Posted on 07/30/2007 6:03:08 AM PDT by 300magnum
Maybe Michael Moore isn't paranoid, because it sure seems like the government really is out to get him.
The firebrand filmmaker says he has been served with a subpoena by the federal government for a trip to Cuba for his hit healthcare documentary, Sicko. The Treasury Department confirmed two months ago that it was probing Moore's visit to Cuba, during which he was accompanied by some ailing 9-11 rescue workers.
Appearing Thursday on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Oscar winner said that he had just learned backstage that he had been served with an order compelling him to testify about his sojourn to the communist nation.
"I haven't even told my own family this yet," Moore said. "I was just informed when I was back there with Jay that the Bush administration has now issued a subpoena for me going after me for helping these 9-11 rescue workers."
"No, no for going to Cuba, not for helping them," chimed in Leno.
In March, the Fahrenheit 9/11 helmer and a trio of first responders who had fallen ill after working around Ground Zero traveled to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay demanding the same quality healthcare that administration officials publicly promised was being given to suspected Al Qaeda terrorists held there.
After getting no response from U.S. authorities, Moore and his traveling companions subsequently received free medical treatment from Cuban doctors, which the 53-year-old helmer depicted in Sicko ostensibly to point out the failings of America's healthcare system.
"I didn't go there like Cameron Diaz to get a tan," quipped Moore. "I was there to help them and now I'm going to face this further harassment from the Bush people. Aren't they busy with something else?"
In May, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, sent a letter to Moore requesting information about the trip, which it claimed was not approved. (Under the U.S. government's comprehensive trade embarbo, American citizens are forbidden to work in Cuba unless granted an exception).
Moore shot back with an open letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calling for an end to the investigation and accusing the White House of playing politics by using a government agency to try to silence him.
He also stated that he informed OFAC in October about the Cuba trip, asserting that as a journalist he qualified for an exemption to the travel ban, a point he reiterated with Leno last week.
"A journalist can go and this is a work of journalism," said Moore. "And frankly, the larger point is being missed here. The point is, is that first of all, can we all agree that we should take care of our 9-11 rescue workers?"
The statement elicited cheers from the studio audience.
Moore's attorney, David Boies, could not be reached for comment.
According to Reuters, Boies was contacted by a representative of the U.S. Department of Commerce, who requested the name of a person to accept the subpoena on Moore's behalf.
Aside from his burgeoning offscreen problems, Moore dropped another bombshell to Leno, saying that Harvey Weinstein—whose Weinstein company is distributing Sicko and who's also one of Hilary Clinton's biggest Hollywood supporters—asked Moore to cut scenes criticizing the Democratic presidential candidate.
The reason? Because Moore called out Clinton for purportedly accepting the most campaign donations of any senator from lobbyists representing the same private insurers and drug companies that she's railed against in the past.
Moore refused and Weinstein eventually backed down. The director also announced on The Tonight Show that the Weinstein Company has agreed to donate 11 percent of Sicko's box office to help ailing 9-11 workers who have been ignored by the Bush administration.
Hit? How many people saw it? Two?
Great! But a box of band-aids and a bottle of peroxide won't go far.
First off, Leno already caught Moore lying about the basis of the subpoena, and second, it has been the policy of this country - for decades - that US citizens can't travel to Cuba, it is illegal. So Michael Moore broke the law and got subpoenaed. Is Michael Moore above the law because he has some level of fame? Is the law applied to some people and not others? Is the limousine liberal Michael Moore above the law?
A journalist? Just above this statement Moore is said to have gone there as a "humanitarian" to "help these people", then as an "activist" to demand Gitmo Docs serve him and his cohorts.
Which one is it Mr. Moore? Or do you get to chose based on which answer will cover your communist rear.
Per the headline, he ate it.
I don't think there's anything big enough to do that.
Moore has been over-served for years.
I think it’s struggling partially because it doesn’t carry the European buzz. Moore touts British and other European healthcare as being wonderful. The British do not like their healthcare. They don’t realize that their system is fundamentally flawed, but they know it isn’t peaches and cream like Moore makes it out to be.
LOL... Yeah... Like I care what a paid/planted or coerced audience thinks? HA HA. I remember watching huge crowds of communist lemmings cheering Mao. I remember huge crowds of Baath Party members (Saddam's gang of thugs) encouraged to participate in huge Mardi Gras type festivities as he stood on a balcony shooting his little gun into the air.
Yeah.... I care what a liberal Leno crowd thinks (NOT)
I hope they fry that fat bastard Michael Moore.
Boies...Al Gore's attorney in the 2000 recount?
These types all stick together.
Looks like he's been "served" a lot.
Boies is a democrat shill
I’ve been searching everywhere for some confirmation of this beyond Michael Moore’s word that it happened.
I haven’t been able to find any. Not that I think that Mr. Moore would lie, but so far there is no evidence to support his claim.
Funny, that.
About time the Bush administration served a subpoena to one of its opponents that has broken the law. The reponse to the blizzard of subpoenas from Congress should be a blizzard of grand jury investigations of Jefferson, Hillary, Reid, and Feinstein, among others, who have violated the law, and need to be investigated. But then, Bush has no appreciation of the lengths to which his enemies will go to destroy them, and no inclination to anything but take a knife to a gunfight.
I’m sure this was an oversight that criminal activity by a liberal is being investigated by Bush’s Justice dept. Soon they will issue an apology for bothering the leftists.
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