Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ex-senator questions Fitzgerald's case [Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn.........]
Yahoo ^

Posted on 02/13/2007 9:00:51 AM PST by Sub-Driver

Ex-senator questions Fitzgerald's case

14 minutes ago

Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., went on the attack Tuesday against Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, saying the prosecutor had to have known from the start that it was not a crime to disclose Valerie Plame's CIA identity.

A fundraiser for the defense of I. Lewis Libby, Thompson depicted Fitzgerald as out of control, telling ABC News there was "no brake and no check and no balance" on the prosecutor.

Thompson's objections are the same ones Democratic politicians made in the 1990s about independent counsel Kenneth Starr, who spent six years investigating President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In the same fashion, Republicans complained about the six-year investigation of independent counsel Lawrence Walsh into the Iran-Contra scandal of the Reagan years and the first Bush administration.

While he was a senator, Thompson urged Attorney General Janet Reno to seek an independent counsel to look into the fundraising scandal surrounding the 1996 presidential election and he was disappointed when she refused to do so. Congress eventually allowed the independent counsel statute to expire.

"When you put too much power in the hands of unelected, unaccountable people who have every incentive to focus massive resources onto one particular person — who gets the plaudits in the media for doing so — it's a bad thing," Thompson told ABC.

Unlike Starr, who was appointed by a panel of federal appeals court judges, Fitzgerald's Justice Department superiors appointed him to look into the CIA leak scandal. He has continued his duties as U.S. attorney in Chicago while investigating the Valerie Plame affair.

"Nobody's been charged with outing" Plame, Thompson told ABC. "The Justice Department knew that early on. The CIA should have known that early on.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cialeak; fredthompson; thompson2008
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last
To: Sub-Driver

Go Fred! from a fellow Tennessean!


41 posted on 02/13/2007 9:48:44 AM PST by Plateau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: aculeus

It's the "Seinfeld" of trials, a trial about nothing.


42 posted on 02/13/2007 9:49:12 AM PST by dfwgator (The University of Florida - Championship U)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

not bad!!


43 posted on 02/13/2007 10:07:54 AM PST by righteousindignation
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: msnimje

--Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband just admitted he outed Valerie Plame. Something about having a ten year affair with Joe Wilson and being jealous.--

Aha - He had an affair with Zsa Zsa's...husband?

Joe Wilson has just been "outed"!


44 posted on 02/13/2007 10:13:41 AM PST by rfp1234 (Custom-built for Bill Clinton: the new Toyota Priapus.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Howlin

Honk! Honk! Nothing like a good conservative actor who speaks with authority for President! Kind of reminds me of another similar president.
Please add me to the Thompson ping list.


45 posted on 02/13/2007 10:24:14 AM PST by westmichman (They cried "Peace, peace," but there is no peace.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Howlin

Honk, honk! ;-)


46 posted on 02/13/2007 10:25:06 AM PST by Tarheel (If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere... Rudy--2008)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: rhombus
We have to wait for an ex-Senator to speak up?

Actors have more influence with the public than politicians.

Brilliant strategy to have Thompson as the head spokesman IMO.

47 posted on 02/13/2007 10:31:53 AM PST by what's up
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: westmichman

Fred Thompson is a grown up. He also has the stage presence to trash (classily and effectively) Mrs. Arkansas Antichrist or Osama Obama. As a Senator, he had the courage to resist trade wih Red China (wich finances the People's "Liberation" Army) and Most Favored Nation status for Red China. We could do a lot worse in choosing a nominee. He also says what he means and means what he says.


48 posted on 02/13/2007 10:33:26 AM PST by BlackElk (Dean of Discipline of the Tomas de Torquemada Gentlemen's Club)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver
Thompson's objections are the same ones Democratic politicians made in the 1990s about independent counsel Kenneth Starr, who spent six years investigating President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Ah...further light is shed. Part of the this is remaining fury over Clinton being charged with perjury.

How silly...payback is impossible because Scooter is far removed from President. Not only that but Ken Starr was appointed to investigate actual crimes. "Outing" the non-covert agent was not a crime.

