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Krongard Recuses Himself from Blackwater Investigations
Howard "Cookie" Krongard said he's just learned that his brother is on Blackwater's advisory board and has formally recused himself from investigating the company.
Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) asked when Krongard learned his brother, A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard was on Blackwater's board. Krongard said that he just learned about his brother's position, and had a single phone conversation with him in early October -- "about five, six weeks ago" -- in which Buzzy told Cookie that he didn't have "a significant financial interest" in Blackwater. Blackwater has multi-million contracts with the State Department.
Company spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell told me the advisory board was formed in the summer. I'm still trying to learn the exact date Buzzy joined up, but that would be before Buzzy's phone conversation with his brother. Cookie Krongard told Rep. Lynch that his brother didn't mention taking a position on the advisory board, although Buzzy "may have said" that Blackwater approached him about one. "I am not my brother's keeper," Cookie Krongard said.
Here's video:
Update: Cookie has certainly changed his tune from the beginning of the hearing. There, he said that his brother had told him that he wasn't on Blackwater's advisory board. Here's what he said:
"I can tell you very frankly, I am not aware of any financial interest or position [my brother] has with respect to Blackwater. It couldn’t possibly have affected anything I’ve done, because I don’t believe it. And when these ugly rumors started recently, I specifically asked him. I do not believe it is true that he is a member of the advisory board, as you stated, and that is something I think I need to say."
Late Update: Rep. Lynch's first name is Stephen, not Patrick. I regret the error.
Comments (38)
brian wrote on November 14, 2007 12:55 PM:Lies and more lies. All these guys do is lie.
Congress has no men-at-arms, no lock-up ... it only has the constitution and limited means of investigation.
Congress must continue to expose the corruption and lying and law-breaking.
It takes a long time for the true story to persuade the public. We must be patient and keep exposing the bad guys.
We can have the constitution working again, but it is going to take a lot of time and effort. Don't give up.
Jones Day wrote on November 14, 2007 12:56 PM:He joined up by 9/5/07, the date of Prince's email to the advisory board members providing details of the first meeting (on the committee's website).
Michael wrote on November 14, 2007 1:04 PM:Gee, oh, I get it, he was caught soooo now he recuses himself. What a bunch of criminals. When are we going to start seeing some jail time on this stuff?????
steve duncan wrote on November 14, 2007 1:16 PM:The logical next question is will Blackwater provide State and Congress with a full roster of both its advisory board and its board of directors? It'd be interesting to see how many other dots there are to connect with various members of the administration.
don de drain wrote on November 14, 2007 1:20 PM:What I want to know about is the relationship between Buzzy and Blackwater BEFORE Buzzy joined Blackwater's advisory board. How did the Blackwater folks come to know Buzzy? When? Was Buzzy a complete stranger to Blackwater at the time he was asked to join the advisory board? C'mon TPM, get out that rake. I smell a really great story here, maybe even some indictments down the road.
John Randolph wrote on November 14, 2007 1:28 PM:I suppose it should be said--given the right's tendency to pose as biblically literate--that Mr. Krongard's quotation of Cain is utterly inappropriate.
When God came asking where Abel was, Cain's lame excuse that he is "not my brother's keeper" did nothing to ameliorate his crime (that of killing Abel, of course).
If you're going to spout biblical citations, at least find ones that are appropriate or exculpatory!
Although, on the other hand, tsince it seems almost certain that Krongard is culpable (i.e. that he did or should have known about his brother's activities and thereby his own conflicts of interest), putting himself in Cain's spot is truthful. He is rather like Cain at this point.
Ethan wrote on November 14, 2007 1:41 PM:>>>How did the Blackwater folks come to know Buzzy? When?
CIA. Tenet appointed Buzzy as #3 at CIA in 2001... he (Buzzy) stepped down in '04 when Porter Goss became CIA director. lackwater CEO Prince has ties to CIA, thus Buzzy.
Sorry for lack of specifics, but I'm sure someone will post more abt this...
Ballerina X wrote on November 14, 2007 1:46 PM:what don de drain said...
Rockgolf wrote on November 14, 2007 1:50 PM:They're creepy and they spooky.
SocraticGadfly wrote on November 14, 2007 1:51 PM:They're "Buzzy" & they're "Cookie"
They're altogether ookie
The Krongard family.
