White House: Contempt Citations Futile

Source: United Press International

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Democrats should know issuing contempt citations and pursuing a criminal case in the firings of U.S. attorneys is futile, the White House said.

Dana Perino, White House press secretary, said Thursday the Senate Judiciary Committee's issuing contempt citations against former White House adviser Karl Rove and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten is pointless because "the constitutional prerogative of the president would make it a futile effort for Congress to refer contempt citations to U.S. attorneys."

The committee issued citations because Bolten did not provide information or documents in the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. Rove, who resigned as deputy chief of staff in August, was cited because he did not appear before the committee to testify. The White House said Rove was immune because of executive privilege.

"The Department of Justice would not require a U.S. attorney to convene a grand jury or otherwise pursue a prosecution of an individual who carries out a president's instruction not to provide documents or testimony on the basis of the president's assertion of executive privilege," Perino said.



Read more: http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/12/13/white_house_contempt_citations_futile/4345/

"the constitutional prerogative of the president would make it a futile effort for Congress to
refer contempt citations to U.S. attorneys."

The President does not have a Constitutional Prerogative to break the law or to have
his or her staff ignore subpoenas.

The Cuban Missile crisis was one of the most important events of the cold war.
She didn't know about it.
I'll have to round file any political opinion she may spout.

The citations would just end up on the desk of some butt-kissing Bush-appointed US Attorney.

which really should be the next step. Congress has got to reassert its sovereign authority or become as irrelevant as Jabba the Hastert tried to make it become.

Which is too bad, because the next republican president will know they have a green light to do anything with impunity.

That should keep them occupied until Bush is well out of office. By then, the case will be moot.

is drive them to more criminal behavior in the eyes of the electorate.
And perhaps it will yank their chains a bit.

the senate would rather not deal with this at all, so they stall with this joke.

Why is Dana speaking for DOJ? Shouldn't they decide what action they will take?

Are they begging to go to the next Constitutional level? Coooooooool.

Article I. Section 2. ..... The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

Maybe they didn't tell Bush that Pelosi can change her mind whenever she wishes!

..http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3100736&mesg_id=3100810

Naturally, the nuke that goes off in a Liberal City will be from "Iranians", but those Bushies would murder us without compunction nor remorse.

We are animals to them. We are MUCH less to them than animals they own, like Barney.

...there is NOTHING (and I mean NOTHING) I'd put past this passel of psychopaths.

Look, I'll stack my liberal credentials up against anyone here, but your claim is absolutely absurd.

let's take a very liberal town like San Francisco (I live across the Bay). Are you seriously claiming that even so-called "liberal towns" don't have substantial numbers of conservatives there too? So, let me get this straight. If we try to impeach Bush, he will thwart it by setting off a nuke in San Francisco, blaming it on the Iranians and taking out, say, George Schultz, the widow of Milton Friedman and raining down deadly nuclear fallout on the Hoover Institution in the process? Really. Please. This is almost (but not quite) as ridiculous as the "chemtrails" conspiracy theory in which, it is alleged, our military is surreptitiously spraying us with mind-destroying chemicals to dumb us down without ever explaining how the perpetrators escape a similar fate...oh, wait...I get it. They have little invisible face masks with a breathing apparatus built-in.

Hint: use some common sense and leave these wild-assed theories to Freepers.

There is NOTHING these PROVEN WAR CRIMINALS wouldn't do...

Nothing...

if you believe the Bush administration would detonate a nuke in the U.S., you're more nuts than they are...if that's possible.

Where do you get your faith in their humanity?

I had faith in their humanity. What I am saying is that the notion that they would detonate a nuclear device in a liberal city to "thwart impeachment" is absurd. And it is.

9/11 happen?
Did you believe they would let New Orleans drown?
Did you believe they would be condoning torture?
Did you believe they would be wire tapping millions of American without warrant?
Did you believe they would suspend Habeas Corpus?
They have already allowed an American city to be attacked and flooded.

Why do you think a nuke is off the chart?

Read my previous posts and tell me how you only kill liberals with a nuke. Then find ANY so-called "liberal city" without significant numbers of conservatives. You're really being silly here.

I really can't help you. And, I'll bet you I despise the Bush administration every bit as much as you do.

That the criminals in control of OUR government would hesitate to stage a "Nuklur" suit case attack on US soil. If you have a different opinion that is what made America great.

