Meiers and Bolton are now in criminal contempt of Congress

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John Conyers

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The definitive nutcase bomb thrower.

So, to hell with the rule of law by a democratically-elected Congress, eh?

Republicans have no moral standing to complain about witch hunts.

Rex:

So you are arguing that they should be jailed for refusing to show up before Congress and refuse to testify as is their right under the 5th Amendment. The President has the absolute discretion to fire any executive office appointee for any cause. Thus Congress is not investigating any specific crime. It is simply looking for testimony to create the possibility of statements that do not correspond with facts to be able to allege crimes. Why should anyone cooperate when they can be accused of criminal activity for having a less than perfect recollection of events?

Or are you willing to accept the Hillary Clinton answer of "I can't recall" to every question?

Do you really think Conyers is asking Mukasey to do his duty to the United States or to perform a service for the Democratic Party? Despite your beliefs the two are not the same.

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They don't have a Fifth Amendment right not to appear before Congress, just as you don't have a Fifth Amendment right to refuse to show up in court.

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So you would have them show up just to go through the charade. They appear and invoke their 5th Amendment rights at which point we're back to our surrent situation.

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No, he doesn't.

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Who can the President not fire that serves at his "pleasure"? The President must be able to fire any U.S. Attorney who does not please him or Bill Clinton could not have done so. Did the Constitution get changed between Clinton's firing of all U.S. Attorneys and Bush's firing of selected U.S. Attorneys?

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It's a crime to obstruct justice, thus the investigation.

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Firing U.S. Attorneys for displeasing the President is not a crime according to the Constitution and the precedent set by Bill Clinton. If there is no crime to investigate justice is not being obstructed. The purpose of the investigation is to conduct the investigation not to uncover criminal actions.

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I believe Conyers is doing his duty to protect the Constitution's separation of powers, Congress's role for oversight, and the rule of law.

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Yet, you claim Congress should have just ignored Bill Clinton lying under oath. You have a strange way of interpreting the Constitution and rule of law that lacks consistency. Lying under oath is acceptable behavior for one man, but refusing to answer questions that may be self-incriminating is intolerable behavior for another. This despite the fact that the action you see as intolerable is specifically allowed by our highest law and the act you would tolerate is proscribed by law.

That's not ironic, it's plain idiotic.

Clinton fired Jay Stephens, who was a US Attorney investigating some of their shenanigans with Whitewater and the collapse of the bank. By your definition, Clinton broke the law as well.

For him to even say it was "over a blow job" is plainly stupid, but then again, that's Rex for you.

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Yes, the question was about a blow job, and NO, Clinton's answer didn't amount to perjury nor did it amount to the high crimes and misdemeanors standard of the Constitution.

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We are speaking on two different planes here. Whether Bill's false statements under oath amounted to perjury is not really the question in my mind. He lied under oath, plain and simple. For that he surrendered his license. Had he not been POTUS, I feel certain he'd have suffered a greater sanction.

A President is tried after a Bill of Impeachment and a trial in the Senate.

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As it stands we don't know right now if Bush and/or Gonzales broke the US criminal code by firing those attorneys. That's what the investigation is for

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All I am saying is that if they should get good attorneys and tell congress they won't answer. If the Justice Department wants to prosecute, they can answer in court.

They are not to be tried by congress. Conyers is grandstanding almost as much as this silly "HGH" hearing.

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A Federal judge ruled that the Lewinsky blow job question was not material to the Paula Jones investigation.

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What judge was that?

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So you are arguing that they should be jailed for refusing to show up before Congress and refuse to testify as is their right under the 5th Amendment.

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I don't think you understand the 5th amendment. Or the Constitution. Or the law at all, for that matter.

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The President has the absolute discretion to fire any executive office appointee for any cause.

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No he doesn't. You are simply regurgitating a mantra that you've been fed by right wingers. Say it as many times as you want to, it won't make it true.

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Thus Congress is not investigating any specific crime.

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Yes it is. US Code Title 18 Section 1512(b) & (c).

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It is simply looking for testimony to create the possibility of statements that do not correspond with facts to be able to allege crimes.

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Incorrect. All Miers and Bolton need to do is tell the truth.

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Why should anyone cooperate when they can be accused of criminal activity for having a less than perfect recollection of events?

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So you're saying that no one should ever respond to a subpoena? You don't believe in the rule of law, do you? Sorry judge, I didn't respond to your subpoena because you're just trying to catch me in a lie.