Rod Blagojevich

Blago Trial: The Prosecution Rests, And The Defense Begins Monday

Rachel Slajda | July 16, 2010, 6:00PM

Former IL Gov. Rod Blagojevich

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's defense in his corruption trial will begin Monday, after the prosecution wrapped up their case this week more than a month ahead of schedule.

Blago's lawyers may have a tough time winning over the jurors, who have heard weeks of the infamous wiretappings ("fucking golden," anyone?) and Blago's delusions of grandeur. According to the Chicago Tribune, Blago's top lawyer told the judge this week that he won't dispute many of the charges; instead, he's trying to prove that Blagojevich "had no criminal intent in the things that he said and the things that he did." He's painting him, as he did in his opening statement, as a naive man who trusted the wrong people. The defense has also argued that Blago got bad legal advice.

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Danziger Bridge

Three Cops Accused In Danziger Shootings To Be Held Until Trial

Rachel Slajda | July 16, 2010, 4:24PM

The Danziger Bridge in New Orleans

Three of the New Orleans police officers charged with shooting unarmed civilians in the days after Hurricane Katrina will be held without bond until their September trial, a judge ruled today.

Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius and Anthony Villavaso face charges of civil rights violations for allegedly killing two civilians and wounding four others on the Danziger Bridge in New Orleans. Their trial is scheduled for Sept. 13. They have pleaded not guilty.

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Utah

Two Utah State Employees Accused Of Compiling 'Illegal Immigrants' List

Rachel Slajda | July 16, 2010, 1:44PM

The Utah governor's office announced today that "at least" two state employees have been placed on administrative leave, accused of creating a list of alleged illegal immigrants that was sent to state agencies and news outlets this week.

The two employees work for the Department of Workforce Services but have not been identified. Their information will be turned over to the state attorney general's office as part of the state's ongoing investigation.

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Torture

Bybee: CIA Used Some Techniques We Didn't Authorize

Rachel Slajda | July 16, 2010, 10:59AM

Jay Bybee

In House Judiciary Committee testimony released yesterday, former Bush DOJ lawyer Jay Bybee said he hadn't authorized all of the enhanced interrogation techniques the CIA used -- a point that is at the heart of the criminal investigation into the CIA's use of torture.

Bybee, one of the authors of the infamous torture memos that authorized the use of waterboarding and other techniques, testified before the committee in May.

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John Ensign

Ensign Is Paying Staffers' Legal Bills

Rachel Slajda | July 16, 2010, 9:18AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) is paying the legal bills of some of his staff as they face questioning over Ensign's sex-and-lobbying scandal.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports today that the payments to law firms are listed on Ensign's campaign's latest FEC reports. Questioned about the payments, Ensign's spokeswoman confirmed that they were for staff members.

"Senator Ensign's campaign is paying for the legal bills accrued by staff as a result of cooperating with the ongoing ethics investigation," spokeswoman Jennifer Cooper told the Review-Journal.

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Al Gore

New Details Emerge About The Allegations Against Al Gore -- And About His Accuser

David Kurtz | July 15, 2010, 9:10PM

Former Vice President Al Gore

The notorious stain on the pants saved by an Oregon masseuse from the night she claims she was sexually assaulted by Al Gore tested negative for semen, the woman told the Portland Tribune, the weekly newspaper that first investigated her allegations.

The revelation about the stained pants (a version of which previously appeared in the National Enquirer, which first reported the woman's allegations) are among several new details that emerge from an article in the latest issue of the Tribune. The article, written by the paper's former managing editor, seeks to explain why and how the paper reached its decision not to publish the claims of Molly Hagerty (who has since publicly identified herself).

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

BP's Relief Wells Had Blowout Preventer Problems Just Like Deepwater Horizon

Rachel Slajda | July 15, 2010, 5:45PM

The Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer.

Oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for almost 90 days because, in part, the well's blowout preventer didn't work. And as it turns out, the blowout preventers on the relief wells -- the relief wells that are the only way to permanently stop the oil from leaking -- were also found to have "performance problems."

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar noted this week that the relief wells' blowout preventers, or BOPs, had been recently checked out under new testing requirements and found to have problems themselves, which have since been repaired.

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Torture

House Judiciary Commitee Releases Testimony From Torture Memo Author

Rachel Slajda | July 15, 2010, 3:08PM

Jay Bybee

The House Judiciary Committee today released the transcript of the testimony of torture memo author Jay Bybee.

You can get the full transcript here (PDF).

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Hassan Nemazee

In Plea Deal, Ex-Clinton Fundraiser Nemazee Gets 12 Years

Rachel Slajda | July 15, 2010, 1:45PM

Hassan Nemazee

Hassan Nemazee, a former fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, was sentenced today to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty in March to bilking banks out of $292 million.

Nemazee pleaded guilty to three counts of bank fraud and one count of wire fraud. Prosecutors said Nemazee operated a type of Ponzi scheme in which he borrowed large amounts from three banks using fake collateral, and then paid off the debt with more loans.

