CBS News: source says O'Keefe was trying to catch Landrieu talking negatively about her constituents

[sabra]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/26/national/main6143826.shtml

<snip>

A source tells CBS News that the aim was apparently to try to catch Sen. Landrieu talking negatively about her constituents.

A federal law enforcement official said one of the suspects was picked up in a car a couple of blocks away with a listening device that could pick up transmissions. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not part of an FBI affidavit that described the circumstances of the case.

[KittyWampus]

1. a source? what source? who would know? breitbart?

[HipChick]

9. DeepThroat?..

what is a trusted source that is anonymous?..

[timeforpeace]

34. Maybe the FBI was bugging her already and that's how they picked up their transmissions.

[lame54]

36. Don't you mean Tea-Bag

[Renew Deal]

2. I doubt that's all they were after.

[Jennicut]

3. Sure...that was all they were listening for. They were listening for

info on bribes or money going in the wrong places. They needed a reason to bug her office then just...my state and the people in it suck.

[H2O Man]

4. Exactly

right.

[dmr]

41. That, & maybe a plan to set Landrieu up for extortion or blackmail.

Who knows who they'd have call her, but the conversation could be set up to embarrass her, or somehow trap her.

As we've seen with Acorn, O'Keefe slices and dices his videos to fulfill his agendas, so I can see him slicing and dicing a Landrieu phone conversation(s) for either extortion or blackmail.

[itsrobert]

51. It doesn't matter what their "excuse" is, the fact is it's a crime

with severe consequences any way you look at it.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

6. They were listening for anything and everything.

I'm sure that was on the shopping list along with a host of other things.

[TexasObserver]

7. Tapes would only be useful if there was no need to authenticate them.

They never expected to use them and say "we bugged her office and this is what we got." They would simply wait until they picked up something useful, plaster it on youtube and other places, and insinuate it into national media that way. No need for anyone to prove anything, other than the sound of Landreiu's voice.

But they were looking for criminal activity, IMO, specifically anything that would help them keep Flanagan's father in office, help Vitter keep Letten as the Eastern District US Attorney, and find some suggestion of illegal horse trading going on in Landrieu's office.

Their purpose was illegal, and it was designed to subvert democratically supported process. These guys are goons who are so disconnected from the reality of their constitutional governance that they think their devotion to their politics is what the country is really about.

IMO, this is a very serious crime that likely involves a dozen people or more, and should be vigorously investigated and pursued.

[gkhouston]

11. Yeah, I think there will be some criminal conspiracy charges forthcoming.

It will be interesting to see if this is confined to Louisiana or if there are national ties.

[Blue_Tires]

12. and if there was nothing useful to pick up, you know the

pranksters would simply call the phone themselves under the guise of a donor or lobbyist and just bait the hook...maybe that was their plan from the start...

[yellowcanine]

17. Yep. This was attempted entrapment. It is their MO after all. Make a bogus call and get

everything on tape. Then selectively edit the tape and put the most damaging parts up on the web. Try to create enough smoke to bring down a U.S. Senator. That was the plan. I have no doubt.

[TexasObserver]

20. Given their history, it's likely they would have tried such dirty tricks.

They'd rely upon the common courtesy of such offices to make them look bad.

"Yeah, I spoke to Senator Landrieu at a fundraiser, and she said to call her up, that we could do some business." Imagine the office worker dutifully saying "can I take your number for the senator to call you back?" Imagine how that makes the worker and the senator look, even though there's nothing to it.

[maddezmom]

14. wondering if the reason why O'Keefe was recording them on his phone was to blackmail her

at a later date???

[Blue_Tires]

23. he needed that as proof that they were actually in her office

to show how they tapped the phones and verify that the voice is the senator's...

I think blackmail is worthless to them -- it's clear that this assclown has some very deep, powerful, undocumented bank accounts behind him, and money is no issue... The mission here is entrapment, scandal, public humiliation and resignation...

[TexasObserver]

26. He might have wanted to exert pressure upon the office worker later.

Or, he may have wanted to document it for his superiors. I don't think these four guys dreamed up this operation. They look like soldiers to me.

Who benefits?

