Free Republic

German Foreign Minister to Testify to Parliament in Visa Scandal By RICHARD BERNSTEIN Published: February 16, 2005 BERLIN, Feb. 15 - Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, facing a widening scandal involving visas for Ukrainian crime figures and prostitutes, said Tuesday that he would testify before a special parliamentary commission investigating the matter, but he refused to make any public comments. Mr. Fischer, a member of the leftist Green Party and by a considerable margin Germany's most popular political figure, has been confronting what commentators here are calling the party's worst political scandal in the six years it has been part of...

SACRAMENTO -- Under threat of a subpoena, embattled Secretary of State Kevin Shelley agreed Thursday to testify voluntarily before a committee investigating his handling of federal election funds. Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, the committee's chairwoman, said Shelley would be sworn in as a witness, leaving him vulnerable to possible perjury charges if he lies. Shelley is willing to testify under oath at the committee's next hearing Feb. 3, said spokeswoman Caren Daniels-Meade. "If that's what the committee wants, yes," Daniels-Meade said. Parra's Joint Legislative Audit committee is holding hearings on a stinging audit report that found Shelley mismanaged millions of...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Embattled Secretary of State Kevin Shelley agreed Thursday to testify Feb. 3 before the legislative committee investigating his use of federal election funds, his aides said. Shelley made the commitment Thursday morning, meeting a 10 a.m. deadline to confirm his appearance before the Joint Legislative Audit Committee's hearing next month. The committee's chair, Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, said she would seek a subpoena to compel his testimony if he did not agree to come. Shelley made the commitment in a letter and telephone call to Parra, said his spokeswoman, Caren Daniels-Meade. "He looks forward to participating," she...

SACRAMENTO -- Assemblywoman Nicole Parra on Tuesday gave beleaguered Secretary of State Kevin Shelley two more days to decide whether to testify voluntarily before her audit committee about his handling of federal election funds. At the conclusion of a committee hearing late Monday night, Parra said she would seek a subpoena if Shelley had not agreed by noon Tuesday to appear before the committee's next hearing. Tuesday afternoon, she released an exchange of letters between herself and Shelley in which the secretary of state asked for more time to consult with his attorneys before responding. "As you might imagine, your...

Former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz is unwilling to testify against Saddam Hussein at a future war crimes trial, his lawyer told Agence France-Presse after a four-hour meeting with his client on Thursday at a US base near the capital. "Tariq Aziz told me that he will not take the witness stand against Saddam," said Badi Aref Izzat. The lawyer said that Aziz, who has been in US custody since his surrender in the immediate aftermath of last year's US-led invasion, had had no opportunity to see the ousted president. The 11 senior aides currently in custody were being...

The No. 2 official at the San Francisco Department of Public Works threatened workers under contract to clean city streets with loss of pay if they didn't campaign for Gavin Newsom for mayor, according to sworn testimony in a city attorney's investigation. City attorney's investigators looking into allegations of election abuses made by the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners, or SLUG -- a nonprofit group under contract with the city for street-cleaning services -- were told by the street cleaners that they had been directed by Deputy Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru to walk precincts for the Newsom for...

Senator Kerry, Americans want to see your entire Military Record by Col. Bob Pappas, USMC, Ret. It is well known that John Kerry testified before the Congress in 1971 and his testimony although both disputable and refutable in factual, ethical, and Constitutional terms, is an indisputable historical fact. Now and forever, Kerry’s ignominious testimony soils the record and good name of millions of Veterans and the United States of America. How that testimony came about, and what Kerry’s political aspirations were then, are self-evident now. Kerry was “at home” among Senators who had a likeminded agenda in 1971 and both...

Kobe case could be biggest for detective EAGLE - He's the guy who busted Kobe Bryant. Yet when Doug Winters was asked recently if he's confident that he knows what happened in room 35 at the Lodge & Spa at Cordillera the night of June 30, there is a heavy silence lasting a full 10 seconds. "I'm not sure if I can answer that or not," the Eagle County sheriff's detective finally said, "because everything is under seal." It is true that Chief District Judge Terry Ruckriegle has imposed a gag order on players in Bryant's sexual assault case. It's...

Dear President Bush, This URGENT message is being sent (in increments of 25, the maximum copies allowed by AOL) to over 2500 of your supporters, numerous simpatico print and electronic journalists, selected 9/11 Commission members and Republican officials (including those who require individual e-mails and faxes). In over 30 years as a journalist (NY Times, etc.), I have never undertaken this kind of initiative. But Kerry's aspirations to take command of our nation and our national security are, by any measure, horrific. Since 2000, the Democrats ~ abetted by an overwhelmingly leftist media ~ have been abusive in their criticism...

