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The Public Record

Wednesday, 14 January 2009 12:54

Conyers: Bush/Cheney 'Most Impeachable'

By Jason Leopold

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers says President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney committed
impeachment-worthy offenses which must be thoroughly investigated even after the two men leave office as a means of
reaffirming U.S. constitutional principles.
“The Bush Administration’s approach to power is, at its core, little more than a restatement of Mr. Nixon’s famous
rationalization of presidential misdeeds:  ‘When the President does it, that means it’s not illegal,’” Conyers said in a foreword to
a 487-page report entitled "Reining in the Imperial Presidency: Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the Presidency of
George W. Bush."
“Under this view, laws that forbid torturing or degrading prisoners cannot constrain the President because, if the President
ordered such acts as Commander in Chief, ‘that means it’s not illegal.’” Conyers continued. “Under this view, it is not the courts
that decide the reach of the law – it is the President – and neither the Judiciary nor Congress can constrain him.”
Conyers also seemed to acknowledge what many Bush critics had long suspected, that the Michigan Democrat evaded an
impeachment battle the past two years out of concern that the political repercussions might have kept the Democrats from
winning larger congressional majorities and the White House in Election 2008.
Noting that “some ardent advocates of impeachment have labeled me a traitor – or worse – for declining to begin a formal
impeachment inquiry in the House Judiciary Committee,” Conyers said he disagreed with some of their political judgments but
concurred with their assessments of the seriousness of Bush-Cheney misconduct.
“Many think these acts rise to the level of impeachable conduct.  I agree,” Conyers said. “I have never wavered in my belief that
this President and Vice-President are among the most impeachable officials in our Nation’s history, and the more we learn the
truer that becomes.”
Conyers also praised the many citizens who petitioned him for action on impeaching Bush and Cheney.
“I want to make clear how much I respect those who have given so much time and energy to the cause of fighting for the
impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney,” Conyers said. “While we may not agree on the best path forward, I
know they are acting on the basis of our shared love of this country.  These citizens are not fringe radicals. …
“They are individuals who care deeply about our Constitution and our Nation, and who have stood up to fight for the
democracy they love, often at great personal cost.  However, as I have said, while President Bush and Vice President Cheney
have earned the dishonorable eligibility to be impeached, I do not believe that would have been the appropriate step at this
time in our history.”
Documenting Abuses
The 487-page report, released  Tuesday, documents what Conyers called Bush’s excessive claims of executive power and illegal
acts. It is the clearest sign yet that the 111th Congress plans to probe the depths of the Bush administration’s most
controversial policies.
The report contains 47 separate recommendations, including calls for a blue-ribbon commission and independent criminal
probes. Conyers said the recommendations are not intended as political “payback or revenge,” rather the goal is to “restore the
traditional checks and balances of our constitutional system … and to set an appropriate baseline of conduct for future
administrations.”
Conyers noted that earlier investigations failed to get to the bottom of many “questions left in the wake of Bush’s Imperial
Presidency,” including allegations of torture, “extraordinary rendition” (shipping prisoners to countries known to torture),
warrantless domestic surveillance, leaking the CIA identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, and the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys.
Last week, Conyers proposed legislation to create a blue-ribbon panel of outside experts to probe the “broad range” of policies
pursued by the Bush administration “under claims of unreviewable war powers,” including torture and warrantless wiretaps.
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Tuesday’s report sought to arm lawmakers with the documentary evidence to support action on the bill, which currently has 10
sponsors
Last year, Conyers called on Attorney General Michael Mukasey to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether the Bush
administration committed war crimes, a proposal that Mukasey rebuffed.
Conyers came under criticism from impeachment advocates last year when he refused to allow his committee to vote on
articles of impeachment against Bush proposed by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio. Instead, Conyers’ committee held an
impeachment substitute of sorts; a one-day hearing devoted to testimony by Bush’s critics about the administration’s alleged
abuses of power.
The new report suggests that Conyers is not inclined to immediately “move forward” now that Barack Obama has been elected
President. In fact, Conyers said he firmly rejects “the notion that we should move on from these matters simply because a new
administration is set to take office.”
On Sunday, Obama signaled in an interview on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulus,” that he will not likely
recommend that his Justice Department launch a criminal probe into the Bush administration’s past practices, particularly
policies that authorized torture.
Obama told Stephanopolous that he held “a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backward.” But Obama
added that "obviously we're going to look at past practices. And I don't believe that anybody is above the law."
He said his "general view when it comes to my attorney general is that he's the people's lawyer. Eric Holder's been nominated.
His job is to uphold the Constitution and look after the interests of the American people. Not be swayed by my day-to-day
politics. So ultimately, he's going to be making some calls. But my general belief is that when it comes to national security, what
we have to focus on is getting things right in the future as opposed to looking at what we got wrong in the past."
Also, on Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that the Bush administration must turn over to President-elect Obama’s staff documents
Bush has been withholding from Congress related to the White House’s role in the firing of the nine U.S. Attorneys.
Conyers’s committee has been pursuing testimony and documents from White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former
White House Counsel Harriet Miers about their involvement in the decision to fire the federal prosecutors, a move that a senior
Justice Department official said was designed to remove U.S. Attorneys who were deemed not “loyal Bushies.”
President Bush has asserted executive privilege in blocking Bolten and Miers from testifying before Congress. Last week, a new
set of House rules was passed reviving subpoenas issued during the 110th Congress. In addition to Miers, Conyers’s committee
subpoenaed former White House political adviser Karl Rove.
Conyers also said he wants to find out “to what extent were President Bush and Vice President Cheney involved in the outing of
Valerie Plame Wilson and its aftermath.”
Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s chief of staff, was convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury in the Plame case, but his
prison sentence was commuted by Bush. “There is considerable evidence that culpability for the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson
and subsequent obstruction goes above and beyond Scooter Libby,” Conyers said.
Conyers subpoenaed documents last year related to the Plame leak, including closed-door testimony that Bush and Cheney
gave to special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. But the Justice Department refused to turn over the materials.
 
“Given that so many significant questions remain unanswered relating to these core constitutional and legal matters, many of
which implicate basic premises of our national honor, it seems clear that our country cannot simply move on,” Conyers said.
“As easy or convenient as it would be to turn the page, our Nation’s respect for the rule of law and its role as a moral leader in
the world demand that we finally and without obstruction conduct and complete these inquiries. This can and should be done
without rancor or partisanship.”