Abuse of power

June 29, 2007 -- Today, House and Senate Judiciary Chairmen John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) sent a letter to White House Counsel Fred Fielding, responding to the president's executive privilege assertion over documents relating to the US Attorney investigation. The two reiterated their concern that the president's assertion was unprecedented and over-reaching.    » read more »

6/28/2007 -- House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) Released the Following Statement in Response to the President's Assertion of Executive Privilege in Response to the Committee's June 13 Subpoena for Documents:

"The president's response to our subpoena shows an appalling disregard for the right of the people to know what is going on in their government.

The executive privilege assertion is unprecedented in its breadth and scope, and even includes documents that the administration previously offered to provide as part of their 'take it or leave it' proposal.    » read more »

June 28, 2007 -- MR. FRATTO: This is Tony Fratto, Deputy Press Secretary at the White House. This is, as the operator said, a senior administration official call. So that's your sourcing. I'll turn the phone over to my colleague. He'll make some opening remarks, and then we will open it up to questions.    » read more »

WASHINGTON (Wednesday, June 27) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), in consultation with Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), issued subpoenas Wednesday for documents relating to the authorization and legal justification for the Administration's warrantless wiretapping program.    » read more »

June 28, 2007 -- On Thursday, June 28, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing entitled “Waste, Fraud, and Abuse at K-Town: How Mismanagement Has Derailed DOD’s Largest Single Facility Construction Project.”

The hearing will review the preliminary findings of a Government Accountability Office investigation into the construction of the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center, a hotel and retail facility being built on the grounds of the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.    » read more »

June 27, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC — Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), and Oversight and Government Reform Information Policy Subcommittee Chairman Wm. Lacy Clay (D-MO) today called upon Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to explain his role in the Vice President’s extraordinary attempt to remove his office from executive branch oversight and the subsequent refusal to comply with procedures to protect classified information in the Office of the Vice President (OVP).    » read more »

June 26, 2007 -- Contrary to the recent claims of White House spokesperson Dana Perino, there is evidence that the White House has repeatedly failed to investigate security violations, take corrective action following breaches, and appropriately protect classified information.

In a letter to White House Counsel Fred Fielding, Chairman Waxman describes evidence that:    » read more »

June 26, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC - Editorial boards around the country are echoing the sentiments of the American people—they've had enough of the culture of corruption and lawlessness promoted by the Bush-Cheney White House. Vice President Cheney's most recent assertion that his office is not a part of the executive branch in order to skirt archiving regulations is only the latest example of the Republican Administration manipulating the law and our government to put partisan and ideological goals above the best interests of the American people.    » read more »

27 June 2007 -- A U.S. judge has sentenced a former high ranking Bush administration official, J. Steven Griles, to 10 months in prison for lying to Congress about his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The district judge, Ellen Segal Huvelle in Washington Tuesday ordered J. Steven Griles to pay a $30,000 fine and serve three years of probation following his release from prison. She said Griles had refused to take responsibility for his actions and had attempted to excuse his conduct.    » read more »

26 June 2007 -- The Central Intelligence Agency released hundreds of pages of documents Tuesday about past agency abuses that sparked outrage and investigations in the 1970s. The documents contain no startling new revelations. But they paint a more detailed portrait of an agency under siege for some of its activities at home and abroad.

The documents, known collectively as the family jewels, detail plots by the CIA and other agencies to assassinate Fidel Castro and engage in domestic intelligence activities.    » read more »

June 21, 2007 -- The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office from the presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures for safeguarding classified national security information. The Vice President asserts that his office is not an “entity within the executive branch.”    » read more »

June 22, 2007 -- An article in today’s Washington Post sheds new light on Republican efforts to politicize the Bush Justice Department by weeding out employees who were not considered loyal Republican foot soldiers. The article highlights the role of Acting Assistant Attorney General Brad Schlozman in the politically motivated hirings and firings in the civil rights division of the Justice Department. The civil rights division of the Justice Department is responsible for fighting racial discrimination.    » read more »

June 22, 2007 -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement today following news that Vice President Cheney, over the objections of the National Archives, exempted his office from a presidential order establishing a standard procedure for safeguarding classified national security information:

“Once again, Dick Cheney and the Bush White House think the rules don’t apply to them. There seems to be no limit to the lengths the Bush Administration will go to hide from public scrutiny.    » read more »

June 19, 2007 -- The Bush Administration's culture of lawlessness is alive and thriving. As the Washington Post today writes, “President Bush has asserted that he is not necessarily bound by the bills he signs into law,” and a recent report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found "multiple examples in which the administration has not complied with the requirements of the new statutes."    » read more »

Kennedy, Whitehouse Ask Whether Justice Officials Knew Former Rove Aide Allegedly Engaged in Illegal “Vote Caging” Before Naming Him Interim U.S. Attorney

June 18, 2007 - Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) today called for a Justice Department investigation into allegations of illegal voter suppression tactics by Republican political operatives, including former Karl Rove aide Tim Griffin, during the 2004 elections. Griffin is now serving as interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.    » read more »