Vitter and the Louisiana GOP don't want to lose their 9 year hold on the federal prosecutors for the state. Vitter is holding up the appointment of Landrieu's choice for the Western district to try to force the president and Landrieu to keep the GOP holdover for the Eastern district US attorney. Flanagan is the guy who will lose the US attorney's office if Landrieu's choice becomes US attorney.

I believe Flanagan's son was likely targeted for this job and recruited by some of the others. He likely helped with access, getting past guards and such. He helps inoculate them against fierce prosecution. These guys were out of jail faster than most charged with DUI, and with less hassle about bail.

There's brains and political savvy involved here that goes far beyond the range of four guys in their early 20s, IMO. I believe there are at least a dozen people involved, with the others all being older men who work the GOP dirty tricks.

[arcadian]

18. No way. They were planning to use anything they could get against Landrieu politically

Not for some youtube circus show. These people have handlers high up in the GOP.

[TexasObserver]

27. You've completely mischaracterized what I've said.

My posts on this topic have made very clear that there is GOP effort to control both federal prosecutors for the state, to stop the appointment of the Democrats for such posts, and that these 4 perps are tied into the GOP dirty tricksters of long standing.

I spoke of youtube as a method they might use to mainstream their tapes, once they had them. Your response is a weak straw man that you fabricated. That they might use youtube to get the tapes onto major media is apparently over your head.

Since you can't be honest in your responses, I'll repeat my post in its entirety below, so you can have a second chance at understanding what it really said:

They never expected to use them and say "we bugged her office and this is what we got." They would simply wait until they picked up something useful, plaster it on youtube and other places, and insinuate it into national media that way. No need for anyone to prove anything, other than the sound of Landreiu's voice.

But they were looking for criminal activity, IMO, specifically anything that would help them keep Flanagan's father in office, help Vitter keep Letten as the Eastern District US Attorney, and find some suggestion of illegal horse trading going on in Landrieu's office.

Their purpose was illegal, and it was designed to subvert democratically supported process. These guys are goons who are so disconnected from the reality of their constitutional governance that they think their devotion to their politics is what the country is really about.

IMO, this is a very serious crime that likely involves a dozen people or more, and should be vigorously investigated and pursued.

[arcadian]

44. "Since you can't be honest in your responses"

Yeah what ever buddy, all you had to say was "you misunderstood what I was saying". Thanks a lot.

[cascadiance]

8. Catch her talking negatively about Corporations? Now we wouldn't want that would we!

[yellowcanine]

10. "It was poor judgment," Robert Flanagan's lawyer, Garrison Jordan, said

in a brief interview outside the courthouse. "I don't think there was any intent or motive to commit a crime."


Sorry buddy, I doubt that a "boys will be boys" defense is going to work here. Everyone here is an adult. And the son of a Federal prosecutor of all people, should have some notion that attempting to bug a Federal building goes way beyond "prank". This is attempted political espionage directed against a sitting United States Senator. That is a serious crime and they have your guy dead to rights. Better try to get him to spill his guts on the big fish here and get a plea bargain.

[Fleshdancer]

16. When is committing a felony NOT poor judgment??

and he thinks there wasn't any intent or motive to commit a crime? :rofl:

[jsamuel]

29. "I don't think there was any intent or motive to commit a crime."

What they were doing was specifically a crime. So he is suggesting that they wiretapped her by accident?

[Lex]

31. I know. That's a laughable statement by him, isn't it?

Oh so stupid.

[yellowcanine]

33. Maybe he is going to suggest they thought they actually WERE telephone repairmen.

It might be the best argument he has.

[Fleshdancer]

13. and how heavily edited would the audio be I wonder?

Do we know if this was their first time attempting to do this?

[arcadian]

15. How did they know about Stan Dai in a car several blocks away?

Something doesn't add up.

[yellowcanine]

21. The FBI probably picked up an electronic signal. These idiots brought knives to a tank battle.

They were in way over their heads. It's a FEDERAL building. You don't just sit on the street near a Federal building with an electronic listening device that you bought at Radio Shack and nobody is going to find out about it.

[alcibiades_mystery]

25. One of the imbeciles probably told them about Dai

Occam's Razor here.

[Gin]

35. I agree.....I read there was no mention of equipment in the

FBI arrest report....but there had to be some equipment for a receiver to pick up sounds...so..who told them another person was a few blocks away?...and if he was able to hear of their arrest while it was going down...why didn't he get out?

