House Hearing on Executive Power

This morning, I woke up far too early and watched the House Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations”. In the same way that The Sports Guy at ESPN.com will write down his thoughts while watching sports, I have done the same thing with the hearing. There was some good information provided today, especially by my intellectual crush, Bruce Fein. As the Republicans accused, this hearing was very much a referendum on impeachment. Let’s hope it is the first of many.

Throughout this script, I have included clips from CSPAN. When you click on them, it will bring you to the same screen, but click on the big red circle on the right side of your screen and the clip should play. For those that don't feel like reading, here is a collection of my favorite clips:

Bruce Fein's opening statement

Vincent Bugliosi's opening statement

Smirking Jeremy Rabkin's opening statement - a trip to the looney bin

How to get rid of "executive privilege" claims

Bruce Fein: Why withholding information in matters of war is an impeachable offense

The evidence that Bush mislead Congress about Iraq's threat- MUST WATCH

You will also notice that I mostly refer to the members of Congress with only their names. I have also chosen not to include a D or R next to their names. I do this for two reasons 1) laziness. I don’t want to type ‘Congressman’ and ‘Congresswoman’ a thousand times along with their political party association but also 2) the title seems to give the people a validity and respect that they often don’t deserve based on their actions and performance in their positions. I want us to judge these individuals as their bosses and therefore I have dropped the titles that imply that they are our superiors.

All times in EST.

10:02 – Dennis Kucinich and his gorgeous wife walk in to huge applause. I’ve never seen that at a hearing.

10:09 – I can hear chanting but it sounds distant and I don’t see any pink shirts (There are a group of women from Code Pink that are regulars at just about every hearing). Are they chanting, “Let us in?”

10:10- The Voice of CSPAN announced that Bruce Fein is going to be one of the witnesses. This is awesome because Bruce Fein is a Republican lawyer who favors impeachment because he actually gives a damn about the law. I believe he was part of the Nixon administration. I’m excited to see him talk to the Republicans. I wonder if they will treat him with the same condescension that they are sure to give to Dennis Kucinich.

10:14 – Ok- correction… Bruce Fein was the Deputy Attorney General for the Reagan Administration and specializes in constitutional law. The Voice also just rattled off the other witnesses, but I can’t type that fast. Here’s the list from the House Judiciary Committee website:

Witness List - Panel I:

Hon. Dennis Kucinich
U.S. House of Representatives - 10th District, OH

Hon. Maurice Hinchey US House of Representatives - 22nd District, NY

Hon. Walter Jones
US House of Representatives - 3rd District, NC

Hon. Brad Miller
US House of Representatives - 13th District, NC

Panel II:

Hon. Elizabeth Holtzman
Former US House of Representatives - 16th District, NY
Department of Justice

Hon. Bob Barr
Former US House of Representatives - 7th District, GA
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Hon. Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson
Founder and President - High Road for Human Rights

Stephen Presser
Raoul Berer Professor of Legal History - Northwestern University School of Law

Bruce Fein
Associate Deputy Attorney General, 1981-1982
Chairman, American Freedom Agenda

Vincent Bugliosi
Author and Former Los Angeles County Prosecutor

Jeremy A. Rabkin
Professor of Law - George Mason University School of Law

Elliott Adams
President of the Board - Veterans for Peace

Frederick A. O. Schwarz, Jr.
Senior Counsel - Brennen Center for Justice at NYU School of Law

Bob Barr? Is that the same Bob Barr running for President as a Libertarian?

10:20 – Yes

10:21 – Hearing just started. Congressman John Conyers (chairman of the House Judiciary Committee) is awesome for calling this hearing, but he has the excitement of a goldfish. Or maybe it’s just 4am here in Hawaii and I’m grouchy.

10:24 – In his opening statement, John Conyers spoke about the contempt charges that the Judiciary Committee brought up against Harriet Miers, Josh Bolton, and charges they intend to bring up against Karl Rove. But what’s the point of bragging about those actions if those people are all still able to watch this on their living room televisions just like you and me? Their asses should be in jail or else those charges are meaningless.

10:27 – Lamar Smith just called this an “anger management class” and said “there is no evidence to support impeachment”. He dismisses this entire process as being done because Democrats just don’t like the President. Of course this jerkoff represents Texas.

10:30 – I could have typed half of Lamar Smith’s opening statement as shameless statements of Team Republican bullshit. I’m guessing that urge will appear more during Republican questions during this hearing. I’m going to try to control myself and try to avoid calling more Congressman words like “jerkoff”. God help me keep my cool.

10:37 – Steve King of Iowa is calling this an impeachment hearing and is saying that he never imagined that this would happen because the Bush administration has done nothing to warrant it. First of all, I hope this is the first of many impeachment hearings. Second, if Steve King of Iowa didn’t see this coming, he’s a moron. So much for self control.

10:40- What is he even talking about? I love how Republicans pick some random detail in some random report and hammer into it to avoid talking about anything substantial.

10:41 – John Conyers: reminded Steve King that this is not an impeachment hearing because the House of Representatives has not voted on it, passed it, and sent it to the House Judiciary Committee. A stickler to the details, that Conyers.

10:45 – Dan Lungren never fails to make my blood boil. Will the residents of Elk Grove, Folsom, and Sutter Creek in California please get this guy out of our Congress?

10:51 – Jerrold Nadler just made a great point in response to the Republicans which was that these hearings are exercises of Congress’ and the Judiciary Committee’s power, power which is diminished when such hearings are so easily dismissed. That is so true. These Republicans are stripping themselves of their personal power in this government when they refuse to exercise oversight over the Executive Branch. Obviously the shameless Team Republican member Mike Pence didn’t get the “You are diminishing your own power!” memo. He also is baffled that anyone could find fault in President George W. Bush’s actions.

10:56- The award for being the first to bring up 9/11 goes to...

Mike Pence of Indiana!

10:57 – Is everyone on this committee going to give an opening statement? Jeez…

11:02 – Sheila Jackson Lee is waving around her pocket Constitution. That’s cute. I’m not being sarcastic.

11:03- Trent Franks just said that if this is not an impeachment hearing then he hopes that none of the witnesses will even mention it. That’s cute. I’m being very sarcastic.

11:05 – Trent Franks: Be afraid of terrorists! They want nuclear weapons! You need a President who is willing to sacrifice his popularity to protect you! Ew…

11:07: Steve Cohen just brought up the fact that Monica Goodling would only testify after being granted immunity and said that innocent people don’t usually request immunity. In blondie’s defense, I doubt she knowingly did anything wrong. My guess is that she just didn’t know and wanted to be covered. After all, she did get her law degree from Jesus Camp. The point is that she came forward and testified. The Democrats might be wise not to shit all over the people who have agreed to cooperate with them.

11:13 – Does Hank Johnson have a birthmark under his chin or is that a weird light reflection?

11:14 – Could Hank Johnson possibly talk slower? No wonder people don’t watch CSPAN.

11:18 – Tammy Baldwin. I’m 90% sure she was one of the three Judiciary Committee members who were pushing to get impeachment hearings against VP Dick Cheney. She had a good opening statement, but again, a boring delivery. The Republicans definitely win in the political theatre competition.

11:20 – One hour of Congressional opening statements and still going. I can see it now. They are going to have to cut the second panel questioning short because they are going to run out of time. I wonder why that happens so often…

11:25 – Ok, time for witness opening statements. Finally.

11:26 – Dennis Kucinich is such an amazing Congressman and I’m so thankful to have him up there on the hill. That said, I really wish he didn’t look like a cartoon character. If he looked like Pierce Brosnan, I think this country would take him seriously. How sad is that?

11:34 – Witness Maurice Hinchey (former Congressman) is talking about how the Bush administration failed to act on warnings about 9/11. I honestly didn’t think anyone would bring that up but I’m glad it is going to be addressed. Good on him.

11:36 – There are two women visible over Maurice Hinchey’s shoulder. One is the beautiful and classy Elizabeth Kucinich, looking stunning as usual. The other is some blond girl with a sloppy French braid who has yawned about 30 times. More often than not there is some goofball in the crowd that I can’t stop watching. I think French braid girl… we’ll call her Frenchy… is going to be that goofball today.

11:41 – “Democracy dies behind closed doors” – Congressman Brad Miller

11:49 – I just got up to make a turkey sandwich and saw that my mayo expires on February 4, 2009. George W. Bush, barring some emergency declaration, he will be out of office before my mayonnaise expires. How cool is that?

11:52 - HR 5993 is a bill Walter Jones is talking about which would require (among other things) that Executive signing statements be public and that the Executive would have to testify as to why the statement has been added in order for it to be valid. He also said that John McCain has promised to never use signing statements if elected and Barack Obama has yet to say the same.

