Pete Hoekstra

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Pete Hoekstra

Civil Rights Commissioner Calls Hoekstra Super Bowl Ad 'Blatantly Racist'

Ryan J. Reilly | February 6, 2012, 12:40PM

A member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has written a letter to Rep. Pete Hoekstra asking him to stop airing an ad featuring an Asian American actress pretending to speak broken English.

"I urge you to stop airing this offensive ad immediately and to reconfigure your website to remove the smear of ignorance and bigotry that permeates every page," Commissioner Michael Yaki wrote in a letter sent to Hoekstra on Monday morning.

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Topics: Michael Yaki, Pete Hoekstra

Najibullah Zazi

GOPers Who Hit Obama On Xmas Bomber Now Mum On Zazi Guilty Plea

Justin Elliott | February 24, 2010, 11:15AM

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) and Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)

The Republicans who most vociferously blasted the Obama Administration for putting the attempted Christmas bombing suspect through the criminal justice system have apparently been silent on another high-profile terrorism case making its way through the civilian system.

Najibullah Zazi on Monday pleaded guilty in federal court to a plot to detonate explosives in the New York subway system. The government says that Zazi, a legal resident from Afghanistan, got training in 2008 from al Qaeda in Pakistan, and was motivated by anger over civilian deaths in his home country.

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Topics: Eric Holder, Kit Bond, Najibullah Zazi, Obama Administration, Pete Hoekstra

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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Topics: FBI, John Boehner, John Brennan, Kit Bond, Miranda rights, Mitch McConnell, Obama Administration, Pete Hoekstra, Republicans, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

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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Topics: Dick Cheney, Kit Bond, Miranda rights, Northwest Flight 253, Pete Hoekstra, Tom Ridge, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

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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Topics: John Boehner, John Brennan, Kit Bond, Miranda rights, Mitch McConnell, Northwest Flight 253, Obama Administration, Pete Hoekstra, Republicans, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Guantanamo

The Gitmo-Yemen-Flight 253 Connection: What We Know And How We Know It

Justin Elliott | January 6, 2010, 10:12AM

With the news Tuesday that the Obama Administration has decided to halt transfers of Gitmo detainees to Yemen, it's worth taking a closer look at what we do -- and do not -- know about the activity of former detainees in the group known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

That's the al Qaeda "affiliate" that claimed responsibility for the failed Christmas attack over Detroit, and that President Obama has fingered as training and equipping Umar Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man arrested in that incident.

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Topics: Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Center for American Progress, Christopher Boucek, Defense Department, Guantanamo, Hani Abdo Shaalan, Ken Gude, Obama Administration, Pete Hoekstra, Said al-Shihri, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Yemen

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Bond Spokesperson: Bush Erred In Trying Shoe Bomber As Civilian

Justin Elliott | January 4, 2010, 9:18AM

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO)

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) on Sunday became the latest Republican to criticize the Obama Administration for handling the would-be Christmas day bomber as a civilian, and Bond's communications director added on Twitter that trying shoebomber Richard Reid in federal court was a "mistake."

The comments by Bond, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Fox News Sunday echo calls by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, for Umar Abdulmutallab to be tried in a military tribunal.

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Topics: Kit Bond, Pete Hoekstra, Richard Reid, Shana Marchio, Tom Ridge, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Hoekstra: Abdulmutallab Should Be Classified As 'Enemy Combatant'

Justin Elliott | December 30, 2009, 1:42PM

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) believes the Obama Administration should have ordered that alleged terrorist Umar Abdulmutallab be taken into military custody and held as an enemy combatant, his spokesman tells TPMmuckraker.

Abdulmutallab is currently in federal prison in Michigan and is expected to be tried in U.S. district court.

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Topics: Enemy Combatant, Jamal Ware, Pete Hoekstra, Pete King, Richard Reid, Tom Ridge, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Lacking Evidence, Hoekstra Blames Obama Admin. For Fort Hood

Zachary Roth | November 17, 2009, 6:12PM

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) is ramping up his campaign to use the Fort Hood shootings to paint the Obama administration as soft on terrorism.

At a press conference today, where he was joined by several GOP colleagues, Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence committee, called for an immediate congressional investigation into the shootings, to determine whether the intelligence community needs enhanced tools to combat terror. Hoekstra and his colleagues also suggested, without citing evidence, that the administration had restricted the use of crucial terror-fighting tools that could have been used to stop the attacks.

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Topics: Barack Obama, CIA, Fort Hood, Fort Hood Shootings, Nancy Pelosi, Nidal Malik Hasan, Pete Hoekstra

Pete Hoekstra

Reyes Takes Shot At GOPer Over Criticism Of Obama On Fort Hood

Justin Elliott | November 9, 2009, 6:25PM

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX)

House intelligence committee chair Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) made a thinly veiled swipe at his GOP counterpart today over comments made by Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) criticizing the Obama Administration's handling of information about the Fort Hood shootings.

As we told you earlier, Hoekstra said intel agencies including the CIA weren't being sufficiently forthcoming about information the intelligence community might possess about Nidal Malik Hasan. And he suggested there are potential issues with the "performance" of intel agencies in the case.

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Topics: Dennis Blair, Fort Hood, Fort Hood Shootings, Nidal Malik Hasan, Pete Hoekstra, Silvestre Reyes

Fort Hood Shootings

Rep. Hoekstra Accuses Obama Admin Of Withholding Information On Hasan -- Sort Of

Justin Elliott | November 9, 2009, 2:43PM

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and CIA Director Leon Panetta

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) is blasting President Obama for withholding from the Congressional intelligence committees information on the Fort Hood killings suspect, while at the same time acknowledging the leaders of those panels -- including Hoekstra himself -- have indeed been briefed on Nidal Malik Hasan.

