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Posted on 09/21/2004 3:21:55 PM PDT by bikepacker67
I spoke to Lt. Robert Waggoner about whether they plan to pursue the criminal angle of the forgery scandal.
INDC: "Are you currently investigating the incident centering around forged documents that originated in Abilene?"
Wagner: "We need an injured party to call us with a willingness to cooperate. We've had several calls from various individuals that feel that they've been injured, but ... you and I know who the injured party in this is, but it's not the general public."
INDC: "So the President of the United States is the injured party, but isn't that a catch-22? I mean, he's probably not going to bother to file charges ..."
Wagner: "Well, he wouldn't necessarily be the only injured party."
INDC: "You mean that CBS could file charges?"
Wagner: "If they desire to pursue that angle here, they feel that they were (defrauded), they are welcome to file a complaint. But there are also a lot of state lines that this crossed, and the FBI might be taking a look at this. The FBI might not let me invesitigate, they might want to take it from me."
INDC: "So a credible injured party needs to file a complaint?"
Wagner: "Somebody needs to come in and file an affidavit, and someone needs to present us with the documents in question. At that time we'll unhitch and we'll pursue it."
Looks like the ball is in CBS's court. Considering that they are likley to get get sued by Burkett, they should certainly want to pursue a criminal angle.
Not necessarily.
"We need an injured party to call us with a willingness to cooperate"
Ummm... seems to me that any citizen concerned with the sanctity of our National elections could be counted as a complainant.
Couldn't a current Viacom stockholder be considered an "injured party" in this instance?
injured, willing and looking up the phone number.
Perhaps we need to phone freep the Abilene PD?
It seems FarmerW is way ahead of me ;-)
Actually I think we would need to be very careful to freep such a situation. We would never want to tie up police department lines, especially an emergency number.
Perhaps a prosecuter's office would be a safer place? ideas, suggestions?
I wouldn't do that if I were you. Harrassing police departments is not smart.
Hell, in L.A., they burn them every so often.
No worries mate:
Abilene Crime Analysis / Intelligence Division
Contact: Officer Gary Heslep or Gary Cielento
325-676-6512
A nice non-emergency (but thoroughly serious) phone number.
my feelings were hurt.
does that count?
President Bush and CBS News are not the only injured parties, just the two most injured parties.
The purpose of this fraud was to lower the President in the eyes of voters. Anyone who initially believed (or claimed to believe) the documents were as CBS claimed them to be, that is, genuine, was injured in that he or she was willfully denied accurate information upon which to make his or her decision as to the character of President Bush. In this case, because CBS's agent Dan Rather made the claim the documents were genuine, anyone who was injured can file a fraud complaint against CBS AND Dan Rather.
Once CBS and Dan Rather have such a complaint filed, you will understand what a nanosecond is which will be the amount of time it takes the CBS (and maybe Rather) to toss Mary Mapes and Bill Burkett into the shark-infested waters. Mapes and Burkett will then turn on the unnamed person who gave Burkett the forgeries. (Rather may be too close to the unimpeachable source to toss Mapes and Burkett overboard.) But since Burkett does not want to do time, look for him to tell all about the person who gave him the forgeries and his discussions with Mapes and Lockhart.
The Kerry-Edwards campaign seems to be in the same room as the Watergate Plumbers Union of 1972. Let's see if their plumbers end up in Club Fed.
No.. but neither was the D.C. cops in June of '72.
They were simply the legal pebble that started the avalanche.
Why Abilene?.... Burkett doesn't even live in Abilene nor the county that Abilene is in......
General Staudt?
That is the one jurisdiction where we KNOW FOR SURE a crime was committed - the forgeries were either doctored/copied or created in the Abilene Kinkos
Well, considering that Martha Stewart is going to jail for the actions that she took that damaged the stock holders of her company, I'd say that the stock holders of CBS could file charges against Dan Rather and CBS officials that have been involved in this.
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