Daily KosFrist under SEC investigation; FBI in the White House
by kos
Fri Sep 23rd, 2005 at 10:24:40 PDT
The trifecta is complete. The Republican leadership in the Senate, House and White House are ALL officially under investigation.
http://blog.dccc.org/mt/archives/003597.html">Frist
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating stock sales made by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in HCA Inc. shortly before the Nashville, Tenn.-based company warned it wouldn't meet its previous second-quarter earnings forecast.
Mr. Frist, a Tennessee Republican and a potential presidential candidate in 2008, sold all his stock in HCA about two weeks before the company's share price plunged. News of the stock sales surfaced in news reports earlier this week. The company was founded as Hospital Corp. of America in 1968 by Mr. Frist's father, Thomas Frist, his older brother Thomas Frist Jr., and Jack Massey, who had made millions as the owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The SEC is looking into whether Mr. Frist had any inside knowledge of problems at the company that prompted his sales, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/22/AR2005092202204.html">Rove
Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff bragged two years ago that he was in contact with White House political aide Karl Rove on behalf of a large, Bermuda-based corporation that wanted to avoid incurring some taxes and continue receiving federal contracts, according to a written statement by President Bush's nominee to be deputy attorney general.
Timothy E. Flanigan, general counsel for conglomerate Tyco International Ltd., said in a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that Abramoff's lobbying firm initially boasted that Abramoff could help Tyco fend off a special liability tax because he "had good relationships with members of Congress," including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).
Abramoff later said "he had contact with Mr. Karl Rove" about the issue, according to the statement by Flanigan, who oversaw Tyco's dealings with Abramoff and his firm and received reports from Abramoff about progress in the lobbying campaign. Flanigan's statement is the latest indication that Abramoff promoted himself as having ready access to senior officials in the Bush administration.
(Josh
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_09_18.php#006619">fills in some of the blanks in that Washington Post story I quote above.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/08/AR2005090800973.html">DeLay (in addition to the Abramoff stuff)
A grand jury in Texas indicted yesterday a state political action committee organized by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for accepting $120,000 in allegedly illegal corporate campaign contributions shortly before and after the 2002 elections that helped Republicans cement their control of the House of Representatives.
This, in addition to the Plame investigation and DeLay's multitude investigations for ethics violations.
The White House and DeLay have been swimming in investigations, even though Democrats have no investigative powers given their minority status in both chambers of Congress. Frist was the lone holdout. Good to see him join the sleaze club.
The FBI is now inside the White House
by Jerome Armstrong
Whoa, even the cynic whose watched these crooks in action for 5 years has to step back a bit with the latest:
Last Monday, David Hossein Safavian, a high-ranking White House official and pal of GOP powerbroker Grover Norquist, was arrested in a federal corruption case involving lobbying bad boy Jack Abramoff. According to the FBI, Safavian repeatedly lied to federal investigators in order to cover up Abramoff's shady dealings. He not only bent ethics rules to accompany Abramoff on a 2002 golf junket to Scotland; he also used his position as chief of staff at the General Services Administration to deliver GSA-managed land into the lobbyist's hands.
But Safavian's not just tied to a dirty lobbyist. He's also tied to a convicted terrorist and a suspected terrorist supporter. Lobbying disclosure forms revealed last year that he has been in the employ of Abdurahman Alamoudi, an avowed supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah. Prosecutors have discovered evidence that he has links to al-Qaeda. At the time, Safavian waved aside any affiliation to Alamoudi.
He insisted that he was really lobbying for a client named Jamal al Barzinji. That revelation did little to clear Safavian's name: A federal affidavit identifies Barzinji as the ringleader of a group suspected of aiding terrorists.
Via Jesse at the DCCC (and he's got lots more), to Frontpage. This is a good timeline of Safavain, if you are just hearing about it and want to catch up. Granted, FrontPageMag is a rag Horowitz joint, but this is factual stuff. I bet John Conyers is feeling a bit used by now, and Carl Levin, wtf? The patron Norquist and his old pal Karl Rove hear footsteps.
Breach of Contract
Posted by jesselee
Friday, September 23, 2005 at 9:22 AM
As Republican Members of the House of Representatives and as citizens seeking to join that body we propose not just to change its policies, but even more important, to restore the
bonds of trust between the people and their elected representatives.
-- Contract with America
Welcome to the club, Mr. Frist...
SEC Probes Frist's Sale of Stock Ahead of HCA Profit Warning
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating stock sales made by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in HCA Inc. shortly before the Nashville, Tenn.-based company warned it wouldn't meet its previous second-quarter earnings forecast.
Mr. Frist, a Tennessee Republican and a potential presidential candidate in 2008, sold all his stock in HCA about two weeks before the company's share price plunged. News of the stock sales surfaced in news reports earlier this week. The company was founded as Hospital Corp. of America in 1968 by Mr. Frist's father, Thomas Frist, his older brother Thomas Frist Jr., and Jack Massey, who had made millions as the owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The SEC is looking into whether Mr. Frist had any inside knowledge of problems at the company that prompted his sales, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The investigation is expected to expand to other individuals who also sold HCA shares prior to its earnings warning, this person said. The SEC routinely investigates stock sales ahead of major news, such as an earnings warning or a merger. Several insiders sold stock in the weeks leading up to HCA's July 13 earnings warning. An SEC spokesman declined to comment.
more...
http://blog.dccc.org/mt/archives/003597.htmlWhat is it going to take for these people to go down? Even if just one of these investigations were being done it would sound bad. But all of these? They are a cancer to our country and I hope for the sake of our future that the investigators do the right thing and dismantle this monumental level of corruption.
(Sorry for the size of this post but there is a lot related here. The context is important. Believe it or not, I actually trimmed it down.)
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