Rahm Emanuel Denies Laquan McDonald Cover-Up In Op-Ed Article title

[Stuart G]

Source: Huff Post

10:40 pm 12/4/15

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel strongly denied accusations that he covered up the police shooting death of Laquan McDonald and reiterated his commitment to reforming police practices in an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune on Friday.

Emanuel rebutted charges that he suppressed the police dashcam video from October 2014 showing a white officer firing 16 rounds into McDonald, a 17-year-old African American, so as not to harm his chances in a tough re-election a few months later.

"What I strongly reject is the suggestion that the videotape of the McDonald shooting was withheld from the public because of the election," Emanuel wrote.

A Cook County judge ordered the release of the controversial video on Nov. 19. The city released it to the public on Nov. 24, the same day prosecutors announced first-degree murder charges against Jason Van Dyke, the officer who killed McDonald --more than a year after the incident.


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rahm-emanuel-laquan-mcdonald-coverup_56622ebbe4b079b2818ed927

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Rahm says in this article he never saw the video before release. That is very hard to believe. I wonder if he "knew" the real contents of the video? He says that if he saw it, he might have decided otherwise. The whole article basically says, "I knew nothing"..Which is even more hard to believe. If..he "knew nothing" perhaps that is worse than knowing and covering up. ? If he knew nothing, he should resign on sheer incompetence and stupidity. Either way..he needs to resign.

[merrily]

1. If he didn't know, WHY didn't he know? Either way....

[vt_native]

2. The City of Chicago doesn't pay 5 mil with no lawsuit

Without the Mayor's approval.

Ring of Fire Radio broke this down. Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017312553

[hatrack]

9. Bingo - and they went to the family with the settlement

There wasn't even a civil suit and no city government is going to sign off on that w/o full knowledge of the video and just how damning it was.

[global1]

3. The Cover Up Is Worse Than The Crime....nt

[Chasstev365]

4. A Sleazy Used Car Salesman

BS! I've never liked the man and he would throw his own grandmother under the bus in order to save his political ass!

[nyabingi]

5. Rahm should do the honorable thing and resign (nt)

[reddread]

8. honorable aint his thing

a sewer rat.
no offense, Arabella.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

12. I had fears of the worst when he announced running for mayor.

It was bad when he effectively supported Rauner for GOv. After all, they are friends, they both made milions stealing from the poor, and they supported the same causes. And then this shooting happened.

I have no doubts that he didn't see the video. He didn't. (Plausible deniability has been his specialty) But his top aides did, and they took copious notes, and compared them with the lies from the CPD.

[mopinko]

21. ^^^bingo.

i am sure he didnt watch it as well.

[dpatbrown]

6. IMO,

he's lying through his teeth.

[Stuart G]

7. I have to believe that you are correct. And, I think most of us here will agree with you.

I do not know for sure, but that is what I think. I believe your truth outweighs his lies.

[SoapBox]

10. Not Good Enough Rahm!

Your full of shit...resign now.

[OldRedneck]

11. "The leader is responsible for . . . . "

I'm a retired Army officer, serving on active duty 1967 - 1995, including two tours in Vietnam.

I don't recall now the exact wording or the exact reference, however, before I was commissioned, while I was still an ROTC student at a small Alabama college, I had drilled into me the words of the Army Regulation that defined a leader's responsibility: "The leader is responsible for everything his unit does or fails to do." Period. End of discussion. Nothing equivocal about it. "The leader is responsible."

After graduating from college, I went through a lot of basic officer training -- Artillery Officer Basic Course, Airborne School (learned how to jump out of airplanes); Ranger School. I then went to my first assignment, an artillery battalion in Germany where I stayed for 8 months before heading off to Vietnam.

This battalion had failed several critical inspections and the previous commander was relieved -- he was responsible for what the unit failed to do. The new battalion commander was under a lot of pressure to get the battalion up to speed -- retraining, getting rid of dead wood, fixing what was broken. He did his best as did the rest of us, however, in his first six months, we failed two critical inspections, although the second failure was just barely fail. He was relieved. We all thought this was unfair as he was trying his very best, it's just that there was too much baggage to get rid of in six months.

"The leader is responsible for everything his unit does or fails to do."

I'm not trying to paint the Army as a perfect institution. We aren't. Still, if Rahm were a battalion/brigade/division commander, his ass would have been on the street a LONG time ago.

[Stuart G]

13. To believe he did not see this video, or know its exact contents..

is to believe he is a complete idiot. The head cop told him what really happened. That is it He told him exactly what happened, and who did it. If Rahm did not know, he is far more incompetent and stupid than anyone knows.

[uawchild]

14. Sorry Rahm, no one is buying that excuse n/t

[JHB]

15. Of course he does.

[Ford_Prefect]

16. We mere mortals do not deserve to question the motives and actions of mighty Rham.

Protest too much doth he. Much as he has done all through his career. "I didn't do it, and it was 3 other guys!"

[houston16revival]

17. It wasn't "withheld"

it was delayed.

[rocktivity]

18. Happy News Dump Day, Rahm!

If only this had been printed on Sunday when it could have gotten maximum exposure...


rocktivity

[jomin41]

19. Does he think people are stupid enough to believe this crap???

That says even more about him and his administration. They have no respect for people. I have none for them.

[rocktivity]

20. Emanuel...denied that the city's quick $5 million legal settlement...

was intended to conceal police wrongdoing. Instead, he said that the city had merely obliged a request for a speedy settlement from McDonald's family in February.

Geez, talk about an offer you can't refuse! Are you sure when you actually saw the video, Rahm? Or did you just decide to hand the victim's family five million dollars of Chicago taxpayer money without knowing what really happened for the fun of it?

As for the five-member task force he mentions, they consist of three former federal prosecutors, a former public defender, and a former deputy police superintendent. The task force will "actively engage" input from "community, victims’ rights, law enforcement, youth, religious and elected leaders to ensure the recommendations are based on input from all parts of the city." There's only two things that needs to be recommended -- stop shooting suspects illegally, and punish cops who do!


rocktivity