Blogged by Brad from Atlanta…
Also named in subpoenas signed by committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., were the Justice Department and the National Security Council.
The committee wants documents that might shed light on internal squabbles within the administration over the legality of the program, said a congressional official speaking on condition of anonymity because the subpoenas had not been made public.
As TPM Muckraker notes in their breaking coverage, “The trigger is pulled…Get ready for a huge court fight.”
RAW STORY has a statement from Sen. Leahy concerning the subpoenas.
And as Joseph Cannon guest blogged here yesterday, a subpoena was/is needed to begin the impeachment process. Any subpeona issued to Cheney’s office and/or the White House. Well, we now have one.
“If Cheney or any of his underlings refuse to comply with a single subpoena — and that’s a very good bet — he becomes instantly impeachable, on the same grounds that brought down Nixon,” wrote Cannon, who knows the topic well.
Stay tuned. It may be a busy summer…
UPDATE 12:06pm PT: In a statement sent to The BRAD BLOG (posted in full below) Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says “After a year and a half of stonewalling by the Administration…The bipartisan support for issuing these subpoenas demonstrates that both Democrats and Republicans are fed up with the misleading statements from the Attorney General and the Administration about this illegal program.”
Feingold’s complete brief statement follows below…
On the Senate Judiciary Committee Issuing Subpoenas Relating to the NSA Warrantless Wiretapping Program
Washington DC ““ U.S. Senator Russ Feingold issued the following statement after the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas for legal analysis and other documents concerning the NSA warrantless wiretapping program that began shortly after 9/11 and was first revealed to the public in December 2005.
“It has been more than a year and a half since it was first disclosed that the President authorized an illegal warrantless wiretapping program. After a year and a half of stonewalling by the Administration, the Judiciary Committee is finally taking appropriate action by issuing subpoenas for information that will tell us how and why high-ranking officials authorized this illegal program. The bipartisan support for issuing these subpoenas demonstrates that both Democrats and Republicans are fed up with the misleading statements from the Attorney General and the Administration about this illegal program.
Though most members of the Committee have been kept in the dark about the program, the Administration has asked us to overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It would be wrong for this committee to even consider legislation making wholesale changes to the FISA statute without access to information about how the executive branch and the judicial branch interpret that law. These subpoenas will help make sure that Congress finally starts getting the answers it deserves.”
That grinding sound that you hear in Washington DC 24/7 for the last few weeks, what could it be ???
25 large trucks parked outside the Vice pResidents house with large industrial paper shredders going full blast grinding up the documents from the bu$$h/cheney mis-administration. Frantically trying to destroy the documents that could prove to America what a criminal gang that has taken over the peoples White House since 2001.
Dick cheney’s rational – if you destroy the evidence – then there was no crime.
Industrial paper shredder trucks in the Dick the cheney’s driveway, running full blast, making sawdust of the evidence of the crimes.
If this leads to impeachment, fire up the afterburners. Cheney and his side-kick Addington are a threat to humanity. Time for a long-overdue showdown against the forces of evil.
If we (the people) get screwed again by democratic inaction then I propose starting the-
Non-Corporate Democratic Party, Or the Non-Corporate Republican party (that one has so much appeal dosen’t it), or Maybe the Non-Corporate Democrat Republican party to run for president.
Update that old crappy system of catering to the corporations and screwing the little guy. The Democratic 2.0 party!
Cause how many more Pelosi three card montey scams are we gonna fall for?
oneguy
Good points! I’ve long wondered why progressive Democrats don’t just take over the Green Party, begin forcing the Democratic and Republican parties to go the way of the Whigs and the Tories.
Can’t help hoping against hope that stuff like exciting subpoenas is going to result in our government being run competently again, but… really… we don’t have any actual basis for that hope. The smoke and mirrors, the sound and fury, signifying nothing, has to come to an end. We gotta get results.
Losers
That’s what we have now for our leaders
Losers
Corrupt and morally bankrupt
Losers
They’ve been keeping everyone in check through illegal spying.
Time to stop them
The system is rigged to work for the two major parties only. It will take a major paradigm shift to change things. Don’t look for it any time soon.
