April 12, 2008 - Pensito

Video above from MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” on Thursday, April 10. (See transcript below.)

In the 1990s, Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor and constitutional expert, was a strong advocate for impeaching Pres. Bill Clinton because Clinton lied about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky while under oath in a deposition for a civil lawsuit.
UPDATE:
• ACLU Calls for Independent Prosecutor in Bush Torture Case
The issue today is far more serious. According to ABC News, starting in 2002, senior Bush officials, including Vice President Cheney and Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice, who was then the national security adviser, were involved hands-on in drafting torture guidelines for the CIA. Because torture is illegal under U.S. and international law, Jonathan Turley says he believes the drafting of these guidelines was a war crime.

Late Friday afternoon, George Bush confirmed to ABC News that Cheney, Rice and the other officials were working at his behest.

News that Bush commissioned his executive staff to create guidelines for torture is being ignored in the media today (Saturday). It will be interesting to see if it makes it onto the Sunday political shows, including even ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopolous.”

The transcript for Turley’s “Countdown” interview follows:

[…]

“Well, we started to connect the dots in order to protect the American people. And yes, I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved,” George Bush said to ABC News White House correspondent Martha Raddatz late on Friday:
The big story on cable news today is the controversy over Obama saying voters were “bitter.”

President Bush says he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details about how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency….

The high-level discussions about [the torture techniques] were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed — down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic.

These top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects — whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding, sources told ABC news.

Constitutional expert Jonathan Turley has described the drafting of torture guidelines by White House officials as a war crime. In addition to Bush, the officials at the meetings, which started in 2002, included Vice Pres. Dick Cheney, Sec. of State Colin Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld, Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft, CIA Director George Tenet, and their aides.

Colin Powell told ABC News that he didn’t have “sufficient memory recall” about the meetings and that he had participated in “many meetings on how to deal with detainees…” But that he’s “not aware of anything that we discussed in any of those meetings that was not considered legal.”

Last year, George Tenet attempted to shift blame preemptively to Ashcroft. “It was authorized. It was legal, according to the Attorney General of the United States,” Tenet told ABC News.

Releasing bad news like this on a Friday afternoon is classic White House damage control, and of course it has worked. The media are either ignoring the story or reacting to it with a Cheney-esque, “So?” In fact, the big story on cable news today is the controversy over Barack Obama saying that some Americans are bitter.

Day: April 12, 2008

Turley: White House Torture Planning Was Like a ‘Meeting of the Bada Bing Club’

Bush Admits He Approved White House Torture Manual

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“The man is afraid of the voice of the people and that the people understand and know what he’s doing. He’s trying to stifle the ability of journalists to let the people of America know what’s really going on with their government.”

— “Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House ‘absolutely abhorrent,’” The Wrap reports.

“Not one of them is trained in technical skills. Not one research PhD, as opposed to China, where half the cabinet is science and technology PhDs. We’re led by grifters and fools.”

— Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs, on X, on President Trump’s 35-person cabinet.

“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far… The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”

— Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), breaking with President Trump in a direct-to-camera video.

Numerati

1,000

10%

“The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study,” the Associated Press reports.

71%

A new Fox News Poll finds 71% of voters think the Trump administration lacks a clear strategy for ending the Iran War, including 95% of Democrats, 83% of independents, and 43% of Republicans. Sixty percent say U.S. military action against Iran was the wrong decision, while just 37% say it was right.

$9.5 billion

“The Trump administration last year spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers as part of its plan to shrink the government and save taxpayers money, according to a new estimate by a congressional watchdog,” CNN reports.

470

Reuters has documented at least 470 targets of retribution under Trump’s leadership – from federal employees and prosecutors to universities and media outlets. The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.