warrantless wiretaps weren't solely directed at international terrorists. I believe the bush administration was wiretapping the offices and the private phone lines for every Democratic politician in Washington D.C., and many State officials as well. They weren't looking for terrorists; they were simply looking for any dirt they could get their hands on, and that information was used as blackmail, carrying a threat of exposure of details that would damage their political careers, their personal family lives, and in many cases, where evidence of illegal activity (bribery, insider trading, etc.) was discovered the threats were confirmed by people connected with the Justice Department who made it clear that once bush/cheney gave the word, indictments and criminal indictments would swiftly follow.
In the short run, that's the damage the bush administration has done to our government and justice system. When you hear the term "crime family," it's not just an idle insult. The bush administration has been a criminal conspiracy from the get go.
In the longer run, the damage was done back in the mid-to-late 1800's when corporations gained the status of living persons, and were afforded the protections guaranteed to Citizens of the U.S. by the Constitution. That is a complete distortion of the intent contained within our State Documents. Thereafter, big business has waged an on-going, never relenting struggle to gain supremacy in the legal and economic life of the nation. The profits of business have been directed toward corrupting the national government to do the bidding of business. With the bush-2 administration, the process is nearly complete.
November 19th, 2008 at 8:13 pmJon Stewart just made fun of the indictment. It's worth the view, but he makes fun of the prosecutor's weak case.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:08 pm