Update: (Governor Ed Rendell comments added to update below)
Update 2: (Both along and kurious spotted an error in the ABC story which I repeated. The fact that Drewniak is testifying to the grand jury may imply a "widening" of the investigation" but does not imply the investigation has "moved to a criminal phase." Apprently, only if the grand jury votes for indictments would this be the appropriate terminology. I am not a lawyer and greatly appreciate their clarification of this matter. Thanks guys, and sorry Kossacks, that I conveyed this error.)
Late last night, mrblifil was the envy of nearly all here by landing the latest Chris Christie scoop that U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman has moved his investigation into the criminal phase (See UPDATE along has corrected this below) by empaneling a Grand Jury, as reported in Christie-Press-Secretary-Testifies-Before-Grand-Jury."
But showing how crazy, competitive, and even desperate the writers around here are getting for Mojo, Mrblifil literal dropped his groceries in the parking lot of Whole Earth Foods to tweet us this story from his smart phone. This was the only way he could beat those other hungry and obsessed Christie "lions" Eric, AnnetteK, Jamess, Anna, and several others, who are losing weight and sleep due to waiting all day, and night, by their computers, afraid if they should go to eat, or sleep, they will missed the story and get scooped.
I know, I can hear you all shouting, "don't they now you can't do anything with your mojo!" Yes, Kogs we all know that, and we are still working on Markos on that. These three folks are like the "Koch brothers of Mojo," look up their stats. The answer is these are some of the most competitive and obsessed writers you will ever meet - like coiled tigers, ready to pounce, or Olympic athletes constantly striving to shaves seconds off their times. I may be the only normal and regular kind of fellow on the First Page of those People lists. I know this because I have several college chums in the NSA, and they help me keep on eye on them, or I swear I could never get a post in here. (Snark alert!)
Speaking of which, the news today, builds on mrblifil's story that U.S. Attorney Fishman has apparently not only found sufficient reason to move forward with his investigation and but has also expanded he number of prosecutors on the case from 3 to 10! The Grand jury to probe Christie’s role in Bridgegate
A federal grand jury is investigating NJ Governor Chris Christie’s involvement in the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal and heard hours of testimony Friday from Christie press secretary Mike Drewniak.
The US Attorney in New Jersey is taking the investigation extremely seriously, and recently increased the number of investigators on the case from three to 10, sources told the Post.
“We’re here to answer questions and that’s what Michael did today,” Iacullo told ABC.
The convening of a grand jury means the “Bridgegate” probe has progressed from a preliminary inquiry into the criminal phase of the investigation.
This confirms what I was saying above, as Fishman would need several extra regular people just to keep up with Eric, AnnetteK, James, mrbfil, Anna, and the many other hyper-competitive Christie Lions, who stay up all night hounding the poor fellow. Is it wrong that I am smiling. (BTW: Do I really need to put a humor tag on this folks? Everyone should know by now that nearly everything I say, has some snark in it. We are all best of friends, and meet regularly in the secret Non-Front Pagers Club House to plot strategies to help move come out of the "lurkers category - like a "lurkers support gruop. All of these folks have many of the same characteristics of normal people. I was just teasing to have fun on a Saturday morning.)
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And, and another story:
Oh, what a pleasure it is to quote from Raw Story once again. Its causes me to hark back to my days here as a younger houndog, when first starting out. Sitting eagerly by Raw Story's hopper waiting for the latest scandal on Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, or George Bush, to drop and then run over to denounce those Republican scoundrels, yes, those were the good ole days, alright. Why one could just about guarantee 250 Rec just for bringing back a fresh story and making up a headline "Neocon Republicans conspire to destroy America and our trust and confidence in the political system!" I had several templates worked out. I didn't even have to think about it. One would start. "Miserable bastards in the White House once again find a way to set new records in how low they can stoop to undermine our U.S. Constitution! Then I could just fill in the blank with quotes from the latest Raw Story article.
One thing a Kossack writer could count on, back then, was denouncing top Republicans in the White House, or wanting to be in the White House, was a sure way to make Kossacks happy. Then Democrats won the White House. I was so happy, at first. until I realized my racket here was ruined. Oh well, all good things come to an end. Let that be a lesson to you young Kossacks. Enjoy the pleasures of youth while they last.
When one is young life can be so easy and one does not even realize how lucky one is. Life as a young Kossack back then was no where near as hard as it is now where we have to constantly struggle to be original on each story, just to eek out a few miserable recs.
Let's see, where was I. Oh, yes, "Why that miserable bastard, that Chris Christie is trying to destroy American trust and confidence in the American political system! This hot off the wire from Arturo Garcia, of Raw Story: Report: Federal grand jury probing Chris Christie’s office and bridge scandal
Mike Drewniak reportedly testified for more than two hours, though his attorney, Anthony Iacullo, told ABC that Drewniak was not being targeted in the probe. The grand jury was convened by the U.S. Attorney in New Jersey.
“I’m not going to get into the specifics as to what would be discussed in the grand jury,” Iacullo said in a brief interview, as Drewniak stood behind him in silence. “I would say though that Mike is a witness and we have been assured that he continues to be a witness throughout these proceedings and Mike has continued to cooperate as requested by the government into this inquiry.”
Iacullo refused to comment on whether his client knew whether Christie had any role in the September 2013 closings, which continue to hound Christie despite an internal investigation the prospective GOP presidential hopeful said has cleared him.
ABC reported that the 23 jurors will meet for up to the next 18 months, and will have the power to subpoena, indict and interview witnesses without their lawyers present.
On MSNBC, Friday, Rachel Maddow, remarked that Iacullo, and Drewniak look as if they were caught by surprise, and were unprepared for press camera as they emerged from the Grand Jury hearings. Yes, I hate it when that happens.
