Dems Implicated in Illegal Wiretapping Ready to Compromiseby drational
Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 07:45:53 AM PDT
Select members of Congress have been briefed, at least in part, on the Bush Administration Warrantless Wiretapping Program since 2001. The "Gang of Eight" and other Congressional leaders briefed on The Program when it was clearly in violation of existing FISA law included several Democrats still in leadership positions in Congress.
It is not surprising these Democratic leaders are now willing to compromise on every surveillance concession demanded by the White House. Nor is it any surprise that they are willing to grant retroactive immunity to TelCos....
Because TelCo immunity will likely mean immunity for the Administration officials who ordered the illegality.
And of course, it will also mean immunity* for the Congressmen and women who gave a Congressional green light to the Administration.
The three Democrats most frequently briefed on the Warrantless Surveillance Program Between 10/2001 and 3/2004, were Nancy Pelosi, Jane Harman and John D. Rockefeller. In March 2004, mutineers in the DOJ including James Comey, Jack Goldsmith and Patrick Philbin, blocked DOJ authorization of The Program on the grounds that it was illegal.
Those who crafted the illegal Program, those who authorized the illegal Program, and those who perpetrated the illegal Program are no doubt fearful of prosecution for their role in the illegal Program.
Those in Congress who were given the secret blueprint for this Unitary Executive powerplay, are no doubt also a bit worried.
What better way to ease one's troubled soul than to grant immunity for any past illegality associated with The Program?
Nancy Pelosi, now Speaker of the House, was instrumental in crafting the Rules governing debate of the "Protect America Act" which sailed through Congress in August. Limiting debate and amendments on PAA guaranteed it's passage, and Pelosi knew this. Neither the House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer, nor Speaker Pelosi have committed to opposing retroactive immunity.
John D. Rockefeller just chaired the SSCI panel that voted for retroactive TelCo immunity 12-2. Although Rockefeller voiced secret concerns about the Warrantless Wiretapping Program in a handwritten letter to Dick Cheney in 2003, he is now a strong supporter of retroactive immunity.
Jane Harman was removed from her position on the HPSCI after the Congressional changes in November 2006, yet according to a WaPo article today, she is engineering a Democratic capitulation on retroactive immunity behind closed doors:
And as Democratic leaders push their own legislation to rein in the wiretapping program, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) has been quietly exploring avenues of compromise with Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee. Centrist Democrats hope those talks can dovetail with the Senate intelligence committee's own bipartisan measure on surveillance of suspected terrorists.
AnalysisCan anyone say "conflict of interest"?
emptywheel at The Next Hurrah has it right in suggesting Harman needs a primary challenge. There are at least two other Democrats, Pelosi and Rockefeller, who should recuse themselves from decision-making on retroactive immunity. It is clear that the asses they are covering just might include their own.
Update Several commentators have pointed out that Congressmen and women are entitled to protected speech and debate, and hence immunity. While true, this does not protect them from arrest for felonies or treason.
Regardless, my use of the word "immunity" for complicit Congressmen and women was intended to include general immunity (electoral, political, and historical) rather than a strictly legal term:
The Bush Power Grab has been historical. Bush did not grab power without help from Congress. If the details of the Surveillance Program become known, and the illegality is revealed to be as egregious and antithetical to American Values as Goldsmith and Comey found it, the public may finally be shocked and recoil from the violations. Members of the Administration could be held accountable. Congressmen who were apprised of the illegal program and did not stop it would certainly be considered villains. If the information comes to light while these Congressmen are still in positions of power, they would have much to lose. So it is clear, to me at least, regardless of whether they could or would face criminal or civil legal jeopardy, immunity for TelCos could have important political, electoral, and historical consequences for Pelosi, Harman and Rockefeller.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/30/101037/57
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