Its Not Just Jeff Sessions: The FBI Must Investigate Scott Pruitt for Lying to Congress

[babylonsister]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/03/it-s-not-just-jeff-sessions-the-fbi-must-investigate-scott-pruitt-for-lying-to-congress.html

THIS IS SERIOUS
It’s Not Just Jeff Sessions: The FBI Must Investigate Scott Pruitt for Lying to Congress
The new EPA head used private email to conduct government business in his prior job, but he didn’t say that when asked by the Senate. If Hillary Clinton was investigated for lying, he should be too.
Jay Michaelson
03.03.17 1:15 AM ET


EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt lied to Congress about his use of private email to conduct government business when he was Oklahoma attorney general. And as it did with Hillary Clinton, and as it should do with Jeff Sessions, the FBI should immediately open an investigation into what is becoming an alarming pattern for the Trump cabinet.

A Feb. 17 investigation by Oklahoma City’s Fox 25 news station revealed that Pruitt used a private email account to coordinate strategy and talking points with fossil fuel companies to oppose environmental rules, among other things. And a subsequent review of more than 7,500 emails by the Associated Press showed that Pruitt used his private email to conduct official business, including communicating with staff and lobbyists.

That directly contradicts what Pruitt told Congress in January. In Pruitt’s pre-confirmation questionnaire, Senator Cory Booker asked, “Have you ever conducted business using your personal email accounts, nonofficial Oklahoma attorney general email accounts, text messages, instant messenger, voicemails, or any other medium?”

Pruitt’s responded: “I use only my official OAG {Office of the Attorney General} email address and government-issued phone to conduct official business.”

As we know now, that was untrue. (Pruitt’s EPA office did not respond to a request for comment.)

It may also be a crime. Section 1001 of the criminal code defines the crime of “False Statement to Government Agency” as anyone who “(1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact; or (2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation” when speaking to government agents or officials (PDF).

This broad statute is the one that sent Martha Stewart to prison for lying about insider trading, and the one under which Henry Cisneros was indicted for lying to FBI investigators during his own confirmation process for secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1992. The penalty for a Section 1001 violation is identical to that of perjury: a maximum of five years in prison. The two crimes are functionally equivalent.

snip//

The most important question, though, is political rather than legal. It’s hard to see Attorney General Jeff Sessions seeking an indictment. He has been on the Trump Train since before it was fashionable, and given the administration’s record so far, it seems more likely that the whole thing will be blamed on politics. And such prosecutions are rare in general. A 2007 study published in the Quinnipiac Law Review found only six such convictions in 60 years.

But what’s needed, appropriate, and proper now is an FBI investigation. If Congress will not investigate such a blatant lie, the FBI must. Yet another cabinet-level official has dissembled during his confirmation hearings. This cannot be allowed to stand.

[Mr. Ected]

1. Another confirmation hearing, another perjury

The war of attrition is going to decimate the Trump administration. There will literally be no man or woman standing by the time the courts finish with them.

[enough]

2. The republicans do not care. NT

[lagomorph777]

16. I don't care that they don't care.

We can still enforce laws; we can still weaken their ability to loot the country; we can still portray them as the criminal gang they are.

[Dustlawyer]

3. Our government is broken.

The hyper-partisanship caused by wealthy donors and competing interests makes for a hypocritical dysfunctional government.

We must fight to get the money out of politics and have Publicly Funded Elections. The will of the people will never be followed unless and until we take away the corrupting power of campaign money!

[Mr. Ected]

4. Perjury is a FELONY

Punishable up to 5 years in prison.

LOCK. HIM. UP.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. For better or for worse, it requires proving intent for conviction. . . . nt

[OnDoutside]

5. Since he lied to Cory Booker, can Booker not request a criminal investigation ?

[Cryptoad]

7. Any citizen may ,,,

petition the court for justice!

[PatSeg]

6. So, what goes around,

comes around and around and around! And republicans never learn .

[hedda_foil]

9. He wasn't exactly lying.

He said he only used his attorney general email for official business. Clearly his conspiring with every fossil fuel company in the immediate world wasn't eggzackly official.

[DK504]

10. Every single one of them needs to resign right now.

Pruitt’s responded: “I use only my official OAG {Office of the Attorney General} email address and government-issued phone to conduct official business.”

They have all lied to Congress and they all have to quit.

[ymetca]

11. As an Oklahoma resident

I can tell you that Pruitt, and our Governor, Mary Fallin, are completely in the tank for Big Oil. They denied the earthquakes were caused by fracking waste water disposal until the Feds proved otherwise. Now they are saying, "well okay we acknowledge the earthquakes are man-made, but the problem is manageable." Manageable? WTF does THAT mean? And now there are ads on every TV channel hawking earthquake insurance. See --free market solutions for every problem!

And the state has a budget shortfall approaching $900 million dollars, which mirrors the tax breaks they gave to rich people when Fallin took office. The rubes in this state bought the b.s. that tax breaks for everyone would be "phased in", starting with the top brackets first. And, of course, they stopped the tax breaks after the top bracket because of the shortfall. Instead, fees for all government services have skyrocketed (car tags, hunting and fishing licenses, etc.) College tuition out of control. Teachers leaving the state, etc., etc., etc. Another massive transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich.

There is ONE oilman in this state who could write a check for our budget shortfall, and STILL have $70 BILLION dollars to play with. Hell, he could split the tab with the owner of Hobby Lobby/Mardel, and they wouldn't even notice the blip in their income.

People here just don't get it. They've drunk the kool-aid, thinking all our problems are because of "those people", getting "free stuff".

[world wide wally]

12. And, just like in Kansas, they will keep voting for the people that will destroy the state because

they talk about the horrors of abortion. Who cares if everyone else in the state dies? Protect the zygote!

[ymetca]

15. Yeah, I used to have a job where I traveled to Wichita all the time...

... right past Dr. Tiller's clinic. And there were ALWAYS crowds of anti-abortion protesters there, weeping and chanting, and "rending their garments", holding up giant placards with pictures of fetuses and "Tiller will burn in Hell!" screeds. Always blocking the road, with cops directing traffic around them.

Now those same legislators want to criminalize environmental protesters.

As I've said elsewhere, we should never have given televangelists all that free air-time all those years ago...

[ffr]

13. And he should be labeled a public health threat.

He's a puppet for the polluters.

[Augiedog]

14. The FBI is stonewalling this whole investigation. Comey would not answer the intel comm questions

[Amaryllis]

17. Not just Sessions and Pruitt- 3 others at least:

https://www.propublica.org/article/five-trump-cabinet-members-made-false-statements-to-congress?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter