Another high ranking Republican caught leaking classified info for political purposes
posted by
Wally
9:24 AM
CREW FILES DOJ COMPLAINT AGAINST MIN. LEADER BOEHNER FOR ALLEGED ILLEGAL LEAK OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION
Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Department of Justice asking that the Counterespionage Section of the National Security Division initiate an investigation into whether House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-OH) violated the law by leaking classified information.
In a July 31, 2007 interview with Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto, Rep. Boehner disclosed an aspect of a Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court's decision regarding warrantless wiretapping, stating:There's been a ruling, over the last four or five months, that prohibits the ability of our intelligence services and our counterintelligence people from listening in to two terrorists in other parts of the world where the communication could come through the United States. Rep. Boehner apparently made his remarks to Mr. Cavuto in an effort to blame Democrats for failing to pass legislation overriding the court's decision, stating: "The Democrats have known about this for months. We have had private conversations, we have had public conversations that this needs to be fixed. And Republicans are not going to leave this week until this problem is addressed."
Notably, Minority Leader Boehner has previously expressed strong concerns over illegal leaks for political gain. In discussing a long-running court case regarding an illegally intercepted phone call that Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) released to the media, Rep. Boehner stated: "When you break the law in pursuit of a political opponent, you've gone too far. Members of Congress have a responsibility not only to obey the laws of the country and the rules of our institution, but also to defend the integrity of those laws and rules when they are violated." Theoretically, he could be facing 10 years. But really, will anything come of it?
Don't bet on it. Gonzales will refuse to investigate or prosecute for "national security" reasons - which is counterintuitive and irrational, seeing as this was a leak of classified national defense information. If an investigation does take place, either in the DOJ or Congress, Bush will say Boehner can't talk because of "executive privilege", which is again irrational since Boehner is clearly not in the executive branch. But then, logic and reason have never been the strong suits of this administration. Politics trumps everything, and this was their man making political points, and that means whatever he did, no matter how illegal, is okay.
It's okay when Republicans do it
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