11:55 – Oh my God… they are getting opening statements from the second panel right now too. This is ridiculous. Are we ever going to get to the hearing?

11:57- I didn’t know that John Conyers was on the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon impeachment hearings. So many of our Congressman, as much as I like John Conyers, have been serving for far too long.

12:03 – Elizabeth Holtzman is a former Congresswoman and is on the second panel. If I were to peg anyone as likely to bite a Republican’s head off, she would (so far) be my best bet.

12:06 – Bob Barr was the US House manager during 1998 impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton, was a Republican while in Congress from 1995-2003, and is of the opinion that the Bush Executive branch has taken abuses of the separation of powers to a “new and unprecedented level”. It is Republicans like Bob Barr that will turn the tide of this Congress. This is something I intend to write about in the next few days, but the Brad Blog is reporting that Karl Rove is threatening a man named Mike Connell and his family telling them that if Mike Connell does not take the fall for the election fraud in Ohio in 2004 that Rove will have Connell’s wife prosecuted. It’s when they start to panic and turn on each other that the chips begin to fall. Every Republican that speaks against the Bush administration’s abuses of power is worth 50 Democrats in my mind. Just as the United States will only be destroyed from within, the same goes for Team Republican.

12:20 – Two hours of opening statements

12:21 – I just popped over to CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, the Huffington Post websites to see what their headlines are. On every website, the headline is about Barack Obama’s trip to Europe. On none of those pages is this hearing mentioned in a prominent position, if at all. I’m not surprised about the first three “mainstream” sites, but I’m actually a little surprised at The Huffington Post. They are more and more drinking the Kool-aid that they were initially created to be the antidote for.

12:31 – Bruce Fein is pissed and it’s only his opening statement. I love it! (CLIP)

12:34 – I didn’t see this coming… Vincent Bugliosi, the former Los Angeles prosecutor, just read into the Congressional record that he has evidence enough to convict the President and others in his administration for first-degree murder of the over 4,000 soldiers who have died fighting the Iraq war and the 100,000 recorded Iraqi deaths that resulted because of Bush’s war. (CLIP - Note the applause and Lamar “jerkoff” Smith’s attempt to have the room cleared)

12:41 – A witness asked to appear by the Republicans is Jeremy Rabkin. He’s a law professor from George Mason University, a school I've only heard of because their basketball team made it way further than they were supposed to in the NCAA tournament a few years ago. I’ll just list the ways he’s pissing me off. 1) He is referring to the destruction of the 4^th amendment (the recent passage of telecom immunity commonly referred to as FISA) as a “secondary issue”, saying that if people believe that Bush lied us into war, we shouldn’t be concerned with “secondary issues”. 2) He’s a smirking little shit and is using sarcasm instead of legal arguments to make his points. 3) He is praising the Bush administration because there have been no more terrorist attacks here since 9/11 despite the fact that 9/11 happened during the Bush administration. 4) He’s calling the people in the hearing- audience members, Congressmen, and witnesses who are angry- “demented”. Here's a CLIP of this for you guys, but it’s not a “must see”. This one is more for entertainment than anything else.

12:51 – If we ever get to the Q&A portion of this hearing, I think the second panel will be the most fun.

12:58 – Elizabeth Holtzman is saying that impeachment is the only remedy to an Executive branch out of control because there is no executive privilege with impeachment. She said that while there is a good chance that they won’t be able to finish the task, they can start the task and at least set the precedent that there are repercussions for ignoring the law (totally paraphrasing). I think she is right that the key is to take away the claim of executive privilege and – this is just me saying this- to take away George W. Bush’s power to pardon his co-conspirators. The only way the Constitution allows presidential pardons to be stripped is when “in cases of impeachment”.

1:04 – Fox News has the hearing up on their website. CNN, MSNBC, & Huffington… shame on you. Scooped by Fox!

1:06 – Frenchy’s gone. Or maybe she’s just asleep. Put into a coma by almost 3 hours of opening statements.

1:09 – Bruce Fein, responding to the argument that all Presidents have broken the law during wartime, said that this is different because this war is permanent. The conditions for the end of this war is when no one in the world threatens an American with a terrorist act, which will never happen, therefore that argument is invalid (CLIP). It’s scary to think that Bush has created a permanent war situation for us but considering that both McCain and Obama have promised to keep focusing on the “War on Terror”, permanent war does appear to be our future.