Giuliani set to testify at 9/11 hearings Saturday, May 15, 2004 - 12:00 AM Timothy Williams THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK -- More than two years after leaving office, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will testify before the Sept. 11 commission next week in an appearance that could put him in the awkward position of criticizing fellow Republicans in the Bush administration just as he is seeking a more prominent role in the party. For instance, Giuliani will probably be asked by the commissioners whether the city was aware that President Bush had reviewed an intelligence briefing a month before the...

  DEMAND that John Kerry Testify Under Oath Before the 9/11 CommissionWrite A letter to the editor demanding John Kerry's testimony on what he knew and when he knew it.1.  Open the "Write for W" window by clicking HERE.2.  Enter your ZIP CODE and click "Get Info"3.  Select Every News Outlet Listed!!!4.  Enter your info5.  Write your letter!You can use the sample below, or, of course, you may draft your own :) Subject:  Senator Must Testify Before the 9/11 CommissionSenator John Kerry must testify, under oath, before the 9/11 Commission.On May 7, 2001, Brian Sullivan, an FAA Special Agent, sent Senator...

Rice testifies before 9/11 Commission [Transcript of Rice’s testimony at the NY Times.]Report by Roger Wm. Hughes... National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice testified before the 9/11 Commission after the White House had worked out the difficulties of preserving the issue of "separation of powers." Her testimony was controlled, in charge and solid as a rock. She also placed doubts on Richard Clarke’s testimony. One large area of conflict between Rice and Clarke came towards the end of her testimony, when Rice was asked as to why Clarke did not brief the President as Clarke says he requested: RICE: ......

The Bush Administration reverses itself. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice will break precedent and testify publicly under oath before the 911 Commission. And if any of you saw the hatchet job Ted Koppel did tonight on Bush (using references to Paul O'Neill as further "proof" of Bush's fixation on Iraq/Saddam), I can only say... BRING IT ON, Condi!!!

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks will not relent in its pursuit of public testimony from the president's national security adviser but is unlikely to subpoena Condoleezza Rice, the panel's chairman said Sunday. The former chief counterterrorism adviser at the White House, who has criticized the Bush administration's preparedness for the attacks, said he would welcome the attempt by leading Republicans to declassify 2-year-old congressional testimony. The lawmakers hope to show discrepancies between Richard Clarke's recent attacks on the administration's terrorism policies with flattering statements he made as a White House aide. The White House...

"I fought against Richard Nixon's war," John Kerry roared the night of his breakthrough in the Iowa caucuses. "Nixon's War" has become a signature slur of Kerry's campaign to win the office Nixon held when Kerry was rubbishing Vietnam and the behavior in battle of the American soldiers who fought there. In April of 1971, I was in the White House when Vietnam Veterans Against the War camped out on the mall, cursed the Nixon Administration, and threw their medals over the fence. John Kerry spent that week with friends in Georgetown and testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee....

Three undercover members of the High Country Drug Task Force will testify next week in connection with the Kobe Bryant case. Sources close to the investigation said drugs are not involved in the rape case against Bryant and that the three undercover agents were called in to help with the investigation on June 30, the night Bryant allegedly raped a 19-year-old Eagle woman at the Lodge and Spa at Cordillera. Because of the small number of law enforcement officers in Eagle County, other agencies are sometimes tapped. District Judge Terry Ruckriegle on Thursday ordered that the agents testify in open...

RAPID CITY, S.D. - Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., has been subpoenaed to testify in Rep. Bill Janklow's trial next week. The subpoena comes from Janklow's attorneys, the Rapid City Journal reported Thursday, citing a Daschle spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity. Janklow, R-S.D., will go on trial in Flandreau on Monday in an Aug. 16 crash that killed motorcyclist Randy Scott, 55, of Hardwick, Minn. Janklow is charged with a felony count of second-degree manslaughter and misdemeanor charges of reckless driving, running a stop sign and speeding. Moody County State's Attorney Bill Ellingson says Janklow was going 71 mph...

WEST PALM BEACH -- Five Cuban immigrants waited at sea without a country and three more sat in jail Monday awaiting word on their destinies -- possibly suspended there while in a political dust-up over the United States' repatriation policy. The people, taken into custody as they made a dash for U.S. soil through the Lake Worth Inlet Sunday evening, await word on whether prosecutors will charge the man who operated the boat and whether immigration officials will forcibly return those who never made landfall to Cuba. The three men who made it to Singer Island soil remain at the...

Colin being shown addressing Congress. They frequently flash the camera to Biden--gag

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge stood firm Sunday in his refusal to testify before Congress about the White House's anti-terrorism budget, saying his appearance would violate the constitution's separation of powers. Ridge said he will continue to meet informally with lawmakers, but he has no intention of testifying because he is an adviser to the president, not a Cabinet member obliged to appear on Capitol Hill. "I don't think you can compromise the principle of separation of powers," Ridge said on ABC's "This Week." "I do think that we should continue our discussions to determine whether or not...