49 posted on 02/13/2007 10:37:22 AM PST by what's up
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver
"Nobody's been charged with outing" Plame, Thompson told ABC.

See, Thompson had to tell ABC this fact because ABC and the rest of the LameStream Media haven't bother covering this portion of the story.

Why, just today on my local news did I see the story that mentioned Richard Armitage. The first time they've mentioned the known leaker to Novak--and this story is ages old.

50 posted on 02/13/2007 10:45:42 AM PST by Recovering_Democrat (I am SO glad to no longer be associated with the party of Dependence on Government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: You Dirty Rats

Ping. I had to read this twice!


51 posted on 02/13/2007 10:52:52 AM PST by GoldwaterChick (Never give in, never give in, never, never, never give in. Winston Churchill Oct. 29, 1941)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver

I would LOVE to see him run for the presidency.


52 posted on 02/13/2007 10:56:41 AM PST by soccermom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: msnimje

"Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband just admitted he outed Valerie Plame. Something about having a ten year affair with Joe Wilson and being jealous."

Oh Lord!!! Thank you for the great laugh. First one today. I think I have read in the past (on several occasions) Prince what-ever-his-name-is has a light loafer problem.

Regards.


53 posted on 02/13/2007 11:06:55 AM PST by GatĂșn(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: HawaiianGecko
LOL I saw the irony when I posted Hunter/Thompson. A quandary for the left indeed! It's ingenious!
54 posted on 02/13/2007 11:07:48 AM PST by gidget7 (2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: paddles

Great Red October play on words.

That's my favorite movie line of all time.

"The Russians don't take a dump son without a five year plan."


55 posted on 02/13/2007 11:10:40 AM PST by cyclotic (Support Cub Scouting-Raising boys to be men, and politically incorrect at the same time.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver

It would be interesting to know at what point old "FITZ" concluded that Plame was not covert. At that point, his authority to investigate was over. No criminal offense in the leak, no further investigation needed. Any subsequent digging was just a witch hunt. Now it looks like he even Knew earlier than once thought. He should have wrapped up his investigation in about a week and ruled that Joe Wilson and Valarie Plame were a primary source for the leak and that it was not criminal.


56 posted on 02/13/2007 11:12:53 AM PST by BOBWADE ("Nothing in life can be achieved without a little sweat and hard work")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gidget7

Hunter/Thompson '08 or Thompson/Hunter '08. Either way I'd be one happy camper.


57 posted on 02/13/2007 11:14:35 AM PST by OB1kNOb (Most RINO's & Libs vote as they did in high school; for the most popular rather than most qualified.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Go Gordon
Scores?

Exaggerate much?

58 posted on 02/13/2007 11:16:43 AM PST by lugsoul (Livin' in fear is just another way of dying before your time. - Mike Cooley)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: geo40xyz

"Would you consider running for President???"

President it is!!!

I love that man...There are so few, if any, men in congress. The rest are nothing but slimy, crooked, dung beetles.

The women don't show me anything either, and I am speaking as a woman.


59 posted on 02/13/2007 11:18:57 AM PST by GatĂșn(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: lugsoul; Go Gordon

CLINTON CONVICTS LIST

Below is a list of Clinton-related friends, colleagues, associates, and related business entities, who have been convicted of crimes, updated through January, 2001 . The format of the list is that the names are allocated to the various investigative categories, with each individual/entity named and accompanied by a brief description of the relevant crime(s) and a source of the information. The list has been updated with Pardons Granted by Bill Clinton.

VARIOUS ARKANSAS:

1) Roger Clinton: Bill Clinton brother; drug trafficking conviction
(Wall Street Journal "The Foster Test" January 14, 1994)
Pardon Granted January 2001 by Bill Clinton last hours as President.