1:14 – I think John Conyers just kicked Cindy Sheehan out of the courtroom. He said “Sheehan. Out.” I didn’t see her face or anything though, so don’t quote me on this.

1:15 – 2 hours and 58 minutes of opening statements. First round of questions goes to Lamar “jerkoff” Smith. Looks like panel #2 will be up first. Sweet.

1:20 – Ok, so apparently we are going to re-visit the Clinton impeachment again. Jerkoff is trying to get the panel members to fight with each other.

1:23 – Jeremy Rabkin – the Republican’s smirking witness who was pissing me off at 12:41- just said that no one has even tried to explain why they believe the President lied about the pretenses for going to war, but if those charges were found to be true, those would be impeachable offenses. No one has tried to explain that, huh? How about the people sitting next to you (the former Congresswoman and the former Assistant District Attorney of Los Angeles) that have written books on the subject? Their books are on the table you are sitting at. Maybe they will let you borrow them. He then went on to call everyone concerned with the rule of law “demented” again and said that everyone is “bitter” because the election is going to be very, very close again and emotions are running high. Shameless.

1:32 – Jerrold Nadler asked Bruce Fein about executive privilege. Apparently, executive privilege does not apply in impeachment hearings. Nadler’s question was that considering the Bush administration has already instructed staffers to not show up for testimony, etc., what would stop them from asserting executive privilege anyway? Bruce Fein said that during the Nixon impeachment hearings, they tried to do just that. Congress, in that instance, is able to then file an article of impeachment on that subject because it is against the law to assert executive privilege during impeachment, and then he could be removed from office. (CLIP)

1:36 – Where’s the sound? Bruce Fein is still talking but we can’t hear him.

1:37 – It’s back. Jerrold Nadler asked Elizabeth Holtzman how she recommends they get the Republicans to come around in the highly partisan atmosphere the current Congress has to deal with (she was involved in the Nixon impeachment which was made possible because of the Republicans that came to their senses). Her answer was that it was the American people who demanded it after the Saturday night massacre. She said that during the hearings, they brought people along by having fair proceedings. The fair proceedings part we can do nothing about, but it seems to me that a game plan for us regular Americans might be to start applying pressure via daily emails and phone calls to the Republican members of the Judiciary Committee. The Democrats seem to be with us already. The Republicans, while it is very true that they will be initially unwilling to listen, are all up for re-election this year (the entire House is up for re-election). Maybe the prospect of getting kicked out of office will make them think twice about continuing to protect President Bush. In fact, I’m going to go back through this before I publish and give phone numbers for some of these people (home offices because Congress is about to go on vacation). Let’s start pressuring them right now.

1:45 – Steve King is saying he has yet to be informed of the holes in the claim that Saddam Hussien sought significant portions of yellowcake urianium from Africa. The hole was provided by Joe Wilson, the husband of Valerie Plame who was outed as a covert CIA agent because her husband went public with the information he found investigating that claim in Africa. Does Steve King (202-225-4426) take us all for idiots?

1:51 – Bobby Scott‘s question is basically, ‘How do we get witnesses to show up if they won’t listen to us?’. Easy. Throw the ones who break the law in jail using the power of inherent contempt and/or impeach their boss who ordered them not to show up (impeach their boss was basically Bruce Fein’s answer). My God… these Democrats are such weenies.

1:56 – Elizabeth Holtzman: "Congress can pass all the statutes that it wants but a President that feels he is above the law can just ignore them…the only remedy for a President that feels he is above the law is impeachment. You can’t run away from that." (this is close to an exact quote)

1:59 – Vincent Bugliosi (former Los Angeles Assistant District Attorney)– the President has temporary immunity from prosecution while in office. However, once he leaves office, he can be prosecuted for any crimes he committed while in office. Bugliosi specifically wants George W. Bush to be indicted for murder upon leaving office on January 20.

2:06 – Another Republican Congressman giving questions on the Constitution to smirking Jeremy Rabkin instead of Bruce Fein. Smirking Jeremy Rabkin said that “Clearly, the worst President was James Buchannan who allowed the country to fall apart on his watch.” Ha! Seen our economy lately?

