Misprision of Felony (covering up a felony)

[FauxNewsBlues]

Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both


The person who leaked to the post is liable for 3 years in jail, as well as every other person in the White House who knows right now, who did it.

It's not just these two folks. Every single soul in the White House either needs to get on the record that they know nothing, or they need to roll.

A television hearing in the Senate with tv camera rollings can literally destroy this White House. People know who did it. They are accessories after the fact. They can be charged even if they didn't condone or know about the activities but are deliberately shielding the identities of the criminals.

Phone your congress people folks.

[Padraig18]

1. Good catch!

My boyfriend is a cop and a law student, and he made the exact same remark earlier today! :thumbsup:

[Beetwasher]

2. Dammit! But Clinton Had A BLOWJOB!!!

'nuff said...(sarcasm of course)

[karlschneider]

3. I'm fairly sure every state has equivalent statutes. Probably not D.C.,

but it conceivably could be applied outside the district (Maryland/Camp David, Crawford, NYC, etc.)

I'll send some mail to my congresscritters but it won't matter, they are all wingnuts (Oklahoma) :grr:

[ShaneGR]

4. Do you have a link to this Act?

So I can write my congressman and site the source.

[grasswire]

6. here it is

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/4.html

[Pepperbelly]

5. hold on a minute ...

the person leaking it as well as accomplices BEFORE the fact can be subject to far harsher treatment than 3 years for misprision.

Al Martin wrote:

"This is very explosive and what makes it so explosive is that this Intelligence Identity Act, if it can be proved and Rove can be successfully prosecuted and if Rove reveals that the president George Bush told him to institute this leak, then the President's automatic shield of immunity is removed and the president himself can be prosecuted for murder if any deaths of any US intelligence agents or assets resulted from the leak. This is the only legal statute that has this provision."

A bit harsher I think. Jeff Koopersmith of AMPOL rports: "According to Martin, Rove himself, in retribution for Wilson's report, leaked to the Washington Post that Wilson's wife is a CIA agent and has been for the past 26 years. Martin claims that as a consequence of this leak her entire team of overseas 'assets' (he claims 70 people in all) were 'liquidated.'"

on edit: Also, this is getting far more mainstream than Martin: Although Mike Allen and Dana Priest of the Washington Post are receiving undue credit for breaking the story that the Justice Department is investigating the so-called "leak" that resulted, perhaps, in some deaths of American foreign operatives, the two terrific reporters did not break this story." Then he credits Martin with it.

[FauxNewsBlues]

8. The people who knew after the fact

Are the ones who should be concentrated on. They were not involved in the planning. They have more to lose here. They are probably the younger staffers with small kids who can't be guaranteed a pardon.

3 years in jail might open their mouths.

[punpirate]

10. Issues of Martin's credibility aside...

... it's important to also read the decision notes. For example:

Pope v. State (1979) Someone who fails to act and is not legally required to act cannot be held accountable on the basis that there may have been a moral obligation to act. Note that under misprision of felony, there must be active concealment to be actionable; nondisclosure is not actionable.

Cheers.

[Pepperbelly]

11. true enough but also ...

consider this: I did show from Koopersmith how mainstream this has gone and also, Martin, credibility problems and all, cited something called the "Intelligence Identity Act" which either exists or does not.

The only problem is that a lot of the stuff governing intelligence is very secret, just because of the nature of the beast it attempts to regulate. While I know nothing of the Act cited or even if it exists at all, I do know that it is certainly something that COULD be true. Time will tell whether or not it is.

[TA]

7. The wheels are falling of the Bush wagon

Its time for our candidates to start strategizing on how to run againt McCain. Bush and his gang are history.

[Pepperbelly]

9. if Bush drops, it will be Frist or Hagel, not McCain. nt

[newyawker99]

20. Hi TA!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[RainDog]

12. This is a good way to massage some truth

out of some people who could use a little immunity by testifying.

...that assumes that the Bush junta is accountable for their actions, just as ever other American is.

SOOOO, make sure you contact your Congress member tomorrow!!! (I say tomorrow cause I'm gonna be working the phone.)

I have to get offline and give equal time to my kid's video game jones.

bbl

keep 'em kicked so I can find them when I get back, please, please!

[DrBB]

13. We already KNOW one person who's guilty of this in the Plame case

The senior official the Post was quoting today as to the details of the "outing" crime. That person is not coming forward publicly--they are deliberately shielding the criminals' identities.

on edit: oops--missed the line in your post where you said this. Just came hot off of firing off a letter to the Post about this:

Regarding the “outing” of Valerie Plame as an alleged CIA agent (Bush Administration Is Focus of Inquiry, September 28, 2003):

We now know two things: two top administration officials have committed a crime of high seriousness—one that, as the former President Bush stated in 1999, borders on treason (the more so as Plame is said to have been involved in our efforts to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, a matter of utmost importance to our national security). And a senior administration official is aware of those crimes in some detail—presumably even the perpetrators’ identities—yet is not coming forward publicly with that information.

The implications of this are devastating. These criminals are apparently still in Mr Bush’s employ, and at least one other senior person in his administration is withholding information about them either out of fear or a misplaced loyalty. Yet in the several months since the crime was committed Mr Bush has has taken no initiative in pursuing the matter, and has shown no real concern let alone outrage that a security breach in such a critical area has been committed by persons close to him.

How can one look at that picture and not conclude that there has been complicity at the highest levels?

[ComerPerro]

14. Im sorry, but

Even though this alone could be grounds for impeachment, it won't get anywhere. No one in the mainstream seems to understand or appreciate the significance of what is happening here.

This administration, by all rights, should have been removed from power at least five times. But nothing came out of it.

They just keep selling out the American people. And the American people love them for it.

[Lindsay]

15. The differences between this and all previous BushScams

are two...first, Joe Wilson isn't gonna go away, and second, neither is the CIA. And they're not gonna let the story go away.

BushCo finally picked the wrong people to mess with.

[calimary]

16. Here's HOW you phone your congress people:

FIRST THING IN THE MORNING, CALL THE CAPITOL HILL SWITCHBOARD, TOLL FREE:

1 (800) 648 - 3516

1 (800) 839 - 5276

and ask them to connect you with WHICHEVER office you like. They'll do it for free.

OR check www.congress.org and go to the directory - you can find phone numbers for local AND Washington offices for ANYBODY ON CAPITOL HILL.

ABSOLUTELY call your reps! If you have time, call SOMEBODY ELSE'S reps, too.

And for those whose congressfolk are rethugs, NEVER FEAR! BRING IT UP ANYWAY!!! Remind them that, if they try to sweep this under the rug, or otherwise condone or turn a deaf ear to it, IT IS A FELONY, and they will be accomplices.

[BeFree]

17. Thanks Calimary

Here's the speil:

Is it true about the reports in the paper that someone in the White House fingered a CIA agent and many people have died because of it?

I also read that that this story first hit the papers months ago and no one has been charged yet. What's going on in DC? Are ya'll trying to tell us it's ok to out CIA agents?

I'll ask again: What is going on in Washington DC?

[calimary]

18. Hee hee hee - EXCELLENT, BeFree!

[Sliverofhope]

19. This is excellent

kick totally. Everyone at DU needs to add "misprision of a felony" to their vocabulary post haste.