ABC: Hastert Probe Could “Wash Out” and “Be Nothing”
ABC’s Brian Ross went on the air last night to give further caveats to his story yesterday that House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) is “in the mix” of the Justice Department investigation of the Abramoff scandal.
“I think our story is accurate. We’ve gone back to our sources, and they believe what we reported was accurate as they knew it,” the Washington Post quotes him as saying. “There may be a semantics issue here as to what constitutes being under investigation.”
The story “could wash out and be nothing,” Ross conceded. But “questions are being raised about the speaker of the House — that’s worthy of a lead story.”
Dennis Hastert doesn’t think so, of course, and has sent a threatening letter from his lawyer to the network. The Justice Department has also denied the story. Ross and ABC, meanwhile, reported that Hastert calls “a coincidence” the fact that Jack Abramoff hosted a fundraiser for the speaker one week before Hastert signed an unusual letter on behalf of the lobbyist’s tribal clients. (WPost)
Are the Police Digging into Your Phone Records?
As the National Security Agencyâs controversial program of collecting Americansâ calling data continues to draw heat, new questions have emerged about whether federal and local law enforcement officials are possibly skirting privacy laws by obtaining phone records from companies that get the information in a questionable manner and then hawk it over the Internet. Since February, Congress has been investigating such so-called data brokers for the ways in which they gather their information. Some of them use people inside the phone company who are willing to divulge the data. But more commonly, these businesses obtain phone records through an illegal practice known as “pretexting,” in which someone calls up the phone company and impersonates a subscriber to con the service representative into releasing copies of the records. (Time)
House panel approves Internet gambling ban
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee approved legislation on Thursday aimed at banning Internet gambling, an estimated $12 billion industry. Jack Abramoff helped kill a nearly identical version of the bill six years ago. (AP)
Safavian Trial: Two More Ney Aides Called to Testify
Two more aides to Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) have been subpoena’ed to testify in the trial of David Safavian, the former GSA official accused of improperly aiding Jack Abramoff and lying about it to authorities. Both men accompanied Safavian, Ney and Abramoff on an infamous Scottish golf junket in 2002. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
FBI Raid May Hurt White House’s Relationship with Hill
The WSJ speculates that the FBI’s raid of a Congressional office may turn Hill Republicans against the president. If you needed an example that some people stay in Washington too long, check out this quote from David Gergen, who clings to the Nixonian belief that politics trumps everything, even law enforcement: “For an administration that needs allies in order to come back,” the Justice Department’s actions are “dumbfounding,” Gergen told the WSJ. Yes, David. For the sake of a political agenda, one should obstruct justice. Where are his priorities? (WSJ)
Bob Ney Gay-Baits
I guess this is how Ney (R-OH) plans to stay alive while facing indictment. In an email and robo-call, Ney points out that when his opponent Zach Space was on Air-America, he was interviewed by a lesbian. Ugly. (Buckeye State Blog)
Cost to tell veterans of data theft starts at $10M
It will cost at least $10 million to inform veterans that their personal information may be in the hands of criminals, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson told Congress on Thursday. (USA Today)
Gonzales’s Rationale on Phone Data Disputed
Civil liberties lawyers yesterday questioned the legal basis that Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales used Tuesday to justify the constitutionality of collecting domestic telephone records as part of the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism program. (WaPo)
State Regulators To Probe NSA Program
Oregon state utility regulators have agreed to investigate the complicity of telecom companies who service the state with the NSA’s domestic call database program.