[NYC_SKP]

19. Their cocktail napkin subpoena was unspecific; they would use anything they could get.

This "news" story is a clever way, deliberate or not, to suggest that she DOES talk negatively about her constituents.

I'm sure many have already concluded that... get ready...

"Mary Landrieu bad-mouths her constituents, like all the time!"

That's going to be the news.

Or, more specifically, in news speak: "Does Mary Landrieu bad-mouth Louisianans?"

That's how they roll.

[blondeatlast]

22. They really are that predictable, and the media is really that willing to

eat it up.

[Dappleganger]

24. Since Faux News never checks its sources...

this was set to be February's headlines.

[daa]

28. O'Liar probably sent him

but now he is going to get a lesson in criminal justice and find out what a convicted felon is. He can send us some prison videos.

[lpbk2713]

30. "Some say ... "

Bear in mind CBS is the network of Katie Couric.

[peacetalksforall]

32. Here's hoping that the boys who back them with the bucks also go to court.

[Gold Metal Flake]

37. The cover story.

Sounds harmless...

[nashville_brook]

38. so, it was a WIRETAP -- that's the news here.

the RW echo chamber has been floating the meme all day, that it wasn't a wiretap.

[Johonny]

39. Even arrested you still get to smear someone

So the story will be "Landrieu talking negatively about her constituents." I get it.

[Ganja Ninja]

40. I'm less concerned about what they were listening for and more concerned ..

about who they were working for. Lets not let the right wing media frame this the way they want to. Who cares what they were trying to hear? They were breaking the law and with all their connections there has to be others involved. This is a conspiracy of more than 4 people for sure.

[maddezmom]

42. and another version: to see whether the office had done something to the phones to make it hard for

The O'Keefe Plot Thickens
27 Jan 2010 12:53 pm

Conservatives defending O'Keefe's actions in Landrieu's office are saying that he wasn't trying to wiretap the phones, but rather to see whether the office had done something to the phones to make it hard for constituents to call her to complain about health care.

It has the ring of possibility, for two reasons:


■Otherwise, O'Keefe was taping himself participating in a felony
■How likely is it that these kids knew how to tap a phone system?
On the other hand, it's not impossible that they did know how to tap a phone system--they're not the most complicated pieces of equipment in the universe. And if O'Keefe is willing to risk filming himself participating in something that I'm pretty sure is illegal--impersonating phone company personnel to get into the senator's phone cabinet--then it's not necessarily a huge step to think he's dumb enough to film himself committing a felony.

I presume we'll know soon enough, since they didn't do whatever it is they were planning to do. If that was bugging the phone system, then presumably the FBI caught them with the sort of equipment you can use to bug a phone system.

more:http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2010/01/the_okeefe_plot_thickens.php


not buying this one either.

[blueworld]

43. And how would a mobile listening device tell him that?

If callers couldn't get through, he could tell that from his end without filming & impersonating, I think.

The lawyers must be floating alternate scenarios hoping to turn this from a felony into something less serious.

Rachel Maddow didn't need impersonators, buggers & filmers to discover that a particular VA telephone number was only staffed 3 days per week & the Vets couldn't ever get through!

[TexasObserver]

45. They're starting to float story lines to see which ones work.

The friends of the perps will put out a variety of stories - possible explanations - which will then be tested in media to see which ones sell. They'll come up with several different explanations, all designed to suggest this is no big deal, not really a crime, just some youthful exuberance gone wild.

[izzybeans]

46. Sounds like "sources" should be getting a call from the FBI

[glinda]

47. HERESAY! Evidence thrown out! I object!

[ljm2002]

48. What horseshit...

...someone is trying to limit the damage from this caper.

I hope it doesn't work.

[gratuitous]

49. Uh huh, sure

If O'Keefe, nonpartisan, straight-down-the-middle kind of guy that he is, wanted to hear an elected official talking smack about the voters who might or might not put him in office, he could just listen to Andre Bauer in South Carolina liken his constituents to stray animals.

The CBS story sounds like bullshit to me.

[mzmolly]

50. Again, BULLcrap. He wouldn't have been able to share this kind of

info were it true.

[spanone]

52. i don't think it matters if he was trying to steal a recipe....