Posted on 05/14/2005 1:46:53 AM PDT by STARWISE
Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 31 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is edging into the Senate controversy over judicial nominees, writing key lawmakers after Democratic Leader Harry Reid publicly referred to an FBI file on one of President Bush's controversial appointees.
"The letter expressed concern about recent remarks on the floor of the Senate which alluded to an FBI background investigation file provided by the Department of Justice to the Senate Judiciary Committee on a confidential basis in connection with a judicial nomination," a department official said Friday night.
The official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said the letter did not refer specifically to Reid, or to 6th Circuit Court nominee Henry Saad.
At the same time, it was dispatched one day after Reid alluded publicly to a confidential FBI report prepared on Saad, a 6th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee whose confirmation Democrats have sought to block.
"The fact that there are questions about this nominee's suitability to be a federal judge has been discussed in public for over a year," said Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley. "Senator Reid simply referred his colleagues to the source of those questions. That is Senator Reid's right and responsibility.
{snip}
No copy of the letter was immediately available. The Justice Department official said it had been sent to Reid and Majority Leader Bill Frist, as well as the chairman and senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.
The developments occurred as Frist served notice he intends to use two of Bush's favorite nominees Texas judge Priscilla Owen and California judge Janice Rogers Brown to force a confrontation next week that could end Democrats' ability to block court appointments.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Chuck Colson was sentenced to 3 years in prison for the illegal release of one FBI file.
Of course, these are Democrats, so the rules don't apply.
CONFIDENTIAL to a dimwit means the press and TV media gets its copies of the document within 20 minutes.
It's Sherriff Beauchard. Sheriff in MI. Sheriff Beauchard says that he has no idea what Reid could be talking about. Beauchard himself has top clearance and if there was anything in Saad's files he'd have been told of it.
Saad's been nominated and passed in judiciary 3 times, this couldn't have happened if there was something in his file. Says it's personal because Levin wants his cousin's wife to get an appointment. Also that Stabinow got up in arms because Saab emailed somebody that she "practices politics and may pay a price" for gamesmanship the RATS are playing with the nominations in MI.
I don't know if what Reid did is illegal or not, but I do know it's disgusting to throw an implication out in public that there is something so awful in the background of a nominee that he simply must be filibustered, and if we all knew what it was, we would agree. But we can't know what it is and neither can the nominee who is not allowed to see his file and so now cannot defend himself and must just live with this innuendo hanging over his head. It seems fairly wll known that the reason Saad was resisted is because Carl Levin wants the job for a relative and not because he's a pedophile who cuts the heads off of kittens, but hey, who can say. Reid committed the worst kind of character assassination. I hope he pays for it.
I wish a Republican had the guts to remind everyone that NOT ONE Democrat entered the evidence room during Clinton's impeachment "trial" to read the documents about the crimes he committed. Not one!
I remember that. Timmy Potato(e) Russert asked Maxine Waters if she had reviewed the evidence that was inside that office on Captiol Hill.
Her response was almost profane (I think they dubbed it out on the show).
Dusty Harry , start dancin'!! Oh, will this be spoken of on the yapfest Sun a.m.??
Bookmark to read when I get back.
If he saw the file, the law was broken. He is neither from the judge's home state nor on the judiciary committee, and the files are restricted to those senators only.
In most cases, the gist is exactly what is confidential or classifed.
We need to demand charges be filed. This FBI file leakage is unexceptable!
bttt
I just wish that a Senate Republican had guts.
Just one Republican with backbone. What a breakthrough that would be.
My guess is that he will deny seeing the file and was only repeating what "someone, somewhere" had said. It would be better to claim to be a gossip than to admit to having seen the file, which would have broken the law.
If, in fact, he did break the law, Allen (VA) said on Tony Snow that he would follow through with the Ethics Committee (of which I believe Reid is a member - irony).
And if he didn't see the file, then at least one of the senators who are on the committee broke the law by disclosing the information to Dingy.
IF, if, if, if the DOJ follows through with this (please, please, please), Dingy will either have to give up his "source" or he himself could be open to obstruction of justice charges.
I would like to remind everybody that all FBI files contain raw information--IOW whatever anybody they interviewed about the subject said whether the interviewee is honest or not and whether or not the interviewee has a personal grudge against the subject...
Plenty of them do. I just wish a few folks around here would knock off the emotional rhetoric and stick with more factual comments.
Wishful thinking, I know.
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