Dream news from the Smoking Gun!
FEBRUARY 6--An illegal wiretapping and information gathering network run by disgraced president George W. Bush allegedly recorded John Kerry's telephone calls and accessed confidential medical records pertaining to other political figures, including Al Gore, John Edwards, and Howard Dean, journalists Helen Thomas and Seymour Hersh, and Democratic consultants John Podesta and Laura Nichol. President Bush and six associates were named in a 110-count federal racketeering indictment unsealed today in Washington. A copy of the 60-page indictment can be found below.
More dream news below.
According to prosecutors, President Bush, 59, used contacts in the NSA and the FBI and at the phone company to illegally wiretap phones as well as to gain access to the confidential National Medical Information Center (NMIC) database. The indictment does not specify what Bush did with information improperly culled from the NMIC records, which contain detailed individual medical histories and other private information.
The Bush administration, the indictment alleges, was "willing and able to pay large sums for the purpose of obtaining personal information of a confidential, embarrassing, or incriminating nature." While the Bush administration's "investigative targets" would often include "political opponents or witnesses in criminal or civil corporate litigation," the indictment does not name any lawyers as being part of the illegal scheme.
Charged along with Bush is Vice President Cheney, and Bush advisor Karl Rove. A former phone company manager, Teresa Wright, is identified in the indictment as a source for toll records, phone numbers, and home addresses. On January 9, Wright pleaded guilty to a single felony count of unauthorized access of protected computer information, a felony. She is believed to be cooperating with federal officials.
UPDATE: I think the Pellicano case helps bring wiretapping and its wrongs into the living room of the American public. These are Hollywood stars, I know, but from the other side:
Thugs wiretap illegally. Bush is Pellicano. What do you think?
IGNORE POLL. SORRY.