"President Obama said people should not jump to conclusions about what happened at Fort Hood, but the administration is in possession of critical information related to the attack that they are refusing to release to Congress or the American people," Hoekstra said in a statement.

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Topics: Al Qaeda, CIA, Central Intelligence Agency, Fort Hood, Fort Hood Shootings, Leon Panetta, Nidal Malik Hasan, Pete Hoekstra

Pete Hoekstra

Hoekstra: Leaking Classified Info Is Terrible -- Except When GOP Does It

Zachary Roth | June 5, 2009, 12:59PM

Now this is some chutzpah....

You might remember that a few years ago, Washington's Republicans were all up in arms over the fact that classified information about the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program had been leaked to the New York Times. The Justice Department began an investigation into the leak, and congressional GOPers gravely declared what a serious crime this was.

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Topics: Pete Hoekstra, Torture, Wiretapping

Nancy Pelosi

In Savaging Pelosi For "Attacking" CIA, GOP Ignores Its Own Record Of Similar Attacks

Zachary Roth | May 20, 2009, 1:08PM

We really shouldn't have to do this. As we've said before, the idea that it's some kind of outlandish and unconscionable slur to point out that the CIA -- the CIA, for chrissakes! -- can sometimes be economical with the truth is absurd on its face. But the Republican attacks on Nancy Pelosi for daring to make that claim just keep coming, so it looks like we're going to have to point this out:

Shocking as it sounds, the GOP hasn't always been so sensitive about harsh criticism of the CIA -- including leveling the charge that the CIA is being deliberately deceptive -- when it's served the party's political interest.

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Topics: John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Newt Gingrich, Pete Hoekstra, Torture

CIA

Lawmaker: CIA Already Being Probed For Misleading Congress

Zachary Roth | May 19, 2009, 2:25PM

As they go after Nancy Pelosi over those CIA briefings, Republicans have been putting the burden of proof on the Speaker, suggesting that it's all but unheard of for the CIA to mislead others in government. But in fact, the agency is currently being probed for doing exactly that on a different issue -- and the effort was initiated by one of Pelosi's fiercest critics on the torture briefings kerfuffle.

Last night, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who chairs the oversight subcommittee of the House intelligence committee, told MSNBC's Ed Schultz (h/t Democratic Underground):

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Topics: CIA, Nancy Pelosi, Pete Hoekstra, Torture

Nancy Pelosi

Hoekstra Spokesman: Docs Will Show Pelosi Was Briefed On Waterboarding

Zachary Roth | May 8, 2009, 3:58PM

So Nancy Pelosi has again denied that she was briefed on the fact that we had already committed waterbaording.

But now a spokesman for Pete Hoekstra, the chair of the House intelligence committee, seems to be telling Greg Sargent that as-yet-unreleased documents will prove once and for all that she was.

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Topics: CIA, Nancy Pelosi, Pete Hoekstra, Torture

Pete Hoekstra

Roll Call: Dem Intel Aide's Access Restored

Paul Kiel | November 20, 2006, 12:54PM

Remember Larry Hanauer, the Democratic aide on the House Intelligence Committee whose clearance was yanked because he was suspected of leaking the Iraq NIE?

House Intel Chairman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) probably hopes you don't, because, as Roll Call reports (sub. req.), Hanauer's access to classified info has been quietly reinstated, "essentially clearing the aide of accusations that he leaked a sensitive report on the Iraq War to The New York Times."

Hoekstra had stripped Hanauer of his access based on remarkably thin evidence -- that Hanauer requested a copy of the Iraq National Intelligence Estimate shortly before the Times reported on the NIE's findings. Nevermind that the Times piece clearly stated that details of the report came from a number of intelligence professionals, with whom the reporters had been speaking for weeks. In fact, as Rep. Ray Lahood (R-IL) admitted, Hanauer was demoted as payback for the Democrats having released, over Hoekstra's objections, a report on Duke Cunningham's dirty doings.

Now Hanauer's been officially (and suddenly) cleared, it seems. Yet another sign that we're in a new era.

Update: A statement from Jonathan Turley, Hanauer's lawyer:

We are grateful that this long nightmare for Larry and his family is now over. It is regrettable that it took this long given the total absence of any evidence linking Larry to the New York Times articles. As we stated at the outset of this controversy, Larry was not and could not have been the source for the New York Times story.
As a result of his name and private telephone number being leaked to the media, Larry has now been the subject of horrible and reprehensible threats.

I hope that the total vindication of Larry will now restore his good name and standing as a professional staff member.

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Topics: Pete Hoekstra

Pete Hoekstra

Hoekstra: Can't Negroponte Do Anything Right?

Justin Rood | November 6, 2006, 12:09PM

"I want a system that is biased in favor of declassification. I want some assurance that they aren't just picking the stuff that's garbage and releasing that. If we're only declassifying maps of Baghdad, I'm not going to be happy."

- Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), House intelligence committee chairman, last March. Hoekstra was frustrated that spy chief John Negroponte was resisting his call to release seized Iraqi documents that Hoekstra was convinced would justify the war in Iraq.

"It looks like they screwed up."

- Hoekstra chiding senior intelligence officials (including Negroponte) yesterday. It was revealed last week that sensitive nuclear secrets were among a batch of Iraqi documents released as part of Hoekstra's favorite declassification program. The documents, which predate the 1991 Persian Gulf War, "show that the Iraqi program may be much further along than anybody ever anticipated," Hoekstra said.

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Topics: Pete Hoekstra