So he knew his brother was on the board before he didn't know his brother was on the board?
Doctor Biobrain wrote on November 14, 2007 1:58 PM:I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for how this could have happened, and that I'll laugh my ass off once they finally figure out what it is.
BTW, I just hired another fox to watch my henhouse and really think it's working out pretty well for me.
Brendan wrote on November 14, 2007 2:02 PM:So Blackwater runs out and hires the brother of the State Dept's inspector general. These guys don't even try for the air of propriety.
What ever happened to the days when corrupt people would really put some time and thought into their sleaze? Now they just exchange envelopes of cash in public. Corruption is an ancient tradition. Where's the care for their craft?
annex wrote on November 14, 2007 2:04 PM:The congressman doing the questioning is _Stephen_ Lynch. Here's his Congressional homepage:
http://www.house.gov/lynch/
He was an ironworker for years, he knows how to work hard and get things done...it's great to see him standing up to this smooth Bush crony.
"Fincancial interest? You mean being on the board is a financial interest? My brother and I didn't know that!"
OleHippieChick wrote on November 14, 2007 2:06 PM:Waxman:
Heckuva job, Cookie, you incompetent asshole.
EH wrote on November 14, 2007 2:06 PM:Lying to Congress: it's what's for dinner.
OleHippieChick wrote on November 14, 2007 2:09 PM:Holy crap, Cookie pulls an e-mail out of his butt that Wax subpoenaed but never saw before!
johnnydoughey wrote on November 14, 2007 2:12 PM:Will the one honest person in Washington please stand up so we can know who you are?
Hmm... no one stood up...
Whoda thought...
That's okay. After we reelect them all we'll ask again...
News Nag wrote on November 14, 2007 2:20 PM:Buzzy Krongard was president of Deutsche Bank for a while and resigned very near before the 9/11 attacks....and Deutsche Bank was one of the institutions through which some of the put options on American Airlines, etc, were made just prior to the attack.
For me, the 911 Commission whitewashing of the importance of those put optinons is a sign that they are relevant to the ongoing mystery of who exactly knew what exactly and when - not that Cheney hand-held a remote control device and flew the planes into the buildings - but that some more deeply implanted intelligence assets did know something was up and were ordered to look somewhere else. There are legitimate leads to such assets.
bajajazz wrote on November 14, 2007 2:20 PM:Prior to his employment at CIA and before 9/11, Buzzy Krongard held a high level position at the bank through which certain airline stock options were placed, in this case stock market bets that the airline stocks would soon fall, as of course they did on 9/12. I cannot bring myself to believe that this is mere coincidence and would like to know if this factoid has ever been satisfactorily investigated. Like Mayor Willie Brown's advance notification not to fly on 9/11, it's obvious that foreknowledge of the events of 9/11 was 'out there.'
And what is with these childish nicknames: "Buzzy," "Cookie," "Scooter?"
steve duncan wrote on November 14, 2007 2:26 PM:How is it that some of the world's most evil bastards have names straight out of Mr. Roger's neighborhood?
I don't mind nicknames if they're appropriate and accurately descriptive of a person. For example "Shrub".
Jones Day wrote on November 14, 2007 2:32 PM:Can we stop with the whack-job conspiracy theories please?
JMOHR wrote on November 14, 2007 2:47 PM:What is wrong with whack-job conspiracy theories? The certainly got enough play by the MSM when Clinton was in office. I believe we are entitled to equal time.
On a more serious note, cronyism, conflicts of interest, sexual perversion, bribe taking, incompetence, hyper partisanship are just the rule for this administration. Compare what is happening now to the Clinton administration in terms of resignations, criminal indictments and other scandals. There simply is no comparison. Many of these scandals arose while Republicans controlled Congress and played no oversight role. This has got to be the most criminal and corrupt administration since before Herbert Hoover. It is as if the Republicans are dedicated to returning this society to the late 1800's and the early 1900's. They are certainly succeeding.
steve duncan wrote on November 14, 2007 2:49 PM:Jones Day wrote on November 14, 2007 2:32 PM:
Can we stop with the whack-job conspiracy theories please?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hank Essay wrote on November 14, 2007 2:51 PM:I agree. I'm reminded of those whack-job allegations circulating around, like the one about black people being deliberately injected with syphilis and then deprived of treatment to gauge the disease's effect on them. Or how about that crackpot story of the CIA giving unwitting experiment volunteers massive doses of LSD and leaving them to wonder to themselves in later life why they thought they were crazy. Who dreams this bullshit up, anyway? Jones Day is correct, everybody get a grip.
