White House Was Aware Of CIA's Attempt To File Criminal Complaint Against Senate Staffers; Did Nothing To Stop It
from the disgraceful dept
As the scandal over the CIA spying on Senate staffers charged with oversight of the CIA deepens, it’s now come out that the White House was fully aware that the CIA was pushing forward with a criminal complaint against those very same staffers and did nothing to stop it. It’s been reported that the White House is standing strongly behind the CIA on this one, and that report confirms some of the serious Constitutional/separation of powers questions that have been raised over this incident.
Having the White House be supportive of the CIA not only spying on its overseers, but then (even more ridiculously) filing a criminal complaint against those same staffers for doing their job speaks volumes about how this White House views Congressional oversight of its giant spying machine. It views it with contempt. It only reinforces how the claims that have been stated repeatedly over the past few months that there is plenty of oversight of the intelligence community are completely hogwash.
Filed Under: cia, senate intelligence committee, spying scandal, torture, white house
Comments on “White House Was Aware Of CIA's Attempt To File Criminal Complaint Against Senate Staffers; Did Nothing To Stop It”
Respectfully submitted
It looks like there is only one logical, ethical and legal choice for the congress to make.
Impeachment proceedings.
Re: Respectfully submitted
Alas, republicans have already proven that they’re not interested in impeaching Obama for any remotely decent reason. It is on the non-issues of Benghazi or Obamacare, as opposed to all of the spying shit which they implicitly approve of but won’t speak out about. This maniacal focus puts the trial of Andrew Johnson to shame.
It says a lot that most Republicans in the House and Senate haven’t been on Obama like a pack of rabid wolverines over the NSA scandal, indefinite detention, trial-free assassination of American citizens (you know, fucking murder), or anything that actually matters to rights.
Re: Re: Respectfully submitted
They cannot very well impeach him for stuff they are itching to do themselves once he is gone.
Re: Re: Re: Respectfully submitted
Sure they can – when Obama does it, it’s bad, but when they do it, it’s good and necessary and The Right Thing To Do.
Re: Re: Re:2 Respectfully submitted
You mean, like how changing the nickname of the Massachusetts healthcare system from Romneycare to Obamacare turned it into an awful un-American communist thing?
Re: Re: Re: Respectfully submitted
And in fact, instigated themselves in most cases.
Re: Re: Re:2 Respectfully submitted
How come, despite the fact that we’ve been bringing up these points again and again, Rep supporters keep going on about impeaching Obama?
Uh, guys, we can’t. He’d bring his Republican colleagues down with him and they know it. All that stuff about Benghazi, etc., was really all about “Look over there!” while they wasted our money on spying on us.
Re: Re: Respectfully submitted
CIA and NSA exceeding their authority: the biggest deal evar! IRS exceeding their authority vis a vi obamacare: non issues.
Make up your mind, is the executive branch exceeding the authority granted then by congressional statute a problem or not?
Re: Re: Re: Respectfully submitted
I think you’ll find that outside of Faux and WingNutDaily that the IRS ‘scandal’ was as genuine as ‘Benghazi’ or ‘Bridge traffic surveys’. Funny how the Repubs always seem to forget all the ‘Occupy’ groups ‘targeted’ as well.
And so what? The only thing the IRS hasn’t done right is to target all the politically active ‘church’ organisations that are welfare-mooching takers and tax-avoiders!
Re: Re: Respectfully submitted
Blame Republicans is all you’ve got? The minority party is supposed to get involved and take-charge of an internal fight and betrayal by the Democrat WH of the Democrat Senate? That’s the most pathetic thing I’ve read here so far. Especially when you put the POTUS’ personal approval of the murders of US citizens overseas on their backs too. Blame Shifting Extrordinaire… to the point of mental pathology.
Re: Re: Re: Respectfully submitted
@ michael, you’re not getting this, are you? You’re on the wrong team whether or not you’re Dem or Rep.
The Reps are as guilty as the Dems for this crap and while they’ve been busy with Benghazi and emoting over Obamacare they’re not interested in calling them out for the drone attacks, etc., because they actually approve of them.
That’s why, despite the wailing against the surveillance state, they’re not really doing much about it.
