Sarah Palin

Palin's Tea Party Honorarium: Who's Getting The Money?

Justin Elliott | February 12, 2010, 3:45PM

Sarah Palin addresses the Tea Party Convention Feb. 6.

Who will be the lucky beneficiary of the hefty fee Sarah Palin received for her Tea Party Convention address?

Mark Skoda, a spokesman for the convention, tells TPMmuckraker that when he called Palin's office in the days after the speech to thank her for appearing and inquire about the money, "at that point they had no disposition at all. I do know that she's committed to providing that honorarium to conservative causes."

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Gregory Meeks

U.S. Attorney Subpoenas NY Officials On Rep. Meeks' Non-Profit

Justin Elliott | February 12, 2010, 12:24PM

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY)

Authorities have served subpoenas to New York officials as part of an investigation into a non-profit group co-founded by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), which reportedly cannot account for money it collected to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The focus of the U.S. Attorney's investigation into the Queens-based New Direction Local Development Corporation -- which was founded in Feb. 2001 "by the initiatives of congressman Gregory Meeks and [state] senator Malcolm Smith," according to its Web site -- is not totally clear.

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Gregory Girard

Man Charged With Stockpiling Weapons Was Tea Partier, Palin Fan

Zachary Roth | February 12, 2010, 11:19AM

Gregory Girard

The Massachusetts man charged this week with stockpiling weapons after saying he feared an imminent "Armageddon" appears to have been active in the Tea Party movement, and saw Sarah Palin, who he said is on a "righteous 'Mission from God,'" as the only figure capable of averting the destruction of society.

As we reported yesterday, Gregory Girard, a Manchester technology consultant, was found with a stash of military grade weapons, explosive devices including tear gas and pepper ball canisters, camouflage clothing, knives, handcuffs, bulletproof vests and helmets, and night vision goggles, say police. They believe Girard, who pleaded not guilty at his arraignment, was "preparing for domestic and political turmoil," and feared martial law would soon be imposed.

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Dale Robertson

'Warning: Tea Party In Danger': Leader Slams Palin As 'Wolf In Sheep's Clothing'

Zachary Roth | February 12, 2010, 9:59AM

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

A prominent Tea Party leader from Texas is warning that the movement "is becoming nothing more than a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party," and slamming Sarah Palin as representing "a growing insider's attack to the heart of the Tea Party."

Dale Robertson, the founder of TeaParty.org, is just the latest Tea Partier to express concern that the movement is being hijacked by the GOP.

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Marc Thiessen

Thiessen Mourns Loss Of CIA Torture Program -- O'Donnell Having None Of It (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | February 12, 2010, 9:51AM

On MSNBC this morning, former Rumsfeld and Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen went after President Obama for barring torture by the CIA in his first week in office, only to be rebuffed by an animated Lawrence O'Donnell on the Bush Administration's terrorism record.

"Barack Obama has eliminated the CIA's interrogation program, which is the single most successful and importance intelligence program we have in the war on terror and possibly in the history of the CIA," Thiessen said.

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Dana Perino

Perino: Shoebomber And Undiebomber Are 'Apples And Oranges' (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | February 11, 2010, 6:09PM

In an appearance on Fox today, Dana Perino continued the attack on the Obama Administration's handling of the attempted Christmas bombing, dismissing comparisons to the Richard Reid shoe-bombing case as "apples and oranges."

Despite the similarities between the two cases, and despite the fact that President Bush had OKed the use of military tribunals in November 2001, a month before the shoe bombing attempt, Perino argued that the context in which the two cases unfolded were significantly different.

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Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal

Lawyer For Alleged Phone-Tamperer: I'm Trying To Resolve Case With Feds

Justin Elliott | February 11, 2010, 5:16PM

Robert Flanagan

An attorney for one of the four men charged in the Landrieu phone-tampering case tells the AP that he met with the U.S. Attorney's office to try to come to a resolution out of court.

"We're in discussions with the government, trying to resolve this matter as expeditiously as possible in a fair and just manner," said Attorney Garrison Jordan, who represents Robert Flanagan.

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James Bopp Jr.

Ad Uses Luntz Framing To Bamboozle Voters On Financial Reform

Zachary Roth | February 11, 2010, 3:41PM

RNC Committee Member James Bopp Jr.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) is ripping a stunningly deceitful new ad by a shadowy conservative group that uses Frank Luntz's up-is-down messaging advice to confuse voters about the financial-reform legislation currently in Congress.

