Below is an expanded version of my column that ran in USA Today on the approaching expiration of the statute of limitations for prosecuting former National Intelligence Director James Clapper for perjury. This is a city that protects its own and Clapper is the Beltway equivalent of a made man. People like Clapper do not get prosecuted. We do not call them criminal; just complicated.
Here is the column:
Former National Intelligence Director James Clapper is about celebrate one of the most important anniversaries of his life. March 13th will be the fifth anniversary of his commission of open perjury before the Senate Intelligence Committee. More importantly, it also happens to be when the statute of limitationsruns out — closing any possibility of prosecution for Clapper. As the clock runs out on the Clapper prosecution, Democrats like Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) have charged that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen committed perjury when she insisted that she could not recall if President Donald Trump called Haiti and African countries a vulgar term. The fact is that perjury is not simply tolerated, it is rewarded, in Washington. In a city of made men and women, nothing says loyalty quite as much as lying under oath.
Even in a city with a notoriously fluid notion of truth, Clapper’s false testimony was a standout. Clapper appeared before the Senate to discuss surveillance programs in the midst of a controversy over warrantless surveillance of the American public. He was asked directly, “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions, or hundreds of millions of Americans?” There was no ambiguity or confusion and Clapper responded, “No, sir. … Not wittingly.” That was a lie and Clapper knew it when he said it.
Later, Clapper said that his testimony was “the least untruthful” statement he could make. That would still make it a lie of course but Clapper is a made guy. While feigned shock and disgust, most Democratic leaders notably did not call for his prosecution. Soon Clapper was back testifying and former president Obama even put Clapper on a federal panel to review the very programs that he lied about in Congress. Clapper is now regularly appearing on cable shows which, for example, used Clapper’s word as proof that Trump was lying in saying that there was surveillance of Trump Tower carried out by President Barack Obama. CNN and other networks used Clapper’s assurance without ever mentioning that he previously lied about surveillance programs.
The expiration of the statute of limitations for Clapper will have the benefit of conclusively establishing that some people in this city are above the law. In a 2007 study, author P.J. Meitl found that “[a]lmost no one is prosecuted for lying to Congress.” Indeed, he found only six people convicted of perjury or related charges in relation to Congress, going back to the 1940s.
The problem is not that the perjury statute is never enforced. Rather it is enforced against people without allies in government. Thus, Roger Clemens was prosecuted for untrue statements before Congress. He was not given the option of giving the “least untruthful” answer.
Another reason for the lack of prosecutions is that the perjury process is effectively rigged to protect officials accused of perjury or contempt before Congress. When an official like Clapper or Nielsen is accused of lying to Congress, Congress first has to refer a case to federal prosecutors and then the administration makes the decision whether to prosecute its own officials for contempt or perjury. The result has almost uniformly been “declinations” to even submit such cases to a grand jury. Thus, when both Republicans and Democrats accused CIA officials of lying to Congress about the torture program implemented under former president George W. Bush, not a single indictment was issued.
For Clapper, the attempt to justify his immunity from prosecution has tied officials into knots. After Clapper lied before Congress and there was a public outcry, Clapper gave his “least untruthful answer” justification. When many continued to demand a prosecution, National Intelligence general counsel Robert Litt insisted that Clapper misunderstood the question. Still later, Litt offered a third rationalization: that Clapper merely forgot about the massive surveillance system. That’s right. Clapper forgot one of the largest surveillance (and unconstitutional) programs in the history of this country. Litt did not explain why Clapper himself said that he knowingly chose the “least untruthful answer.” Litt added, “It was perfectly clear that he had absolutely forgotten the existence of the … program … We all make mistakes.”
Indeed, this is a “mistake” that is viewed as something of a mission in Washington. While most people view saying the “least untruthful” thing as the definition of a lie, Clapper was actually staking out a moral high ground in Washington. He actually tried to lie a little when he could have lied a lot. In a city where the moral high ground is measured in centimeters, this passes for honesty.
The Clapper standard will now set the bar for perjury at an almost unreachable height. Here you had an official about a massive surveillance program that was widely viewed as grossly unconstitutional. He then admitted that he made an “untruthful” statement. That however is not sufficient for even submitting a case to a grand jury. In Washington, the determinative question is not the perjury but the perjurer.
So, for all of the other criminal defense attorneys in the Beltway, let me be the first to say “Happy Anniversary, James.” That may sound disingenuous but it is the least untruthful thing I can come up with.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and a member of USA TODAY’s board of contributors.
Would trying to ove throw a duly elected President of the U.S. lend itself to an act of Sedition? If so, the Statute of Limitations has about 4 more years. How about a conspiracy to overthrow a duly elected official. IIMO, that is what Clapper, Brennen, obama, Comey, Mueller, Clinton, Rosenstein, Ohr, Fusion GPS and others were trying to do to Pres. Trump.
Prof. Turley, IMO, is referencing a possible perjury charge to Congress.
Clapper is not a ‘Made Man.’ A ‘Made Man’ is mafioso of Italian descent. I do not think that is Clapper. Turley is obviously implying that Clapper is not subject to the law, indeed, ‘above the law’ but that is a foolish and inept metaphor. Made Men are prosecuted and go to jail all the time. They are hardly above the law.
Men like Clapper, charged with the nation’s security, have a license to lie. The president lies. National Security is a wave that washes away culpability for lying for the most part. I don’t like that. But I understand it.
Honest to god, would Turley please forego the glamorization of his commentary? He is already on TV more than Lester Holt and he screws up badly and comes off as a jackass with these awkward embellishments. He should say what he means and stop trying to be cute with the ham-handed metaphors.
Assange has the emails! Clapper can still be charged, and he should be now! MSM pulling his lying self out for his continued ‘interviews’ as what, an expert on lying? MSM, continuing the lie to the susectable Liberal sheep!
Prosecute him. It isn’t March 13 yet.
TGP: “We do not call them criminal; just complicated.”
BRUTAL
Whoopsie!! According to The Daily Caller,
The FBI “failed to preserve” five months worth of text messages exchanged between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, the two FBI employees who made pro-Clinton and anti-Trump comments while working on the Clinton email and the Russia collusion investigations.
The disclosure was made Friday in a letter sent by the Justice Department to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC).
“The Department wants to bring to your attention that the FBI’s technical system for retaining text messages sent and received on FBI mobile devices failed to preserve text messages for Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page,” Stephen Boyd, the assistant attorney general for legislative affairs at the Justice Department, wrote to Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of HSGAC.”
http://dailycaller.com/2018/01/21/fbi-failed-preserve-anti-trump-texts/
FWIW – Julian Assange posted this blog topic on his Twitter…
“NSA deleted surveillance data it pledged to preserve”
“The agency tells a federal judge that it is investigating and ‘sincerely regrets its failure.'”
By JOSH GERSTEIN 01/19/2018 07:39 PM EST
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/19/nsa-deletes-surveillance-data-351730
“Asked why the Electronic Frontier Foundation hasn’t publicized the episode, Greene said his group was waiting for the NSA to turn over data that the plaintiffs in the suits have demanded before considering next steps regarding the spy agency’s failure to maintain the records it said it was keeping.
““We don’t know exactly how bad it is,” the lawyer said, adding: “Even if you take them at their word that this was just an honest mistake, what it shows is despite your best intention to comply with important restrictions, it can be really difficult to implement. … It shows that with the really tremendous volume of information they’re vacuuming up, it is impossible to be meticulous.””
“Honest mistake” my a##.
Agreed.
“To make matters worse, backup tapes that might have mitigated the failure were erased in 2009, 2011 and 2016, the NSA said.”
Reblogged this on The Inquiring Mind and commented:
Defines the Clapper Standard, exquisite and to the point
The first core value of the United States Air Force is “Integrity First”.
I wonder if this retired Lieutenant General has any clue about how corrosive his behavior is to the morale and effectiveness of the organization I was proud and honored to serve for twenty years.
Somehow I doubt it.
Off topic but kindly explain the Supreme Court case Worcester vs. Georgia, 1832.
Q-Anon and the FISA memo: are we being played?
Remember Reality Winner. https://theintercept.com/2017/12/28/how-the-interrogation-of-reality-winner-reveals-the-deceptive-tactics-of-exceedingly-friendly-fbi-agents/
this guy(CLAPPER) lied so much he doesn`t know the truth any longer. but the liberal media loves to interview him.
If Americans knew the worst of it, Clapper (and others) would be in jail.
“David Ignatius: Edward Snowden took less than previously thought, says James Clapper”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/edward-snowden-took-less-than-previously-thought-says-james-clapper/2014/06/05/054cb9f2-ecee-11e3-93d2-edd4be1f5d9e_story.html
“As the intelligence community continues its assessment of the damage caused by Edward Snowden’s leaks of secret programs, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says it appears the impact may be less than once feared because “it doesn’t look like he [Snowden] took as much” as first thought.
““We’re still investigating, but we think that a lot of what he looked at, he couldn’t pull down,” Clapper said in a rare interview at his headquarters Tuesday. “Some things we thought he got he apparently didn’t.” Although somewhat less than expected, the damage is still “profound,” he said.”
I’m sure that Clapper was relieved.
“How the Establishment Undermines American Democracy”
There is a growing consensus among many observers in Washington that the national security agencies have become completely politicized over the past seventeen years and are now pursuing selfish agendas that actually endanger what remains of American democracy. Up until recently it has been habitual to refer to such activity as the Deep State, which is perhaps equivalent to the Establishment in that it includes financial services, the media, major foundations and constituencies, as well as lobbying groups, but we are now witnessing an evolutionary process in which the national security regime is exercising power independently.
——————————-
n a devastating critique former Central Intelligence Agency operations officer John Kiriakou has described how the Democratic Party, as part of its frenzied effort to bring down President Donald Trump, has embraced a whole group of former intelligence and law enforcement officers who appear to be on the same side in seeking a more responsible and accountable executive branch but who are in reality pursuing their own agenda.
Formerly intelligence and law enforcement agencies acted under the direction of the White House but without any political bias. Transitions from Democratic to Republican administrations were consequently seamless for the employees of CIA, FBI, DIA and the NSA, but this has changed. In the 2016 election a line-up of retired senior officers from those organizations openly supported the Clinton campaign and even went so far as to construct elaborate conspiracy theories regarding Trump and his associates, including the claim that Donald Trump is actually an agent of Russia.
——————————————
Former Reagan Assistant Treasury Secretary Paul Craig Roberts meanwhile asks why liberal international organizations like Amnesty International are fundraising to oppose Trump when the real threat to a better and safer world and country is coming from the largely unaccountable “security agencies, the police, the neoconservatives, the presstitute media and the Republican and Democratic Parties?”
————————————–
entire article: https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/01/18/how-establishment-undermines-american-democracy.html
what a charade – both Party A and Party B screw the citizens
2 systems of justice – one for someone who is well connected, who admitted to lying under oath about a massive surveillance system, and one for someone who said she doesn’t remember if Trump used a particular word in a long meeting with lots of going back and forth.
Prosecute him. Not only that, change the system so that the fox is not guarding the henhouse. Remove conflict of interest. In addition, Clapper again lied about Trump being surveilled, when we now know that he was. The system was again abused so that any of his associates who ever spoke with anyone foreign at all, were illegally unmasked. It was the established circuitous way to surveil someone without a warrant. Clapper lied about that, too. Now, whenever Clapper is on TV giving his measured opinion, the opposing side should ask him if that’s the least untruthful answer he can give. Of course, most mainstream media do not present an opposing side.
If Nielsen admits that she lied, then she should be found guilty of perjury, too, but only if Clapper is prosecuted, too. Otherwise we find the grossly unequal application of law.
Are we a nation of laws, or not? This is not an easily excusable offense permissible under prosecutorial discretion.
“Are we a nation of laws, or not?”
Actually, we’re not. We pretend to be. And we sometimes put on a pretty good show, but we’re not.
We should be…, but we’re not. Many — even most — Americans don’t know the half of it.
Thank you, Mr. Turley, for exposing the rotten underbelly of the big behemoth evil incarnate our enemy the State and how formidable it has become in its audacity. Let’s hope we the people will exercise resolute determination to reclaim once again our government from this lethal Swamp thing the State.
I recently pulled a book out of storage that was in my fathers’ library- M. Scott Peck’s- People of the Lie, The Hope for Healing Human Evil.
Page 129 of the work is folded over and this is underlined:
d)”intellectual deviousness,”…
“People of the Lie, The Hope for Healing Human Evil”
It’s a great book. (And there’s certainly an abundance of “intellectual deviousness.”)
“intellectual deviousness’ – Condi Rice and Rachel Maddow are both good examples as they use their prodigious intellects to influence the public.
Glenn Greenwald, certainly no intellectual slouch himself has taken a lot of heat because he doesn’t go along with the Trump-Russia narrative. He sez ” “I used to be really good friends with Rachel Maddow, And I’ve seen her devolution from this really interesting, really smart, independent thinker into this utterly scripted, intellectually dishonest, partisan hack.”
“Does This Man Know More Than Robert Mueller? Glenn Greenwald’s war on the Russia investigation.”
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/glenn-greenwald-russia-investigation.html?utm_campaign=nym&utm_medium=s1&utm_source=fb
Autumn, thanks beyond for the article on Glenn.
You’re welcome Roscoe. IMO we need more Greenwalds! =)