Bush administration misconduct hearings: Liveblog Part 194194

By GottaLaff

Holtzman: What now? Prosecution is unrealistic. Truth commission? It will be stonewalled. So what's left? The framers gave us the remedy of impeachment, because NOONE can interfere with it. There is no executive privilege. If they don't answer, that, too, impeachable. You may not be able to finish the task, but you can start. This can only be a floor, and god help us if that's the case.

Barr: We had a nuclear clock that counted down to nuclear Armegeddon. We're facing a Constitutional Clock. Disappearing Bill of Rights. [he shows a redacted Bill of Rights left with one Right left]. It's not an impeachment inquiry, but this committee has to decide whether to conduct one later. I choose inquiry over silence.

Anderson: Pence and Presser said impeachment is limited to the impeached person exercising own personal interest over country's... that's atrocious law. [He goes on to show otherwise] Affecting public welfare is included, as well as abuses of trust, negligence of duty... And fraud by the administration (can't name names) ... lied about case for war. October NIE said there's nothing to back up aluminum tubes assertions... nothing to uranium claim, right there in the NIE. The president told us the opposite... failed to disclose dissenting opinions. That is fraud.

Pressser: Each branch needs to do its job. That's laudable. But, Rabkin is right: The real question is, did the admin. proceed in good faith. There's no evidence of other motives. Contempt hearings against Miers and Bolten shows they cooperated to a great extent. (!!!) There is no absence of good faith. They (admin.) did the best they could.

Fein: The executive has no power that we don't give it. This war is different than others because it is permanent, it never ends... terrorism. Nobody has even conceived of a benchmark that says the war is over... And others have spied, true, but that's why we have FISA. They can't say, We don't care what Congress has said. Impeachment: If you have a precedent that goes unrebuked, it will lie around like a loaded weapon. This president has claimed more power than George III. Caligula comment of earlier: We've had testimony that shows this admin.'s secrecy addresses that.

Bugliosi: Presser feels that Clinton's sex is worse than Bush's war based on lies. What logic would allow such a conclusion? Bush said, Jan. 2003, before invasion, meeting with Blair: Was so worried about inspectors that he came up with 3 ways to provoke confrontation: fly U2 s over Iraq painted with UN colors, and if he fired on them, he justifies war. So behind closed doors, he's talking provocation. Inference: If Bush believed that Husssein was an imminent threat, the main reason for war, the thought of provocation wouldn't have entered his mind. So these are murders.
[Conyers just kicked out a vocal onlooker]

Rabkin: Saying calm down won't help. So I won't.

Schwarz: If you have secrecy and lack of oversight, you get abuse, and mistakes. Also, what's unique about this admin., for the first time, they take the position that like the British monarchs, the pres. has the right to break the law if he believes it gets in the way of our national security objectives, and do it secretly. Enormously dangerous. The OLC still holds that position. Needs to be exposed and squashed and never accepted again.