Re: Re: Respectfully submitted
In some sense, yes Benghazi is a “non-issue”. Why? Because the 4 Americans who were killed were involved in conducting an illegal proxy war against the people of Libya. Just as they had been for the previous 14 months…. Prosecuting the REAL issue regarding Libya would mean putting members of the State department (starting with Hillary), members of the Executive branch (including Obama, and Biden), members of USAID, CIA, NSA, members of the US military, a slew of contracted entities, in front of a firing squad. As no one is in too big a hurry to roll on their compatriots, I think we might have to wait a while on that one…
-Oz
Re: Re: Re: Respectfully submitted
See my comment @ 6:58am
Re: Re: Respectfully submitted
The problem is the optics of trying to impeach the first black President. Plus, it would be impossible to get 2/3 of the Senate to vote to convict. The fact they are not trying to impeach is a purely political decision.
Re: Respectfully submitted
As I’ve seen pointed out before, the biggest argument against impeachment is the one who would replace him were he to be removed.
Obama’s bad, there’s no doubt about that at this point, but his replacement…
Re: Re: Respectfully submitted
“Obama’s bad, there’s no doubt about that at this point, but his replacement…”
I used to think Biden would be worse. I’m not so sure anymore.
Re: Re: Re: Respectfully submitted
Biden would be the same. Just less elegant.
Re: Re: Re:2 Respectfully submitted
Oh come on, less elegant? At least he would not get egg all over a Nobel Peace Prize.
Re: Re: Re:3 Respectfully submitted
I wouldn’t be so sure. He seems to go along with whatever his donors want.
Re: Re: Re: Respectfully submitted
Biden, the big stuck behind the ‘voluntary’ six strikes deal? He could absolutely be worse. At least Obama backed out of SOPA when it was cool to do so, I doubt Biden ever would have.
Re: Re: Re:2 Respectfully submitted
Is that really the worst thing he could do as president.
But seriously, Obama would probably be out of office long before an impeachment process could happen.
Re: Re: Re:2 Respectfully submitted
The six strikes deal, or any IP-related badness, pales in comparison to the other crap that Obama has been in full-throated support of, such as domestic spying.
Re: Respectfully submitted
Nope, the correct response is to fire them all. Preferably from a cannon. The vast majority of both Cognress and the Senate have stood idly by and abdicated their responsibilities.
It is their responsibility to look out for the public. It is their responsibility to hold the executive accountable. It is their responsibility to demand further information, and if necessary, investigate suspected wrongdoing.
REmember that this didn’t just happen – this has been going on in some form since the mid-2000s, whilst Bush was still in power. By all means, call Obama to account on this issue; but don’t just call Obama to account.
Obama, why? Yours was supposed to be the most transparent administration. You broke so many promises. The spying, the torture… What have you DONE??
You were supposed to destroy the Sith, not join them!
Re: Re:
Obama’s fall has three disturbing possibilities.
1 – He was outright corrupt from the start.
2 – He was corrupted when he took office.
3 – Worst of all is that he wasn’t corrupted but he was blackmailed. Normally I’d dismiss it but given the track record of conspiracy theories being right on the spooks I’ll consider it. I hope I’m wrong here. The implications of a shadow coup reducing the president to a mere figurehead is downright terrifying.
Re: Re: Re:
I don’t see those as mutually exclusive options. It would be foolish of the military entertainment complex to bid on just one horse.
Re: Re: Re:
There was a time when I would have dismissed #3 on your list as tinfoil-hattery, but based on everything we’ve seen since he took office, a shadow coup doesn’t seem so far fetched. That’s saying a lot seeing as I’m not the type to believe in most conspiracy theories.
If we work off the assumption it’s true, then that raises a whole lot of other questions. Like when did it start? I’m willing to bet it goes farther back than you’d expect, all the way back to the Kennedy assassination. Especially when you read some of what he said about this exact type of thing. He knew something was awry, tried to warn us, and was murdered for it. I wonder if President Clinton was just another example of what happens if you get into office and refuse to play ball?
Re: Re: Re:
I really think that all US presidents are blackmailed and that they know this going in. I admit some ignorance to the relevant history here, but to me it looks like US Presidents are beholden to moneyed forces, and that this has gotten worse over the years – culminating in Obama. To me being beholden to moneyed forces is being blackmailed.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Oh, it’s a combination of bribery, corruption and blackmail. And they know it going in. Why would you go broke on campaigning for the presidency if not for the chance to make back a fortune by becoming a well-greased cog in the machinery?
