Abuse of power

May 20, 2008 -- A House Judiciary Committee investigation has uncovered details of White House involvement in EPA’s regulation of ozone on the eve of a court imposed deadline, forcing EPA staff to scrap a standard supported by its independent panel and to perform “emergency rewrites” to the regulation.

Documents obtained by the Committee show that EPA staff raised serious concerns about the merits and legality of the decision.

Click here for more information and supporting documents.

Source: Oversight Committee

May 14, 2008 -- (Washington, DC) - Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA), Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, and Reps. Artur Davis (D-AL) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) sent a letter to Robert Luskin, attorney for former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, clarifying the committee's request for Rove to testify.

Last week, Luskin responded to the committee's request with a letter stating that Rove would respond to written questioning.    » read more »

May 7, 2008 -- Washington, DC - Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers issued a subpoena to David Addington, chief of staff to the vice president, compelling him to testify before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on June 26 at 10 a.m. Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John C. Yoo, who has agreed to testify voluntarily, will testify on that day as well.

The subpoena and its cover letter are below:

David Addington subpoena - page 1

David Addington subpoena - page 2    » read more »

Subcommittee Authorizes Subpoena for Addington

May 6, 2008 -- (Washington, DC)- Today, the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties heard testimony from a panel of witnesses who agreed that there is no "ticking time bomb" that justifies harsh interrogation techniques that were approved in Bush Administration legal memos.

Protest sign, Washington, D.C.: Photo by Giovanni Variottinelli (CC)    » read more »

Excerpt Attached

April 22, 2008 -- LOS ANGELES -- California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today attacked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s new fuel economy rules, calling them “a covert assault” on California’s landmark tailpipe greenhouse gas regulations.

Old car exhausts: Photo by frumbert (CC)

“This fuel economy plan, while attractive on the surface, is a shameful and unlawful assault on California’s landmark vehicle emissions standards,” Attorney General Brown said.    » read more »

April 17, 2008 -- (Washington, DC)- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Committee Members Linda Sánchez (D-CA), Artur Davis (D-AL), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) announced three critical actions in the Committee's investigation into allegations of selective or poltiically-motivated prosecution in the Justice Department.

Karl Rove protesters: Photo by Ted Swedenburg (CC)    » read more »

April 18, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC — Senator Hillary Clinton today issued the following statement on new reports of corruption in the award of a $50 million contract to provide entertainment services at Air Force functions.

“The Bush Administration has again demonstrated its total disregard for transparency and accountability and is once more turning a blind eye to fraud, corruption and abuse of the federal contracting process on the backs of taxpayers.    » read more »

Senator Urges Oversight and Accountability of Out-of-Control Contracting

April 17, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today called on the Bush Administration to move quickly to close loopholes in proposed rules that would allow federal contractors to hide fraud, waste and abuse.

Hillary Clinton: Photo by Marc Nozell (CC)

In a letter to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Senator Clinton urged quick action to protect American taxpayers from the unchecked excesses of outside contractors and vowed to introduce legislation to ensure stronger oversight and accountability for federal contractors.    » read more »

20 April 2008 -- The New York Times newspaper reports the Pentagon used military analysts working for U.S. television networks to generate favorable coverage of the war in Iraq and other issues.

The newspaper Sunday said the analysts were invited to private briefings with senior military leaders, taken on tours of Iraq and given access to classified intelligence.

Fox News gift store at Houston airport: Photo by ario_j (CC)

The Times also said viewers were not made aware that most of the analysts have ties to military contractors. Many of the analysts are retired high-ranking military officials.    » read more »

Rome Should Seek Extradition of 26 Americans in Cleric’s Abduction

(Milan, April 16, 2008) – The alleged kidnappers of an Egyptian cleric in 2003 will go on trial in Milan on April 16 in what is the first ever legal challenge to the CIA’s controversial rendition program, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch urged the newly-elected Italian government to seek the extradition of 26 American CIA agents implicated in the abduction.

CIA and Italian military intelligence personnel are believed responsible for abducting Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, who is known as Abu Omar, from a Milan street on February 17, 2003. He was then transferred to Egypt, where, Nasr claims, he was badly tortured in detention.    » read more »

April 11, 2008 -- Washington, DC -- House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) today invited several current and former Administration officials to a May 6 hearing to explore the development and legal approval of Bush administration torture policies and other potential abuses of executive power.

John Ashcroft: Photo by World Economic Forum (CC)    » read more »

April 10, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC— Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy released the following statement in response to new reports that high-ranking members in the Bush Administration authorized the use of torture in CIA interrogations.

“Today’s press reports bring yet another astonishing disclosure about the Bush administration and its use of torture.

Anti-Bush, anti-torture protester: Photo by jarnocan (CC)    » read more »

April 09, 2008 -- Oversight Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman today issued a subpoena to compel EPA to provide unredacted copies of documents involving the White House that have been improperly withheld from the Committee regarding EPA’s decision to reject California’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles.

Tailpipe emissions: Photo by Simone Ramella (CC)

The subpoena compels production of approximately 100 EPA documents involving the White House. Chairman Waxman released the following statement:    » read more »

April 8, 2008 -- (Washington, DC)- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) announced plans to hold a May 6 hearing to examine a recently released torture memo and the issue of executive power as it relates to interrogation and war-making authority. Conyers also sent a letter today to University of California - Berkeley professor John Yoo asking him to testify at the hearing.

Yoo is the former attorney in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel who authored the recently released memo seeking to clarify torture procedures and detailing the administration's extremely broad view of presidential powers during wartime.    » read more »

Garbage In – Garbage Out: Politically Driven Assumptions Lead to Misleading Results

WASHINGTON (March 14, 2008) -- EPA’s just-released analysis of Senate Bill S. 2191 (“Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2008”) hides the key conclusions of its own experts, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).    » read more »