Free Republic

The Senate on Tuesday is expected to attempt unanimous-approval votes of President-elect Obama’s Cabinet nominees, but it is uncertain who will be cleared by the upper chamber on Inauguration Day. Senate Democratic leaders have circulated a unanimous consent request for 15 nominations at various departments, from Secretary of State nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton to United Nations Ambassador nominee Susan Rice. A senior Democratic aide cautions that leaders are uncertain how many will actually win unanimous approval, and that any roll-call votes that are necessary would be held on Wednesday. The 15 names also include Attorney General nominee Eric Holder, Agriculture...

Was Eric Holder complicit in a political coverup during the Clinton Administration? http://www.slate.com/id/1083/ Excerpt: On Dec. 21, 1994, Lamberth dismissed the suit against the government, but he asked U.S. Attorney Eric Holder (now deputy attorney general) to investigate whether Magaziner should be held in criminal contempt for supplying false information in his affidavit, filed March 3, 1993. The investigation turned on a single sentence in which Magaziner states, "Only federal government employees serve as members of the interdepartmental working group." Lamberth insisted that this sentence contradicted indisputable evidence that private citizens attended the working groups, and that some of them...

Bill Gertz, defense and national security reporter for The Washington Times, argues that high-level bureaucrats in the State Department, White House, Pentagon, and CIA have repeatedly undermined the Bush administration's national security policies. Mr. Gertz says that these unelected officials - liberals from both political parties - have pursued their own agendas towards countries like Iran, China, North Korea, and Iraq and have weakened U.S. security as a result. Mr. Gertz discusses his book with Frank Gaffney, president and CEO of the Center for Security Policy.

Here is video of Attorney General Nominee Eric Holder responding to questions today from Sen. Arlen Specter about Holder's involvement in the notorious Mark Rich pardon that was granted by President Bill Clinton in the final hours of the Clinton Presidency. Holder worked in the Clinton Justice Department as Deputy Attorney General, and was involved in recommending the Rich Pardon. . . . . . (watch video)

From the fourteenth century to the present day, the land of Kosovo and Metohija has been, and will always remain, the spiritual heartland of the Serbian Orthodox nation. Sanctified by a multitude of monasteries and churches as well as by the blood of martyrs, the holy land of Kosovo occupies a place of honor and reverence within the souls of all believing Serbs. After the sack of Constantinople by Crusaders in 1204, the province of Kosovo became the center of the Serbian Nemanjic state. Tsar Dusan was crowned in Kosovo in 1331, and he, King Stephen of Decani and King...

Barack Obama's choice of Leon Panetta, the former congressman who went on to serve as chief of staff for President Clinton, to head the Central Intelligence Agency has members of the intelligence community scratching their heads. To defenders of the choice, Panetta's reputation as a competent manager and loyalty to Obama may help to shake up the agency and keep it from undermining the White House. But several ex-CIA officials contacted by TAS greeted the pick with trepidation.

Barack Obama will mark a radical break in American foreign policy this week by unveiling a team of diplomats tasked with ushering in a new era of dialogue with enemies abroad. As Hillary Clinton prepares for Senate confirmation hearings this week, she will head a group of advisers who are virtual opposites to the appointees made by President George W Bush. While Bush favoured aggressive neoconservative ideologues, Obama has selected people whose doveish credentials seem impeccable. They will be responsible for reversing the political unilateralism of the Bush years and opening direct negotiations with hostile states, potentially ranging from Syria...

A former top Clinton White House lawyer is in line to be nominated by Barack Obama to head the Justice Department office in charge of all federal criminal investigations, according to three transition sources. Lanny A. Breuer, who played a key role in defending Bill Clinton during impeachment and related criminal and congressional probes during the 1990s, is slated to be nominated to assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal division, said the sources, all of whom asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. One of the sources said a public announcement of the...

When you’re selling something really expensive and not very palatable, it’s best to choose the words in your sales pitch carefully. At least that seems to be the wisdom revealed in a Bloomberg report today that says Team Obama has been polling to choose the phrases it — and Congress— should use to promote the humongous economic stimulus package they are working on. Bad: recession. Good: recovery. Bad: infrastructure. Good: investment. David Axelrod and campaign adviser Jim Margolis are behind the effort. But Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said the polling won’t shape what goes in the plan, just how it...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Robert Rubin, the former Treasury Secretary, resigned from Citigroup Inc on Friday, following months of criticism of his performance at the giant U.S. bank. Rubin, 70, is stepping down immediately as senior counselor at New York-based Citigroup. He will remain a director until the bank's annual meeting later this year. Rubin joined Citigroup in 1999. In a letter to Chief Executive Vikram Pandit, Rubin praised management for making the "tough decisions" to restore Citigroup to health, following $20.3 billion of losses in the year ended Sept 30. But he admitted to not having foreseen the credit...

