Posted on 01/29/2010 8:29:50 AM PST by BAW
The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.
As an investigative journalist, my goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions, as I did last year when our investigations revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetrated by ACORN. For decades, investigative journalists have used a variety of tactics to try to dig out and reveal the truth.
I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu’s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn’t want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill. When asked about this, Senator Landrieu’s explanation was that, “Our lines have been jammed for weeks.” I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for “weeks” because her phones were broken. In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieu’s district office – the people’s office – to ask the staff if their phones were working.
On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation, particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building. The sole intent of our investigation was to determine whether or not Senator Landrieu was purposely trying to avoid constituents who were calling to register their views to her as their Senator. We video taped the entire visit, the government has those tapes, and I’m eager for them to be released because they refute the false claims being repeated by much of the mainstream media.
It has been amazing to witness the journalistic malpractice committed by many of the organizations covering this story. MSNBC falsely claimed that I violated a non-existent “gag order.” The Associated Press incorrectly reported that I “broke in” to an office which is open to the public. The Washington Post has now had to print corrections in two stories on me. And these are just a few examples of inaccurate and false reporting. The public will judge whether reporters who can’t get their facts straight have the credibility to question my integrity as a journalist.
Pretty sure it was a printed medium where I saw it, and it would have been great if I could have remembered which one. Although I don't remember there being any footnotes. It was probably just the writer quoting something that somebody thought he saw in a disremembered book. Really, the same thing that I was doing when I posted that.
How legends are made, eh? At least, those which go well beyond fact....
For Immediate Release
January 26, 2010 United States Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of Louisiana
Contact: (504) 680-3000
Four Men Arrested for Entering Government Property Under False Pretenses for the Purpose of Committing a Felony
NEW ORLEANS—JOSEPH BASEL, age 24; ROBERT FLANAGAN, age 24; JAMES O’KEEFE, age 25; and STAN DAI, age 24, were charged in a criminal complaint with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony, announced the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
According to the complaint, which was unsealed earlier today, the arrest of FLANAGAN, BASEL, O’KEEFE, and DAI took place after BASEL and O’KEEFE attempted to gain access to the New Orleans office of United States Senator Mary Landrieu on January 25, 2010, while posing as telephone repairmen. According to the complaint, FLANAGAN and BASEL were each dressed in blue denim pants, blue work shirts, light green fluorescent vests, tool belts, and construction-style hard hats when they entered the Hale Boggs Federal Building, located at 500 Poydras Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130. Once in the building, FLANAGAN and BASEL sought access to the offices of Senator Landrieu. O’KEEFE was already present in the office, holding a cellular phone so as to record FLANAGAN and BASEL. Once inside Senator Landrieu’s reception area, FLANAGAN and BASEL told a member of Senator Landrieu’s staff that they were telephone repairmen, and they requested access to the main telephone at the reception desk. FLANAGAN and BASEL then manipulated the telephone system. FLANAGAN and BASEL next requested access to the telephone closet because they needed to perform work on the main telephone system. They were directed to the main office of the United States General Services Administration, also inside the Hale Boggs Federal Building, where they again represented themselves to be employees of the telephone company and stated that they needed to perform repair work in the telephone closet. Both FLANAGAN and BASEL stated that they had left their credentials in their vehicle. In addition, the complaint alleges that O’KEEFE and DAI assisted FLANAGAN and BASEL in the planning, coordination, and preparation of the operation. The men were apprehended by the United States Marshal’s Service soon thereafter.
If convicted, FLANAGAN, BASEL, O’KEEFE, and DAI each face a maximum term of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and three (3) years of supervised release following any term of imprisonment.
The United States Attorney’s Office reiterated that the complaint is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The investigation is being conducted by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Deputy Marshals with the United States Marshal’s Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg.
Blackjack Pershing might not have threatened to have a muslim buried in a pigskin, but Gary Cooper threatened to do it in the 1939 movie The Real Glory.
According to ESPN, he went in to the wiring closet because Mike Leach thought he was faking a concussion.
BTT!
Someone HAS to expose these legislooters..the MSM ain’t gonna!
