The Independent Counsel Report in the 10 year, $22 million investigation of former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros has been released. What does it show? Not much of anything, certainly not enough to justify the length and expense of the investigation. The full report and appendixes and other documents are available here. As to charges that the Clinton Administration intervened to protect Cisneros, it sounds to me like bunk.

Justice Department officials who disputed Barrett's findings portrayed his investigation as deeply misguided and said the tax case against Cisneros had little merit. They suggested the prosecutor had turned his disappointment in his inability to prove the obstruction allegations into unprovable theories. Robert Litt, one of the Justice Department officials involved, wrote in a comment letter May 31 that he was allowed to read only edited portions of the report but he concluded the report was "a fitting conclusion to one of the most embarrassingly incompetent and wasteful episodes in the history of American law enforcement."

If you are going to be in New York City this weekend, check out the second and final installment of the Commission hearings against Bush for crimes against humanity, to be held at the Riverside Church and Columbia Law School. It is organized by the Not in Our Name Statement of Conscience and is endorsed by: Center for Constitutional Rights, National Lawyers Guild, After Downing Street.org and others. You can register online.

Among the witnesses at the tribunal (full schedule here):

• former commander of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski,
• former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray who exposed the use of information gathered through torture,
• former arms inspector Scott Ritter,
• ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern,
• Dahr Jamail (journalist who has reported extensively from Iraq),
• Guantanamo prisoners’ lawyer Michael Ratner,

Bush was indicted at the first session. Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern delivered the Indictment to the White House on January 10. The Bush White House has been invited to defend itself at this weekend's hearing.

The New York Times today explores Bush's now infamous "signing statement" on the anti-Torture Amendment. It wasn't his first:

Mr. Bush has issued more than 100 of them, which scholars believe might be more than any other president. (Signing statements have been around since at least the administration of Andrew Jackson.) More significant, scholars say, Mr. Bush has greatly expanded the scope and character of the signing statement, even from the time of the Reagan administration.

The New York Times takes a swipe at President Bush in its Sunday editorial, Our Imperial Presidency at Work. First he gamed McCain over the Torture Amendment with his signing statement. Then he tried divest the Supreme Court of jurisdiction in the detainee cases.

The Times astutely observes:

Both of the offensive theories at work here - that a president's intent in signing a bill trumps the intent of Congress in writing it, and that a president can claim power without restriction or supervision by the courts or Congress - are pet theories of Judge Samuel Alito, the man Mr. Bush chose to tilt the Supreme Court to the right.

The administration's behavior shows how high and immediate the stakes are in the Alito nomination, and how urgent it is for Congress to curtail Mr. Bush's expansion of power. Nothing in the national consensus to combat terrorism after 9/11 envisioned the unilateral rewriting of more than 200 years of tradition and law by one president embarked on an ideological crusade.

[graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.]

Murray Waas tracks down some information on David Thibault, the editor in chief of Cybercast News, which ran the swift-boat style article criticizing Jack Murtha. (See Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post for more details on the Murtha attack.)

Murray finds that Thibault was a "senior producer for a televised news magazine" broadcast and sponsored by the Republican National Committee. Murray's point:

Thibault's background, it seems to me, and those engaging in the Swiftboating of Murtha would seem to be relevant to any news story on this issue, I would think. And so would some independent examination by the Post as to whether there is even any veracity to the charges.

HuffPo reports the Bush Administration asked "high ranking military leaders" to attack Murtha. Murtha responds to the attacks on HuffPo. Some soldiers weigh in agreeing with Murtha.

Markos weighs in. Murtha will be on 60 Minutes tomorrow night.

VA Governor Mark Warner leaves office today. Some are criticizing his attempts to make our criminal justice system a fairer place. They are off-base. He is not a "soft on crime" politician.

But in four years as governor, Mr. Warner has incrementally and with little fanfare established groundbreaking policies on the use of DNA testing to confirm, or challenge, criminal convictions, many of them in death penalty cases. Last week, he became the first governor to order a DNA test involving a man who had already been executed.

The actions of Mr. Warner, who leaves office on Saturday, have established new middle ground in the polarized world of death penalty politics. Unlike former Gov. George Ryan of Illinois, who ordered a moratorium on executions in 2003, Mr. Warner has not called for halting executions, and he still supports capital punishment. His goal, he has said, has not been to undermine the system but to make sure it works.