Tester told the Billings Gazette that the ad -- which is being run by the "Committee for Truth in Politics" (CTP) and labels the reform effort a "$4 trillion bank bailout" -- is "not true."

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Leahy And Feinstein: Try Terrorists In Federal Courts

Justin Elliott | February 11, 2010, 2:41PM

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

More than a month after Republicans started attacking President Obama for prosecuting the attempted Christmas bombing suspect in federal court, two top Senate Dems have finally come out to back Obama in strong terms.

Patrick Leahy and Diane Feinstein, chairs of the Judiciary and Intelligence committees, respectively, write in a letter to the president today that federal criminal courts -- not military commissions -- should be used to prosecute terrorists.

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Sarah Palin

Brain Trust To Nowhere: Meet The Advisers Behind The Palin Road Show

Justin Elliott | February 11, 2010, 12:06PM

Sarah Palin

As Sarah Palin relaunches her image for the next stage of her political career, there's a small set of advisers who are shaping the former governor's policy positions and public persona.

The group, a brain trust of sorts, includes Randy Scheunemann, the lobbyist who advised McCain on foreign policy and was one of the architects of the Iraq War, and Kim Daniels, a little-known conservative attorney who specializes in "rights of conscience" health care issues.

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Allen Stanford

Campaign Committees Not Rushing To Return Tainted Stanford Money

Zachary Roth | February 11, 2010, 11:59AM

Allen Stanford

Neither the Democratic nor the Republican campaign committees that raked in big bucks from accused Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford, according to the court-appointed receiver in the case, say they plan to return the cash.

The receiver, Dallas lawyer Ralph Janvey told the AP that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) had received $950,000 from Stanford, and that the National Republican Campaign Committee had gotten $238,500.

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Gregory Girard

Police: MA Man Stockpiled Weapons, Feared 'Armageddon'

Zachary Roth | February 11, 2010, 10:48AM

Gregory Girard

A Massachusetts technology consultant who feared martial law was imminent and was preparing for "Armageddon," according to police, has been charged with stockpiling weapons, and having explosive devices including tear gas and pepper ball canisters.

Gregory Girard of Manchester was arrested Tuesday night after a friend of his wife tipped off the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Bureau to Girard's alleged weapons stash, reports the Gloucester Daily Times. ATF then notified local police.

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Blackwater

Lawsuit: Blackwater Put Filipino Prostitute On Government Tab

Zachary Roth | February 11, 2010, 9:23AM

private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A lawsuit filed by two former employees of Blackwater charges that the controversial security contractor defrauded the U.S. government, including charging it for strippers and prostitutes, the New York Times reports.

Perhaps the most explosive charge in the lawsuit -- filed by a married couple, Brad and Melan Davis, is that the company put a Filipino prostitute in Afghanistan on its payroll under the "Morale Welfare Recreation" category, then billed the government for her salary and plane tickets.

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Ethics

WSJ: Menendez Intervened For Bank Run By Big Contributors

Justin Elliott | February 10, 2010, 6:33PM

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) sent a letter last year asking the Fed to make a ruling that would have saved a New Jersey bank whose chairman gave $30,000 to the senator in the past decade, the Wall Street Journal reports.

In a statement to the Journal, Menendez said he was properly representing his constituents' interests when he asked the Fed to approve the sale of First BankAmericano to another bank.

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Miranda rights

Overlooked On Newt-Stewart Exchange: Is Gingrich Confused About The Law?

Justin Elliott | February 10, 2010, 5:59PM

Newt Gingrich and Jon Stewart

As long as it's Miranda day around here: there's something in danger of being lost in all the chuckling today over Newt Gingrich's misidentification of shoebomber Richard Reid as an American citizen.

The fact is, non-citizens have the same rights under the U.S. criminal justice system as citizens. Non-citizens must be read their Miranda rights before so-called "custodial interrogation" by the police, just like anyone else.

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Kris Kobach

For Immigration Enforcement Training, Arpaio Turns To Controversial Right-Wing Lawyer

Zachary Roth | February 10, 2010, 2:37PM

Kris Kobach

We told you earlier that Sheriff Joe Arpaio has doubled down on his defiance of the federal government, announcing that he'll train his deputies to enforce federal immigration law. This comes after 100 of those deputies were stripped by the Department of Homeland Security of their power to make immigration arrests, and as a federal probe of Arpaio's controversial tactics heats up.