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Immigration

Feds Investigating The Source Of The Utah Immigrants List

Rachel Slajda | July 15, 2010, 12:40PM

At least one federal agency is now involved in the investigation into a mysterious list of the names of 1,300 purported illegal immigrants that was sent to state agencies and news outlets this week in Utah, TPMmuckraker has learned. But, despite the intention of the list-maker, the feds are investigating not the people on the list, but the person who generated it.

The Social Security Administration's Inspector General received a copy of the list -- which includes names, addresses, birth dates and, in 30 cases, Social Security numbers -- yesterday, according to spokesman Jonathan Lasher.

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Don't Ask Don't Tell

DADT, 2K1 Style: The Army's LGBT Policy Comic Book

Rachel Slajda | July 15, 2010, 9:12AM

Never say the Army isn't creative.

In 2001, the Army found a fun way to describe the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy to troops: They published a full-color comic book.

The comic book reviews discharge proceedings, harassment, what counts as "credible information" about a soldier's sexuality. Most of the action in the book is conversations between camouflage-clad service members, but the authors jazzed it up with wacky angles and lots of images of open-mouthed soldiers asking questions.

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Chris Simcox

Minuteman Founder: Ex-Minuteman Bounty Hunter Chased Me After He Slept With My Wife

Jillian Rayfield | July 15, 2010, 8:30AM

Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Project, in 2005

Minuteman founder Chris Simcox was being hunted by former Minuteman and bounty hunter Stacey O'Connell, and Simcox thinks he knows why: Because O'Connell is allegedly having an affair with Simcox's wife, the same wife who accused Simcox of threatening her at gun point.

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Danziger Bridge

Three Cops Accused In Danziger Bridge Shootings Plead Not Guilty

Rachel Slajda | July 14, 2010, 4:11PM

The Danziger Bridge in New Orleans

Three New Orleans police officers charged this week in the post-Katrina shootings on Danziger Bridge have pleaded not guilty.

Robert Gisevius, Kenneth Bowen and Anthony Villavaso pleaded not guilty today to charges of civil rights violations and conspiracy for allegedly shooting unarmed civilians in the days after Hurricane Katrina, killing two and wounding four, and then attempting to cover it up.

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Same sex marriage

GOP Reps Urge Countries That Criminalize Homosexuality To Oppose LGBT Rights NGO

Rachel Slajda | July 14, 2010, 2:53PM

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ)

Two Republican congressmen are urging other countries -- including, potentially, some where homosexuality is a crime punishable by death -- to vote against an American-led effort in the U.N. to recognize a respected international gay rights group.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has been trying since May 2007 to win accreditation from the United Nations, which would allow the NGO to have a voice at the international body. But the group's application for "consultative status" had been deferred by the status-granting NGO committee until early last month, when the committee voted to block its application.

Among the countries voting against the application: Egypt, Angola, Burundi, China, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia and Sudan. In all those countries but Russia and China, LGBT people can be jailed, fined, whipped or killed if they are caught by authorities.

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Barack Obama

Tea Party's Obama-Hitler-Lenin Billboard Taken Down In Iowa

Eric Lach | July 14, 2010, 12:23PM

President Barack Obama

And just like that, it's gone.

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Sue Myrick

GOP Rep And Fox News Agree: Hezbollah Infiltrating U.S. By Posing As Illegal Immigrants (VIDEO)

Jillian Rayfield | July 14, 2010, 12:16PM

myrick on fox

Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) thinks that agents of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah are posing as illegal immigrants -- "going to Venezuela, learning Spanish, and then coming up through Mexico with fake documents trying to cross the border."

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Office of Compliance (OOC)

House Admin Agrees To Give Workers' Rights Office Email Access

Rachel Slajda | July 14, 2010, 11:26AM

Yesterday, we told you that the Congressional office charged with protecting Capitol employees issued a report claiming they couldn't even contact the same employees they are supposed to protect. Someone, the report said, had blocked them from getting staffers' email addresses.

The Office of Compliance report appears to have done the job of getting the office access to staffers -- somewhat. The office will now have access to the House email system, so it can send employees information about their rights when it comes to workplace safety and harassment. In an email obtained by TPMmuckraker, the Committee on House Administration announced that it would help the OOC get out information through the system.

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Campaign Finance

Sarah Palin Spends Like A Politician: Consultants And Pals Make Up Bulk Of PAC Payments

Christina Bellantoni and Rachel Slajda | July 14, 2010, 11:16AM

Former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin (R)

To hear Sarah Palin tell it, she and her mama grizzlies are people-powered, grassroots examples of how Americans can get involved in politics. But a close look at SarahPAC's campaign finance report shows she spends her donations on the same old, standard consultants as every other politician. And like many others, she still finds ways to keep her inner circle in the money.

She pulled in just shy of $866,000 in donations from people hailing from Kissimmee, Florida to Rancho Palos Verdes, California. But Marylander Laurie Beitman's $35 and the bulk of Palin's small-dollar donations is going to more than Republican candidates the former Alaska governor wants to see win this fall. By our count, Palin spent nearly $400,000 on consultants, lobbying firms and the standard direct mail and fundraising firms politicians frequently use. (The AP had a stricter consulting tally, $210,000.) Just about the only maverick-style item she purchased was $4,000 worth of sausage.

