I posted a
diary the other day that explored the possibility of an FBI cover-up in the Mark Foley scandal. This story seems to be growing and it's not getting enough exposure. A new
article in the Washington Post has me thinking that this whole Melanie Sloan and CREW vs.The FBI story may be setting up as the Karl Rove/Repug ace in the hole, while at the same time ultimately being revealed as a deliberate coverup by the FBI. Follow me below the fold for the gory details.
Since the Foley story broke, various repug politicians and assorted other wingnuts - Dick Morris, Denny Hastert, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Katherine Harris and others have been dangling this empty threat whenever they get in front of a camera. The basic narrative goes like this: "Wait until everyone finds out the Democratic operatives that were sitting on these emails and held them until just before the election. It was the Democrats that put our children in danger by sitting on these emails and waiting to spring their diabolical political trap". I think they are talking about CREW and this FBI story. And when Hastert and others talk about the FBI investigation that will get to the bottom of who knew what and when, this is what they're talking about. My hunch is they will wait until about a week or so before the election and then the FBI will release some statement alluding to the idea that CREW and Melanie Sloan are under investigation for holding these Foley emails etc. All they need is to get a flashing siren on DRUDGE and get this story out there for a week or so to get the "See? It was the democrats who put politics above our children's safety" narrative into people's heads before they vote. We need to get out front on this, but it would be unwise for any elected dems to run with the "FBI coverup" story before the election, for fear of "overreaching". We Kossacks, on the other hand need to get the facts out there and do what we can to not get blindsided by this.
Why do I think this is the repug strategy? Well look at this little nugget in the WashPo story:
One law enforcement official -- speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation -- also told The Washington Post the FBI believed that CREW may have received the e-mails as early as April and that the group refused to tell the FBI how they were obtained.
That's the first I've seen of that. Melanie Sloan disputes that, claiming that the emails she sent to the FBI will prove that April timeline story to be false. If she in fact forwarded these emails with their headers intact, it should be easily provable when they were received by CREW and when Sloan sent them on to the FBI.
The FBI also claims the following:
In subsequent days, unidentified Justice and FBI officials told reporters that the e-mails provided by CREW were heavily redacted and that the group refused to provide unedited versions to the FBI.
Sloan disputes that as well:
Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director, said copies of the original e-mails she sent to an FBI agent show those assertions to be wrong. Sloan said the agent called to confirm receipt of the e-mails and to ask if one of the parties was Foley.
Sloan claims she sent these emails intact to the FBI, with the page's email address fully visible.
The FBI claims this as well in regards to these emails:
Law enforcement officials said then that the e-mails did not provide enough evidence of a possible crime to warrant a full investigation. In the e-mails, Foley praises the physical attributes of one page and asks another teenager for his picture.
Well which is it? Somebody is lying here folks. Let's look at a summary of what each party is saying:
Melanie Sloan and CREW are claiming they received some disturbing emails allegedly sent from Mark Foley to a page on 7/21/06. Those emails were sent along to the FBI on that same date, along with the page's full email address. Later, Sloan received a call from the FBI:
"The agent called me to follow up to say, 'So, these are e-mails from Mark Foley?' And I said, 'Yes.' And that was the end of our interaction," she said.
The FBI on the other hand is claiming the following:
1. The emails "did not provide enough evidence of a possible crime to warrant a full investigation." This fits in nicely with the repug spin that "no one could have anticipated" that these "over friendly" emails were really pointing to a more serious situation with Mark Foley and his fondness for pages.
2. The emails were "heavily redacted and that the group refused to provide unedited versions to the FBI."
3. "CREW may have received the e-mails as early as April and that the group refused to tell the FBI how they were obtained."
This doesn't add up. Either the emails didn't warrant a full investigation, or they were too heavily redacted and Sloan refused to provide the FBI with unredacted versions. This makes absolutely no sense, because why would Sloan send redacted emails and ask the FBI to investigate, knowing that they couldn't pursue it with the limited information given to them?
Something smells very fishy to me and here are the questions that need to be asked and answered by both the FBI and Sloan:
1. What date exactly were these emails received by CREW and what date were they forwarded to the FBI?
2. Was the page's email address redacted in the email forwarded to the FBI?
3. Did the FBI call Sloan to confirm that the emails originated from Mark Foley?
4. Did the FBI accuse Sloan of sitting on these emails since April and did Sloan refuse to divulge the source to them?
5. Why would the FBI ask for "unedited versions" of emails that "did not provide enough evidence of a possible crime to warrant a full investigation."
These questions need to be asked and answered before the Rove stinkbomb hits and this all of a sudden becomes a "bi-partisan" issue.