2:09 – “If the President and the Attorney General are protecting me from terrorism, who is protecting me from them?” – Congressman Mel Watt (this line got another applause)

2:16 – Mel Watt – Democrat – sucks. Despite all the arguments he heard today, despite all the letters he says he has received from constituents that want impeachment, and despite his own quote, Watt says he doesn’t support moving forward. He used the “it’s a distraction” argument. Distraction from what? America’s Next Top President? His bottom line is that he wants “the American people to impeach this President in November.” I hope the 12^th district of North Carolina impeaches you for failing to uphold the Constitution. Here’s his phone number in Charlotte: (704) 344-9950 and Greensboro: (336) 275-9950. Give him hell, neighbors.

2:21 – Louie Gohmert – is he seriously blaming Bush lying about the weapons of mass destruction on Bill Clinton? Louie Gohmert, representing Team Republican thanks to the residents of Tyler and Longview in Texas. Here’s his toll free number in Tyler: (866) 535-6302

2:30 – Frederick Schwartz (lawyer) just suggested a “truth commission” in the likeness of the 9/11 commission, where citizens appointed by the President and Congress look into the lawlessness of the Bush administration. Can we please stop allowing the Bush administration determine who will be in charge of investigating them? This airhead Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren seems to think a bogus “truth commission” is a good idea. We already know more than we need to know in order to know for certain that the President broke the law! Ever wonder why the Democrats as a whole seem like a bunch of pansies? It’s because they have parts like Zoe Lofgren, who represents San Jose and the Silicon Valley in California. Her number: (408) 271-8700.

2:38 – Mutiny in the courtroom! They just removed a soldier from the crowd, some Asian guy just started screaming and was escorted out, people are being kicked out for wearing t-shirts, and the entire crowd looks furious. John Conyers actually looks amused.

2:42 – Smirking Jeremy Rabkin just reminded everyone that the President doesn’t work alone. He said that of everyone is so worried about things like FISA, they could impeach the Attorney General and others. Dan Lungren was giving his witness a classic look that basically said, ‘Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!’. As sick as this doofus makes me, he does have a point, and I think Lungren knows it. This clip is not exactly newsworthy, but Dan Lungren’s facial expressions are priceless (CLIP).

2:47 – Bruce Fein: the founding fathers intended withholding information from Congress to be an impeachable offense. Fein said that the power to declare war is obviously corrupted if the President is able to control the information flow and can edit out parts of the story. The fact that President Bush did so, withholding parts of the story from Congress which guided them to believe the threat Iraq posed to be greater than the whole story would have guided them to believe, is an impeachable offense. (CLIP)

2:53 – Vincent Bugliosi (Los Angeles prosecutor)- The descents that are in the classified document regarding Iraq were deleted from the packet of information that was given to Congress. THIS IS A MUST WATCH CLIP

3:08 – “It’s up to Congress whether or not it will let its power slip through its fingers” – Ross “Rocky” Anderson (former Mayer of Salt Lake City).

3:10 – Bruce Fein – Attorney General Mukasey’s refusal to enforce the Congressional subpoenas is an impeachable offense

3:17 – Bruce Fein – the President’s impeachable offenses are “open and notorious” and it wouldn’t require a long investigation to impeach and remove him from office.

3:23 – Hank Johnson is putting pressure on Stephen Presser (Northwestern law professor), the other witness that has been supporting the Republican line that impeachment hearings are not warranted. He’s another smirker. Under what rock do the Republicans find these law professors?

3:35 – Tammy Baldwin - (almost an exact quote) “I have serious concerns about the similarities between the actions and rhetoric of this administration in the run up to the war in Iraq and the actions and rhetoric of this administration regarding Iran.” Me too, sista.

3:43 – Totally not related to this hearing, but did you guys hear that John Edwards has been caught by the National Enquirer meeting up with his mistress and bastard child at some hotel? Anyone a bit happier that he’s not the Democratic nominee now?

3:47 – President Bush has issued almost 1,100 signing statements onto laws passed by Congress.

3:48 - Frederick Schwartz (Senior Council at NYU School of Law) -President Bush’s signing statements are both unprecedented in their volume and their audacity

3:51 – Bruce Fein – Congress can refuse to appropriate money to the enforcement of laws that contain a signing statement, therefore forcing the President to take the law in its entirety or not at all.

4:06 – Dan Lungren is accusing the Democrats of intimidating witnesses. I have sat here and watched this hearing for over 6 hours now and I have not seen a single instance of witness intimidation.

4:12 – Jerold Nadler is laughing at Dan Lungren now. Good. I have to wonder why they even bother talking to him.

4:13 – The hearing is adjourned.