McClellan Hearings May Be Required, Say Congressmen

***UPDATE***

Think Progress reported this afternoon that White House spokesperson Dana Perino told reporters Friday during a press conference that the White House could possibly stop McClellan from testifying before Congress:

QUESTION: Could the White House block him from testifying, if he wanted to testify? Or how does that work?

PERINO: Conceivably?

QUESTION: Yes.

PERINO: Hypothetically, which I'm not supposed to answer a hypothetical, yes, I think so. The law would allow for that. But by saying that, I'm not suggesting that that's what would happen or not happen.

McClellan himself told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Friday that he'd be "glad" to testify about the Bush White House. That and he doesn't see himself apologizing to George Bush any time soon:

"I don't need to ask for any forgiveness from him because my comments are sincere and honest ... it was tough getting to the conclusions I drew, but they were absolutely the truth from my perspective."

The Politico says House Judiciary Chair John Conyers is considering a hearing on the McClellan book to determine the real facts surrounding the Valerie Plame scandal.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) said today that he plans to begin discussions with former White House press secretary Scott McClellan regarding his participation in a congressional hearing.

"I find Mr. McClellan's revelations about attempts to cover-up the Valerie Plame leak extremely troubling. Particularly disturbing is McClellan's assertion that he was specifically directed by Andy Card to 'vouch' for Scooter Libby after the investigation had begun, which, if true, could amount to obstruction of justice beyond that for which Mr. Libby has already been convicted," said Conyers.

---
Florida Congressman Robert Wexler wants Scott McClellan to testify before Congress on the events in his book.

Former Bush spokesman Scott McClellan should testify under oath on Capitol Hill about his explosive new book in which he sharply criticizes his old boss, a Democratic congressman said Friday.

Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Florida, said McClellan, who served as the president's press secretary before leaving the White House in 2006, would be able to provide valuable insight into a number of issues that the House Judiciary Committee is investigating.

Comments

[ProfessorDuh]

I see the Republicans' hero George W. Bush wants to censor his former aide's testimony before Congress about White House warmongering lies and possible criminal activities.
Now when Bush’s secret spy-on-Americans program was revealed, you Rove-conditioned Republican zombies chanted, in unison, “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.”
By your own logic then, what is it you think Bush has to hide, and what is it you think Bush is worried we’ll find out?

[Zankee]

Follow bush's strings to the puppeteer's hands; bush, at all costs, does not want the people to SEE the puppeteers, and their "true" agenda..; enslavement of the masses for the benifit of the rest.., was, and still is their goal....

[ProfessorDuh]

You are correct.

[returnofthejedi]

I would advise anyone that supports this evil idea of elitist supremecy,to put away their
guns, badges, congressional seats, businesses, prisons, bull!@## laws, ect,ect, before your opponents(Victims) start to pick up theirs. If you think the first civil war was bad........imagine the second one! None of us may be able to survive that one. Having said that there may be some willing to take that chance!

[Raymondf]

I have nothing to hide except I don't go to church every sunday, and calls I don't answer from bill collectors. I don't care if they listen to any of my phone calls. Have at it.

[dolphinlikr]

Hey Ray, get a job and start caring because they ARE listening and they ARE reading this and your rights as a citizen ARE diminished by the sheep mentality. (just go along with whatever they tell you to do because it is easier than protesting). The things Mcclellan talks about in his book are criminal in nature and we are all affected by them. Bill Clinton pointing his finger and lying to us and the whole world came crashing in on him. bush's forays into war crimes and torture and the outing of a covert CIA agent, (treason), illegal wiretapping, (yes it is illegal according to FISA rules), and the complicit press corp whitewashes and does as it is told or it loses it's seat on air force 1. We now have MSNBC campaigning for Obama and deciding on the democratic candidate. How nice for us. We won't even need to vote next time, we can just leave it up to the networks. Easy huh? so take it easy ray, they are having at it and it is at your expense. (remember way back in 2002 when gasoline and milk were under $2 per gallon?) Have a happy day on the couch and just HOPE the facists don't affect your soap operas.

[Boboday555]

Written like a true fascist!
Sorry but, I'll take my direction from the likes of Washington, Jefferson and Adams not from the simpletons who support the AWOL President from Crawford!

Now go enlist...or haven't you heard?
The AWOL President from Texass needs you to defend KBR's and Blackwater's bottom lines.
Noe git a move on!

[ProfessorDuh]

As I said, Rove-conditioned Republican zombies. Glad I rang your Pavlov bell.

[IntelligentDesign]

BUSTED!!!!!!

I personally never lost faith that we would eventually nail the Bush administration to the wall and make it stick - it was certainly no easy task watching their house of cards somehow hold together against a steady gale of inquiry and accusation, but as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait.

