Official: Justice Dept. slowed probe into phone jamming (until after '04 election)

[Newsjock]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department delayed prosecuting a key Republican official for jamming the phones of New Hampshire Democrats until after the 2004 election, protecting top GOP officials from the scandal until the voting was over.

An official with detailed knowledge of the investigation into the 2002 Election-Day scheme said the inquiry sputtered for months after a prosecutor sought approval to indict James Tobin, the northeast regional coordinator for the Republican National Committee.

... While there were guilty pleas in the New Hampshire investigation prior to the 2004 presidential election, involvement of the national GOP wasn't confirmed. A Manchester, N.H., policeman quickly traced the jamming to Republican political operatives in 2003 and forwarded the evidence to the Justice Department for what ordinarily would be a straightforward case.

However, the official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, told McClatchy that senior Justice Department officials slowed the inquiry. The official didn't know whether top department officials ordered the delays or what motivated those decisions.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/23444.html

[ScooterFibby]

1. Is this the same Justice Department we are supposed to trust...

... to investigate Tape-gate?

[deacon]

2. The one that mukasey is restoring credibility too, yes, that one. Ugh.

[kelliebrat]

3. Another day, another scandal

A scandal a day keeps impeachment away? The new White House theme song
:grr:

[MADem]

4. Gee, wonder which senior Justice Department officials those could be?

Could one of them be nicknamed 'Berto' perhaps????

[MADem]

5. doubleclick, sorry...oh, another K and R, while we're at it.

[Bitwit1234]

6. So what difference does it make

congress is going to do anything about it. They let anything and everything republican do any damn thing they want. Where is the accountability. Where has congress done one thing to ANY DAMN ONE of the republicans. Other than Waxman starting an ineffective investigation and then doing nothing, we have seen absolute not one thing..not one done. Witness after witness after whistleblower has come forward with stuff they have done and no body has even looked into it.

Look at Seigleman. He won the governors election in Alabama. They took the votes locked them up on the say so of the judge who railroaded this man into jail, declared Riley the winner and nothing has been done about that. Even tho it was a state election, when you violate an election it is a federal offense. I am beginning to think more and more and more that the Democrats we have in congress are hand in glove with the republicans.

[pjt7]

7. Can DU get behind

naming Chris Dodd as the Senate majority leader?

Huffington Post is running this story.

I think you can be somewhat respectfull of Harry Reid, but more importantly put Dodd out front in his place.

[pjt7]

8. Here is the Chris Dodd blog:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/19/momentum-builds-for-dodd-_n_77401.html

[fascisthunter]

9. Do Bush Supporters Realize How Really Pissed People Are

at them and the morons they voted for? They better start to.

[pjt7]

10. Bush supporters thrive at giving the middle finger to

Democrats.. They don't give a sh&t about anything, as long as they have the power...It's up to your party to stop complaining & rise up & have it's strongest members as your leader. That's why I think putting Dodd out front in the Senate, is such a great idea.

I can't belive nobody else is sharing their feeeling/opinion on this?

[fascisthunter]

11. I'm for Any Democrat to Step Up to the Plate

And I'm pretty sure everyone else is too. But I think you might be talking about chosing Dodd as the candidate. Personally, I favor Kucinich.

[pjt7]

13. Dodd would be the strongest leader

for running the Senate. I think he would be a great VP, but there is other good one's too. Taking control of the Senate is what is in front of us today..

I like Kucinich too, but I don't think he has the support for Pres. or VP.

If the D's get in office, I'd like to see Dennis take on a worthwhile position inside the administration.. Healthcare? Volunteer Corp? Something like this, were he could do some tangible GOOD.

[freebrew]

12. I think everyone is just burnt out.

Tired of supporting Democrats that do nothing to restore government.
Tired of signing petitions, letters to congressmen, letters to editors and have nothing come of it.

Just f*cking tired of these fat bastards not giving a rats ass about helping our country.

[pjt7]

14. Well drink some refreshing orange juice &

put Dodd as the lead dog in the Senate. Reid can still work with him.

Dodd proved a little worthiness & spine with his fillerbuster.

[SavageDem]

15. The problem here isn't getting the truth out

The problem is getting the truth out to the masses. You ask anyone in your neighborhood what they know about election fraud in 2004 and 2000 and you'll get blank looks, or at best condescending smiles. The sad truth is that 98.742% of Americans get their information - if they get any at all - from the 6:00 news. And NONE of this is going to appear there.

If the media cartel would be putting stories like this in front of people on a nightly basis, we would have people pissed off to the point that those chickenhawks would be run out of office. The overwhelming glut of information coming out - it really does seem like a scandal per day - about the Cancerous Culture of Corruption™ that pervades the Republican party, White House, and Justice Dept is just INCREDIBLE. I don't believe anyone with an ounce of integrity could take a look at all we know so far - which is only a small portion of the truth - and continue to support this administration and party officials.

[pleah]

16. Duh! What haven't they impeded or slowed to a crawl!

Or just flat out ignored.

[stubtoe]

17. drip, drip, drip

[skooooo]

18. ...like it matters.

The public doesn't seem to care much about anything these people do.

[Oak2004]

21. Look at the polls lately?

The Republicans are polling about as badly as a major party ever has.

The public cares.

They may not know all the details of what went wrong, but they sure can smell the stench.

[Zorra]

19. The republican party is a criminal organization, a crime family.

We must sweep them from office in '08, root out the criminals that have been appointed to federal offices, and then keep the whole lot of them out of power forever.

2008 will be our last chance to rid ourselves of these rats and cockroaches through the electoral process.

If they win in 2008, democracy in the USA as we knew it will be gone, and in its place will be a full blown fascist dictatorship.

[hootinholler]

20. Of course!

They were too busy with the Siegelman case to persue this one.

-Hoot

[Supersedeas]

22. reminents of Gonzo