Robert Rubin, the former Treasury secretary who has been sharply criticized over his role in the financial turmoil at Citigroup Inc., plans to leave the bank and has submitted a letter of resignation, according to a person familiar with the situation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday named four former Clinton administration officials to top defense positions, including former Pentagon comptroller William Lynn as deputy defense secretary. The four officials will form a senior policy team under Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has agreed to stay on as Pentagon chief in the Obama administration. ... "I am confident that these distinguished individuals have the expertise and commitment needed to help me implement a sustainable national security strategy," Obama said in a statement.

On January 5, the nation's new media learned that President-elect Barack Obama would nominate former congressman and Clinton administration official Leon Panetta as the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Obama's choice reportedly caught some veteran Democratic senators who had not been briefed of the decision off-guard, and some voiced their skepticism that that Bill Clinton's former chief of staff and director of the Office of Management and Budget possessed sufficient experience in the intelligence field to handle the job. The New York Times reported on January 7: "Mr. Panetta's lack of experience had drawn the sharpest criticism on...

07 Jan 2009 Transition officials confirm that President-elect Obama has asked Dennis Ross, Richard Haass, and Richard Holbrooke, to serve as his chief emissaries to world hot spots. It's expected that Ross will get the Iran portfolio, that Holbrooke, the hard-headed architect of the Dayton Peace Accords, will take the tough (and tougher) Southwest Asia portfolio, which includes India, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that Haass will deal with the Middle East.

Guess who thinks Leon Panetta will be just perfect at CIA? Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, Lake's deputy before becoming national security adviser himself, said that Panetta "was part of the decision-making process for every single issue we were dealing with, whether this was in the Oval Office with the president or the Cabinet Room — the Middle East, Kosovo, China. He was a part of a small group of people who advised the president how to proceed on strategy and substance." Yes, that Sandy Berger. Former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger was sentenced Thursday to community service and probation and...

In filling four senior Justice Department positions Monday, President-elect Barack Obama signaled that he intends to roll back Bush administration counterterrorism policies authorizing harsh interrogation techniques, warrantless spying and indefinite detentions of terrorism suspects. The most startling shift was Obama's pick of Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen to take charge of the Office of Legal Counsel, the unit that's churned out the legal opinions that provided a foundation for expanding President George W. Bush's national security powers. Johnsen, who spent five years in the Office of Legal Counsel during the Clinton administration and served as its acting chief, has...

Wow. Today is just one big, bad joke. Al Franken. Roland Burris. Bill Richardson. Now this: Leon Panetta will head Obama’s CIA. Another day, another clueless Clinton crony named to a top job for which he has no experience. The unqualified fish rots from the head down, after all. Via NYT. Damned scary: President-elect Barack Obama has selected Leon E. Panetta, the former congressman and White House chief of staff, to take over the Central Intelligence Agency, an organization that Mr. Obama criticized during the campaign for using interrogation methods he decried as torture, Democratic officials said Monday. Mr. Panetta...

Banner only

Former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe said on Saturday he intends to run for governor of Virginia. After months of speculation over his plans, McAuliffe announced his intentions in a video posted on his Web site. In the video, McAuliffe said he will make his intention to run official on Wednesday as part of a week-long campaign kickoff. The stops include town hall meetings in Hampton Roads, Bristol, Richmond and others, where McAuliffe will unveil plans for job creation, education and renewable energy. "Over the coming months we will travel to every corner of the commonwealth to ask all...

California's intellectual pipeline to the White House is again open wide and flowing, as the Golden State will have key advocates bending President-elect Barack Obama's ear on its behalf. Naturally, the nation's most populous and electorally rich state (which is also rich with campaign contributors) would have a great deal of influence. But the Democratic stronghold mattered less to the Bush administration. As Chris Lehane, a former Clinton administration official and San Francisco political consultant, said: "Before, the door was slammed in our face. Now, the welcome mat is out. The access issue is a big deal." "You have an...