« previous | MUCK HOME | next »
Waxman Threatens Attorney General with Contempt
House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is wielding more than his gavel against Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
In a letter to the AG today, Waxman brought out the big guns, stating that the Committee would vote to hold him in contempt on July 16, if he failed to produce a report on an interview with Vice President Cheney regarding the Valerie Plame leak scandal.
From Waxman's letter:
Despite the Committee's repeated requests, you have consistently refused to provide these reports to the Committee or unredacted versions of the reports of FBI interviews with White House staff. In response to the Committee's June 16 subpoena, you wrote: "we are not prepared to provide or make available any reports of interviews wi t h t he President or Vice President from the leak investigation" because of "core Executive Branch confidentiality interests and fundamental separation of powers principles.". . .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.
Josh
Zachary
Heh, the AG probably won't open the letter.
BP
July 8, 2008 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Never Give Up henry...contempt charges for the AG and Rove! you have the support!
July 8, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sure everyone is crapping their pants at this latest threat. Dumbycrats always follow through on upholding the drool of law, you know.
July 8, 2008 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good. Make it inherent contempt and have them tossed in jail.
July 8, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Christ, its deja vu all over again.
And what happens if the AG ignores Waxman......again?
July 8, 2008 12:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
The answer to that question was just raised recently: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/judge_why_litigate_when_you_can_arrest.php
July 8, 2008 3:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sure that Mukasey is trembling. Pathetic.
July 8, 2008 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
So?
July 8, 2008 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, these guys, the dems, they've been collaborators with Bush-Cheney all along. When it really mattered, they remained seated and silent on a whole range of issues. The mendacity is so pungent it makes me want to vomit.
July 8, 2008 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
In the next few months, it is going to be very hard to hold people to account. That does not preclude calling them before Congress after Bush is out of office and making them testify under oath to find out what went on in those dark years of the Bush regime. Bush will probably pardon them but that does not preclude new charges of perjury if they lie under oath and contempt if they refuse to testify.
If I remember, any crimes committed AFTER they leave office will not be covered under a Presidential pardon. They can call Cheney once he is a private citizen and, although he can refuse to testify, he can be held accountable for contempt of Congress if he does. I would love to see him being forced to tell what happened in the meetings on energy that are now secret.
July 8, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hasn't anyone been listening to Obama? He isn't taking office to pursue the Bush criminals, he is taking office to work together, across the aisle, to bring America together. I somehow doubt that he wants America together marching with buckets of tar, bags of feathers, and a tar smeared rail.
The Cheney administration has committed the perfect series of crimes. Their activities will become the primer for any future Republican administrations.
July 8, 2008 1:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama won't be the one to convene Congressional hearings. The members of Congress will.
And perhaps the only thing that can have a bigger effect on those less-than-stalwart congresspeople and senators than Doe-Ray-Me is continuing pressure from their constituents to follow through with each and every investigation. They can't get the perks if they can't get reelected!
And use faxes instead of the phone or email. It's disappeared into TPM's bowels by now, but some thoughtful reader had a post on why faxes are more effective than other communication with elected officials, borne out by his experience.
July 8, 2008 10:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look It's a ploy folks ,most Americans are outraged at Dem capitulation on FISA,This is Waxman's way of getting the intensity off Dem leadership(a way to get Dems to feel good again).This ain't going nowhere just like some previous posts says,The AG will throw the letter in the garbage bin. Waxman's committe comes up with these little gems but nothing of consequence happens.No one has been punished.
July 8, 2008 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now that's what I call a Strongly Worded Letter(TM)!
July 8, 2008 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
If they really wanted to send a message (but it would be a dangerous precedent when they lose the majority), they could simply send the sgt at arms to arrest those found in contempt anywhere in the country, and simply lock them in the basement of the capital. It would send a hell of a message.
There are two drawbacks. First, if they use it, the R's will when they take power again, and they have a lot less restraint about issuing subpoenas. Second, it'll be a media circus with every cable news channel hyperventilating 24-7 over it, and the outcome (politically) will be uncertain. In reality, they have the tools but not the political will to use them.
July 8, 2008 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hate to say it but no one puts any stock in what the wax man says anymore.
He looks like a little kid throwing a hissy fit with his gavel -
and he is thought of as such by us Democrats.
July 8, 2008 2:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is there precedence to citing the Attorney General with contempt?
I mean...the very guy sworn to uphold the law is the very guy trying to bend/break it? This would seem to be HUGE news, if our media cared about anything substantial.
July 8, 2008 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
The reason that inherent contempt hasn't been used since the 1930s is that Congress and the Executive reached an agreement to conduct all contempt proceedings through the Justice Department, to centralize the authority and relieve the Congress of having a large police force (which it used to have). And up until this Administration, the agreement was honored.
However, I would say that all bets should be off, since Mukasey refused to follow through with contempt charges against Meier and Bolten.
Waxman is doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing—his job of oversight. And he's following the established procedures for doing so.
What he and others need is their constituents' urging to go all the way with inherent contempt. They still have a few cops on their payroll, and they have some cells in the basement.
