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

To: bestintxas
Woah... From the article:

" In a blink, Specter has raised the stakes here.

What we are now talking about is the potential for a significant unraveling of the Obama White House even as their biggest domestic agenda item, health care, sucks in most of the media oxygen.

If in fact Sestak is telling the truth, if in fact the Denver Post story about Andrew Romanoff is correct -- and neither Sestak nor Romanoff reported these offers to federal authorities -- Specter is saying both could in fact do jail time for committing a felony.

Even more remarkable is to comprehend why Robert Gibbs may now be standing at that White House podium five different times and refusing to answer questions from Jake Tapper and Major Garrett. If Sestak has told the truth, if the Denver Post got it right -- then not only is the person or persons within the White House who made these job offers in big trouble, but anybody else on the Obama White House staff who currently knows this has happened and has not reported it to the proper authorities -- the FBI, just for starters -- is, according to Specter, a potential prosecution target for "misprision of a felony." For which this person or persons could also go to jail along with whomever offered the jobs in the first place.

Quite possibly, that could include Robert Gibbs, if in fact he knows these job offers occurred."


81 posted on 03/16/2010 8:34:04 AM PDT by Danae (Don't like our Constitution? Try living in a country with out one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: Danae
Specter isn't exactly right here. Simple failure to report is not a crime under federal law - some positive act of concealment is required. The language of the federal misprision statute, 18 U.S.C. § 4, says that "Whoever, having knowledge of [a federal felony], conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same" to the relevant authorities may be punished for misprision (emphasis added). The courts have repeatedly held that this means active, intentional concealment is an essential element of the crime.

Knowing failure to report was enough to constitute misprision at common law, but the common law crime of misprision has essentially been abolished in the vast majority of states, and federal criminal law does not incorporate common law crimes absent a specific statute to that effect.

If Sestak knows of a crime and has failed to report it, it could obviously damage him politically and is certainly a violation of his moral and civic duties, but Specter or a federal prosecutor would have to show more than that if Sestak is to be held criminally liable.
126 posted on 03/16/2010 12:10:18 PM PDT by The Pack Knight (Duty, Honor, Country)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 81 | View Replies ]

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