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Bush Blocked DOJ Investigation of White House

TUESDAY JULY 18 2006 7:00 PM

Submitted by legionnaire. Edited By legionnaire.

TAGS: Bush, wiretapping, justice department, NSA

While Bush is gearing up for possibly his first veto ever over a bill that would allow embryonic stem cell research to continue, it won't be the first time he's stopped something that's good for America. Evil henchman Alberto Gonzales testified in front of the Senate judiciary committe today that Bush personally prevented the Department of Justice's Office of Personal Responsibility from receiving the necessary security clearance that would have allowed them to investigate the White House's illegal domestic wiretapping activities.

SPECTER: Now when you had the first line of review, Mr. Attorney General, by OPR, why wasn�t OPR given clearance as so many other lawyers in the Department of Justice were given clearance?

GONZALES: Mr. Chairman, you and I had lunch several weeks ago, and we had a discussion about this. And during this lunch, I did inform you that the terrorist surveillance program is a highly-classified program. It�s a very important program for the national security of this country �

SPECTER: Highly-classified, very important, many other lawyers in the Justice Department had clearance. Why not OPR?

GONZALES: And the President of the United States ultimately makes decisions about who ultimately is given access �

SPECTER: Did the President make the decision not to clear OPR?

GONZALES: As with all decisions that are non-operational in terms of who has access to the program, the President of the United States makes the decision because this is such an important program �

SPECTER: I want to move on to another subject. The President makes the decision and that�s that.

"The President makes the decision and that's that"? The Senate really is reasserting its power in the ongoing struggly with the executive branch. As much of a bullshit, partisan travesty as the Clinton impeachment proceedings were, one thing that Republicans kept harping on throughout that they got right was the importance of keeping the DOJ independent from the President. The Attorney General is not the same thing as the White House counsel, that title belongs to GOP closet embarrassment Harriet Miers. The AG, while appointed by the President, is expected to be able to work independently of the President, and in certain cases to direct investigations of wrongdoing at the White House. Clearly that's not happening, if Bush is the one making the calls on whether he should be investigated at all by doling out or refusing to give the appropriate security clearances.

I'm not sure what's more disturbing - the fact that the President can and does get away with this sort of overreaching power grab, or that key Senators seem perfectly happy to sit by and watch it all happen with little to no objection.

24 Comments

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seanvegas

Lincoln, NE

December 2004

JUL 18, 2006 07:39 PM

The White House is like an ass hole: shit comes out but shit never goes in!

MrCrisp

Charleston, SC

August 2004

JUL 18, 2006 07:43 PM

seanvegas said:
The White House is like an ass hole

hopefully one day somebody will concieve a nefarious plan to screw this administration in an extremely uncomfortable place.

Short

Sacramento, CA

September 2005

JUL 18, 2006 07:49 PM

is it bad that i don't find this sort of thing suprising anymore?

MschfMayhemSoap

Phoenix, AZ

April 2006

JUL 18, 2006 08:10 PM

seanvegas said:
The White House is like an ass hole: shit comes out but shit never goes in!

that should be amended to say "shit comes out, and every 4 years there's a chance a Great Big COCK will slide it's way in"....

MschfMayhemSoap

Phoenix, AZ

April 2006

JUL 18, 2006 08:10 PM

MrCrisp said:

seanvegas said:
The White House is like an ass hole

hopefully one day somebody will concieve a nefarious plan to screw this administration in an extremely uncomfortable place.

Like the back of a Volkswagon?

God bless Kevin Smith.... just BLESS him..

Ziltoid

Australia

April 2006

JUL 18, 2006 08:15 PM

MschfMayhemSoap said:

MrCrisp said:

seanvegas said:
The White House is like an ass hole

hopefully one day somebody will concieve a nefarious plan to screw this administration in an extremely uncomfortable place.

Like the back of a Volkswagon?

God bless Kevin Smith.... just BLESS him..

Oh fuck you beat me to it.

punk

Phoenix, AZ

January 2004

JUL 18, 2006 09:04 PM

I think, maybe, he meant "OK, so the President makes 'all the decisions.' That's what I wanted to hear you say. Moving on."

i.e. he wanted Gonzales to admit the President made the choice not to let OPR investigate the wiretapping issue so blame could be placed.