Our greatest fear has effectively been allied by Mr. Scott McClellan - we no longer need to worry about the Bush administration getting away with mountains of crimes and misdemeanors, highlighted by the Iraq war, they won't, they can't - evildoers have no means at their disposal to defend against light and truth, they will of course try and have some mild successes for a time, but only for a time - Scott is to Bush as Deep Throat was to Nixon, the mole who successfully breached the inner-circle wall and unleashed the hidden truths, and there is no known means to bottle the truth once it has been released into the atmosphere.

This is indeed a triumphant moment for our nation, for this event marks the beginning of the end for this insipid cabal of war criminals - on to the investigations, hearings, immunity deals, charges, trials, convictions and sentences handed down; on to restoring order and decency to the land - Go America!

[Zankee]

We should not entertain such treasonous activity with trivial address, less the crooks win. "Collusion to overthrow the government" is more of what happened than any thing less....
Examples must be made to educate the ignorant, and appease the past.., this, in attempt to restoring our soverinty and dignity in the world circle....

[conned]

Quite a difference between an honest man with nothing to hide and people like Rove, Meirs, etc. who will only testify off record, no oath, behind closed doors...

[KeysDan]

Cashing in with lucrative tell-all (or tell-some) book deals, while nasty, is understandable and, probably grudgingly admired by Bush and his thugs. After all, money grubbing, whether through war profiteering or through crony capitalism is the Republican way. The fall-out can be dealt with through spin and knowledge of the media's and public's short attention span (does anyone remember what Paul O'Neil had to say? or who he is?). The real disloyalty is testifying to the truth under oath (for the benefits of not doing so, consult Scooter Libby). The only route to accountability, for Bush and as a warning to presidents to come, is an impeachment investigation. Constitutionally, no executive privilege and no ignoring of subpoenas. It is not too late: it will facilitate a cornucopia of truth; the votes are already there in the House, and, conviction is not important at this point. Although, when the un-doctored story comes out, 67 senators may not be so hard to get--if they want to continue in their line of work.

[Fightnmad]

Amen! This has been my rationale all along. It truly does not matter if conviction results from impeachment proceedings, and the actual monetary cost is a drop in the bucket compared to what these thieves and murderers have stolen from the American people- our freedom, our voice, our democracy, our decency, and, possibly the most important, our honor. Those who participated in the corruption of America must be held to the Rule of Law, in the same way as the guy who flips burgers, the militant teen, the average housewife.

I really like your phrase, "it will facilitate a cornucopia of truth". That alone, would be sufficient for me.

[JoshuaF]

The jig is up, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, and the lot of you. You will be brought to justice for these crimes. You must be. The world has to see that we are still a nation of laws. And you all have broken and twisted laws to such an extent that it's nearly unfathomable. We have to hold these criminals accountable for the sake of our country's future and any chance at restoring our democracy.

[barackobama4prez]

If he's a disgruntled lying coward, why would they need to block his testimony?

[gala1]

"The top people in the offices of the president and vice president looked the press secretary in the eye and told him they hadn't done what in fact they had -- -- and then instructed him to tell that to the American people."

In other words, Rove and Libby deliberately chose to lie to the entire nation via their intentionally manipulated Press Conduit.

This is questionable in SO many ways, but my query is this: was it illegal to do that, and if so, how soon will this pair of traitorous quarter-wits be prosecuted for doing so?

My other question is one that I have yet to see addressed By McClellan.
How much involvement and collusion does the Bush administration have with profiteering in wartime, particularly with Big Oil and Halliburton.
We all may be on the ropes financially. Big Oil and Halliburton, there to provide basic commodities in wartime are now the richest corporations in America.

What role has the White House with it's OilExec cabinet and Cheney , Halliburton's helm, played in this?

Why isn't anyone looking at this a lot more closely?

Why are we ignoring Katrina?
A White House in a week of denial when a city and a coast are gone as a result has a major responsibility now to show us why it did not take responsibility then.

.

If we haven't had eight years to define malfeasance, when will we?
When will we see those accountable for every injustice be brought to justice?

[Fl Law Student]

Actually..... the White house cannot order McClellan to defy a Congressional subpeona.... As a former employee he no longer falls under the White House's executive priviledge claims and any effort to try to block his testimony woudl be tantamount to a Seperation of Powers Constitutional overreaching....

[Zankee]

Exactly...! But does ignorance know...?

[Fightnmad]

McClellan could testify under protection of numerous whistleblower acts, in particular the 1912 Lloyd-La Follette Act which specifies "protection" from government for ALL civil servants (Scott was one), when testifying before Congress. *Note: "civil servant" is defined as any person employed by the federal government, except the military*

Wiki notes that John Conyers lists Bush is already in violation of this Act, as well as 25 others.

Sic 'em, Johhny!

[JoshuaF]

Do you know this to be an absolute matter of law? I'm wondering if they can invoke executive privilege under the guise that the testimony McCLellan would be giving would refer to the time when he was under White House jurisdiction so to speak. So that anything that falls between '03 and '06 when he was press secretary might be considered to qualify for executive privilege. I'm not saying I agree with that, and let's be honest, it's already in a book, so if they had legal ground to stand on wouldn't they have tried to block the book from coming out? Ultimately, this should fall 1st amendment territory I would think at this point. It's not like we can keep ordinary citizens from talking about things once they are no longer under the service of commander in chief (or thief in this instance.)