And the sound you hear from wingnut nation is:
Silence.
Awfully quiet now, aren't you, you amoral wingnut thugs?
P wrote on November 14, 2007 3:03 PM:Google Kofer Black
HEh wrote on November 14, 2007 3:16 PM:And it is really interesting when you learn that the "anonymous" 9/11 put options on American and United airlines stocks was traced back to Buzzy Krongard.
Hmmm, and now this "fine" American traitor is on the board of what should be an illegal mercenary operations. About time to shoot these fuckers in the face.
Wil Burns wrote on November 14, 2007 3:20 PM:Eight years ago, just like today, Chris Matthews was picking your nominee for you. In recent weeks, he has been running a ludicrous campaign against the deeply troubling way Candidate Clinton claps her hands; back then, he fawned over Bill Bradley’s five o’clock shadow—and he wouldn’t stop trashing Gore. The sheer stupidity of Matthews’ work is only matched by its anti-Dem vehemence. His hatred of Dems—and his loathing of women—has been clear for a very long time.
To this day, we have never seen a profile of Matthews which even begins to deal with the way he has savaged the Democratic Party over the course of the past dozen years. Indeed, some of our journalistic leaders go out of their way to praise his work! Then, by complete and total coincidence, they end up as guests on his program.
And make no mistake, the ugliest aspects of Matthews’ character have been on display a long time. Tomorrow, we’ll show you the way he took part in the sexual trashing of Naomi Wolf, back when the press corps was using Wolf as a way to tear down Gore. But then, Matthews’ loathing of women has long been apparent—more particularly, his loathing of liberal women. Consider what happened on July 29, 1999, when Mary Boyle dared to speak on his show.
As always, Matthews was playing the fool about Gore, engaging in the two-year war which eventually sent Bush to the White House.
http://dailyhowler.com/
Uncle_Meat wrote on November 14, 2007 3:25 PM:Jones Day wrote on November 14, 2007 2:32 PM:
"Can we stop with the whack-job conspiracy theories please?"
Here's a whack-job conspiracy theory for ya:
19 Arabs hijacking four planes armed with box-cutters and penetrating the most sophisticated defense systems in the world.
If there is a connect between the "Buzz" and those put options, I sure as hell want to know..
Jones Day wrote on November 14, 2007 3:29 PM:Fine fine, have it your way.
nazi love child wrote on November 14, 2007 3:30 PM:I mentioned the Buzzy-Deutsche-Bank-put-option connection earlier on this site and was chastized for it.
Uncle_Meat wrote on November 14, 2007 4:07 PM:The SEC claimed to be unable to find out who placed the orders, I guess 15 Million Dollars of profit can just evaporate. It's not much money compared to what these guys can haul out of Iraq and by the way, 9/11 was the reason Iraq was invaded, so if anybody thinks there are no underlying conspiracies then he or she better get the cookies ready for Santa Claus.
This regime called anyone that dared to question anything (like WMD) unpatriotic but the more we learn about bushco the more clear it becomes that everything they do is a conspiracy so don't call me nuts my friends.
Jones Day-
Sorry if my comment came off as rude, but the point I'm trying to make is that if there is a legitimate link between this guy and some of the questionable inner workings of what happened on 911, shouldn't we be looking at this a little closer?
Certainly didn't mean it as a slap across the face..
SeeDee wrote on November 14, 2007 4:41 PM:Uncle_Meat, very decent of you to soothe Jones Day's feelings...
I'm not a subscriber to the '9/11 conspiracy theory' necessarily, but I sure as heck am not at all satisfied that the half-assed investigation of 9/11 conducted by Lee Hamilton, et al., produced all the ins and outs and in-betweens related to the event.
Sometimes such absolute self-assurance that another is way off base in inquiring about a 'far-fetched' idea, only means that the 'self-assured' does not really want to know the truth.
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