The Indictment

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Posted at September 28, 2005 11:12 AM in response to Full Speed Ahead on DeLay

He is steping down

Drier is replacement. Rumored to be gay

Sorry but the link is Drudge

Posted at September 28, 2005 10:23 AM in response to Full Speed Ahead on DeLay

Delay's Statement

Statement from the Office of the Majority Leader

(WASHINGTON) - Kevin Madden, spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (TX) today released the following statement regarding today's announcement by the Travis County (TX) District Attorney's Office:

"These charges have no basis in the facts or the law. This is just another example of Ronnie Earle misusing his office for partisan vendettas. Despite the clearly political agenda of this prosecutor, Congressman DeLay has cooperated with officials throughout the entire process. Even in the last two weeks, Ronnie Earle himself had acknowledged publicly that Mr. DeLay was not a target of his investigation. However, as with many of Ronnie Earle's previous partisan investigations, Ronnie Earle refused to let the facts or the law get in the way of his partisan desire to indict a political foe.

This purely political investigation has been marked by illegal grand jury leaks, a fundraising speech by Ronnie Earle for Texas Democrats that inappropriately focused on the investigation, misuse of his office for partisan purposes, and extortion of money for Earle's pet projects from corporations in exchange for dismissing indictments he brought against them. Ronnie Earle's previous misuse of his office has resulted in failed prosecutions and we trust his partisan grandstanding will strike out again, as it should.

Ronnie Earle's 1994 indictment against Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison was quickly dismissed and his charges in the 1980s against former Attorney General Jim Mattox-another political foe of Earle-fell apart at trial.

We regret the people of Texas will once again have their taxpayer dollars wasted on Ronnie Earle's pursuit of headlines and political paybacks. Ronnie Earle began this investigation in 2002, after the Democrat Party lost the Texas state legislature to Republicans. For three years and through numerous grand juries, Ronnie Earle has tried to manufacture charges against Republicans involved in winning those elections using arcane statutes never before utilized in a case in the state. This indictment is nothing more than prosecutorial retribution by a partisan Democrat."

Posted at September 28, 2005 10:08 AM in response to Full Speed Ahead on DeLay

Links

AP

A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, an indictment that could force him to step down as House majority leader.

DeLay attorney Steve Brittain said DeLay was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay's national political committee.

The indictment against the second-ranking, and most assertive Republican leader came on the final day of the grand jury's term. It followed earlier indictments of a state political action committee founded by DeLay and three of his political associates.



MSNBC

A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, an indictment that could force him to step down as House majority leader.

"It's a skunky indictment if they have one," DeLay attorney Bill White told reporters before the indictment. "Like a dead skunk in the middle of the road. It stinks to high heaven."

House GOP rules require any member of the elected leadership to step down temporarily if indicted,..

Posted at September 28, 2005 9:56 AM in response to Full Speed Ahead on DeLay

Sorry that's Roll Call not The Hill

Posted at September 17, 2005 5:59 AM in response to Terms of Surrender

The Hill also has an article on SS.

The link is to a Daily Kos diary ( The Hill is subscription only )

A couple of exerpts, more at the link.

"Reynolds told Thomas that he would recommend to the leaders that we not proceed with Social Security this year because it did not appear there was any chance it would be passed into law by the Senate, and we'd be forcing our vulnerables to walk to the plank for nothing," said a source familiar with Reynolds' comments

Reynolds strong desire to abandon Social Security reform is reflective of widespread nervousness among GOP campaign strategists about how the issue will play out next November.

Posted at September 15, 2005 4:14 PM in response to Terms of Surrender

emptywheel,

Do you thinl Fitzgerald is going after the Niger forgeries?

Polly

Posted at July 28, 2005 4:16 PM in response to Hastert to Can Patrick Fitzgerald?

Sara,

Very nice job. I think you have it right here, the news accounts back up this theory.

I have a question you may be able to answer. Why would the White House Iraqi Group be seeking to discredit Wilson as early as March? Why were they worried about Wilson?

His op-ed didn't appear until July 2003, was he talking to reporters off the record earier?

Posted at July 10, 2005 8:18 PM in response to The Frogman Cometh?

I ust ran across this in the DKos comments. Credit to cici414

from FindLaw

According to the law in question, identifying the person by name is not required.  The law specifically states that anyone who intentionally "discloses any information identifying such covert agent" may be guilty.  

Rove would not have had to utter the words "Valerie Plame" to be guilty....but there is a series of other criteria that must be met for Rove to be considered guilty of breaking this law.

Posted at July 10, 2005 11:17 AM in response to The Frogman Cometh?

I was hoping for more as well, but after Rich in NJ sent me over to Talkleft I am encouraged that this investagation is heading somewhere.

Talkleft

Is it possible that Fitzgerald wants Cooper to tell what he and Rove talked about not to get Rove, but because that conversation may make a case against Libby and possibly others?

The facts are presented in chronological order using newspaper accounts and legal documents from Fitzgerald. It is incredibly well sourced.

There is a lot of material there, but the final points made at talkleft make sense and the facts seem to back it up.

Talkleft

In my view, this is much bigger than a simple perjury rap. It's about conspiracy to obstruct justice. I think the case is strongest against Lewis Libby and other members of Cheney's staff, possibly including Cheney - but it may also be strong against all members of the White House Iraq Group, and Karl Rove attended many of those meetings. So he's not off the hook.

You'll feel better, I did.

Posted at July 10, 2005 1:15 AM in response to The Frogman Cometh?