If Bush tells Miers to defy subpoena, is that obstr. of justice?

[The Wielding Truth]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19704513/
WASHINGTON - President Bush ordered his former White House counsel, Harriet Miers, to defy a congressional subpoena and refuse to testify Thursday before a House panel investigating U.S. attorney firings.

"Ms. Miers has absolute immunity from compelled congressional testimony as to matters occurring while she was a senior adviser to the president," White House Counsel Fred Fielding wrote in a letter to Miers' lawyer, George T. Manning.

Manning, in turn, notified committee chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., that Miers would not show up Thursday to answer questions about the White House role in the firings of eight federal prosecutors over the winter.

[babylonsister]

1. It's a felony per this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1308870

[The Wielding Truth]

6. Thought so. * is toast. He is done. Finally he cooked his own

goose.Undoubtedly the biggest - in your face - provable criminal act committed by a US President.

[BlooInBloo]

2. Apparently it's just plain illegal on its own. There's a bunch of threads about it here....

... based on TPM.

[uppityperson]

4. TPM?

[ljm2002]

13. talkingpointsmemo.com n/t

[uppityperson]

15. thanks.

[trashcanistanista]

3. Yes, according to TPM posted

earlier today it is a felony. Certainly another ground for impeachment as if we don't have enough already!

[ikojo]

5. It doesn't matter....it's not like the Democrats will

actually hold him ACCOUNTABLE...because you see, they don't have SIXTY so they can't really do much or so we are told.


Seems the Republicans are doing quite well with the filibusters and such.

[The Wielding Truth]

9. It does matter! WE will get 60 votes. Public damnation !

Us against him.

[cui bono]

7. I'm guessing you don't look at the "Greatest" threads page.

:P

[The Wielding Truth]

10. I defer to Greatest page. Thanks , I haven't been there lately.

[applegrove]

8. I think because she was a legal advisor she may have more cover

than anyone else in the WH who spoke about the hirings and firings in the Justice Department.

[MonkeyFunk]

11. Not if

he, in good faith, believed the subpoena was unconstitutional. Nobody's gonna prosecute him for this.

[The Wielding Truth]

12. Unconstitutional? Do you remember each Clinton subpoena

compiling staffer being asked if Clinton in any way pressured them to withhold testimony? How can a more significant investigation be not in the interest of the protection of the balance of powers that is set forth in the US Constitution? That argument does not hold water.

[MonkeyFunk]

17. Bill Clinton

did claim executive privilege. He lost in court.

That was before a grand jury, though, not the congress.

What Clinton staffers were compelled by subpoena to testify under oath before congress?

[The Wielding Truth]

18. I was thinking of this stuff.

Second, the House Managers contend that the President provided perjurious testimony when he explained to the grand jury that he was trying to "refresh" his recollection when he spoke with Betty Currie on January 18, 1998 about his relationship with Ms. Lewinsky. House Br. at 65. The House Managers completely ignore the numerous statements that Ms. Currie makes in her testimony that support the President's assertion that he was merely trying to gather information. For example, Ms. Currie stated in her first interview with the OIC that "Clinton then mentioned some of the questions he was asked at his deposition. Currie advised the way Clinton phrased the queries, they were both statements and questions at the same time." Supp. at 534 (Currie FBI 302 1/24/98). Ms. Currie's final grand jury testimony on this issue also supports the President' explanation of his questioning:

Q: Now, back again to the four statements that you testified the President made to you that were presented as statements, did you feel pressured when he told you those statements?

A: None whatsoever.

Q: What did you think, or what was going through your mind about what he was doing?

A: At that time I felt that he was - I want to use the word shocked or surprised that this was an issue, and he was just talking.

Q: That was your impression that he wanted you to say - because he would end each of the statements with "Right?," with a question.

A: I do not remember that he wanted me to say "Right." He would say "Right" and I could have said, "Wrong."