Maybe it's wishful thinking...

MrCrisp

Charleston, SC

August 2004

JUL 18, 2006 09:33 PM

Chaolin said:

MschfMayhemSoap said:

MrCrisp said:

seanvegas said:
The White House is like an ass hole

hopefully one day somebody will concieve a nefarious plan to screw this administration in an extremely uncomfortable place.

Like the back of a Volkswagon?

God bless Kevin Smith.... just BLESS him..

Oh fuck you beat me to it.

you're both winners in my eyes.

trocc

Chicago, IL

March 2003

JUL 18, 2006 09:52 PM

punk said:
I think, maybe, he meant "OK, so the President makes 'all the decisions.' That's what I wanted to hear you say. Moving on."

i.e. he wanted Gonzales to admit the President made the choice not to let OPR investigate the wiretapping issue so blame could be placed.

Maybe it's wishful thinking...

that's actually how i read it as well. i guess the mind reaches for positives these days, however unlikely...

SlackerInChief

Sanford, FL

February 2005

JUL 19, 2006 03:08 AM

All I have to say is, bush has been highly suspected of wrong doings and illegal activity for a long time now. He has a history of straight up lying to the american people. They start to investigate him and he just says " hmm, no thanks" and thats the end of it. Clinton gets his dick sucked, and he gets impeached. Something just doesn't seem right here.
When will people wake up....

jake_lex

Lexington, KY

February 2003

JUL 19, 2006 05:02 AM

trocc said:

that's actually how i read it as well. i guess the mind reaches for positives these days, however unlikely...

Specter's actually been one of the most vocal critics of Bush's expansion of his authority, so that's how I read it too. It was more or less him saying "OK, OK, you're going to keep bullshitting me, here's what you meant, let's go on to something else."

GramNegative

I'm lost

October 2004

JUL 19, 2006 08:05 AM

yeah, there was a lot of Specter saying "ok, thanks for the non-answer, moving on..."

It seems crazy to me that the president is 'the decider' when it comes to security clearance - but maybe thats because we seem to have a mental defective for president

xrinti

Madison, WI

April 2006

JUL 19, 2006 05:17 PM

Good bye republic, hello dictatorship.

Oh, and the bastard did issue his first veto. It's good to know that the forces of the Kansas Board of Education get to plot the path of research in the USA. Why is it that people think that being ignorant is a virtue?

FellOnEarth

Temecula, CA

April 2006

JUL 21, 2006 03:28 AM

Obstruction of justice is an impeachable offence.

I can't imagine how the attorneys must have felt...

You've been selected to investigate possible illegal activities concerning the Bush Administration.
Sorry, you cannot investigate because the Bush Admin. hasn't cleared you to investigate.

Catch-a-22, eh?

BTW did you hear the Bushit (excuse) the Pres. gave for his veto. He said that stem cell research "crosses a moral boundary," adding that it "is at the leading edge of a series of moral hazards". Who the hell is this fuck to tell us about moral boundaries and hazards?

New Rule: Presidents who pressure the country into an unprovoked war, resulting in the senseless killing of thousands of innocents, instigating a major civil conflict and destabilizing any possibility of peace and democracy just to enrich war mongering profiteers are not alowed to preach about moral boundaries and hazards.

Presidents who lie and fail to uphold their constitutional duties (or adhering to their sworn oath), and violate the civil rights of citizens are criminal and should be treated as such.

Once again the U.S. is divested of intellectual achievement and scientific advancement because of the ignorant faithful. All he's done is set back the inevitable for another year anyway. His concern for cells over actual human lives is absurd. What an asshole.

NickFaust

USA

April 2004

JUL 21, 2006 03:48 AM

FellOnEarth said:
Obstruction of justice is an impeachable offence.

I can't imagine how the attorneys must have felt...

You've been selected to investigate possible illegal activities concerning the Bush Administration.
Sorry, you cannot investigate because the Bush Admin. hasn't cleared you to investigate.

Catch-a-22, eh?

Well, no. Each and every one of those lawyers could have resigned their position - as Elliot Richardson did during the "Saturday Night Massacre" - instead of kowtow the the concept of the imperial presidency.

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