Chairman Coleman's Office Passes Buck for Explanation!
By Brad Friedman on 5/20/2005, 2:02pm PT  

The stunning testimony given by British MP George Galloway before the U.S. Senate subcommittee on Investigations is apparently so hot that it seems to have "gone AWOL" from the subcommittee's website according to the British newsite VNU Network.

The BRAD BLOG can confirm that all witness testimony --- except that of Galloway's --- from last Tuesday's extraordinary hearings is available in PDF format on the subcommittee's webpage on the hearings.

At those hearings, Galloway blasted subcommittee Chairman Sen Norm Coleman's (R-MN) investigation into the U.N. Oil-for-Food "scandal" which Galloway referred to as "the mother of all smokescreens".

That testimony can be read and/or viewed here.

We have been unable to receive a statement from Senate spokesmen as yet as to why Galloway's testimony is now unavailable on the website.

A staffer in Coleman's office referred us to the subcommittee staff when we asked for the reasons for "the removal of the testimony". Her reply: "That's a question for the subcommittee. Senator Coleman is the chairman, but the committee makes their own decisions about what goes on the website."

We were forwarded to the subcommittee's voice mail where we left a message. If we receive a call back, we will let you know.

A screenshot just taken from the subcommittee's website showing the missing Galloway testimony is below.

UPDATE: As of 2:30pm PT, the subcommittee's webpage has now been updated to include, "Mr Galloway did not submit a statement" underneath his missing testimony.

As a Capitol Hill source familiar with such testimony emailed us moments ago: "I'd find it strange if they simply published the prepared remarks of these other people as submitted instead of transcribing them especially since nowehere does it say 'as prepared.' That might be a good question to ask them if you call back."

We have still been unable to reach anybody at the subcommittee willing to give comment on the matter as of this time.

UPDATE 5/23/05 4:40pm PT: The subcommittee has again edited their website, this time to say "Mr Galloway did not submit a written statement". We suppose they were unable to copy and paste from the widely circulated written statement posted by London Times nearly a week ago!

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