Have you ever heard of the "Barrett Report"?

carpro · Dec 12, 2005

If democrats have their way, you never will.

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/tonysnow/2005/12/09/178552.html

Publish the Barrett report now
By Tony Snow

Dec 9, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "No wonder they call us the Stupid Party," said a disgusted Republican operative in Washington. "You've got to wonder what these guys were thinking."

At issue was the publication of a report by David Barrett, an independent counsel who has spent the better part of a decade looking into some of the most hair-raising allegations of presidential malfeasance in American history.

Like most independent counsels, Barrett didn't set out on such a mission. He was assigned the duty of looking into whether former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros committed tax fraud in trying to cover up payments to a former mistress.

Yet, as published reports have indicated, he soon discovered that he was onto something much bigger. He found unsettling evidence that Justice Department officials were actively interfering with the probe and even conducting surveillance of Barrett and his office. Worse, there were indications that Team Clinton was using key players at the IRS and Justice to harass, frighten and threaten people who somehow got in the former president's way.

SNIP

By all accounts, the 400-page Barrett report is a bombshell, capable possibly of wiping out Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential prospects.

SNIP

This careful and continuous monitoring of the report explains why Sens. Byron Dorgan, Dick Durbin and John Kerry took the highly unusual step earlier this year of trying to slip into an Iraq-war spending bill an amendment to suppress every word of the Barrett report.

Johnv · Dec 12, 2005

Originally posted by carpro:
Have you ever heard of the "Barrett Report"?

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Wasn't that a gossip column in the 70's and 80's? (For those of you who remember Rona Barrett).

LadyEagle · Dec 12, 2005

Remember the patriot, Linda Tripp.

StraightAndNarrow · Dec 12, 2005

I'd rather see Bush release all the "classified" documents relating to 9/11 that aren't really classified.

Daisy · Dec 12, 2005

I dunno - if the part of the report that is unpublished because grand jury testimony is private by law, how does Tony Snow know what it contains? Only section V is not being published, according to the court order and only extremely confidential information concerning those unindicted subjects will not be disclosed to members of Congress.

One of the points the court order made was that the probe, using government funds and resources, continued long after its statute lapsed. Perhaps that ought to be investigated.

Source: US Court of Appeals, DC Circuit Court Order in re Henry G Cisneros (linkie - pdf)

Barrett's webpage is here (linkie).

carpro · Dec 13, 2005

Grand jury testimony can be legally obtained from those who testify before it. They can relate the questions they were asked and how they answered them.

Daisy · Dec 13, 2005

Originally posted by carpro:
Grand jury testimony can be legally obtained from those who testify before it. They can relate the questions they were asked and how they answered them.
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Is that always true? Are gag orders ever imposed on GJ testifiers? Man, I really don't know much.

At any rate, there is a difference between disclosing your own testimony and having someone else disclose it.

carpro · Dec 13, 2005

Originally posted by Daisy:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by carpro:
Grand jury testimony can be legally obtained from those who testify before it. They can relate the questions they were asked and how they answered them.
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Is that always true? Are gag orders ever imposed on GJ testifiers? Man, I really don't know much.

At any rate, there is a difference between disclosing your own testimony and having someone else disclose it. </font>[/QUOTE]I'm not sure if it's always true or not, but I do know witnesses have been routinely talking to the press all through this Plame thing.

Go here for a good explanation of GJ rules:
http://www.abanet.org/media/faqjury.html

Daisy · Dec 14, 2005

Thanks.

You're right that a lot of the witnesses have been talking to the press, but we don't know how much they've left out or even altered for public consumption. I really admire Fitzgerald - almost no leaks have come from his office.

Daisy · Dec 14, 2005

Why are grand jury proceedings secret?
Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provide that the prosecutor, grand jurors, and the grand jury stenographer are prohibited from disclosing what happened before the grand jury, unless ordered to do so in a judicial proceeding. Secrecy was originally designed to protect the grand jurors from improper pressures. The modern justifications are to prevent the escape of people whose indictment may be contemplated, to ensure that the grand jury is free to deliberate without outside pressure, to prevent subornation of perjury or witness tampering prior to a subsequent trial, to encourage people with information about a crime to speak freely, and to protect the innocent accused from disclosure of the fact that he or she was under investigation.

Why can a grand jury witness talk about his or her testimony?
In the federal courts, the witness is not sworn to secrecy, and may disclose whatever he or she wishes to whomever he or she wishes. The witness exemption was adopted in part because it was thought that requiring witness secrecy was unrealistic and unenforceable, and in part to allow the witness to rebut rumors concerning his or her testimony. There is a basic revulsion in the United States about secret testimony.

Are there any other exceptions to grand jury secrecy?
At one time, the defendant in a criminal trial was never given access to the grand jury testimony that resulted in the indictment. By the 1980s, in most jurisdictions, if a witness who testified before the grand jury was called to testify at the eventual trial, the defendant was given a copy of that witness's grand jury testimony to use for possible impeachment. Some jurisdictions also give the defendant a list of everyone who testified before the grand jury, and several give the defendant a full transcript of all relevant grand jury testimony. In the federal system, no such list is provided, and the grand jury transcripts of only those persons who testify on behalf of the prosecutor at trial are given to the defendant.

Source: American Bar Assoc. (thanks to carpro for the link)
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