Posted on 05/13/2005 4:59:18 AM PDT by OXENinFLA
Minority Leader Harry Reid strayed from his prepared remarks on the Senate floor yesterday and promised to continue opposing one of President Bush's judicial nominees based on "a problem" he said is in the nominee's "confidential report from the FBI."
Those highly confidential reports are filed on all judicial nominees, and severe sanctions apply to anyone who discloses their contents. Less clear is whether a senator could face sanctions for characterizing the content of such files.
"Henry Saad would have been filibustered anyway," Mr. Reid said on the floor yesterday, about the Michigan Appeals Court judge who is nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.
"All you need to do is have a member go upstairs and look at his confidential report from the FBI, and I think we would all agree that there is a problem there," Mr. Reid continued.
Republican staff members and supporters of Mr. Bush's nominees were outraged.
"Can you think of a better way to trash someone's reputation?" Sean Rushton of the conservative Committee for Justice asked after seeing a transcript of the remarks. "Say that there is bad stuff from an FBI investigation in a file somewhere and leave that hanging. This is character assassination of the lowest order and completely improper."
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
ABSOLUTELY!El Rushbo will be all over this like"White On Rice"!!
yeah , me also , Cisneros will do the Webb , but good S**T will splash on Sir Edmund Hillary Clinton
Reid's membership in the Mormon Church is in contradiction to his actions as a Senator. Both bodies deserve better than Reid delivers.
Thanks!
I went to C-span2 & all I saw was Jeffords. Thanks for the help.
" Reid should be censured for doing this."
You've got to be kidding. The country club republicans won't do anything...perhaps buy their Senate buddies another round of drinks.
"Dingy Harry"(whom El Rushbo has frequently said resembles an Undertaker),has dug a DOOZY for himself!It's time for The Majority to roll him in!!
I'm certain that after El Rushbo puts the boots to "Dingy Harry",we'll hear The Rats caterwauling for the re-instatement of"The Fairness Doctrine"!!
"Harry Reid is a disgrace to the Senate and to [his] Church of Latter-day Saints," said Manuel Miranda, who was forced to resign as a Republican Senate staffer after downloading files on judicial nominees from Democratic computer servers.
you're welcome
As I recall back in the 90s when the Dems (either Kennedy or that old marxist from Ohio -- can't recall his name now) released Clarence Thomas' FBI file to Nina Totenburg of National Public Radio. The distinction is the so-called "raw file" and any files created as a result of a formal FBI investigation.
A raw file is background information gathered via interviews with people who have known or worked with an individual. It could be anyone from your boss, co-workers, neighbors, old lovers, a high school teacher to the guy you beat up in 3rd grade. None of the information contained in a raw file is varified or placed in context unless the FBI feels that some charge or information gained requires further investigation. The raw file is really nothing but hear-say and is never released. Any follow up investigation (if there is one) becomes an official file that the target does have a right to see.
At least that is my memory of the explanation when Clarence Thomas' raw file was flashed all over the news because dirty Rat tricks.
My guess is that the people who are entitled to see the confidential material are blabbing the nature of its contents. It is also possible that peeking beyond the authorized distribution is going on.
I wonder what the formal protocol is. Are the reports marked "Secret" and tracked as to delivery and who obtains them? If so, what exactly is the legal duty to maintain confidentiality? If some Senators are breaking the law, will there be a prosecution? If not, why not?
According to this report, in the past the remedy for breaching confidentiality was withholding of future information disclosures.
FBI background reports -- even descriptions of FBI background reports -- are supposed to be confidential. In the early 1990s, the Judiciary Committee agreed to severely limit access to FBI background checks after the first President Bush, angry at leaks during the Clarence Thomas confirmation fight, refused to give FBI information to the Senate. Since then, the reports have been made available only to members of the Judiciary Committee and a nominee's home-state senators, who in the case of Saad are Levin and Stabenow.
Guess what.........REID is NOT on that committee!!!!
He had NO business even reading that file, much less commenting publicly on it.
It was a presser, so I'm hoping that C-span will archive it so we can watch it later....
So Reid might have been looking at a raw file? That's even MORE horrifying to me. Maybe the FBI needs to look at old Harry?
That's a fact. Last time the Judicary Committe breached its agreement to maintain confidentiality, President GH Bush refused to further confidential information. That seems to be the practical extent of the remedy/penalty.
Same stuff, different day. I expect nothing to come of this but minor embarassment to Reid.
No I missed that.
Is it just postponed due to her cancer?
Whoa, whoa, wait a minute! Levin and Stabenow get to look at the files!?! They've been pitching a b*tch about this guy for awhile, haven't they? JMO, but there's the leak!
Harry Reid is a morman? Hmm ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.