Re: Re:
Are you talking about Barry Sorento?
Re: Re:
Pretty sure he was Sith all along
nothing can be done now! the crying and spilled milk wont help either. all that can be hoped for is that this sort of thing gets put to rest and history doesn’t repeat itself at the next elections! the main issue, however, is the sponsoring/lobbying thing. if that were terminated and there were consequences for misusing either, maybe the problems wouldn’t be so big to deal with?
Re: Re:
Such fatalism is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Perhaps we are, as you assert, all doomed. But if we don’t try to to fix things, as futile as the effort might seem, then we are all certainly doomed.
Re: Re:
On other hand gobs of money supporting new candidates is just about the only way to oust an incumbent.
I think it’s time to have the senate vote to grant the chancell– er, president “Emergency Powers”.
Re: Re:
Wouldn’t he have done that back in 1933 (sorry, 2009) if he were going to do that?
Please, just stop.
Realize that Republicans and Democrats are 2 sides of the same coin… you judge which faction is tails. There is no “we” anymore. Its us… the peasants, against them… “Royality.”
–
The “intelligence” agencies have gone rouge.
Congress better wake up and realize that no one is off limits, and all this is happening under the cloak of terror… a self induced perceived “terror” to hijack the Constitution.
–
We have done more damage to ourselves than any amount of planes could achieve. It’s sad.
–
I wonder if the general populace know what we know here if things would be different.
Re: Please, just stop.
Well, CIA and NSA are certainly one gay marriage not made in heaven.
Re: Re: Please, just stop.
Gone “rouge?” Is that anything like “going to Plaid” in Spaceballs? Sounds pretty bad.
Re: Please, just stop.
Well said! We let the terrorists win. We can rebuild after being hit by planes. The problem here is the government self-destructed on impact and basically forgot about the Constitution and why America was formed in the first place. That’s why we are where we are now. Osama bin Laden is laughing at us from hell.
Re: Re: Please, just stop.
“We let the terrorists win.”
It’s worse than that. We’re actually doing the terrorist’s work for them.
Re: Re: Re: Please, just stop.
Most of the work was already firmly in place and cocked and aimed at the American public before bin Laden set it off.
The freedom of the U.S. was a pushover.
Re: Re: Re:2 Please, just stop.
Exactly. And that was the real brilliance of what bin Laden did — he saw the what the major weakness of the US was and played perfectly into it.
Re: Re: Re:3 Please, just stop.
What annoys me about all this is that he laughed like a cartoon villain and ANNOUNCED it publicly – and we STILL fell for it.
A comment
Is it time to compare the NSA/CIA to your least favorite secret police (Stasi, Gestapo, KGB, etc)?
What is next, re-education camps?
Re: A comment
You said it, not me.
In other words, yes.
Re: A comment
What do you mean, “next”? We don’t need reeducation camps when we can do the same pervasively under the guise of “zero-tolerance policies”.
Re: A comment
If you compare the CIA to the Gestapo, you must not know much about either.
The Gestapo had a special bureau in charge of murders with pistols of caliber larger than 9mm, justified by used of such a weapon was an unusually horrible crime. They were armed with…. 11 mm pistols. They functioned as Hitler’s assassination squad. If any of their victims were discovered, it was immediately assigned to them to investigate. That is how “the Night of the Long Knives” could take place with impunity. A simple administrative formality, rather like an executive order, and the asassins became immune.
Re: Re: A comment
Last time I looked, a drone was larger than 11mm. But it’s not like Obama did not secure himself assassination rights on U.S. grounds without drones as well.
It’s ironic that this Senate group was doing something that Obama promised to do if elected, but didn’t, and he refused to come to their rescue.
Re: Re:
Ironic? I’d say it’s just him showing how he really feels about the situation.
Words are cheap, it’s actions that matter, and while his words may say that he’s not happy with the out of control spying, his actions make plain the fact that he’s got no problem with it as long as he can shift the blame away from himself.
Re: Re: Re:
But Obama’s Kool-Aid-Drinking supporters will tell you that he is doing everything he possibly can. It’s a tough job being president (especially for such a decent, honest person in the snakepit we call ‘the government’) so just leave him be. It’s those evil Republicans (and critics like us) that are keeping this modern-day Messiah from doing everything he set out to do.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Up thread they’re insisting he’s a great guy who got blackmailed.