But it looks like that's just the half of it. To run the new training program, Arpaio has turned to a controversial former Bush Justice Department official and Republican operative who specializes in crafting local laws designed to go after those who harbor illegal immigrants.

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Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal

ACORN Comes Out Swinging In Wake Of Landrieu Phone-Tamper Scandal

Justin Elliott | February 10, 2010, 2:16PM

A screenshot of ACORN's "Sting the Stinger" fundraising e-mail.

After a tough 2009 in which ACORN's reputation sustained considerable damage, the community organizing group is suddenly on a public relations offensive.

Things started to turn around two weeks ago the day that James O'Keefe, the young filmmaker behind the undercover stings that brought national scrutiny to ACORN, was arrested at Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office. He is charged with entering a federal office under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony -- tampering with the phones.

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John Yoo

Yoo: Je Ne Regrette Rien

Zachary Roth | February 10, 2010, 11:36AM

John Yoo

John Yoo has no regrets.

At a University of Chicago Law School event, the author of the torture memos was asked whether he would do anything differently if he had the assignment to do over again. According to a correspondent for the Above The Law blog:

Yoo said that he would draw the line in "exactly the same place," but that he would have been sure to "say nice things about everyone, I guess" if he had known that the torture memos would have been made public.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

The Obama-GOP Miranda Showdown: Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong

Justin Elliott | February 10, 2010, 11:12AM

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), and Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan (inset)

On close scrutiny, this week's intense debate over Miranda rights for Umar Abdulmutallab -- culminating in GOP calls for a top Obama aide to resign -- largely falls apart.

The key point of dispute -- whether four Republican leaders should have assumed that the Christmas bombing suspect had been Mirandized after a phone call from Obama aide John Brennan, in which the GOPers were told that Abdulmutallab was in FBI custody -- is moot in light of the facts of the case.

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Joe Arpaio

Defying Feds, Arpaio Says He'll Step Up Immigration Enforcement

Zachary Roth | February 10, 2010, 11:01AM

Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is doubling down on his defiance of the Feds.

In November, the Department of Homeland Security stripped 100 Maricopa County deputies of their ability to make immigration arrests, amid a slew of complaints that the controversial sheriff was using racial profiling techniques to round up suspected illegal immigrants.

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Dan Choi

As DADT Repeal Talk Gains Steam, A Gay Guardsman Is Back With His Unit

Zachary Roth and Rachel Slajda | February 9, 2010, 6:45PM

Lt. Dan Choi

A National Guardsman who became a cause celebre among gay-rights groups last year, after announcing on The Rachel Maddow Show that he is gay and being recommended for discharge, has returned to training with his unit.

The move doesn't appear to be evidence of an explicit policy change on Don't Ask Don't Tell, but it does count as more potential evidence of a shift in attitude in military circles.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Cheney, Ridge Pioneered Miranda Attack On Obama

Justin Elliott | February 9, 2010, 3:43PM

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Former Vice President Dick Cheney

It turns out that the criticism surrounding the decision to read Miranda rights to the attempted Christmas bombing suspect didn't originally come from any office-holding Republican.

Rather, it was pioneered by Tom Ridge and Dick Cheney in the days after Christmas, and only later picked up by members of Congress like Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO).

With the heated Obama-GOP back-and-forth this week over the Mirandizing of Umar Abdulmutallab, we decided to look back at the facts of what happened, and when critics pounced on the issue.

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Bob Perry

Mystery Solved! Swift-Boat Backer Wrote Check To AL GOP, Says Pawlenty

Zachary Roth | February 9, 2010, 2:27PM

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) with Bob Perry and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad.

Well, that didn't take long.

We just told you about a $100,000 check, from an anonymous donor, delivered last week by Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty to the Alabama GOP. Who was that mystery funder, we asked.

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Tim Pawlenty

Pawlenty Brings $100K Check To Alabama GOP. Who's The Mystery Donor?

Zachary Roth | February 9, 2010, 12:06PM

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN)

On Friday, Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota gave a speech to Republican Party activists in Montgomery, Alabama. But Pawlenty, who's seen as a top GOP presidential contender for 2012, brought something with him besides his notes, reports Minnesota Public Radio: a $100,000 check for the Alabama Republican Party, from an anonymous donor.

