Some amusing mendacity from self-described conservative “media watchdogs.”
Just out from the NYT:
Judith Regan, the book publisher who was fired by the News Corporation last year, asserts in a lawsuit filed today that a senior executive at the media conglomerate encouraged her to mislead federal investigators about her relationship with Bernard B. Kerik during his bid to become homeland security secretary in late 2004.
The lawsuit asserts that the News Corporation executive wanted to protect the presidential aspirations of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Kerikâs mentor, who had appointed him New York City police commissioner and had recommended him for the federal post.
Getting a Lapdance?
From the Times-Union …
State Police received an unexpected surprise when they stopped former Rep. John Sweeney on the Northway early Sunday a female passenger on his lap, a law enforcement source said Tuesday.
When troopers began following the ex-lawmaker north on I-87, just south of Exit 9, they assumed the Clifton Park Republican was driving alone in his 2004 BMW, said the individual, whose identity is being withheld by the Times Union.
The 23-year-old woman, who has not been identified, was on Sweeney’s lap, the source said.
Everybody seems to be reporting this morning that Judith Regan claims, in her $100 million lawsuit against NewsCorp, that an unnamed NewsCorp Executive told her to lie to and conceal evidence about Bernard Kerik from federal investigators to protect Rudy Giuliani.
Except the Wall Street Journal.
Even the New York Post has it.
Late Update: The online version of the Journal article noted above has now been updated with a discussion of the Kerik-Giuliani issue.
The FBI has determined that the Nisour Square shooting was unjustified–but will the Blackwater shooters be prosecuted?
Already under FBI investigation, State Department Inspector General Howard “Cookie” Krongard testifies before Rep. Henry Waxman’s committee today. Spencer Ackerman anchors our ongoing coverage of the hearing.
Right out of the gate this morning, Waxman has dropped the bombshell that Krongard’s brother Buzzy–the former No. 3 at CIA–sits on the board of Blackwater, State’s most controversial contractor.
Perhaps a minor conflict of interest?
Late Update: At issue is whether Buzzy Krongard sits on a Blackwater advisory board–not the Blackwater board of directors.
You’ve probably heard the news that Rudy Giuliani is finally hitting the airwaves with his first TV ad. Well, we’ve got it. And we’re actually premiering it here at TPM. Even we were a bit surprised, though, at just how 9/11 focused it is. But you take a look and make your own call …
We’ve been trying to nail down whether the brother of State Department Inspector General Howard “Cookie” Krongard is a member of the Advisory Board of Blackwater. The Democrats on the Waxman committee are saying he is; and Krongard himself appeared to deny it in his testimony this morning. But we’ve just received confirmation from Blackwater that he in fact does sit on the board.
There was some confusion at first because Rep. Waxman seemed to say that Krongard’s brother, himself a former #3 man at the CIA, was on the company’s board of directors, which would be a bigger deal. But sitting on Blackwater’s advisory board is still plenty to create a clear conflict. And it sheds a lot of light on Krongard’s habit of scuttling investigations into Blackwater’s business practices.
As a secondary matter, there’s also now the question of why Krongard denied it.
Beyond that though there’s a lot of evidence emerging that the State Department has been peculiarly lax in its dealings with a number of major military contractors in Iraq, seemingly enabling a lot of the subsequent rip-offs of taxpayer money as well as arguably creating the climate in which incidents like the Nisour Square shooting were allowed to take place.
More coming soon.
Greg Anrig on “intelligent design” as a window into the machinery of conservative politics.
I guess you could say these hearings aren’t going to well for Howard “Cookie” Krongard. Anytime the morning’s questions lead you to recuse yourself from investigations you’re currently accused of blocking or whitewashing, that just can’t be good.
In case you’re joining the programming late, Howard “Cookie” Krongard is the Inspector General at the State Department, the guy charged with investigating fraud, waste or wrongdoing at the department or by contractors working for the department. But he seems to have spent his time blocking or hobbling investigations into big money military contracting outfits like Blackwater, Dyncorp and others.
Cookie’s brother (small world) was #3 at CIA. And at the committee hearing this morning it emerged that “Buzzy” Krongard is on Blackwater’s advisory board.
No word yet on the Krongard family’s aversion to normal names.