9:24 AM PT: Rendell: Chris Christie 'not a factor' in 2016 presidential race
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Fendell say Governor Chris Chrisite is a "non-factor" in 2016 presidential race. Jeb Bush is new front runner he says.
“Not only can Chris Christie not win, I think he may have trouble finishing out his term,” Rendell said Tuesday at the Rebovich Institute at Rider University. He added later: “There’s absolutely no chance that he didn’t know this was going on if he didn’t order it or OK it. So I think he’s not a factor.”
“I mean, I look at it from the perspective as a very activist governor, which I was and he is,” he said. “There is no way that eight people in my administration would be part of something and I wouldn’t know about. There is no way they would dare do something like this without getting clearance from me.”
“And besides that, the trashing of David Wildstein and Bridget Kelly indicate that they are setting up a ‘he said, she said’ battle,” Rendell said. “They’ve trashed her. They’ve trashed women with this idea that she was emotionally unstable because she broke up with a man. Heaven forbid that breaking up with a man would make you do something mentally unstable like closing down four lanes of a bridge.”
10:43 AM PT: I need to correct an error brought to my attention by along. This ABC incorrectly reports it confirms the investigation has moved into a criminal phase.
I've got to dissent on this ABC report (5+ / 0-)
Recommended by:
Catte Nappe, SheLawyer, elwior, FiredUpInCA, HoundDog
that everyone has taken as "confirmation" that a "new," "criminal," phase has begun. It just does not confirm that.
And unless there is evidence, as yet unreported, that the grand jury reported by ABC is a new grand jury, then the only news is that Drewniak testified to the grand jury that already exists. That's important, but it does not support all the rest of the speculation.
Here is what I wrote late last night to Eric Lach at TPM:
In your current Christie update,
BridgeGate Hits Next Level As Feds Launch Grand Jury Investigation
you write:
“But as ABC News reports, the existence of the grand jury confirms that the matter has evolved into a criminal investigation.”
This is not necessarily correct.
As Rachel Maddow reported tonight, the existence of the grand jury is not confirmation or even evidence that, as ABC put it, “the U.S. Attorney’s investigation has progressed beyond an inquiry and moved to the criminal phase.” The existence of a grand jury is not news. It was empaneled in January.
The subpoenas that were reported by most media outlets to have been “issued” by the US Attorney’s office in January and February, were in fact, according to Bloomberg, “grand jury subpoenas,” issued by a grand jury that the US Attorney must have convened sometime between Jan. 9 and Jan. 17, when the first subpoenas were issued.
“New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s re-election campaign and the state Republican Committee received a U.S. subpoena seeking documents related to the September lane closings at the George Washington Bridge, a lawyer said.
The grand jury subpoena, issued Jan. 17, came in an investigation by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, lawyer Mark Sheridan, who represents the Christie for Governor campaign and the state GOP committee, said yesterday in an interview. State lawmakers previously subpoenaed the campaign about the lane closures.”
(my emphasis)
In fact, at that time, Bloomberg reported that “The grand jury’s request signals a widening of the investigation by federal prosecutors into the shutdown of lanes leading to the bridge, which snarled traffic in Fort Lee, New Jersey, from Sept. 9 to 12.”
That’s a widening, but not necessarily a “next level,” or an evolution “into a criminal investigation.”
A grand jury can subpoena documents and testimony. So, the fact that a witness was subpoenaed to testify before this grand jury does not necessarily mean that the investigation has reached a new phase. The new phase, if there is one, would presumably have begun with the first Jan. 17 subpoenas.
Now, the fact that, according to Shawn Boburg et al. at The Record, on Feb. 27 “Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak met with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, his attorney said, as a ‘fact witness,’ ” and subsequently the US Attorney must have recommended to the grand jury that they subpoena Drewniak to testify, could in fact mean something about the state of the investigation. But I don’t have the expertise to speculate on just what, beyond the likelihood that Drewniak’s initial “fact witness” meeting was not conducted under oath.
I hope you can you follow up with your sources and get back to us on the state of the investigation, and specifically, whether or not there are actually hard definitions and mileposts for “preliminary inquiry” and “criminal phase” when considering the activities of a single grand jury.
I think this is where Bridgegate stands:
US Attorney Fishman opened an inquiry on Jan. 9
He empaneled a grand jury almost immediately
The grand jury issued its first subpoenas on Jan. 17
The grand jury has issued more subpoenas since then
The office of the US Attorney met with Drewniak on Feb. 27 as a "fact witness"
The grand jury subsequently subpoenaed Drewniak to testify
Drewniak testified on April 4
by along on Sat Apr 05, 2014 at 09:38:02 AM PDT
11:03 AM PT: Kurious also noticed the same error.
GJ is "evidence that US Attorney's investigation.. (6+ / 0-)
has progressed beyond an inquiry and moved to the criminal phase."
The grand jury, which will meet for up to the next 18 months, has the power to indict, subpoena and interview witnesses without their attorney's present.
"The grand jury action is considered a major development in the ongoing controversy..."
"I think it is a very important step," said Miles Feinstein, a veteran defense attorney who has been monitoring the developments. "In this particular case, there have been questions as to whether or not there is federal jurisdiction — in other words, have any federal laws been violated...
...Joseph Hayden, a prominent defense lawyer and former state prosecutor, concurred that an important step had been taken.
"The fact that there is an active grand jury investigation does mean that the government is taking the inquiry seriously enough to bring witnesses before the grand jury," he said. "Still, it does not mean any decision has been made as to whether or not there has been a federal offense or whether there is a provable case..."
by kurious on Sat Apr 05, 2014 at 09:47:02 AM PDT