I mean, seriously, is there no supposition so silly you will not embrace it? Think this through. You honestly think someone will say, "Yep, I'm being asked to set off a suitcase nuke by my CIC, so I'll just do it, even though that means I'll die and so will countless other of my fellow citizens."?

I mean, really. Have you lost your senses? Please layout some reasonable scenario in which this would take place. To what end? How do you think they would cover something like that up? How would you keep all the plotters on the reservation and not spill the beans? Again, I ask. Is there no supposition so silly you won't embrace it? Do you similarly believe 9/11 was an "inside job"?

I never thought being liberal/progressive meant one has to abandon critical thinking. Have you ever tried it? Do you even know what I mean?

Greedy Oil Party.

If by SD, you're referring to me, please be advised that I detest the Bush administration/GOP and, in no way, do I support them, period. I resent any implication to the contrary.

Secondly, one can easily detest the Bush administration/GOP and come to conclusion, based upon the evidence, that 9/11 was certainly not an "inside job" nor do I believe the idea of LIHOP. However, it is clear that the Bush administration is grossly incompetent and possessed knowledge that might possibly have stopped 9/11 in its tracks (read "The Assault on Reason" by Al Gore).

Whatever goofy 9/11 CT you propound, they are easily debunked. For example:

The buildings fell at free fall speed? Only if you dishonestly stop the clock before the building actually stopped falling (this is also abvious by observing that debris is falling faster than the building).

The buildings fell into their own footrprints? Look at numerous photos of the scene and you'll see they fell far outside their footprint, damaging other buildings in the process (contributing to the collapse of WTC 7 and necessitating the eventual demolition of several other WTC buildings).

The collapse of the buildings "looked just like controlled demolition"? Great. Ask any controlled demolition expert about that and let me know when you find one that agress with that goofy claim. Hint: I'll save you the trouble of asking Brent Blanchard or Mark Loiseaux. They'll both laugh at you in the event you ask.

No planes hit the WTC or the Pentagon? Tell that to the hundreds of eyewitnesses who say differently.

Many people heard what they described as "explosions" that day? Many things that sound like explosions aren't and many actual explosions don't equate to controlled demolition and have very reasonable explanations as to cause.

I could go on and on, but you get my drift. And I'll match my liberal/progressive credentials against yours anyday. I'll suggest some more worthy pursuits beyond goofy 9/11 CT's. How about impeaching Bush/Cheney or, failing that, how about ensuring they are charged criminally once they leave office?

Just a little too much of that going around right now.

To the tinfoilers:

Folks, I understand you're scared. But making wild-assed statements like that don't do any good. Calm down, have a big drink, and relax. Live in fear and you just play into the Repugs' hands.

but I wonder if it is to no avail. How they come up with and embrace this goofiness is beyond me.

wow. Tin-hats anyone?

office of certain officials.

But that assumes that Congress is not a rubber stamp, and that the Supreme Court is independent. Oh, well. Mr. Madison had a good doc worked out, too bad we went and forgot to follow it a coupla hundred years later.

at ever press conference from now on someone should ask her about the Cuban Missile Crisis - dumb bimbo

... every press ...

NT!

So how long will it take the Democrats to send their next polite but firm letter? 4 months? And will it say "pretty please" :eyes:

Drag 'em into court.

...is what I say.

Hekate

The decider decided.

Isn't that the cutest thing?

Citations are futile. You will be assimilated. Your distinctiveness will be added to our collective. have some more kool-aid.

Yeah. I thought that sounded familiar.

"So what if we are keeping people from appearing before Congress
& the Courts to cover up our criminal behavior it is in the Constitution
someplace."

*********************

This goes to using the DoJ for political hits ... see Don Siegleman of
Alabama .... Do you think Rove wants to have to answer about that one?

You want her.

p.s. Steph loves you. :hi:

.... bad lay written all over her.


As for Steph ..... mama has my # and if she wants her 27 seconds of bliss
she can call me. :rofl:

27 seconds = good lay? :)

27 seconds = Ken Lay.That's the time it took him to steal candy from a baby and an old lady's purse.:)

The first to "finish" wins.

BTW Steph was all over Dan Abrams last night.

"The Department of Justice would not require a U.S. attorney to convene a grand jury or otherwise pursue a prosecution of an individual who carries out a president's instruction not to provide documents or testimony on the basis of the president's assertion of executive privilege," Perino said.