2) Dan Lasater: governor Bill Clinton contributor and state contractor: drug trafficking conviction
(Wall Street Journal "The Foster Test" January 14, 1994)

3) Dan Harmon: Arkansas Seventh Judicial District prosecuting attorney and Bill Clinton friend and political ally: five federal racketeering, extortion, and drug distribution convictions
(Wall Street Journal "Arkansas Justice" June 13, 1997)

4) Bill McCuen: Bill Clinton political ally: former Arkansas Secretary of State; bribery, tax evasion, kickbacks convictions
(Wall Street Journal: Whitewater: "The Prosecution Rests" May 7, 1996)

WHITEWATER:

5) Webster Hubbell: Bill Clinton friend and political ally; Hillary Clinton Rose Law Firm partner: embezzlement; fraud; two felony convictions
(Wall Street Journal "Whither Whitewater?" October 18, 1995)

6) Jim Guy Tucker: fraud; three felony convictions
(Wall Street Journal "Second-Term Stall" February 11, 1997; Associated Press "Tucker Pleads Guilty to Cable Fraud" February 20, 1998)

7) William J. Marks Sr.: Jim Guy Tucker business partner; one conspiracy conviction
(Associated Press "Whitewater Defendant Pleads Guilty" August 28, 1997)

8) Jim McDougal: Bill and Hillary Clinton friend, banker, and political ally: eighteen felony convictions
(Wall Street Journal "Immunize Hale" May 29, 1996)
Died in prison March 8, 1998

9) Susan McDougal: Bill and Hillary Clinton friend; former wife of Jim McDougal: four felony convictions
(Wall Street Journal "Immunize Hale" May 29, 1996)
Pardon Granted January 2001 by Bill Clinton last hours as President

10) David Hale: Bill and Hillary Clinton friend, banker, and political ally: two felony convictions of conspiracy and mail fraud
(Wall Street Journal "The Arkansas Machine Strikes Back" March 19, 1996)

11) Chris Wade: Whitewater real estate broker; two felony convictions
(Wall Street Journal "Hard Evidence From a Federal Investigator" August 10, 1995)
Pardon Granted January 2001 by Bill Clinton last hours as President

12) Stephen Smith: former Governor Clinton aide; one conviction
(Wall Street Journal "Hard Evidence From a Federal Investigator" August 10, 1995)
Pardon Granted January 2001 by Bill Clinton last hours as President

13) Larry Kuca: Madison real estate agent; fraudulent loans
(Wall Steet Journal "Hard Evidence From a Federal Investigator" August 10, 1995)

14) Robert Palmer: Madison appraiser; one conspiracy felony conviction
(Wall Street Journal "Hale Predicts Hillary Conviction" October 21, 1996)
Pardon Granted January 2001 by Bill Clinton last hours as President

15) Neal Ainley: Perry County Bank president; embezzled bank funds for Clinton campaign; two misdemeanor convictions
(Wall Street Journal "Arkansas Bank Shot" May 4, 1995)

16) John Latham: Madison Bank CEO; bank fraud conviction
(Wall Street Journal "Smoke Without Fire" January 12, 1996)

17) John Haley: attorney for Jim Guy Tucker; misdemeanor guilty plea; tax fraud
(Associated Press "Tucker Pleads Guilty to Cable Fraud" February 20, 1998)

18) Eugene Fitzhugh: Whitewater defendant, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of trying to bribe David Hale; is appealing a ten month prison sentence
(The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "Whitewater Defendants" February 22, 1998)

19) Charles Matthews: Whitewater defendant, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of bribery, served fourteen months of a sixteen month prison sentence
(The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "Whitewater Defendants" February 22, 1998)

ESPY:

20) Tyson Foods: guilty plea; $6 million federal court fines and investigative costs
(Washington Post "Tyson Foods Admits Illegal Gifts to Espy" December 30, 1997)

21) Sun-Diamond Growers: $1.5 million fine for illegal campaign contributions to Espy's brother
(Associated Press "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)

22) Richard Douglas: former Sun-Diamond Growers official; several bribery convictions and guilty pleas
(Washington Post "Tyson Foods Admits Illegal Gifts to Espy" December 30, 1997; Associated Press: "Lobbyist Pleads guilty in Espy Case" March 17, 1998)
Pardon Granted January 2001 by Bill Clinton last hours as President

