Melanie Sloan says FBI is Lying. Re: Foley investigation.

[spanone]

Ms. Sloan says there were NO redactions.

Ms. Sloan is a spokesperson for CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington). They initially contacted the FBI about Foley e'mails.

snip~ CBS News has reported that according to the FBI when CREW gave the Bureau the original set of emails from Rep. Mark Foley to a former House page, they were “heavily redacted.” The FBI is also claiming that it came back to CREW and asked for more information so that it could follow up, but that CREW refused to provide anything further. Reporters from several other news organizations have repeated this allegation. The FBI is lying.
http://citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease.php?view=165


Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions.

[spanone]

1. shameless kick

[WarNoMore]

2. I'll kick that too! n/t

[Double T]

3. More corruption. Has all of Washington D.C. gone corrupt...........

when you can not even trust top law enforcement, what's left????

[spanone]

8. When you can wiretap ANYONE at WILL, coruption is part of the game.

Ah, and remember that Louis Freeh was head of what???? The FBI. How convenient.

[Straight Shooter]

11. The FBI, as an organization, has never been trustworthy.

It has had many outstanding, ethical members, but more than a few of them are just thugs in suits. The closer to the top of the organization they rise, the more likely it is to be pond scum rising to the top, not cream.

[lisa58]

4. I believe Melanie...

...the FBI is CYA

[wholetruth00]

38. She was pissed and you could tell she was telling the truth. But

she will have to be careful now. The FBI, thin blue line, is pretty tough and they can harm her ways she will not be able to determine.

[glitch]

5. Why would there be redactions anyway? Don't these liars bother applying

logic anymore? Why would anyone redact something they want investigated?

[spanone]

6. It's as absurd as this administration is about everything.

JUST LIE AND THE PUBLIC WILL ACCEPT IT.

[Pachamama]

7. Is there anyone in the Bush Administration and Justice Dept etc.

that tells the truth????

I smell a coverup of huge proportions here.....

[bunny planet]

9. Kickedy kick kick

This leads straight to Alberto as far as I can see. Justice Dept. is in charge of FBI. Can't imagine the FBI would sit on this unless they were told to from on high.

[femrap]

10. If anyone from this Regime is talking,

all we will hear are LIES!

[bonito]

12. Crew's letters and foley's Email link

www.citizensforethics.org.

[populistdriven]

13. before you give the FBI ANYTHING - MAKE A COPY!!!

[eleny]

14. Melanie Sloan told CNN who she sent the emails to at the FBI

I just saw an interview CNN did with Sloan. She told them she sent the email to a specific agent and that those emails were not redacted in any way.

CNN has tried to contact that FBI agent but "she" has not replied. CNN did not reveal the identity of the agent.

Melanie Sloan is one direct, serious individual.

[spanone]

15. It's unbelievable. The FBI is contending that she redacted her own email?

It's Ludicrous. She's (Melanie) the one filing the report! Something really wrong here.

[Catherine Vincent]

16. Okay, now why would the FBI lie like that knowing that they could

get called on it?

[w8liftinglady]

17. here's the washington Post article...unbelievable

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501657.html

-snip-
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. 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.

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 said the group sent unedited e-mails to the FBI because "we wanted them to commence an investigation. We're sort of outraged that they're saying anything differently." The group has asked Fine's office to look into the FBI's assertions.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse declined to comment on that issue but defended the FBI's handling of the original e-mails: "The e-mails, while inappropriate, did not contain a criminal predicate to allow the FBI to move forward in an investigation."

[Ganja Ninja]

18. The FBI was probably trying to find out who spilled the beans ...

so the GOP could take revenge. They aren't investigating Foley only Foley's whistle blower

[eleny]

20. Federal Bureau of Injustice

[kestrel91316]

23. BINGO

[w8liftinglady]

19. ..and the transcript of the CNN interview with sloan

http://blog.citizensforethics.org/

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): According to government sources, the FBI says the now infamous exchange between a Congressman and a page didn't rise to the level of a crime. And those sources say the FBI investigation was hampered because the group that provided it the email on July 21st of this year wouldn't name the page and edited the messages.

That group's president, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Melanie Sloan says the FBI is wrong.

MELANIE SLOAN, CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS: I would call that a lie, in fact. On July 21, 2006, I sent to the FBI the emails. They were not redacted in any way like they're claiming now. The kid's name is on the email. His full name and his email address, as well as the name of the Congressional staffer to whom he was sending the emails.

GRIFFIN: Sloan is president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a group that has been criticized for being anti- Republican. Conservatives charge that crew and it's Democratic supporters held back the memo until just before November's elections.

Sloan, a former prosecutor, says she sent the email to the FBI as soon as she got it because she was concerned for the safety of the pages.

Did this rise to the level of something you thought needed to be investigated?

SLOAN: It absolutely did. The statement that the emails themselves didn't contain criminal activity right on the face of them, that's true. There's nothing sexually explicit in the emails themselves. The problem with the email is that they suggest criminal activity. They suggest that this is man who might be involved in making improper sexual advances towards minors.

We thought it was very important that the FBI take a look at these and start investigating. But then we found out this past Monday, because the FBI announced it was going start a preliminary investigation that they must not have engaged in any investigation over the past couple of months.

GRIFFIN: CNN asked other law enforcement agencies what action they might have taken based on the initial emails.