It's called witness tampering:


TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 73 > § 1512Prev | Next
§ 1512. Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant

>>>

(b) Whoever knowingly uses intimidation, threatens, or corruptly persuades another person, or attempts to do so, or engages in misleading conduct toward another person, with intent to—

(1) influence, delay, or prevent the testimony of any person in an official proceeding;

(2) cause or induce any person to—

(A) withhold testimony, or withhold a record, document, or other object, from an official proceeding;

(B) alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal an object with intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding;

(C) evade legal process summoning that person to appear as a witness, or to produce a record, document, or other object, in an official proceeding; or

(D) be absent from an official proceeding to which such person has been summoned by legal process; or

(3) hinder, delay, or prevent the communication to a law enforcement officer or judge of the United States of information relating to the commission or possible commission of a Federal offense or a violation of conditions of probation <1> supervised release,,<1> parole, or release pending judicial proceedings;


shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

>>>

(e) In a prosecution for an offense under this section, it is an affirmative defense, as to which the defendant has the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence, that the conduct consisted solely of lawful conduct and that the defendant’s sole intention was to encourage, induce, or cause the other person to testify truthfully.

(f) For the purposes of this section—

(1) an official proceeding need not be pending or about to be instituted at the time of the offense; and

(2) the testimony, or the record, document, or other object need not be admissible in evidence or free of a claim of privilege.

>>>

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00001512----000-.html

It's really scary when they don't even try to cover up the crimes anymore. :scared:

when they can be redefined as "executive privilege"?

They do the same thing in software development. "We don't have time to fix those bugs in our current build cycle, so they're design features."

Surely Dana of Borg would know.

Saves them from all the stress of being free

will be her next job I wonder?

Compared to the current slate, Dana would lend CREDIBILITY to Faux News. Newsweak, WaPo and the NY tymes would jump all over the opportunity too.

Only the National Enquirer and Star would laugh at her application.

It is futile but not for the reasons she cites. Shes lying as usual. It is futile because this rogue administration will do as it pleases and there is no one in government ready to stop them. The democrats are part of the fascist regime. The DOJ is now an arm of the republican party. There is no oversight which means we are on our own folks. We are on our own to stop this insanity. And I dont see anything that suggests we are ready to fight that battle.

or, will we send them some strongly worded letters and let it linger for another 3-4 months?

:hi:

which means that, since Bush wasn't involved in this, by keeping them from testifying HE is committing obstruction of justice.

That, of course, means that Congress should screw their courage to the hitching post and impeach the sorry bastard.

his little brain said, "Woo-Hoo, I get to be the king of America for 4 years!" So he proceeded to act like a little boy king that always gets his way. The pukes stole election #2 and Bush's little brain said, "Hey, they like how I decide stuff! I'm gonna really fuck shit up!" When things went awry he went to suckle on the teet of his handlers who then started to lawyer everything up. And that's what we have now. A pathetic idiot hiding behind teams of loyal, deluded, well placed assholes that will do anything to protect him.

DINOs

Otherwise, the little AWOL king and his court of crooks would have been thrown in jail - where they belong - already.

.

:hi: 8643

They can do whatever the hell they want, and no one can stop them.

RIP, America. :cry:

Fuck you Agent Mike. 2009 may be too late.

What we have here is an outright declaration that the US is now a nation of men, not laws (to swipe a line from Archie Cox). Directive 51 is all ready to roll should there by an uprising or a national emergency (real or manufactured), whichever comes first.

You are now, in a very real sense, living in a dictatorship and I agree, 2009 will be too late. By that time, assuming the current pattern sticks, you'll be in at least one more war, the dollar will be sinking below the peso and you'll have CCTV on every corner.

How we stop that is where my prophecy fails me. It's obvious dramastic changes are needed but the question is how.

Someone needs a spanking after that, like a petulant child. These excesses really have to be curbed, and now - the only way to do that is to start impeaching.

that's the constitutional prerogative of the Congress to you, blondie!

Put 'em on trial, convict 'em, sentence 'em, and lock 'em up. Force a legal battle over the issue, and in the meantime keep the crooks locked up. By the time the whole mess is straightened out, Dems will have majorities in both Houses and will have the WH.

Executive Privilege isn't part of the Constitution, and Supreme Court rulings regarding the justifiable use of Executive Privelege are not relevant to this case.