Meanwhile, don’t expect the Rethuglicans in the Senate to side with the Dems when push comes to shove. They are happy to see this become a “constitutional crisis” that will be resolved when the Supremes rule 5-4 that the Unitary Executive doesn’t have to do a damn thing it doesn’t want to do and for the purposes of THAT decision, Cheney is in the Executive.
And if we can’t get more than a handful of Democrats to support H. Res 333, then I don’t see much hope for a successful impeachment, trial, conviction and removal of the Rethuglican scum Veep running (and destroying) the country.
There I go, getting giddy again!
I just saw the news online at the NYTimes listed one hour ago and FLEW over here to make sure Joe Cannon knew!
Do you suppose Leahy is now reading Bradblog?
I don’t know, Charlie, it might be as easy as Al Gore switching from Democrat to Green — or whatever — and entering the race….
Anti-war activists, impeachment advocates, sane people might benefit hugely from listening to interview about the Emergency Anti-War Convention on Independence Day. Whole program full of great information.
Tis complicated.
Are Bushies pushing Cheney out?
Does Cheney want out and Bushies are mad?
Are events conspiring to force Cheney out?
Will Leahy’s subpoenas force Cheney out?
There certainly are a lot of converging interests and so I suspect we’ll see Cheney leave gracefully and avoid an impeachment fight. The subpoenas might be the straw to break the camel’s back.
Dems in Congress have done their part to apply pressure with oversight hearings and I don’t think their lack of ability to impeach and convict should be held against them. Sometimes ya got the power, othertimes you don’t.
The possibility that Cheney has been considering a retirement and shredding documents is troubling. It’s hard to say what he’s destroyed and what image the remaining documents might show. There could be a distorted image of preceding events. Dems and Congress will have to tread carefully to avoid making hasty judgments.
Events are proceeding according to their own timetables, even if our withdrawal from Iraq are not.
Perhaps the stickiest question is who would be the best replacement for Cheney if he were to retire. Stevens may have legal problems. Thompson would have to at least surrender any future hope of becoming president. A Dem replacement is highly unlikely. Someone like Byrd (D-WV) is ready to retire, but probably too feeble to properly do the job of Veep, even for a year and a half. Warner might be fit for the job, but I don’t know how Dems or Cheney would feel about him in that role. There may be other names of which I’m not aware — backroom deals are probably being made, even as we write.
Tis complicated.
I wonder if you got the Progressive Caucus to work together and in a unified stroke all switch their party allegiance to the Green Party, but still caucus with the Dems FOR NOW to avoid the Republicans getting any meaningful power… If they keep getting pushed by the DLC corporate Dems, perhaps this showdown at some point will be necessary!
If they did do it, they’d have to do it in on big massive movement, and be prepared to immediately provide a platform that most Americans would agree is superior to either the existing corporate Republican or Democratic Parties. Perhaps work with the Greens to change the name of the party to something like the “Non-corporate” party or the like. Perhaps some term that doesn’t make it sound like you’re totally against corporations’ existence (aka what the opposite sides would call “communist”), but one that says that the people and the government are boss over our lives, NOT the corporations as is currently the case no matter which party is in power!
Need to pick very carefully the issues that the other side won’t deal with (because it totally threatens their corporate rulers) and issues that the general public from both sides can find common ground upon. Things like public campaign financing, individual bankruptcy protection, universal health care, job outsourcing, immigration, corporate personhood, etc. Avoid putting too high on the list the issues that they love to throw at us to divide us like gay marriage, abortion, flag burning, etc.
Not to say those issues aren’t important, but they are issues that they use to divide us to keep us from taking power away from them, and ultimately they could care less which side wins on those issues since those issues don’t affect corporations and the elite directly.
calipendence
I like to daydream about all that being already in the works….
Since we will be hearing a lot about executive privilege, here is a 2002 article by a law professor, discussing the issue in the context of congress suing Cheney over the energy meetings issue.
Congress, after the article was written, sued Cheney who claimed the privilege. Cheney won in the courts. Here is a link to the Supreme Court Decision.
I would note that executive privilege weakens in certain cases where criminal charges are a factor.
The degree of weakening depends on the facts and people involved in the criminal scenario.
If Cheney says that he isn’t part of the executive branch, can he no longer claim “executive privilege”???