But it's got to be on even the brave Democrats' minds that the Republicans will go ballistic if they do this. Remember the "walkout"—to the waiting podium and press—for some lame excuse that was actually to avoid discussing and voting on what to do with Meiers and Bolten. And neither of them even worked for the administration any more.
If each one of us doesn't let our elected officials know that we back them in this, we're the ones who are letting Cheney et alii get away with it.
July 8, 2008 10:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Letters...
We write Letters....
We write lots
And lots
Of Letters.....
July 8, 2008 2:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Never Give Up henry...contempt charges for the AG and Rove! you have the support!
In case you haven't heard, Nancy Pelosi is urging Conyers NOT to pursue a contempt citation against Rove.
Your dysfunctional government at work.
July 8, 2008 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
didn't hear that piece of news...not that it surprises me w/ ms. Pelosi, absolutely the worst speaker of the house in history. Thanks for the update!
July 8, 2008 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mukasey to Waxman:
So?
July 8, 2008 2:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can anybody school me on whether Waxman is a possible AG in an Obama administration?
July 8, 2008 2:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are a lot of nutless dems in congress, but Waxman is not one of them. He is doing what he can against an administration in open defiance of the law or his authority, which has loaded the justice department and the judiciary against his efforts.
July 8, 2008 3:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
He never had any good answers, but at least Gonzales would show up!
July 8, 2008 3:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
If I were a Dem committee chair I'd be too embarrassed to issue another subpoena.
July 8, 2008 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
---------------to the Walrus----------------
Letters...
We write Letters....
Gosh those pesky words that concerned citizens
write to try to sway other citizens on a direction for a national agenda that might
help sway puplic officials and build a consensus.
I suppose we should just grunt.
That - my friend, you might find easier to judge?
July 8, 2008 3:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Neil B, you just grunted.
Are you feeling gruntled now?
Keep those letters cummin.
July 8, 2008 6:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Has me shak'n in my boots. Waxman's a fuck'n pussy! He doesn't even threaten to waterboard him.
I'm sure that if the roles were reversed, Waxman would have just mysteriously dissappeared.
July 8, 2008 5:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I contempt thee..."
"I contempt thee..."
"I contempt thee..."
this takes Waxman off the hook...
Anyone hear of the domino effect?
I'll bet the next administration and Congress are more out of touch with the common folk than this group and the next after that wiil be even worse.
Whenever you diminish accountability, the slide is DOWNHILL, not UP.
In a few years we can all look back at the democracy we once had and wish we had done things differently. Too bad hindsight does not translate to present success...
July 8, 2008 6:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think a lot of you are being fair to Waxman, who has been diligently keeping these issues alive, including Plamegate and USAttorneygate, without a lot of help. When was the last time the AG of the US got held in contempt? Its no small feat, yet Waxman is trying to rally congressional support for it. Of course, we'd all like to see the heads of republican leadership on pikes in the town square, but our government does not operate that efficiently.
July 8, 2008 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen, brother or sister!
And for suggestions about what you can do, see all my other posts on this thread.
July 8, 2008 10:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have to wonder if Waxman even realizes that all these letters he sends are used for is to wipe administration ass.
At this point he really is just an embarrassment to himself and his continued issuing of VERY NASTY LETTERS just highlights the complete impotence of the US Congress, you know, the peoples house. Hah!
Henry, here's a clue for you:
NOBODY IN THIS ADMINISTRATION GIVES A FUCK WHAT YOU DO!
Exercise your powers of inherent contempt, send the Sergeant at Arms to collect these scumbag scofflaws or just shut the fuck up already.
I mean really...
July 8, 2008 7:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's no good to tell him here. Send him a fax. And while you're at it, send some to your own representative and senators. And then when you've finished that, send some to all the members (or at least to the Democrats) on the Oversight and Judiciary committees.
Tell them that you WANT them to use inherent contempt, and that you'll support them for doing it.
There are plenty of interests trying to keep this from happening, and they've got a lot more money than we do. Case in point? FISA.
What money can't do is cast a vote (though it certainly tries hard enough). Job one for every Congressional incumbent is to be reelected. Okay, assure them they will be, and follow through with it.
Fax numbers are provided for every member of Congress. It takes a little labor to get them, but all you have to do is to click on their names, and you get to their Websites. Start with House Oversight at http://oversight.house.gov/about/members.asp
And if that's too much trouble for you, then I for one would prefer not to read any more complaints about it here.
July 8, 2008 10:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
The only thing that gets their attention is money and jailtime. If you take away their money, they notice. If you send a Sergeant at Arms after them and put them in a cell, they notice. We've seen Cheney's "so what" response to a question about American people not supporting the war. What response do you expect with endless rhetoric and grandstanding? They won't move an inch until Congress quits pulling its punches. Someone is going to have to convince Nancy Pelosi that preserving the Constitutional role of the Congress overrides her other far less important concerns. Putting some administration officials in jail isn't of the same magnitude as impeachment. 95% of the American people don't even know who Mukasey is.
July 9, 2008 7:58 AM | Reply | Permalink