LEWIS LIBBY HAS BEEN INDICTED ON OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, FALSE STATEMENTS AND PERJURY CHARGES IN THE CIA LEAK INVESTIGATION
"[Miers withdrawal] demonstrates that the movement conservatives, or the radical right wing as we're being called, is the one with the power in this relationship, the power in the country."
"And, by the way, you know what led to this problem? A) Bush listening to the Democrats. ... And, number two, this insistence that he [Bush] nominate a girl."
Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Mr. Libby's testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, from journalists, the lawyers said.
Behind the scenes, however, Team Bush was finalizing its campaign to discredit and undermine special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's conclusions, sources told the Daily News.
An emerging theme in the Bush war room is arguing that his top political aide, Karl Rove, simply got tripped up on his recollections of whom he talked to and what he told them when questioned about the outing of CIA spy Valerie Plame. He shouldn't be indicted simply because of contradictory grand jury testimony, a source said.
Bush allies have already begun casting perjury and obstruction charges as irrelevant in a probe created to find out who leaked classified information.
Asked in 1999 about Clinton's impeachment by the House, Bush responded, "I would have voted for it. I thought the man lied."
I certainly hope that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars. So they go to something that trips someone up because they said something in the first grand jury and then maybe they found new information or they forgot something and they tried to correct that in a second grand jury.
The two Articles of Impeachment before the Senate in this proceeding do in fact accuse the President of committing three actual crimes, `perjury before the grand jury,' `'obstruction of justice,' and `witness tampering,' that meet the requirements for conviction of an indicted defendant in a criminal case brought under Federal law...
Lying is a moral wrong. Perjury is a lie told under oath that is legally wrong...
The President of the United States willfully, and with intent to deceive, gave false and misleading testimony under oath with respect to material matters that were pending before the Federal grand jury on August 17, 1998, as alleged in Article I presented to the Senate. I, therefore, vote `Guilty' on Article I of the Articles of Impeachment of the President in this Proceeding.
The President of the United States engaged in a pattern of conduct, performed acts of willful deception, and told and disseminated massive falsehoods, including lies told directly to the American people, that were designed and corruptly calculated to impede, obstruct, and prevent the plaintiff in the Arkansas Federal sexual harassment case from seeking and obtaining justice in the Federal court system of the United States, and to further prevent the Federal grand jury from performing its functions and responsibilities under law, I, therefore, vote `Guilty' on Article II of the Articles of Impeachment of the President in this proceeding.
Willful, corrupt, and false sworn testimony before a Federal grand jury is a separate and distinct crime under applicable law and is material and perjuries if it is `capable' of influencing the grand jury in any matter before it, including any collateral matters that it may consider. See, Title 18, Section 1623, U.S. Code, and Federal court cases interpreting that Section...
The President's testimony before the Federal grand jury was fully capable of influencing the grand jury's investigation and was clearly perjurious.
"He's a vile, detestable, moralistic person with no heart and no conscience who believes he's been tapped by God to do very important things," one White House ally said, referring to special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.
"I don't kid people," Stevens roared. "If the Senate decides to discriminate against our state . . . I will resign from this body."
"This money, a gift from the people of Alaska, will represent more than just material aid; it will be a symbol for our beleaguered democracy," reads a typical letter to the Anchorage Daily News.
"They can kiss my ear! That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard,"
Today I introduced a new bill to overturn President Bush's wage cut for Gulf Coast workers. This time, Republican leaders in Congress cannot ignore it.
Every single House Democrat, 37 House Republicans, and one House independent are on record opposing the President's Gulf Coast wage cut - a clear majority of the House of Representatives. But Republican leaders in the House have refused to allow a vote to overturn the wage cut. Now it looks like they have no choice.
I was able to determine that, under the 1976 National Emergencies Act, I am able to force a vote within 15 calendar days of introducing a "Joint Resolution" - which I did at noon today. In this case, that means that if Congress doesn't act by Friday, November 4, I can go to the House floor and demand a vote on my resolution. Congress then has three days to schedule that vote.
So the bottom line is this: by the first or second week of November, there will be a vote on whether or not construction workers who are rebuilding the Gulf Coast will get a fair wage for their labor.
Republican leaders in Washington have found lots of ways to abuse their grip on power. One way is that they maintain tight control on the House voting schedule, and they won't allow the House to vote on legislation they don't like, including when bills have widespread support. For example, Peter King (a moderate Republican from New York) and I have a bill to remove obstacles to union organizing for workers who want to collectively bargain and have a stronger voice with their employers. Over 200 members of the House support that legislation, but Republican leaders refuse to let it see the light of the day.
That's why it's important that Democrats look for any opportunity - like this Joint Resolution - to help workers and to make sure that people know where we stand. If we fight hard, and we always look for those windows of opportunity, then hopefully we can do some good and show Americans that we want to advance a very different set of priorities than Tom DeLay, Bill Frist, Roy Blunt, and Karl Rove do.
In a series of increasingly dire, angry e-mails and phone calls, Bahamonde updated Brown, aides and top spokesmen for FEMA beginning Aug. 28 from the New Orleans emergency operations center and then from the Superdome across the street.
"Issues developing at the Superdome. The medical staff at the dome says they will run out of oxygen in about two hours and are looking for alternative oxygen," Bahamonde wrote to FEMA Region VI spokesman David Passey on Aug. 28.
Bahamonde said, he called Brown and warned him of "massive flooding," that 20,000 people were short of food and water at the Superdome and that thousands of people were standing on roofs or balconies seeking rescue.
Brown replied only: "Thank you. I'm going to call the White House," Bahamonde said.
Bahamonde e-mailed Brown, "Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical . . . thousands gathering in the streets with no food or water . . . estimates are many will die within hours."
At 2:27 p.m., however, Brown press secretary Sharon Worthy wrote colleagues to schedule an interview for Brown on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country" and to give him more time to eat dinner because Baton Rouge restaurants were getting busy: "He needs much more that 20 or 30 minutes."
Bahamonde e-mailed a friend to "just tell [Worthy] that I just ate an MRE . . . along with 30,000 other close friends so I understand her concern."
MSNBC's Maddow: "If Karl Rove told Bush in 2003 that he was the leaker, and then Bush came out in June 2004, and told the American people, 'I'll fire the leaker!' and reportedly told the prosecutors, 'Karl Rove told me he was innocent.' That means Bush lied to the American people and lied to the prosecutor" ("Situation," MSNBC, 10/19).