Oh, STOP it!
In a PUBLIC building, opening an unlocked door marked "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY" wouldn't even get a Federal Employee working in that building fired; they'd get a meeting with their Supervisor and MAYBE a letter in their personnel file.
Unless you're a hard-core, brainwashed union stiff who recognized the non-existent boundaries between "Communications Union" territory and "Non-union People" territory, you grasp the fact that going into a communications equipment room, though it may be an error in judgment, does not constitute a crime of any degree in any jurisdiction in any State.
Certainly, the building Facility Manager will take umbrage at your temerity, and will likely see that you are professionally detained until the nature of your doings can be ascertained, but unless you are on PRIVATE property, your entry into the equipment closet doesn't even rise to the level of trespassing, much less anything outright criminal.
Interestingly, you are citing the same ‘experts’ on Constitutional law who endlessly defend BHO’s ‘natural born’ status. I.e., the ‘afterbirthers.’
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/pershing.asp
Having diffciulty cutting and pasting but They detail the story as being unproven and unlikely to have been the work of Pershing but could have benn the work of Col. Alexander Rodgers.
(I won’t go off topic on this thread any more.)
I've been wondering that as well. Typically when someone says their phones are jammed they mean that the phones are very busy with incoming calls, not that they're broken. I'd like to know exactly what Sen Landrieu said about the phones.
Regardless of who gets charged with what - this was a STUPID idea!
great questions.
A complaint that has no merit. What they entered was a public building using the public elevator and walked public hallways, and then entered a public Senator's lobby. The purpose was to see if Landrieu was ignoring her public phone calls.
then manipulated the telephone system. FLANAGAN and BASEL
How did they manipulate the phone system? They picked up the receptionist's phone and then did what?
Once in the building, FLANAGAN and BASEL sought access to the offices of Senator Landrieu.
emphases - they asked. What offices?
They were directed to the main office of the United States General Services Administration, also inside the Hale Boggs Federal Building, where they again represented themselves to be employees of the telephone company and stated that they needed to perform repair work in the telephone closet.
Lying is not a crime. If that was true, everyone in the Democrat party would be jail. Did they go? They were challenge for their credential and were denied access. Furthermore, common telephone closets are not restricted areas.
the complaint alleges that O’KEEFE and DAI assisted FLANAGAN and BASEL in the planning, coordination, and preparation of the operation.
The complainer alleges? LoL! How would Landrieu know? And that was what? What were they planning, coordinating and preparing - to do what? You don't say anything about that. There was no intent of crime Landrieu as O'Keefe says above.
What you did say in the FBI's affidavit and not here is that you had "probable cause to believe" To believe who? Senator Landrieu who had a sissy fit.
“Well, let’s hope he isn’t telling us how morally correct he is from a Federal prison...”
I don’t think O’Keefe and Company have even been indicted yet...but assuming the worse and they are found guilty of a felony, I would think they’d get off with probation and a fine, after all these guys are clean cut and without a rap sheet.
I had to have seen it,i don’t recall it,but it was mentioned in one of the articles i read looking this up. The good old non PC days in movies.
Yes, the comment you cite was regarding O’Keefe’s legal difficulty in the State of Louisiana and not his actions against ACORN.
Now, could you please cite where I rushed to judgment to condemn James O’Keefe vs. ACORN?
As of now, the charges are merely a way for Landrieu to keep the videotape evidence from getting into the Media.
IMHO, the FBI will hold the ‘charges’ over O’Keefe’s head as a way of ensuring the videos are not put on the internet, or anywhere else.
I believe the issue of a possible crime will be down to intent. The FBI says the intent was
under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony
the reporter says the intent was to discover what the Senator was doing with the phone calls.
Can you imagine how great our country could be if we arrested everyone that entered a Senator's office under false pretenses? No more lobbyists, no more backroom deals, etc.
That's no felony to discover if Landrieu was ignoring the public phone calls to her office. No evidence of bugging - none. They wanted to document their ignorance of the phone system by video. They have no concrete evidence to the contrary of what O'Keefe has stated.
All theatrics by Landrieu and PMSNBC.
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