Q: But he would end each of those questions with a "Right?" and you could either say whether it was true or not true?

A: Correct.

Q: Did you feel any pressure to agree with your boss?

A: None.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/whtext011399.htm

[MonkeyFunk]

20. that's from her grand jury testimony

I'm asking which Clinton staffers testified under oath before congress under subpoena.

[The Wielding Truth]

21. MonkeyFunk, You gave me a workout, but I found it.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDZjODAxYTVjZmUxZTgzMzEzMDY3MjMxZGNhMDRkYzg=

Making the White House’s job more difficult is a report prepared a few years ago by the Congressional Research Service listing the instances in which White House aides have testified before Congress. The list is quite short from World War II to the 1970s; since then, it has grown progressively longer. Most recently, the report lists 31 officials from the Clinton White House who testified before Congress (along with their title at the time of their testimony):

Samuel Berger, National Security Adviser
Lanny Breuer, Special Counsel
Lloyd Cutler, Special Counsel
Lisa Caputo, Press Secretary to the First Lady
Charles Easley, Director, White House Office of Security
W. Neil Eggleston, Associate Counsel
Mark Gearan, Assistant to the President for Communications
Deborah Gorham, Assistant to the Associate Counsel
Nancy Heinreich, Deputy Assistant
Carolyn Huber, Special Assistant
Harold Ickes, Deputy Chief of Staff
Joel Klein, Deputy Counsel
Evelyn Lieberman, Deputy Press Secretary
Mark Lindsay, Director of White House Management and Administration
Bruce Lindsey, Special Adviser
Capricia Marshall, Special Assistant to the First Lady
Thomas McLarty, Counselor
Cheryl Mills, Deputy Counsel
Bobby Nash, Director of Presidential Personnel
Stephen Neuwirth, Associate Counsel
Dimitri Nionakis, Associate Counsel
Beth Nolan, Associate Counsel
John Podesta, Staff Secretary
John Quinn, Chief of Staff to the Vice President
Charles Ruff, Counsel
Jane Sherburne, Special Counsel
Clifford Sloan, Associate Counsel
Patty Solis, Director of Scheduling for the First Lady
George Stephanopoulos, Senior Policy Adviser
Patsy Thomasson, Assistant Director for Presidential Personnel
Margaret Williams, Chief of Staff to the First Lady



Most of the testimony given by Clinton officials concerned the Whitewater investigation. A significant number of appearances occurred in the summer of 1994, when Democrats controlled Congress and called Clinton officials to testify about their knowledge of the Resolution Trust Corporation and its investigation of Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan. Most of the rest of the testimony came in 1995 and 1996, as the new Republican majority continued the Whitewater probe.

The Congressional Research Service report quotes historian Louis Fisher on the issue of White House testimony: “Although White House aides do not testify before congressional committees on a regular basis, under certain conditions they do. First, intense and escalating political embarrassment may convince the White House that it is in the interest of the president to have these aides testify and ventilate the issue fully. Second, initial White House resistance may give way in the face of concerted congressional and public pressure.”

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. ...

18 U.S.C. Sec. 1505 : ... Whoever corruptly ... influences, obstructs, or impedes ... the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress ... shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than 5 years ... or both.

18 U.S.C. Sec. 1515(b): As used in section 1505, the term "corruptly" means acting with an improper purpose, personally or by influencing another, including ... withholding, or concealing ... information.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

16. I want to know what precedence they base their "absolute immunity" assertion.

Of course, I totally acknowledge that this administration just makes shit up to justify doing whatever the hell it wants to.

I am just sick of this abuse of power and CLEAR violations of numerous ethics and laws and decency.

It is damn PAST time for these assholes' feet to be held to the fire.

[Xenotime]

19. Just another crime we can impeach him for.... Add them all up!

[The Wielding Truth]

22. Reminds me of James Taylor song . Line 'em up, Line 'em all up.

:kick: