Rep Abercrombie(HI)-Has Asked FITZGERALD TO REOPEN LEAK INVESTIGATION Due To McClellan's Revelations

[kpete]

OT–
BREAKING!

I have been harrassing my poor congressman, Neil Abercrombie, about impeachment all year long– and not just me, but our Hawaii impeachment action coalition. He has steadfastly supported the Pelosi line. But today I received this from him, which his Hawaii COS gave me permission to share:

I have asked U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to reopen and
expand his investigation into the leak of classified information by
top White House personnel. This is the process that led to the
indictment and a guilty plea from I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby for
lying to a grand jury.

Based on revelations from the publisher of former White House
Secretary Scott McClellan’s forthcoming book, McClellan admits
that Libby, Karl Rove, Andrew Card, Vice President Cheney and
President Bush all deliberately misled him about the involvement
of White House personnel in the leak of former CIA Officer
Valerie Plame’s identity. The only way to determine whether or
not this is true is to reopen the investigation.

Don’t know if I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, but I’m hoping that we’re seeing the opening signs of a break in the logjam. Abercrombie is not one to get too far out in front of the leadership, so I’ll bet he is not the only one asking for Fitz to re-open his investigation!

Bob in HI

From Comment #43Firedoglake
http://firedoglake.com/2007/12/04/mitt-romney-cant-imagine-insurance-would-deny-coverage-for-breast-cancer/#comments

[porphyrian]

1. Hell fucking yeah. -n/t

[Mme. Defarge]

22. Or, as they say in French,

ditto!

[Eurobabe]

2. WOOHOO!

Get the Bumblefucks! :woohoo:

[ClassWarrior]

3. Go Rep. Abercrombie!

I've long considered him my Rep in spirit, since I wish I lived in his district. B-)

I'm proud of my honorary Rep today.

:patriot:

NGU.

[Cha]

10. Cool Dude, Neil Abercrombie..

http://www.house.gov/abercrombie/

You got me thinking about who my Rep would be in 3 years(if still there)..and it's Mazie Hirono..Not too ba-d.
http://hirono.house.gov/

[ClassWarrior]

12. Why three years?

And my bad! In a perfect world, I'd want to live in Hirono's district.

But kudos to Neil anyway!

NGU.

[Cha]

13. 3 years

I'm retiring and going back to Kauai, Class! B-)

[ClassWarrior]

16. Back, huh? Very cool.

Kauai is the next island I want to explore. Now I'm jealous, zidz! B-)

NGU.

[Cha]

19. It's a plan..but you know

what happens when we make plans. As this dude said in this movie, "Life doesn't care about your visions" Ha!

Right now I'm freezing here in New York and I've got my fingers crossed that this plan does pan out.

I lived on Kauai for 6 years and it's the only place in my life that I'm going back to except for those two years in Colorado.

You'll probably be there before I am..Have Fun! When you go..I got some stellar beaches to tell you about that aren't on the beaten path.

[ClassWarrior]

21. I'd love to hear about those beaches!

I will let you know when I start making plans. Thanks zidz!! :hi:

NGU.

[Cha]

24. You're Welcome!

:hi:

[Jackpine Radical]

39. Nice tan, CW.

Or is that a Milwaukee windburn?

[ClassWarrior]

40. Frostbite.

:rofl:

NGU.

[Catherine Vincent]

4. Great!

We need the rest to join him! Fitzy is just waiting to get the ok from congress.

[Cha]

5. Thank you, Congressman

Neil Abercrombie! Somebody's gotta start it..it may as well be the Rep from Hawaii~~

[AuntPatsy]

6. That is good news, I just hope something comes of it all.

[mmonk]

7. .

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[KamaAina]

8. I knew it! "Bob in HI" is the lead DFA guy out here.

I'm constantly getting invitations to meetups, to which I never go 'cause they're after work and I'm pooped. :(

http://www.dfalink.com/group.php?id=60

[AntiFascist]

9. K&R n/t

[Hydra]

11. This is encouraging

let's hope the law can prevail before we have to do something about it.

[fascisthunter]

14. Will Fitz Do It

and can he do it with Mukasey as AG?

[H2O Man]

15. "all deliberately misled him."

Hopefully people have read the McClellan snippet close enough to know that he did not write that all of these people "deliberately" misled him. If you have any question, go back and read the snippet again.

[H2O Man]

17. The Snippet:

"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

There was one problem. It was not true.

I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the President himself."

[Catherine Vincent]

20. Isn't that basically saying the same thing?

[H2O Man]

25. No.

Some people chose to add a meaning to it that they believed was implied. McClellan clarified this, and it does not mean that McClellan was saying everyone intentionally mislead him. The obvious problem, besides the fact it isn't what he said, is that he would not know if Bush intentionally lied to him. He does know, from the discussions which are all part of the record that Mr. Fitzgerald and even some journalists have revealed, that Rove, Libby, and Cheney purposefully lied to him. There is also reason to believe that Card purposefully misled him.

It's important to keep in mind that while lying to the FBI or the grand jury is a crime, lying to Scott McClellan generally isn't. The chances of Patrick Fitzgerald re-opening the grand jury investigation to see if these fellows lied to Scott McClellan seems astronomically small. The evidence of Rove, Libby, and Cheney misleading McClellan is well-known. Indeed, if we look back to the Libby trial, we find that Mr. Fitzgerald's office introduced VP Cheney's hand-written instructions to McClellan, demanding that he "clear" Libby to the press.

The possibility of illegal activities -- including both the plan by Cheney and Libby to expose Plame, and the organized attempts by people including Rove, Libby, Cheney and Bush -- is very real. But as Rove told a reporter in December 2003, in an "unattributed" bit of bragging, "We've brought earthmovers in on this one." And Scott McClellan has nothing to offer that could help uncover the truth. Nothing. He's only looking to sell books.

Mr. Fitzgerald spoke forcefully about the cloud over VP Cheney during the final arguments in the Libby trial. That cloud remains. While Mr. Fitzgerald did not press criminal charges, there is no question that Cheney engaged in abuses of power in the Plame scandal -- both in the operative phase and the cover-up. When the House drew up the articles of impeachment against Nixon, the second article was specifically about abuses of power when Nixon used his office to attack political opponents. The Founding Fathers viewed abuses of power which were not criminal as being grounds for the civil action of impeachment. That's what any sincere congressman should be aiming for.

[Catherine Vincent]

26. Thanks for the clarification.

:hi:

[Crabby Appleton]

27. Precisely, nt

[Truth2Tell]

28. Thanks H20 Man

Excellent information and analysis. However, I would suggest this news still has significance as a signal of the changing political winds on this issue. If an appropriate and legal conduit for information can be established between Fitz and Waxman (impeachment investigation subpoenas, staff testimony, who knows what), it may be that the cards finally will begin to fall. Or not.

[H2O Man]

31. The Waxman attempt

to gain access to the information in question will require going to court. I do not think there is any realistic chance of the White House allowing the DoJ to follow the law otherwise.

I think anything that keeps the Plame scandal in the news is a good thing. But the ball is in Congress's court now, and attempts to toss it back towards Mr. Fitzgerald are not good things.

[Spazito]

30. The news that Fitzgerald has been cooperating with Congressman Waxman

over the summer and the request for the documents NOT generated via the grand jury holds more promise to me if there is to be any real potential for action, imo.

I agree with your analysis of McClellan's statement regarding bush et al. His statement does not contain anything that would cause Mr. Fitzgerald to re-activate the case.

[H2O Man]

32. The description

"eye to ey" fits. We'll see who is going to "blink" on this. Will the White House back down? (An odd description for "follow the law.") Or will Congress take the only step that will allow it access to the files that show, without any question, that VP Cheney engaged in abuses of power in tegard to the Plame scandal?

[Spazito]

33. Well, the track record, so far, is Congress doing blinking, unfortunately...

and I see no indications that will change but, always the optimist, I will be watching with great interest re the contempt of Congress hearing that is to occur this Thursday I believe. If nothing of substance happens there then nothing WILL happen and the strategy of "waiting them out" will remain the focus.

[Richard Steele]

18. HEARTILY recommended!

[Hekate]

23. Go, Neil!

:bounce:

[defendandprotect]

29. I'm hoping along with you --- and e-mailed Pelosi and quoted Abercrombie's request ---

It's the direction Pelosi should be going in ---

[McCamy Taylor]

34. Here's hoping....

[Catherine Vincent]

35. July 2, 2007 Statement of Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald

STATEMENT OF SPECIAL COUNSEL
Statement of Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald regarding today’s decision by President
Bush to commute the 30-month prison sentence of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby:

"We fully recognize that the Constitution provides that commutation decisions are a matter of presidential prerogative and we do not comment on the exercise of that prerogative. We comment only on the statement in which the President termed the sentence imposed by the judge as “excessive.” The sentence in this case was imposed pursuant to the laws governing sentencings which occur every day throughout this country. In this case, an experienced federal judge considered extensive argument from the parties and then imposed a sentence consistent with the applicable laws. It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals. That principle guided the judge during both the trial and the sentencing.

Although the President’s decision eliminates Mr. Libby’s sentence of imprisonment, Mr. Libby remains convicted by a jury of serious felonies, and we will continue to seek to preserve those convictions through the appeals process."

If what's done is done, then why is his website still open? Why isn't it closed since Libby's sentence was commuted?

[lovuian]

37. It really opens the door for his investigation to continue

just see if it does

[spanone]

36. K I C K

[Bluestar]

38. Go Bob!

I would bug my congressman, but he is a hopeless Repuke. The only issues he ever comments on are immigration and cutting taxes. He knows his constituency--that's what they want to hear about here in the OC. I do bug my senators endlessly--Boxer and Feinstein. Boxer always knows what to do best, but Feinstein is pretty hopeless.

Congratulations to you for this victory!

[madrchsod]

41. that`s all it takes....oh wait a minute

did he get nancy`s blessing or will she still run interference for bush? i`m betting the it`s still off the table

[ClassWarrior]

42. Kicking for Abercrombie & Fitz.

Geez, I'm surprised none of you jokers have gone there yet!!...

:rofl:

NGU.

[Catherine Vincent]

43. Good one!

:thumbsup:

[StClone]

44. We may get it right yet!

We talk about the saving the Constitution...Hannity wankers on imaginary Cadillac Liberals.
We talk about the costly lies Bush sold...Rush works up a lathers on John Edward's hair care.
We look for truth...O'Reilly cuts the mic on it.
We now have Neil Abercrombie...they have the ghost of Reagan.

[hootinholler]

45. One nit to pick...

Libby didn't plead, he was convicted by a jury of his 'peers'

-Hoot