The members can, of course, simply to to where they are and arrest them themselves.

The executive has no privilege against Congress.

Please let them not only keep it up but let them get really blatant and in your face about their refusal to follow the law. Please, please! The sooner the American people realize we're living in a falsely benevolent dictatorship the sooner we can create a working resistance to it.

statement from the Judiciary Committee says it all.

over by Dictator Hitler Bush

problem is the American people didn't get the memo

but soon very soon things are going to crumble all around them

They will FAIL

we are a lawless society and that makes for a very chaotic situation
If laws are abandoned then Citizen arrests are in order or we are looking at military taking over

SEND THE SEARGENT AT ARMS W/ THE CAPITOL POLICE AND PUT THE FUCKERS IN THE CAPITOL JAIL.

Goddamnit! What's it going to take for Congress to finally play hardball?

Louis XVI thought?

Maybe it's time to prove the King wrong.

When a head is cut off,7 others grow to replace it.

That's what we did when I was on the town finance committee when dept. heads failed to attend meetings to justify their budget.

"Won-Ton."

...but then again, Cheney has been planning this nightmare for 30 years.

It was so refreshing to here our candidates talk about restoring the Constitution.... Screw the signing statements and the power grabs of this WH.

...over to this man.





After Bush's trashing of the Justice Department, Fitz may be the one and only honest public servant remaining in it.

he doesn't have to say dictatorship.

the Cuban Missle Crisis or the Bay of Pigs?

:cry:

can't pardon with his divine powers is impeachment. Other than that we have to wait for him to leave office. In the mean time, all we can do is ridicule and attack everything the Republicans do. Point at them and laugh. Bush/Cheney has been figuratively neutered. No one but the Kool Aid guzzlers takes them seriously.

will talk about this time the way the McCarthy era is talked about today: "Yes, it was a very scary time for the country. Bush's administration had no compunction about violating any rights or laws, and they were allowed to get away with it."

And some neo-Freeper pinhead who was not even a stem cell during these years will go: "Bush was right! Muslims are all terrorists! Critics of the government were all terrorists! Valerie Plame was a terrorist! Bwaaaaarrgh!"

(I don't know why Freepers go "bwargh." It has been observed many times in nature but never captured on film.)

react when we have a dem in the white house again and a dem congress and the sitting president invokes the same shit. what possible leg will they have to stand on to go after him/her? Or more likely the dems would just roll over and give everything asked for.

I think not. TO jail with the lying criminals.

Looks like we have no representation, folks!

I think it's time to pull the plug...on income taxes.

Resistance is futile, you must assimilate....we are the boooshcobal....Resistance is futile, you must assimilate....Resistance is futile, you must assimilate....

Unfortunately, most of America, Congress included has allowed them to surpass the law.

These are assholes bring all new meaning to arrogant

quote complements to Zappa. Dana, you slut. And congress, house and senate better get off their ass.
I am ready to storm DC with pitch forks, shovels and tar and feathers. AND if that doesn't do the trick, bury them up to their necks in the south where the fire ants live.

.

Yeah, that's just what my copy says too :rofl:

Congress should have impeached this entire administration and instead cowered not only to Bush but to Pelosi as well. The democracy is no more. We are nothing more than a constitutional monarchy without a constitution. The king is above the law.

Fuck you too Red Rover!

Bush will NEVER LISTEN to ANY DEM...and he coddles a 34 year old simpleton, brainwashed...and kisses her on the forehead.

THANK GOD...he's just kissing her on the forehead....ayyyyyy....{for what she does for him.) :-(

So, an outright admission that the Bushistas are declaring themselves above the law.

Someone tell me again how the idea of this bunch declaring martial law and refusing teh leave office is so ridiculous...

uguu

George W. Blofeld?

Oh yeah I forgot most of em are all in this together anyway..

http://www.legitgov.org/essay_southwell_arming_the_left_is_the_time_now_102203.html">Arming the Left: Is the time now? --by Charles Southwell 21 Oct 2003 As long as we pose no REAL threat to the powers-that-be, to what is shaping up into (is) a dictatorship, we will continue to be ignored. Right now, we are ignored because we present no organized power to fight this onslaught of anti-democratic, totalitarian government that we are up against...
<snip>

http://www.legitgov.org/essay_southwell_arming_the_left_is_the_time_now_102203.html

Dana Perino, the idiot that speaks for the idiot-in-chief.