Felonious behavior at 1600 Pennsylvania?
It appears a real, actual, indictable felony may have occured when Bush ordered Harriet Miers to defy a congressional subpoena. Via TPM:
Invoking a privilege is one thing, but telling a person not to show up in response to a subpoena — if only to actually invoke the privilege — is quite another. It’s not just worse, it’s a felony under federal criminal law. See for yourself.
18 U.S.C. Sec. 1505 : … Whoever corruptly … influences, obstructs, or impedes … the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress … [s]hall be fined under this title, [or] imprisoned not more than 5 years … or both.
18 U.S.C. Sec. 1515(b) : As used in section 1505, the term “corruptly” means acting with an improper purpose, personally or by influencing another, including … withholding, [or] concealing … information.
In other words, George Bush could be imprisoned for up to five years for “corruptly impeding” a Congressional investigation by influencing another person to withhold or conceal information. Harriet Miers could have shown up and claimed Executive privilege, but George Bush does NOT have the authority to tell anyone to ignore a subpoena.
Yet another piece of evidence that this White House believes they are above the law.