The existence of the check -- said to be earmarked to help Alabama GOPers win control of the state legislature -- was announced, before Pawlenty's speech, by Alabama Republican chair Mike Hubbard. (You can listen to the audio of Hubbard's announcement here)

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Ron Nehring

Allegations Against Leader Cause Turmoil In CA GOP

Zachary Roth | February 9, 2010, 10:31AM

Ron Nehring, chairman of the California Republican Party

The California Republican Party is being roiled by a controversy stemming from allegations about the private life of chairman Ron Nehring.

Last night, the San Diego GOP voted by 44-1 to boot one of its members from the county's central committee, citing "inappropriate behavior." The member, Michael Crimmins, who was the party's nominee in 2008 against incumbent Democratic congresswoman Susan Davis, had sent an email to state party leaders, raising concerns about the behavior of Nehring and San Diego County chair Tony Krvaric.

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John Brennan

Obama Admin On Al Qaeda: Don't Panic!

Justin Elliott | February 9, 2010, 9:17AM

Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan

Ramping up the push-back against GOP criticism of the handling of the attempted Christmas bombing suspect, a top Obama aide argues in a new op-ed that America's "system of justice" is fully capable of dealing with terrorists.

Writing in USA Today, Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan calls, essentially, for the United States to calm down.

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Lobbyists

Business Lobby Shifting Back To GOP

Zachary Roth | February 8, 2010, 4:04PM

Grover Norquist

Some of the business interests that had abandoned their traditional conservatism to flirt with the Obama agenda may now be shifting back towards the GOP -- another sign that the president's standing is badly weakened a year after taking office.

During 2008 and much of 2009, Obama enjoyed an unusual amount of support for a Democrat from the business community, much of which had grown disillusioned with President Bush and hoped for a return to the steady growth of the Clinton years. But after a string of political setbacks, high-lighted by Scott Brown's win last month in the Massachusetts Senate race, some key business groups and sectors appear to be shifting back to the GOP column.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Top Republicans Don't Dispute They Were Told Xmas Bomber Was Held By FBI

Justin Elliott | February 8, 2010, 4:02PM

National Security Adviser John Brennan with (clockwise from top left) Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

There's a key point in danger of being lost in all the he-said-he-said froth over what Congressional Republicans were told in the hours after the failed Christmas attack: none of the GOP leaders disputes that an Obama aide informed them that suspect Umar Abdulmutallab was being held in FBI custody.

The real dispute is over what flows from that fact. John Brennan, Obama's national security adviser, said on Meet The Press Sunday that he called four Republicans -- Sens. Mitch McConnell and Kit Bond and Reps. John Boehner and Pete Hoekstra -- the night of the attempted Christmas attack.

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Endangered Species Act

Alaska Legislature Plans $1.5 Million Astroturf Fight Against Endangered Species Act

Justin Elliott | February 8, 2010, 12:07PM

Seeking to protect the oil industry, the Alaska state legislature has appropriated $1.5 million to fund an astroturf campaign to weaken the Endangered Species Act and put on a conference questioning the listing of polar bears as a threatened species.

Over the objections of some members who warned of "PR damage" to the state, a group of lawmakers late last week decided to move ahead with reviewing bids from public relations firms for the polar bear contract, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

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Tea Parties

Return Of the Repressed? Birtherism, Homophobia, Racial Paranoia Rise To Surface At Tea Party Confab

Zachary Roth | February 8, 2010, 11:38AM

Tea party in Hartford, Connecticut in 2009

The National Tea Party Convention, which wrapped up Saturday night with a televised speech by Sarah Palin, offered an outlet for some of the fouler strands of modern conservatism that had long been bubbling beneath the surface of the Tea Party movement.

Tea Party leaders had worked hard to keep the public face of the movement focused tightly on a small government, anti-tax message, largely steering clear of social issues, and appeals based explicitly on race. But this weekend, from the podium at Nashville's Gaylord Opryland Hotel, convention speakers espoused birtherism, anti-immigrant nativism, homophobia, Christian fundamentalism, and an apparent nostalgia for racially discriminatory barriers to voting.

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American Action Network

American Action Network: Who's Putting Up The Money?

Justin Elliott | February 8, 2010, 9:04AM

Norm Coleman and Douglas Holtz-Eakin

With some of the country's top Republicans at the fore of the effort to create a new conservative think tank in Washington, the American Action Network is almost sure to become a political force when it launches later this month.

The public roll-out is scheduled for Feb. 22, so it's a good time to look at a few of the people who are reportedly helping to fund the American Action Network.

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