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Immigration

Anonymous Anti-Immigration Snitch Targets Undocumented In Utah

Rachel Slajda | July 14, 2010, 9:29AM

Sign warning drivers of pedestrian crossing in Southern California along U.S.-Mexico border.

Immigrants in Utah are reportedly terrified after news outlets and state law enforcement agencies received a list containing 1,300 names of people allegedly in the country illegally.

The governor's office has ordered several state agencies to investigate the list, which includes detailed personal information, including birth dates, addresses and phone numbers. More strikingly, 31 of the names are accompanied by Social Security numbers. More than 200 children are listed, and so are the due dates of six pregnant women.

Nearly all of the names, according to local reports, are Latino.

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Barack Obama

Iowa Tea Party Billboard Compares Obama With Hitler And Lenin

Eric Lach | July 13, 2010, 5:17PM

President Barack Obama

Rule No. 37 of comparing Obama to Hitler: It's hard to walk back a billboard.

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Danziger Bridge

DOJ Charges Six NOPD Officers Involved In Danziger Bridge Shooting

Rachel Slajda | July 13, 2010, 4:18PM

The Danziger Bridge in New Orleans

The Justice Department has charged four New Orleans police officers with opening fire on unarmed civilians in the days after Hurricane Katrina, killing two and wounding four. The DOJ has also charged them, and two other officers, with conspiracy relating to the resulting cover-up.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten and Attorney General Eric Holder announced the charges in an afternoon press conference today, five years after the shootings on the Danziger Bridge in New Orleans.

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Gov't Sends $99.7 Million Bill To BP, Partners

Rachel Slajda | July 13, 2010, 2:49PM

An explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig

The White House announced today that it's sent a fourth bill to BP for costs related to its still-leaking oil well, this one for $99.7 million.

The administration sent the same bill to Anadarko and MOEX, a subsidiary of Japanese company Mitsui, both partners in the well. It also sent the bill to Transocean, which owns the rig.

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Sexual harassment

OOC Blocked From Surveying Hill Staffers On Sexual Harassment

Rachel Slajda | July 13, 2010, 2:12PM

In a report released today, the Office of Compliance -- a Congressional office charged with protecting the rights and safety of Hill employees -- said that it has been blocked from getting the work email addresses of Hill employees.

The OOC said it had wanted to send a survey in 2008 to the 30,000 people who work on Capitol Hill. The idea was to gauge whether they knew about their rights they have as employees when it comes to safety, conflict resolution, sexual harassment and the like.

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Gregory Meeks

CREW Files Ethics Complaint Against Gregory Meeks

Megan Carpentier | July 13, 2010, 12:52PM

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY)

New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, under fire for undisclosed loans from friends reportedly used to renovate his house, will now face an Office of Congressional Ethics investigation as well.

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint against Meeks with the Office of Congressional Ethics today based on the NY Daily News reports that Meeks failed to disclose the personal loans and his participation on two non-profit boards.

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Sarah Palin

Palin Spent Almost $4K On Supporters' Sausages

Rachel Slajda | July 13, 2010, 10:05AM

Former GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

How do we get on this list?

Sarah Palin's political action committee spent some $3,800 in the past quarter on "gift bag items" from an Alaskan company called Indian Valley Meats, according to SarahPAC's latest FEC reports.

Indian Valley, according to its (drool-worthy) web site, sells gift boxes full of Alaskan meats: smoked salmon, caribou sausage, musk ox jerky, reindeer hot dogs, trail sticks, honey mustard sauce and more.

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Iraq War

Is Another CT Candidate Stretching Truth About His Time In War Zone?

Rachel Slajda | July 12, 2010, 5:08PM

CT gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley (R)

The Connecticut Post reports that another Connecticut political candidate -- this time Tom Foley, a Republican candidate for governor -- may be stretching the truth about his time in a war zone.

Foley lived in Baghdad's Green Zone in 2003 while working for the Coalition Provisional Authority. On his campaign web site, he describes his time there as pretty hairy.

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Alvin Greene

State Panel Clears Alvin Greene: 'He Did Nothing Wrong'

Jillian Rayfield | July 12, 2010, 12:15PM

Alvin Greene

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has found that Democratic Senate nominee Alvin Greene had the means to pay the $10,440 filing fee to run for office, and will also not face additional criminal charges for requesting a public defender in his obscenity trial.

SLED was investigating Greene, who won the Democratic nomination June 8 without campaigning, amid questions over how he could qualify for a taxpayer-funded attorney but still manage to pay his rather large filing fee.

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RPOF

Former FL GOP Staffer: Officials Spent On Cigars, Lobster, Birthday Parties

Rachel Slajda | July 12, 2010, 9:07AM

Former Florida Republican Party Chair Jim Greer

Former top officials in the Republican Party of Florida, including chair Jim Greer and executive director Delmar Johnson, spent thousands of party dollars to buy themselves fine cigars, lobster dinners, souvenirs and, in one case, a Winnie the Pooh-themed birthday party.

The former office manager for the party, who says she was fired after she voiced concerns about top officials' spending, gave details on their spending in a story published Sunday in the St. Petersburg Times.

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