Re: Re: Re:2 Re:
Where is the “great guy” part? And correct me if I’m wrong, but those (two) commenters are saying that all presidents are blackmailed.
Feinstein's outrage
DiFi’s outrage shows that she is finally getting the glimmerings of a clue. When you abandon the Constitution and the Rule of Law there are consequences. Both of these came into existence to protect the upper classes from the unwashed hordes and from tyrants. Obama is not the first “Elected Tyrant” in history and won’t be the last.
Congresscritters are addicted to power in a literal sense, they don’t object to Tyranny. They only object to someone else having unfettered power.
And make no mistake, the USA has become a Tyranny ( Some refer to it as a Kakistocracy, but when the president can order what were once citizens to be killed without charge or trial, he is a Tyrant)
Isn’t CBS paid by advertisers based on the number of viewers, and wouldn’t the number of viewers go down if they pulled their OTA broadcasts? So they are threatening to reduce their profits? They are like that friend who threatens to harm himself if he doesn’t get everything he wants. CBS will hurt itself, and we’ll all be really super sorry and wish we would’ve listened to them!
Rogue power branch. And the other two are doing exactly ZERO to bring it back to its place.
Sorry but if you read the article you linked to, you’ll see that Carney said the President made no comment one way or the other when the CIA revealed their intention to file the complaint. So your headline “did nothing to stop it” is deceptive in the way you complain corporations and officialdom is deceptive. It doesn’t exactly lie, but it’s a spins the facts so they appear to be 180 from reality.
You have no idea how the internal politics between the executive and the spy agencies of this are breaking. You have no idea if POTUS is in league with Feinstein, sympathetic, withholding judgement or opposing her. I know it’s hard to take a wait and watch approach, but that’s what responsible journalist and citizens DO until the details can be ascertained, then they ACT.
Reading the comments here and it’s clear you’ve convinced a large part of your commentators that Obama is “with” the CIA on this issue. The evidence YOU CITE YOURSELF does not support this conclusion, and neither does that evidence support your headline.
In this instance, you’re not better than the people and organizations you criticize. You should learn to take yourself more seriously. You should learn what taking things seriously entails.
Re: Re:
Obama Rulez!! Techdirt Droolz!!
Re: Re:
Sorry but if you read the article you linked to, you’ll see that Carney said the President made no comment one way or the other when the CIA revealed their intention to file the complaint. So your headline “did nothing to stop it” is deceptive
How so? I stand by it as 100% accurate. Upon informing the WH of what the CIA was going to do, it would have been entirely appropriate for the WH to say that’s crazy to file criminal charges against your overseers. But it did not. Thus, it did nothing to stop it.
You have no idea how the internal politics between the executive and the spy agencies of this are breaking. You have no idea if POTUS is in league with Feinstein, sympathetic, withholding judgement or opposing her. I know it’s hard to take a wait and watch approach, but that’s what responsible journalist and citizens DO until the details can be ascertained, then they ACT.
The FACT is that the WH knew about these plans and did not stop it. As we reported.
Re: Re: Re:
Come on Mike, what did we learn from Watergate? That an executive that attempts to interfere with a Justice Department investigation at any stage has something to hide. What would it look like if the headline read ‘Obama attempts to stop justice dept complaint’?
It is within their rights to file a complaint. What legal grounds does Obama have to prevent them? Absolutely none.
One interpretation of the known facts is Obama elected to disassociate himself from any investigation of the post 911 Bush/CIA actions and handed it off to Feinstein, herself a bullet proof supporter of the nsa/cia programs. If half of what your readers are hypothesizing is half true then if he wanted to rein them in and not have the long knives of ‘politically disastrous world events’ pulled out on his watch then he would have to, of necessity, appear to be supporting one thing, while enabling its opposite.
I am not saying this is the case, although I wish it were, I am saying that in this instance, with respect to this headline, in this article, as it corresponds to reality, it’s a deceptive failure.
You’re not without insight or industry. You should take yourself more seriously and a part of that means resisting rushing into the arms of your preferred narrative on every occasion. Another part of that is learning to generate alternative hypotheses for a given set of facts and withholding judgement until all facts are known. We don’t even know what the cia is alleging in terms of specific laws having been broken. Sure, the whole reeks of certain cia officials trying to thwart an investigation. We know with 100% certainty that Clapper lied, and that the cia has gone completely rouge before, so these agencies are prone, then and now, to conceive of themselves and their mission as above Congressional oversight.