Nevada Senator and Minority Leader Harry Reid is calling for the resignation of HSA Chief Michael Chertoff.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called for the resignation of Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff on Wednesday, one day after the government dropped Las Vegas from a list of cities considered potential high-risk targets eligible for special anti-terrorism grants.

Reid, D-Nev., joins Clark County Sheriff Bill Young in calling for Chertoff to step down as a result of the decision jeopardizing millions in additional federal funding that Nevada currently receives as a result of being considered a potential terrorist target.

Here's Chertoff's explanation:

Chertoff defended the scaled-back approach as one that focuses federal grants on those areas most needing to make preparations, with the 35 locations decided by 3.2 billion calculations aimed at determining regions most susceptible to terrorism.

The ever-blunt Sen. Reid had one more complaint: "He did a lousy job on Katrina."

It's hard to quibble with that one. And yes, I agree with Reid that Nevada fund should not have been cut.

Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty today in Florida.

The plea agreement calls for a maximum sentence of just over seven years, but that sentence could be reduced if Abramoff cooperates fully and would run simultaneously with whatever sentence is imposed in the Washington corruption case. The remaining four counts in the Florida indictment will be dismissed.

Other big Abramoff news today is that the Bush reelection campaign is turning over $6,000 it took from Abramoff to charity.

Abramoff raised at least $100,000 for the Bush-Cheney '04 re-election campaign, earning the honorary title "pioneer" from the campaign. But the campaign is giving up only $6,000 directly from Abramoff, his wife and one of the Indian tribes that he worked to win influence for in Washington. The money is being donated to the American Heart Association.

Also giving up money received from Abramoff: Tom DeLay and Roy Blunt:

CNN reports receiving an email from Jack Abramoff's attorney, Neal Sonnett, stating that Abramoff will plead to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud tomorrow in Miami, while other charges would be dropped as part of the plea deal.

These are five year counts. Assuming he pleads to two counts,as reported here, the maximum he could get is ten years. Because he is cooperating, he will get less. As I analyze here, in D.C., the sentence could be as little as four to five years. The same is probably true of the Florida sentence. With the sentences to run concurrently, Abramoff did very well. Good work by Neal and Abbe Lowell.

The Washington Post recaps the Florida Indictment here.

On a related note, Jane and Digby are very skeptical of Chief of DOJ's Criminal Division Alice Fisher's ability to be impartial in the investigation of congressional wrongdoers that results from Abramoff's cooperation. As I reported here, Bush snuck Fisher in as a recess appointment after Senators had blocked her confirmation. At the time, The Houston Chronicle reported:

Don't miss acclaimed playwright Sheldon Yellen's new Huffington Post piece, Bush as Bad Theatre. It's devastating, and so true.

Bush is our own Tartuffe, Molière's insufferable pseudo-religious comedic character who uses his so called piety to gain power over the lives of others.

....Hypocrites are easy to expose while true believers like Bush stand fast as reality implodes around them. He appears to believe what he says even as he plays the leading role in our national drama. He would serve nicely as a foolish father in a sit-com, or a ridiculous boss in an office comedy, but he is the Commander-in-Chief who can and does send young men and women to their deaths. Sadly, he does not even have the true villain's consciousness of when he has done wrong. This is why apology and admission of error is so difficult for him. He believes in his God-given rectitude in all situations.

The final paragpraph is the best. I won't spoil it, go read.

Tomorrow's Christian Science Monitor has an excellent article on the battles that will erupt during Congressional hearings this year. The Democrats finally are about to make some noise. Alito is the only a small part of it.

Even better, with GOP moderates joining Dems on key issues, and bucking the White House over secret prisons and eavesdropping, the fights could help the Democrats re-take Congress in 2006.

Here's some of what we're in for:

It's not scientific, but these numbers are pretty astounding. MSNBC is running a poll on whether Bush should be impeached. The results right now:

• Yes, between the secret spying, the deceptions leading to war and more,
  there is plenty to justify putting him on trial. 86%

• No, like any president, he has made a few missteps, but nothing approaching
  "high crimes and misdemeanors." 5%

• No, the man has done absolutely nothing wrong. Impeachment would just be a
  political lynching. 8%

Voting is still open.