Lieberman Threatens to Subpoena Obama Administration
[Guest post by DRJ]
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman and ranking minority member Senator Susan Collins threatened to issue subpoenas unless the Obama Administration releases information about the Fort Hood shootings:
“Lieberman said he has had countless conversations with administration officials to seek access to information and witnesses, in order to scrutinize whether the shootings could have been prevented and how Hasan should be tried. He said he has been repeatedly “frustrated” in that effort, and feels obligated to “fulfill my responsibility” as the committee’s chairman.
“I regret to say our efforts to obtain this information necessary to conduct a thorough investigation of this homeland terrorist act have been met with much foot-dragging, very limited assistance and changing reasons,” Lieberman said. “In short, the response of the executive branch to this thoroughly legitimate congressional request for information has been inadequate and unreasonable.
“We do not lightly reach this decision, and we do so only as a last way to obtain this information … We feel we have been patient and respectful in our dealings with the administration.”
Collins was just as stern, noting that Obama initially said he welcomed a congressional investigation into the shootings, and saying the committee “has taken step after step, made offer after offer and bent over backwards” to accommodate the administration’s concerns.”
The White House claims a Congressional inquiry could jeopardize the criminal investigation:
“The administration has maintained that a congressional inquiry into the shootings would jeopardize the criminal case against Hasan, and has launched its own review of the incident. But Lieberman and Collins ridiculed that assertion on Thursday, saying their committee has previously held hearings that did not interfere with prosecutions and that they had pledged to work with the administration to keep certain materials classified.”
Lieberman said following up on the Fort Hood shooting is his job and he will pursue it even if it means he might lose his chairmanship.
— DRJ
my first question is “why haven’t they already held the court martial?”
that should already be over, and Major Dirtbag should already be on death row awaiting judicial review and execution.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 4/15/2010 @ 4:53 pm“The administration has maintained that a congressional inquiry into the shootings would jeopardize the criminal case against Hasan….”
Hasan is paralyzed and likely has no hope for recovery. His worst punishment would be to be released and responsible for his own care. But it’s hard to fathom how releasing the information could jeopardiize firearms charges and 13 murders witnessed by dozens.
Joe Lieberman is making the right move. The administration and senate Democrats have no leverage on him. If they take his chairmanship of Home Security away, he will bolt the Democrat caucus and join the Republicans. He isn’t planning to run in 2012. He can exact his revenge on those who sought to purge from the Democrat party. In short he is in the catbird seat.
Corky Boyd (a80b64) — 4/15/2010 @ 6:17 pmAfter that whitewash job of an “official report” by the Army – which was nothing more than a politically correct covering of asses – I would be surprised if anyone in an official capacity really gets to the bottom of it.
GeneralMalaise (d23929) — 4/15/2010 @ 7:34 pmThank goodness our war against radical Islam is over.
daleyrocks (1feed5) — 4/15/2010 @ 8:28 pmI know right? Is there any problem Barack Obama cannot solve by simply not mentioning it or playing it down? Anything?
skwiself (63b7ff) — 4/15/2010 @ 8:37 pmObama will order that Islam cannot be mentioned at any time in the trial.
Alta Bob (e8af2b) — 4/15/2010 @ 8:43 pmWhat are they hiding?
What did these idiots know about Hasan? Did the FBI become too PC to prevent a successful attack? This attack was a huge event, and the media seems to be ignoring it.
I can’t help but wonder if there would be more attention on it if Bush were the president, but then again, this kind of thing didn’t happen anymore once Bush recognized we’re in a war.
It’s just plain dishonest to claim this would ruin the criminal trial. It’s ironclad. A duck could convict him. So this explains why the trial is taking forever… there’s information Obama wants tucked away as long as possible. I think they had plenty of chances to prevent this attack, and failed because of PC sensitivities that were modified post-Bush by the White House.
dustin (b54cdc) — 4/15/2010 @ 9:10 pm#7, dustin’s on the right track. It sure seems like Obama’s Administration has a record of shielding Islamic terrorists from exposure, interrogation, or prosecution, while his DOJ uses the flimsiest of excuses to go after Navy SEALS, or to provide a NY City PR platform for KSM.
An unbiased observer might find reason to conclude Obama wasn’t pulling for the home team.
ropelight (041757) — 4/16/2010 @ 6:02 amBush’s administration is not blameless in this. While Bush himself may have been focused properly major parts of the Executive Branch (notably State and DOJ) were deep into PC and other feel good crap. Remember that a lot of what we are pointing to in Hasan’s background occurred much earlier in his career.
His views made him unsuitable for his role in DOD even if we were not fighting muslim extremists. PC attitudes in the military ignored that. (Mostly so that there own carreers would not be hurt.)
Have Blue (854a6e) — 4/17/2010 @ 9:09 am