The New York police told CNN, "In principle, a complaint such as the one that was lodged against Representative Foley -- for example, from a parent -- would result in an online investigation. That might have included having a police officer pose as a minor to set up a sting online.

The Peachtree City Police Department in suburban Atlanta specializes in tracking down suspicious e-mails adults send to children, aiming to arrest would-be predators.

CHIEF JIM MURRAY, PEACHTREE CITY POLICE: We issue subpoenas for their email address and who they are and who they're registered with. And then we find them. GRIFFIN: The FBI declined comment on camera to CNN, but government sources tell CNN the email was sent to three separate FBI squads, including the cyber squad. And CRE President Melanie Sloan says there was no follow up with her.

(On camera): Did you send it to some inbox that you knew would not get attended to?

SLOAN: No. And I'm going to tell you for the first time exactly who I sent it to because now that the FBI has been deciding to lie about what I sent and what they received, I sent it to an agent, a special agent in the Washington field office.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Melanie Sloan gave us the name, and we called that FBI agent in question. So far she has not returned our call.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Washington.

[eleny]

21. I suppose that there are a number of female agents...

...in the Washington field office. But this report narrows it down.

[Disturbed]

22. "knowing that they could get called on it?"

Maybe they thought that she wouldn't challenge the FBI. They had to cover their inaction so they took a risk that she wouldn't call them liars. That is a heavy charge on such a powerful agency. Can she prove that they are lying?

[kestrel91316]

24. They obviously thought that they were just dealing with some

stupid bimbo and not a FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY. Their oops.

[eleny]

27. Sloan looked as confident as ever

The truth can do that to you!

[spanone]

25. Thanks for posting that. So will the FBI be investigating the FBI?

Surely Ms. Sloan must have copies of her e-mails, one would think. This should be a simple redacted or not redacted question/answer.

[spanone]

26. To Clarify Something In My Original Post re: Ms. Sloan

I referred to Melanie Sloan as a spokesperson for CREW. Truth is:

Melanie Sloan serves as CREW's Executive Director. Prior to starting CREW, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia, where, from 1998-2003, she successfully tried cases before dozens of judges and juries. Before becoming a prosecutor, Ms. Sloan served as Minority Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, working for Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) and specializing in crime issues.

more here...

http://www.citizensforethics.org/about/whoweare.php

[berni_mccoy]

28. K&R

[dougkeenan]

29. Melanie Sloan should ID the agent in question ...

... if the FBI does not.

I don't understand the protocol here. Why is this such a secret?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

33. She DID, but CNN blocked out that part of the tape. She named who

the stuff was given to, and CNN cut off the tape just as she was going to say the name (she said "Special Agent --"), and then said they tried to contact the agent but "she" did not return their calls.

[dougkeenan]

41. So what keeps CREW from ID'ing the contact?

I mean they've got a website. They've got a blog.

What are we to believe, that they didn't write down <her> name?

[never_get_over_it]

30. There were two repunks on Hardball tonight

who bashed the crap out of CREW implying that they leaked it calling them a liberal organization and all kinds of BS. Melanie Sloan better demand that Matthews lets her on that show to rebut the crap they were spewing.....they also hammered on Pelosi and Emanuel stating they needed to testify under oath on what they knew and when they knew it - how effing ridiculous

[Disturbed]

31. Rethugs are experts at framing and re-framing.

Dems should be on the Offensive, not the Defensive.

[never_get_over_it]

32. Well it was laughable

and pathetic and Mark Klass took a BIG SHOT at them at the end of his time by saying (and I paraphrase here) whomever "outed" Foley on this page issue did a favor for the American people because had it not come out Congress would have adjourned and Foley would be re-elected and his behavior would have continued...to me it seemed clearly a shot at anyone who is saying that this whole thing happened for political reasons and not to protect the pages....

[spanone]

34. I thought Matthews handled those idiots pretty well. He wasn't buying

thier shit.

[0007]

35. Hmmmmm

1. Guess who's backing the House Speaker

2. Guess who's the Intelligent Chief in the US that has control over the FBI & the CIA

3. Are we a Banana Republic yet?

[Imagevision]

36. but that CREW, refused to provide anything further to the FBI?!!

WTF?? Hastert says Foley would be investigated and they're not forthcoming with info and the FBI goes, duh!??? just go in with a search warrant like you do with the mob, take the freggin file cabinets computers etc. and get on with it already. These same dipshits claim they would handle a war better then Dems? -- where the heck is Pelosi???

N-A-N-C=-Y P-E-L-O-S-I- Where are yooooo??.....

[demgurl]

37. If I were CREW I would get the media list

and send out full emails to each and every media person. I would then send an email to the FBI and tell them that if they can't find their copy of the NY Post then look for their Rolling Stone copy and so on. I would expose them for the liars that they are and embarrass the hell out of them.

[autorank]

39. What a convenient excuse that is by the FBI, very self serving KR

[Bitwit1234]

40. Foley

The first outrage about all this is Foley and his contact with the pages.

But look at this. Here we have a man who is a congressman. He would have had to know that these emails could at any minute surface. But - he didn't care. Why. Because the atmosphere in DC lets the republicans do anything they want. Do you think if the republicans had not been so out warding corrupt, so arrogant and doing anything they wanted that this would not have gone on. He had to have known that the republicans would protect him and they did.

[Supersedeas]

42. just following orders from the 'unitary exective'