Subpoena indicates probe of Lewis is 'back on,' experts say
October 12, 2007 - By BEN GOAD
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_R_lewis13.7530c5.htmlThis week's subpoena of a House aide who worked closely with Rep. Jerry Lewis represents the first known movement in the long-idle investigation into the Inland lawmaker's dealings with lobbyists.
The subpoena could serve as evidence that new blood in the U.S. attorneys' Los Angeles office has revived the case, experts said.
Issued by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles, the subpoena seeks both documents and testimony from Greg Lankler, who worked under Lewis on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, ........
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http://www.corruptionchronicles.com/2007/10/federal_earmarks_for_campaign.htmlOctober 12, 2007
Federal Earmarks For Campaign Cash
A grand jury has subpoenaed a congressional aide in the corruption investigation of the top Republican on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, California Representative Jerry Lewis.
A well-connected 15-term U.S. Congressman, Lewis has been under federal investigation for nearly a year and he has spent close to $1 million on top criminal attorneys while refusing to publicly deny the serious corruption allegations.
The veteran lawmaker is suspected of steering hundreds of millions of dollars in federal earmarks to family and friends in exchange for contributions to his campaign and political action committees. Now federal authorities are probing the connection between Lewis and a former congressman turned lobbyist who personally donated hefty sums to Lewis and got wealthy clients to do the same.
In return, the lobbyist’s (Bill Lowery) clients received federal tax dollars in the form of earmarks approved by the House Appropriations Committee, which Lewis chaired until Republicans lost control of Congress last year. ..
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1077370&mesg_id=1079283JERRY LEWIS: The U.S. Attorney, the G.O.P. Congressman and the Timely Job Offer
The U.S. Attorney, the G.O.P. Congressman and the Timely Job Offer
By ADAM COHEN = Published: May 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/opinion/04fri4.html?bl&ex=1178596800&en=3362241afe12880d&ei=5087%0AThere is yet another United States attorney whose abrupt departure from office is raising questions: Debra Wong Yang of Los Angeles. Ms. Yang was not fired, as eight other prosecutors were, but she resigned under circumstances that raise serious questions, starting with whether she was pushed out to disrupt her investigation of one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress.
If the United States attorney scandal has made one thing clear, it is that the riskiest job in the Bush administration is being a prosecutor investigating a Republican member of Congress. Carol Lam, the United States attorney in San Diego, was fired after she put Randy Cunningham, known as Duke, in prison. Paul Charlton, in Arizona, was dismissed while he was investigating Rick Renzi. Dan Bogden, in Nevada, was fired while he was reportedly investigating Jim Gibbons, a congressman who was elected governor last year.
Ms. Yang was investigating Jerry Lewis, who was chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Ms. Lam and most of the other purged prosecutors were fired on Dec. 7. Ms. Yang, in a fortuitously timed exit, resigned in mid-October.
Ms. Yang says she left for personal reasons, but there is growing evidence that the White House was intent on removing her. Kyle Sampson, the Justice Department staff member in charge of the firings, told investigators last month in still-secret testimony that Harriet Miers, the White House counsel at the time, had asked him more than once about Ms. Yang. He testified, according to Congressional sources, that as late as mid-September, Ms. Miers wanted to know whether Ms. Yang could be made to resign ...
... The way to put to rest the questions about Ms. Yang’s suspicious departure, and the firings of the other prosecutors, is to require that Ms. Miers, Mr. Rove and other White House officials tell what they know, in public and under oath.
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2921313&mesg_id=2921362Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), former head of the Approp. Comm, who
handed out millions in goodies to other GOP Congressmen through his leadership PAC. That money was provided primarily by a giant, corrupt Israeli-based hedge fund, Cerberus-Gabriel, which operated several defense U.S. contractors as cash-cows, with MZM and ADCS as junior partners in a huge bribery and kickback scheme. See,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...The Greeks were also in on the act. This item from the Copley article:
"For the first time, investigators shed light on what Kontogiannis expected to get from Cunningham – help on a potential sale of fighter jets to his native Greece."
This isn't just about corruption, it's about wholesale foreign influence peddling with the GOP and falsification of intelligence. Privatization has allowed Cheney and his gang to replace the career CIA with private intelligence contractors, such as MZM and ADCS, and false intel has supported BushCo's push to sustain an endless series of Long Wars in the Middle East.
When CIA Counter-Proliferation Division (which had Valerie Plame as a manager) refused to confirm Bush-Cheney's unfounded assertions that Iraq was attempting to acquire Niger Yellowcake and importing aluminum tubes to build uranium enrichment centrifuges, the White House turned to Wade's MZM and Wilke's ADCS to produce false intel estimates. The CIA officer who headed the mission to Jordan to check out the aluminum tubes was Valerie Plame. The CIA asset who traveled to Niger to check out the yellowcake story in 1999 (following a visit by AQ Khan) and then again in 2002 was Ambassador Wilson.
The outing of Plame, which followed Richard Armitage's 06/01/01 outing of Khan's network, that had been penetrated by CIA-CPD, was all about destroying the career CIA so as to pave the way for military action against the so-called "Axis of Evil" countries. See,
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/8/14653/71820 ==============
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1707341TPM: WSJ: After Stalling, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Probe Goes on
WSJ: After Stalling, Lewis Probe Goes on
By Paul Kiel - August 31, 2007, 1:31 PM
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004051.phpWhatever happened to the federal investigation of Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)?
Finally, an answer. It's been stalled, reports Scot Paltrow in The Wall Street Journal (
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118852196664814175.html... ), due partly to the departure of top prosecutors from the office (including former U.S. Attorney for Los Angeles Debra Yang) and partly to budget shortages. Paltrow's piece focuses mostly on those shortages in offices across the country, the often-forgotten backdrop to the U.S. attorney firings (
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001190.php ). ........
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