Congressmen Say Clapper Lied To Congress, Ask Obama To Remove Him 383
Trailrunner7 writes "A group of six Congressmen have asked President Barack Obama to remove James Clapper as director of national intelligence as a result of his misstatements to Congress about the NSA's dragnet data-collection programs. The group, led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), said that Clapper's role as DNI 'is incompatible with the goal of restoring trust in our security programs.' Clapper is the former head of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and has been DNI since 2010. In their letter to Obama, the group of Congressmen calling for his ouster said that he lied to Congress and should no longer be in office. 'The continued role of James Clapper as Director of National Intelligence is incompatible with the goal of restoring trust in our security programs and ensuring the highest level of transparency. Director Clapper continues to hold his position despite lying to Congress, under oath, about the existence of bulk data collection programs in March 2013. Asking Director Clapper, and other federal intelligence officials who misrepresented programs to Congress and the courts, to report to you on needed reforms and the future role of government surveillance is not a credible solution,' the letter from Issa, Ted Poe, Paul Broun, Doug Collins, Walter Jones and Alan Grayson says." "Misstatement," of course, being the favorite euphemism for "lie."
Re:The basic rules. (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunately, "lying to congress" has some protection from that kind of punishment to prevent congress from using congressional inquiry as a lazy version of a bill of attainder.
Re:Impeachment (Score:5, Informative)
Not only that, isn't lying under oath to congress a criminal offense? If he lied, why don't they charge him?
The Other Five Party/Districts (Score:5, Informative)
Ted Poe (R - TX), Paul Broun (R - GA), Doug Collins (R - GA), Walter Jones (R - NC), Alan Grayson (D - FL)
Good to see they got a Democrat on board. Here's hoping more of all stripe sign on.
Re:Barry Bonds (Score:5, Informative)
I will remind you that Barry Bonds went to jail for lying to Congress.
Wait, what? Barry Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice in relation to his grand jury testimony in 2003 and was sentenced to house arrest & probation.
No lying (perjury), no Congress, and no jail. You managed to get just about every fact wrong.
Warrantless domestic wiretapping (Score:5, Informative)
Isn't Darrel Issa the arsonist Car theif who suppressed congressional testimony on Warrantless domestic wiretapping and dismissed the Bush admins erasure of E-mails on PlameGate as a simple software glitch? Why yes, yes he is.
While I have my doubts about Clapper, it really doesn't help the cause when you put a non-credible person at the front. Issa will say or do anything that benefits him, and that's not invective, it's documented fact.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D... [wikipedia.org]
http://www.perrspectives.com/b... [perrspectives.com]
http://www.dailykos.com/story/... [dailykos.com]
Re:lol Bush.Lincoln, Roosevelt. Obama unilaterally (Score:5, Informative)
Monroe, upon signing, chose an interpretation (Score:5, Informative)
Monroe chose a certain interpretation of the bill _as_he_signed_it_into_law. The same is true of any Bush signing statements - they are commentary on the new law at the time the law is enacted.
With Obamacare, the law was passed, then a year later Obama declared he was going to ignore it - and then declared brand new law to replace it, just making something up unilateraly and declaring it to be the law of the land.
Re:lol Bush.Lincoln, Roosevelt. Obama unilaterally (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Why? Lying isn't illegal (Score:2, Informative)
Clinton was convicted of perjury, and lost his law license in Arkansas with Paula Jones sexual harassment case. However, he never testified in front of Congress under oath. He did go on national TV and testify to the American people that he had no sexual relations with Monica. That was a lie to everyone, but it wasn't under oath. So yes, that one wasn't illegal.
Clapper was under oath.
Re:Get Ready (Score:2, Informative)
I might suggest the same. You are pointing to the work of an advisory board, and that is their only power. They are advisors, not "deciders." You should also note that the decision was split.
Advisory Board Report Won't Alter NSA Operations Despite Hype [eweek.com]
The PCLOB (or Pee-Klob as it's pronounced in official Washington, D.C.) is an advisory commission that has no actual power. What this means is that while it can offer advice to the president, that's all it can do. The president doesn't have to pay any attention to that advice. In some cases, such a commission can be used by the president as a reason to take action, but that's not what's happening here.