But none of that means Obama could have legally or politically had the leeway to stop the cia from filing a complaint in this specific instance.
Re: Re:
” that’s what responsible journalist and citizens DO until the details can be ascertained, then they ACT. “
But until responsible journalists and citizens ACT, the details will never be ascertained.
Over-sight - to pull the wool over the adversary's vision
“It only reinforces how the claims that have been stated repeatedly over the past few months that there is plenty of oversight of the intelligence community are completely hogwash.“
Not exactly. There really is lots of “over-sight” going on.
In fact, many, many millions of tax payer dollars are spent on the people in charge of “over-sight” every year.
With semantics in the mix, the admin and its cheerleaders are telling the truth when they claim there is a shit load of very effective “over-sight” going on.
The problem is that in this case “oversight” means insuring that the crimes of the tri-letter agencies are not easily discovered by the “adversary”, (often referred to as the American Public), and that leaks are covered up as quickly as possible.
Other aspects of federal “over-sight” include the rewriting of news reports to eliminate incriminating evidence, the harassment and blackmail of anyone who might be able to inform the public of the facts, and of course, financing TV and hollywood movies and series that depict spies as the good guys, to name only a few.
In the new Federal Dictionary, Over-sight means Preemptive and Hind-sight Cover-up.
So you see, they are telling the truth after all. There is lots of “over-sight” going on.
Victim of extreme abuse tortured mentally and body violated at times with out athourazation . asumed goal Murder .Monitered Hippa Rights Violated To Cover Abuse Victim Tina Birkhead Ceder St Galesburg Ill 61401
MONITERED STALKED EXPLOITED
Anonamous Coward I am the REAL TINA BIRKHEAD I AM NO COWARD . I HAVE BEEN STALKED EXPLOITED MONITERED . THE STATEMENT PRINTED PRIOER WAS BY ASUMED STALKER. MY HOUSE DESTROYED REPEATEDLY AS WELL AS PROPERTY STOLEN .have had no luck gaining legal help asume reason STALKER DIRTY THE TRUTH TO GAIN LAUGHTER NO HELP GAINED I HAVE COME ACROSS OTHER STATEMENTS NOT MINE .I AM ABUSED TORT PRIVACEY RIGHTS VIOLATED AS WELL AS HIPPA RIGHTS TINA BIRKHEAD GALESBURG ILL
Monitered HIPPA RIGHTS VIOLATED/ TORT PRIVACEY RIGHTS
THIS STATEMENT MAY NOT STAY LONG BUT AT THE HANDS OF SOME INSANE LUNATIC I HAVE BEEN STALKED COLUMES TYPED IN POOR TASTE MAKING ME LOOK INSANE OR CRAZY I AM A VICTIM OF EXTREME MIND GAMES AND EXPLOITATION . MY HIPPA RIGHTS VIOLATED CIVIL RIGHTS AND TORT PRIVACEY RIGHTS I IN SOUND MY PRAY THIS SICK PERSON IS ARESTED I HAVE LOST FRIENDS LOVED ONES PROPERTY AND MY REPUTATION TINA BIRKHEAD GALESBURG ILL
MONITERED EXPLOITED HIPPA RIGHTS TORT PRIVACEY RIGHTS VIOLATED
THIS STATEMENT MAY NOT STAY LONG BUT AT THE HANDS OF SOME SICK LUNATIC I HAVE BEEN STALKED COLUMes TYPED NOT MINE ONES IN VERY POOR TASTE AND EVEN MADE TO APPEAR A IDOT PROPERTY STOLEN LIES SPREAD A CLEAN BACK GROUND.NO CRIMANAL BACK GROUND TURNED INTO WHITE TRASH MY HOUSE REPEATEDLY DESTROYED JOBS LOST AND DESCRIMANATED AGAINST AS WELL.TIME WITH CHILDREN LOST A NORMAL PRODUCTIVE LIFE REPEATEDLY DESTROYED I CAN GAIN NO LEGAL HELP I HAVE REPEATEDLY TRYED TINA BIRKHEAD GALESBURG ILL