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Senate Judiciary Chairman says Bush officials could be prosecuted
David Edwards and John Byrne
Raw Story
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said in an interview Tuesday evening that Bush Administration officials could be criminally prosecuted if they lied under oath as part of a proposed investigation into Bush-era abuses.
Leahy chose his words carefully, to be sure. But his words went slightly farther than that of other Congressional Democrats, who maintain that probing abuses of the Bush era is critical to preserving the integrity of law.
“You’re going to have people, some people will say, let’s go ahead and prosecute everybody,” Leahy told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow Tuesday. “That can take 10 or 15 years. Others want to ignore everything. I don’t agree with that.”
But, he said, the Senate could set up a “truth commission” like that established by Sen. Frank Church in the 1970s, which was aimed at bringing out abuses of the President Richard Nixon era. Church’s commission resulted in an array of reforms that tightened civil liberties protections after Nixon’s infamous wiretapping and Watergate scandals.
(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)
“What if a truth commission did a thorough investigation of the type you’re describing and they found that in fact horrible crimes were committed?” Maddow asked. “If there wouldn’t be prosecution, how would say — how would we say now we know and they all legally got away with it, how would that stop these things from happening again?”
Leahy seemed to signal a slight shift — previously his focus seemed more on uncovering misdeeds than in prosecuting officials. While not saying that he was planning for prosecutions, he indicated that they could certainly result.
“I think because of the fact it’s very, very public and the way they find out about it, it makes it very clear to the next person, you try the same thing, you are going to be found out, you are going to be prosecuted,” Leahy said. “You are also going to have some people that will refuse to — perhaps refuse to testify, even though offered immunity. With the evidence from the others, they can be prosecuted. And, of course, anybody can be prosecuted for perjury.”
David Carle, a spokesman for Sen. Leahy, noted that Leahy’s commission concept was a proposal and no bill had yet been introduced.
“He wanted to begin a discussion,” Carle said.
Asked about potential prosecutions, he reiterated that immunity would still “of course” require truthful replies.
Leahy subpoenaed Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove to testify on the firing of nine US Attorneys in 2007. Rove never appeared. He was subsequently called to testify twice by the House Judiciary Committee, and said recently that he would refuse to honor congressional subpoenas related to the case.
Leahy’s commission concept received a cool response from President Barack Obama in his Tuesday night press conference, though Obama admitted he hadn’t read it.
“It’s not a perfect way of doing it, but it may be the only way to get the truth out,” Leahy said. “And I think that the only way you’re going to stop a future administration from being tempted to do some of the same things is if the truth comes out.”
Immunity seems to be the keystone of Leahy’s plan to extract the truth.
You “either grant enough immunity to get the truth out or you don’t get it at all, because otherwise you are just going to have constant stonewalling.”
Why would those who testified get immunity?
“The only way they would have immunity would be if they testified and testified thoroughly,” he added. “Because they would be asked under oath, have you given us all of the information? You withhold, that’s perjury and you would be prosecuted for that.”
This video is from MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, broadcast Feb. 10, 2009.
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February 11th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
I’ll believe it when I see it.
blindboy Reply:
February 11th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Check with Vegas. See what they think about it. You can always get a line on anything from them. Odds are probably 100 to 1 in favor of Bush.
RayB Reply:
February 11th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Yeah, only in your wildest dreams… The Bushies gave clear orders to Obaminator to never prosecute them… got it?
Nate Reply:
February 11th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Ditto.
February 11th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Prosecute Bush and the September 9/11 widgets and you roll up half of Obama’s administration at the same time. Two for one!
February 11th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Mr. J. Bogliose, who wrote a book on Criminal prosecution of Bush is enough to ensure the end game for GWB & Co
February 11th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
From Sen. Leahy’s Wikipedia bio:
“A big fan of the Batman comics, Leahy lent his voice in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series as a Governor in a western tale involving Ra’s al Ghul and Jonah Hex called Showdown. He also appeared as a cameo in Batman and Robin, and has another cameo in the 2008 film The Dark Knight.[12] Leahy’s character, a guest at a fund raiser for Harvey Dent, is grabbed by The Joker, who tells Leahy’s character that he reminds him of his father.”
I’m a little sick of the Christian Bale whacking going on in the MSM just now.
To put things in perspective:
For months ahead of The Dark Knight’s release , we heard about nothing else.
Hype hypitty hype hype hype.
Then the film is released, and after the first weekend, drops completely off the MSM radar screen.
It goes on to gross almost as much as ‘Titanic’. and probably would have beat it if the hype machine hadn’t ‘mysteriously’ gone AWOL.
It was snubbed by the Oscar committee, except for Hugh Ledger who pulled a Peter Finch and won’t be making any more movies.
Now we all get regular updates on what a bastard Bale is.
‘The Dark Knight’ is the finest film of its kind since ‘the Great Dictator’.
‘The Great Dictator’ didn’t win any Oscars either, as it was made before the invasion of Poland, when Hollywood was still leery of being seen as too strong on Hitler, what with all his powerful friends in American Business (Prescott Bush, et al).
Chaplin liked young women, and was subsequently driven from Hollywood ostensibly for this reason, though he couldn’t have been the only prominent figure in Hollywood who felt this way.
Also, he ( after making millions in the movie biz ) was branded as ” a Communist “.
Making movies is an exhausting , frustrating, high emotional pressure activity.
Actors are required to manifest emotions ranging from the sublime to the psychotic, and maintain them until the shot is achieved.
Outbursts like Bale’s are really not that uncommon.
‘Iron Man’ , released the same year, was a lot of fun, but much friendlier to the right wing.
Does anybody really believe that there is no tape of Downey having tantrums on set?
Or Tom Hanks for that matter ?
I think that if ‘the Dark Knight’ had contained a portrait of a heroic Batman who resembled G. W. Bush, rather than a demented Joker who resembled G.W. Bush, that it would have gotten twelve Oscar nominations, and would be assured of winning at least eight.
And Christian Bale could stomp baby ducks to death in the street without worrying about pictures of it showing up in the papers.
February 11th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Sen. Leahy : We’re not afraid of you.
Joker: You remind me of my father.
I HATED my father.
February 11th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Read about the president’s wheeling and dealing behind the scenes…
http://imperialamerica2009.blogspot.com/
February 11th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I say, when hell freezes over…
Obama has done everything to sweep this under the rug… he’ll grant presidential pardons to all involved.
No American who committed torture on any orders handed down by Bush or Chaney will ever go to court… because it would crawl it’s way back to the top…and the scum and filth that is there…Bush and Chaney.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Ya, Well they better proscute that Attorney for Cheney too, his name is JOHN WOO, he had a lot to do with the illegal things that went on, incluiding the So Called US Patriot Act, and helping BUSH go to War on Lies and Fabrication of more lies, So, proscute John Woo, and Carl Rove to the fullest with NO exceptions ever !!!!!!
February 11th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Who cares? CONGRESS needs to be prosecuted for the ongoing violation of the constitution for the last 100 years.