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Print Article         Close Window     Gorelick Licked By Published 4/14/2004 12:05:12 AM His testimony is likely to be overshadowed by the president's news conference, but Attorney General John Ashcroft served notice yesterday that he is one administration player not afraid at all to go on offense against the Democratic louts on the so-called 9/11 commission. The full effect of the bombshell he dropped yesterday afternoon will take some time to settle. "The single greatest structural cause for September 11 was the wall that segregated criminal investigators and intelligence agents," he said in his stirring and air-clearing opening remarks....

The low point of Dr. Condoleezza’s testimony before the 9/11 Commission last week was the cross examination by Richard Ben-Veniste. It was not a low point for President Bush’s Security Advisor; she acquitted herself excellently. It was a low point for the Commission as one of its members, sworn to pursue the truth of the matter, revealed himself as rude and obnoxious, but more importantly as dishonest. Commissioner Ben-Veniste used a technique known to debaters and philosophers since ancient times, but a special province of modern trial lawyers. It is to use truth to manufacture a lie. It reared its...

In her own words, or merely re-airing Democratic attacks? Thursday night's NewsNight with Aaron Brown on CNN included a five minute segment that Brown promised would reveal "in her own words...what Dr. Rice said in some of the more contentious moments" of her appearance before the 9/11 Commission that morning. But the MRC's Ken Shepherd discovered that Rice's actual comments amounted to just 2 minutes and 28 seconds of the segment, less than half of the segment. Nearly all of the remainder highlighted the lengthy and adversarial questions to Rice from the most blatantly partisan Democrats on the panel, former...

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- The document at the heart of the most contentious moment of National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the 9/11 Commission last week was released by the White House on Saturday. The two-page Presidential Daily Briefing of August 6, 2001 was made public as requested by all members of the panel. Former Watergate Prosecutor and high-powered Democratic lawyer Richard Ben-Veniste took Rice to task during her sworn testimony, demanding that she say the title of the PDB, which was "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US." He tried to cut her off before she explained...

It seems to me that it is prudent to ask for Ben-Vensite to be removed from 9/11 commission. Dim partisans can argue whether he did or did not mean to make partisan point when questionning Dr. Condoleezza Rice about the PDB document. But there could be no doubt that it appeared as such. Considering the significance of the Commission it provides enough threat to its integrity for Ben-Veniste to be removed.

<p>The CIA's Aug. 6, 2001 memo for President Bush should pose serious new credibility problems for the nation's spy agency, not for Bush.</p> <p>Democrats such as 9/11 commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste have sought to paint the memo as a CIA warning that Bush ignored a month before the terror attacks - but it turns out to be nothing of the sort.</p>

The Talk Shows Sunday, April 11th, 2004 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq; Richard Ben-Veniste, Sept. 11 commission member; former Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash. Sept. 11 commission member; Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind.; Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Pat Roberts, R-Kan. THIS WEEK (ABC): L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian administrator...

Breaking now.....it will be released in a pdf file.

Ben-Veniste's rudeness was clear for all to see, but to understand just how dishonest was his line of questioning, look at this article from the May 27, 2002, issue of Human Events, a conservative Washington weekly: Sen. Bob Graham (D.-Fla.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told HUMAN EVENTS May 21 that his committee had received all the same terrorism intelligence prior to September 11 as the Bush administration. "Yes, we had seen all the information," said Graham. "But we didn't see it on a single piece of paper, the way the President did." Graham added that threats of hijacking...

<p>THE liberals and Democrats on the 9/11 commission are using the public hearings to develop a plotline about the months leading up to the attacks - a plotline whose purpose is to harm George W. Bush's chances for reelection, help John Kerry's chances and whitewash the Clinton administration's failures. The liberal plotline was on display yesterday in the questioning of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, whose refusal to capitulate to the partisan goals of her Democratic cross-examiners resulted in some shockingly inappropriate behavior on their part.</p>

WASHINGTON — Condoleezza Rice's self-control, loyalty to President Bush and anger with a former aide who questions the administration's commitment to fighting terrorism all were on display when she testified Thursday to the commission investigating Sept. 11.

<p>April 9, 2004 -- THE liberals and Democrats on the 9/11 commission are using the public hearings to develop a plotline about the months leading up to the attacks - a plotline whose purpose is to harm George W. Bush's chances for reelection, help John Kerry's chances and whitewash the Clinton administration's failures.</p>

The Book on Ben-Veniste 9/11 Commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste, who grilled Condoleezza Rice on Thursday as if she were a criminal suspect, is usually identified in press reports as merely a former Watergate prosecutor. But as the leading finger-pointer in the 9/11 probe, a few other details in Ben-Veniste's background might be deemed relevant. The Washington super-lawyer's last high-profile roll came in 1995-96, when he served as lead Democratic counsel for the Senate Whitewater hearings. His chief mission: Defending Bill and Hillary Clinton for all he was worth. A review of press reports from the period shows that he'd been auditioning...

Democratic party attack dog-turned 9/11 Commissioner Richard Ben Veniste adopted a harsh prosecutorial style Thursday morning during his questioning of National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, repeatedly cutting her off as she attempted to give detailed answers to his questions. The fireworks began when the abrasive Washington lawyer, a one-time attorney to DNC chief Terry McAuliffe, grilled Rice on whether she told President Bush about Richard Clarke's warnings that al Qeada cells had penetrated the U.S. BEN-VENISTE: Did you tell the president at any time prior to Aug. 6, [2001] of the existence of al Qaeda cells inside the United...

The president's decision to send National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to testify publicly, under oath, before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks is not likely to quell the furor sparked by former White House terrorism expert Richard Clarke's testimony before the panel last week. Clarke's testimony, which accused President Bush of ignoring the terrorist threat to this nation prior to the 9/11 attack, has so politicized and poisoned the commission's work, it is doubtful it can be salvaged. Thanks to Clarke, the commission has become just another forum for partisan bickering, score-settling and finger-pointing. Clarke's motives may never be fully...

While the Sept. 11 Commission is examining whether it can release former terrorism czar Richard Clarke's behind-closed-doors testimony, Commission Democratic Richard Ben-Veniste isn't waiting for any similar deliberation when it comes to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice's classified account. On Friday Ben-Veniste began leaking snippets of Rice's confidential interview to friendly media outlets, detailing her still-classified explanation of public comments in 2002 where Rice said "I don't think anybody" could have predicted that al Qaeda would hijack an airplane and "slam it into the World Trade Center." In comments published on Saturday, Ben-Veniste told the New York Daily News that...

Imus is letting the Commission have it for not following up on Clarke's contradictory testimony. "Ben-Ventiste, I've had with him". And lay of Condi Rice she already testified to them".

<p>After several months of negotiations, plus a few unseemly public threats, the federal commission investigating the events of 9/11 has reached agreeement with the White House for access to some of the nation's most classified intelligence briefings. This is a dramatic concession by the Bush administration: For the first time, outsiders be will be allowed to read daily briefing material meant for only the president and a tiny handful of top officials.</p>

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 — The federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks stepped up pressure on the Bush administration to cooperate by issuing a subpoena on Friday to the Pentagon. Members said they were still weighing a subpoena to the administration for Oval Office documents President Bush received in the days before Sept. 11, 2001, although the panel chose not to issue one today. The 10-member panel said in a statement that it had encountered "serious delays" in obtaining information from the Defense Department. It voted to subpoena the Pentagon for documents, tapes and transcripts involving the actions of the...