[mntnguy]

Right on the head!!! nailed it dead on

[frappe]

The Bush administration is apparently arguing for "Papal infallibility" -- that the "unitary executive" is above the law and cannot be held accountable to his subjects. It would also appear that the Bush administration is arguing for restoration of the monarchy.

[Zankee]

"monarchy":
We are all ready there.., or some other condition closely related....

[oncethere]

Funny. You may have heard there is an alien out and about on Earth (see home page of the Post). He may be our only hope at this time. I say we take Bush to meet him and see what the two can hammer out.

[helloworld2008]

Exactly. They want impugnity.

[lthuedk 1]

Let it leak, let it leak, let it leak. It's all about the war between democracy and militant socialism.

http://www.light-to-dark.com/deep_patriot_act.html

Those still inside the Bushunta need to realize the dictatorship is unraveling. Many of it's comrades know that what they are doing is not only illegal and immoral but anti-American. Keep your emails.

The children will ask and we will tell, you know. Hurry up and don't be late for the ride back to democracy. It's still possible to be seen as an American Patriot and not a mindless tool of Neo Con socialism.

Leak to a flood.

[guajiro]

"militant socialism"? I think you meant between democracy(sort of) and the militant, fascist Bush admin., no? More properly would be militant anti-fascism vs Bush.
"Militant anti-fascism is a form of anti-fascism that advocates the use of violence against fascism. Within the anti-fascist movement, the term militant anti-fascism is often used in contrast to liberal anti-fascism.

Fascists often use violence and depend on a physical presence in the streets, and militant anti-fascists believe that an equal counterweight is essential to stop fascism.[citation needed] While European liberal anti-fascists either call on the state to censor what they call hate speech or prosecute fascists under existing laws, militant anti-fascists either oppose such calls or put no energy into heeding them. In contrast, militant anti-fascists believe that fascism should be tackled by communities rather than by the state.[citation needed] Militant anti-fascists are usually supporters of class struggle, and view fascism as an anti-working class political system. Militant anti-fascists tend to promote radical anti-capitalist transformation of society, rather than defending the status quo of liberal democracy. This often translates into support for some form of socialism or anarchism".

Neo-Con socialism???? What's that mean?

[lthuedk 1]

It means two things: One, perhaps Neoconservatives are hybrids, and two; Nazism is socialism.

Leo Strauss, the Grandfather of Neoconservatism carried few fascist credentials until he took a shine to Hitler's security methods. That does not mean he'd forgotten the ideological foundation he received from from Trotsky and Lenin when he passed his crap on the the Father of Neoconservatism Irving Kristol.

Thinking Rove and Podhoretz bound together by idiot glue does it for me today.

In the following picture I attempt to illustrate the connection between the left and right of matters Neo Con up to the most recent batch:

http://www.light-to-dark.com/birth_of_irving.html

http://www.light-to-dark.com/pox_americana.html

Did you know the National Socialist Party ~the Nazis~ was outlawed in Germany after the war?

Personally, I don't take kindly to totalitarianism no matter what uniform it wears. I have called the Bush administration a dictatorship. It is, but the people behind policy have deep leftward philosophical roots. The mix, socialism's bastard child, seems not to have worked.

[PhoenixRisingAgain]

I recently brought up Dick Morris at this website (prior to McClellan) and the reception was, well less then warm and affirming. I got all kinds of comments on what a liar, adulterer, bitter piece of dog cr*p he was.
Why then should Scotty's book be taken with anything more than the sentiment that was taken with Dick Mo's book?

Just asking.

[speakingtruth2power]

Scott's testimony would have some good soundbites but he says he has nothing else to offer.

Having the Bushies objecting and suing to silence him would be great political ammunition!!!

[Bigeasy]

He might know things that he excluded in the book under oath we would at least find out what else he knows if anything.

[Bigeasy]

Can the White House stop or block McClellan from testifying if he wants too ????

[Sparky123]

They have blocked every effort to expose their lies. They can do that with this too.

[castrochavez08]

The White House has been emboldened by the refusal of Democrats to impeach Bush and Cheney.

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have done the bidding of Democratic party elders and protected Bush from impeachment.
Neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama want impeachment.

Bush and his Republicans may be total scum, but it is the Democratic majority in Congress that has allowed the monster to keep his job.

And before the Democratic party loyalists here start trotting out their tired dishonest talking points

1. No votes
2. Razor thin majority in the Senate
3. It will be perceived as political payback, just like Clinton' BJ.
4. It is too late.
5. It would make us lose focus on important stuff like ending the war.

All of these excuses/lies are an insult to the American people, you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Barack Obama should step up and lead his party and the entire nation by calling for impeachment. But he won't do it. Hope and change, my ass!

[Zankee]

When one plans a "pig roast".., make sure someone brings the "pig"....Grasshopper