23) James H. Lake: Sun-Diamond Growers lobbyist; three convictions regarding illegal campaign contributions to Espy's brother
(Associated Press "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)
Pardon Granted January 2001 by Bill Clinton last hours as President

24) Ron Blackley: Espy's chief of staff: financial fraud conviction; twenty-seven month prison sentence
(Washington Post "Tyson Foods Admits Illegal Gifts to Espy" December 30, 1997; Associated Press: "Judge Sentences Espy Aide to Jail" March 18, 1998)

25) Smith Barney: improper payments to Espy; $1 million-plus fine
(Associated Press: "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)

26) Crop Growers Corporation: $2 million fine for money laundering to Henry Espy's campaign
(Associated Press: "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)

27) Brook Keith Mitchell Sr. (with his company Five M Farming Enterprises: four counts) for fraud
(Associated Press: "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)
Pardon Granted January 2001 by Bill Clinton last hours as President

28) Five M Farming Enterprises (with owner Brook Keith Mitchell: four counts) for fraud
(Associated Press: "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)

29) John J. Hemmingson, former head of Crop Growers Corporation: three counts relating to illegal campaign contributions to Henry Espy
(Associated Press: "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)
Pardon Granted January 2001 by Bill Clinton last hours as President

30) Alvarez T. Ferrouillet, Jr., Louisiana lawyer and Henry Espy campaign finance head: ten count conviction
(Associated Press: "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)
Pardon Granted January 2001 by Bill Clinton last hours as President

31) Municipal Healthcare Cooperative: Ferrouillet-related company; perjury, bank fraud, money laundering convictions
(Washington Post: "Tyson Foods Admits Illegal Gifts to Espy" December 30, 1997)

32) Ferrouillet & Ferrouillet: Ferrouillet-related company; perjury, bank fraud, money laundering convictions
(Washington Post: "Tyson Foods Admits Illegal Gifts to Espy" December 30, 1997)

CAMPAIGN FINANCE:

33) Michael Brown (Ron Brown's son): money laundering; misdemeanor conviction
(Los Angeles Times, "Ron Brown's Son Pleads Guilty to Illegal Donation" August 29, 1997)

34) Eugene Lum: Clinton/Gore campaign contributor and colleague; felony conviction; money laundering
(Los Angeles Times, "First Fund-Raising Sentences Meted Out" September 10, 1997)

35) Nora Lum: Clinton/Gore campaign contributor and colleague; felony conviction; money laundering
(Los Angeles Times, "First Fund-Raising Sentences Meted Out" September 10, 1997)

36) Johnny Chung: Clinton/Gore campaign contributor and colleague; many visits to Clinton White House and Oval Office with mainland Chinese associates; several illegal campaign contributions, money laundering, tax fraud, and bank fraud guilty pleas
(Associated Press: "Democrat Fund-Raiser Pleads Guilty" March 17, 1998)

37) Roger Tamraz: Clinton/Gore campaign contributor and colleague; many visits to Clinton White House and Oval Office; fugitive from Lebanon embezzlement convictions; target of French government financial investigation; BCCI connections
(The Wall Street Journal: "Integrity of the Institutions" March 20, 1997, et. al.)

CISNEROS:

38) Linda Jones: Henry Cisneros mistress; conspiracy, bank fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice federal felony guilty pleas; sentenced to three and one-half years in prison
(Associated Press: "Cisneros Ex-Mistress Sentenced" March 25, 1998)
Pardon Granted January 2001 by Bill Clinton last hours as President

39) Patsy Jo Wooten: Linda Jones sister; one conspiracy guilty plea (Associated Press: "Cisneros Ex-Mistress Sentenced" March 25, 1998)

40) Allen Wooten: Linda Jones brother-in-law; one conspiracy guilty plea
(Associated Press: "Cisneros Ex-Mistress Sentenced" March 25, 1998)

Last Minute Pardons Click Here!

Pardons in 2000 Click Here!


60 posted on 02/13/2007 11:27:15 AM PST by Raycpa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson