Archive for category: emptywheel

Chrisc, who thankfully made it safely through the San Diego fires, didn’t let them distract her from the matter at hand: the Wilkes trial. Mark Geragos took the opportunity of a big natural disaster to sneak his client onto the stand to testify–apparently taking the government by surprise. I’ll review a few of the details, but I’d like to compare the account of Seth Hettena and that of Allison Hoffman. It’s a great example of why blogging (or non-"objective" reporting) can be more informative than traditional reporting. Hoffman, who has been doing a good job on this story, gives us the gist of Wilkes’ testimony: Geragos sprung Wilkes on the Prosecution, and Wilkes denied everything.

Defense contractor BrentWilkes emphatically denied bribing former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke"Cunningham Friday as he took the stand in his trial, which had beensuspended while wildfires ravaged Southern California.

Wilkes’attorney, Mark Geragos, surprised prosecutors by calling Wilkes on thefirst day of trial in a week. The lawyer had not warned them he wouldbe calling his client and had not hinted in earlier hearings thatWilkes would testify in his own defense.

But she doesn’t give us a full assessment of the effect of his testimony. Hettena, on the other Read more →

The NYT has an interesting article telling the story of the Blackwater guards involved in the September 16 shooting. It does a great work getting the views of 6 current and former Blackwater guards in spite of the company’s policy gagging them.

But there are two details, above all, that deserve more attention (particularly since the article simply presents them, without raising any questions about what they mean). First, several of the guards involved in the shooting have already left Iraq.

According to Blackwater employees, the leader of the convoy on NisourSquare was a man known as Hoss. He and two or three other members ofthe team have returned to the United States because their tours of dutywere up or their contracts with the company had ended, one employeehere said. In Hoss’s case, the trip home was to remove shrapnel from awound he received before the Sept. 16 shootings. [my emphasis]

Understand, the story explains that only four or six of the guards involved that day shot at the Iraqis. So perhaps as many as four of those four to six people are already gone from Iraq–beyond the reach of Iraqi law. And in Hoss’ case, it was for a reason that Read more →

Let’s take a look at what Rob Riley had to say about Karl Rove’s involvement in Don Siegelman’s investigation and prosecution in his affidavit. In the midst of an affidavit full of "I don’t remember" and "I don’t recall," Riley says some very specific things about Rove.

The first mention comes toward the end of a very long, very hedged statement about the phone call on November 18,  2002. Note the reason for the hedge: thanks to Republican willingness to publish Jill Simpson’s affidavit, Riley knew that Simpson had proof of the phone call. So Riley says,

I have no memory of being on a phone call with Jill Simpson ("Ms. Simpson") on November 18, 2002. Furthermore, I do not believe a phone call occurred … in which  … Mr. Canary allegedly made statements to the effect that "his girls" would take care of Mr. Siegelman, or that "Karl" had spoken to, or gone over to, the Department of Justice and that the Department of Justice was pursuing, or would pursue, a case against Siegelman.

The whole paragraph is a big sloppy mess (and I’ve tried to make the grammatical structure of it clearer by taking out the extraneous bits). But as to Read more →

Congressman Waxman gets pretty aggressive in his latest letter to Erik Prince, CEO of Blackwater. He basically accuses Blackwater of evading taxes by treating its employees as independent contractors, rather than employees.

I have received documents which suggest that Blackwater may have engaged in significant tax evasion. According to an IRS ruling in March 2007, Blackwater violated federal tax laws by treating an armed guard as an "independent contractor." The implication of this ruling is that Blackwater may have avoided paying millions of dollars in Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, and related taxes for which it is legally responsible.

What I like best, though, is that Henry had Oversight calculate how much Blackwater likely owes in back taxes, just on its State Department contract.

Blackwater was awarded its current State Department contract in May 2006. Under the contract, Blackwater has maintained a force of between 459 and 582 security guqlds in Iraq who were paid between $660 and $738 per day and typically worked 180 days ayear." My staff estimates that between May 2006, when the contract began, and March 2007, when Blackwater received the IRS ruling, Blackwater would have avoided withholding and paying approximately the following amounts if it treated these security guards as independent contractors instead of as employees: $15.5 million in Social Security and Medicare taxes," $15.8 million in federal income tax withholding, and $500,000 in unemployment taxes.

One unanswered question is whether Blackwater has continued to avoid withholding and paying Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment taxes and federal income tax withholding for its employees since Blackwater received the IRS ruling in March 2007. One former Blackwater security guard has informed my staff that Blackwater did not withhold and pay these taxes at least through May 2007. If Blackwater has continued this illegal practice, my staff estimates that Blackwater would have evaded an additional $18 million in taxes from April 2007 through September 2007 under the State Department contract alone.

Waxman goes on to insinuate that Blackwater attempted to keep this information from "politicians and public officials" like Waxman–using a non-disclosure agreement to hide illegal behavior.

There are two key details from this article on the "deal" "negotiated" between Jay Rockefeller and Dick Cheney. First, a comment from Dana Perino states that the SSCI had to first accede to telecom immunity before they could see the documents justifying the program.

Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, said Friday that the SenateIntelligence Committee had gained access to the documents only afterits leaders had indicated that they would grant immunity to the phoneand Internet companies.

“To the extent of anyone else beingable to see the documents,” Ms. Perino said, “I think that we’ll waitand see who else is willing to include that provision in the bill.”

And Cheney tried to withhold the documents until after the immunity had already passed. This is some new kind of oversight, in which you have to first agree that any oversight won’t matter before you’re allowed to exercise that oversight. I’m curious how the terms were left, when the SSCI Senators and staffers got to review the document. Would the Administration have accused Jello Jay of bad faith if, after reviewing the documents, he decided immunity was improper after all?

The article also explains that Kit Bond–and not Mike McConnell–negotiated the "deal" with Read more →