Tag Archives: FBI

Abuse With Impunity: The Ted Stevens Case

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The late Sen. Ted Stevens, a powerful Washington figure, was brought low by a government that abused its power. Can government be held accountable for its abuses? [Credit: Arlington Cemetery]

The late Sen. Ted Stevens, a pow­er­ful Wash­ing­ton fig­ure, was brought low by a gov­ern­ment that abused its pow­er. Can gov­ern­ment be held account­able for its abus­es? [Cred­it: Arling­ton Cemetery]

The late Sen­a­tor Ted Stevens (R‑AK) was once a pow­er­ful man.   Unbowed before col­leagues and Pres­i­dents, Stevens’ pow­er proved no match for gov­ern­ment lawyers and FBI agents, who, accord­ing to a lengthy court-ordered report, lied, hid evi­dence and delib­er­ate­ly deceived a judge and jury to obtain a guilty ver­dict against the Alas­ka Sen­a­tor just weeks before the 2008 elec­tion. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Why It’s a Bad Time to Hold on to Holder

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AG Eric Holder may have to help POTUS dig out from under mounting scandals. Credit: theatlantic.com

AG Eric Hold­er may have to go to help POTUS dig out from under mount­ing scan­dals.
Cred­it: theatlantic.com

May 10 was sup­posed to be about health care and moms.  The White House mes­sage of the day was that the health care law is pro-moth­er­hood. The law’s detrac­tors, with their “polit­i­cal bick­er­ing,” “tall tales,” and “polit­i­cal games,” are, by impli­ca­tion, against motherhood.

The Pres­i­dent deliv­ered this mes­sage two days before Moth­ers Day at a White House event. But his mes­sage nev­er did get out. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Benghazi, the IRS and the Perils of Power

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Pho­to cred­it: Huff­in­g­ton Post

What is it that makes sec­ond terms so polit­i­cal­ly treach­er­ous? Received wis­dom tells us that scan­dal is root­ed in hubris – a new­ly re-elect­ed Pres­i­dent, hav­ing stared down the threat of polit­i­cal extinc­tion, now thinks him­self invul­ner­a­ble, and soon enough is caught up in scandal.

But I think some­thing more fun­da­men­tal is at work. Con­tin­ue read­ing →