Posted on 01/29/2010 8:29:50 AM PST by BAW
The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieus office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.
As an investigative journalist, my goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions, as I did last year when our investigations revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetrated by ACORN. For decades, investigative journalists have used a variety of tactics to try to dig out and reveal the truth.
I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieus constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didnt want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill. When asked about this, Senator Landrieus explanation was that, Our lines have been jammed for weeks. I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for weeks because her phones were broken. In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieus district office the peoples office to ask the staff if their phones were working.
On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation, particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building. The sole intent of our investigation was to determine whether or not Senator Landrieu was purposely trying to avoid constituents who were calling to register their views to her as their Senator. We video taped the entire visit, the government has those tapes, and Im eager for them to be released because they refute the false claims being repeated by much of the mainstream media.
It has been amazing to witness the journalistic malpractice committed by many of the organizations covering this story. MSNBC falsely claimed that I violated a non-existent gag order. The Associated Press incorrectly reported that I broke in to an office which is open to the public. The Washington Post has now had to print corrections in two stories on me. And these are just a few examples of inaccurate and false reporting. The public will judge whether reporters who cant get their facts straight have the credibility to question my integrity as a journalist.
The most obvious troll on this site since John HK/Strategerist.
Yeah, I was shocked by the behavior of the GUILTY! crowd.
I have really enjoyed FR for exactly this reason. Bacon said that "writing makes an exact man", and on FR one has the opportunity to write and get immediate corrective feedback.
There was the time I posted a comment about General "Black Jack" Pershing, containing a story about his handling of rebels in the Philippines around a hundred years ago. Couldn't remember where I had seen it originally, but the gist of the thing was that he had executed 5 out of 6 Muslim partisans and buried them in pig offal; then let the sixth one go home to report, thus putting a damper on the Muslim insurgency.
Well, not an hour had passed before I got questions about the source of that story, so I went looking for online references and found that, lo and behold, there were none. No source from that time makes reference to Pershing having done any such thing. He was in the islands at the time, but that is the only point of contact this story has with reality.
Shut my mouth properly, that one did. Wouldn't have happened nearly as fast or effectively without FR.
When did the FBI get involved to arrest him? Immediately? Cops showed up first?
Did someone in the office call the FBI first? Or was the FBI already.....?
I dunno. If the office was on federal property it would make sense.
Discovery will be interesting.
At the very least, we’re going to find out if the phones were or were not working! ;^)
I never saw any time line to when the investigating authorities showed up. Since it was a federal building that the FBI probably has an office there, So I would surmise in a very timely manner when Senator Landrieu or her cronies pitched a B.
The report is not entirely clear, but if they were working in concert to mess with the phone lines, it really doesn't matter which ones tried to get into the phone closet.
Of course, they need to establish that they intended to tamper with the phone lines, which is very much up in the air. I hope it's all as O'Keefe's statement says, but if they did try to get into the phone closet, his version of events becomes unworkable.
I can't wait for his videotape of events to come out. It will eventually. It may show the political workers in Landrieu's office getting all melodramatic and nuts over nothing, just to get the four guys in trouble. I'm suspecting that in the end, they'll have to plead to some minor "trespassing under false pretenses" type of charge, and pay a fine.
I have not followed the story closely, but her her office is in a Federal Building the FBI would be involved in the investigation.
I suspect they will be charged with trespassing or something similar assuming anyone presses charges.
That pertains in a court of law.
Discounting the question, "How did they get by security?", my next question would be, " They were told where to access the phone lines, and then denied access?"
That sounds like a set up to me.
The senator said her phones were jammed, not broken. To me, jammed means busy as heck, like the phones were jammed with calls. Does anyone know more about what exactly she said?
I believe they were by the receptionist, which would be a public area. The two "phone guys" asked where the phone closet was, and were told it was on a different floor. When they went there, they were asked for official identification and denied entrance. Then arrested.
No, he didn’t. They asked the receptionist in Landrieu’s office about it and that person sent them to the GSA office in the building where access to such places is controlled.
They did not leave the common areas of the building. There’s no intent of crime here. A ruse to find evidence that Landrieu was ignoring the public by not answering her phone.
I remember when you posted that. A few years back now. I never looked it up and was probably onto the next thread without seeing anyone questioning the story. The story always stayed in my mind. You had to have heard it from someplace? Second hand? Thats not the sort of story people there would have necessarily wanted in print.
According to the charging document, they asked about the phone ‘closet’, and were directed to the GSA office in the building that controls access to places like that. They were not given access, and did not go there.
"trumandogz" is a dissembling troll.
He's a flack apologist for Truman and FDR, a common snark mouth on birth certificate investigation threads and now it seems he's salivating at the prospect of having James O'Keefe locked up in the federal pen.
Check out this earlier FR Thread:
ACORN gotcha man among four arrested for attempting to bug Mary Landrieu's office Tuesday, January 26, 2010 4:06:57 PM · 66 of 358
trumandogz to TornadoAlley3
"Joseph Basel, Robert Flanagan, James OKeefe, and Stan Dai should cinsider [sic.] themselves lucky that they will be going to Federal Prison and not The Farm in Angola."
FReegards!
Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies
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.