Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today that after a diligent review of evidence, she is declining to file further charges in the Eric Greitens case referred to her office last month.
Baker’s office received a file from the Circuit Attorney of St. Louis on May 22, 2018. Since then, she and a team of assistant prosecutors have exhausted potential leads in examining submitted evidence and enlisting the Missouri Highway Patrol to investigate issues in this case.
As of today, with a statute of limitations set to expire this weekend, Baker stated that her office did not have sufficient evidence to consider filing new charges in the Greitens case. Still missing was corroborating evidence for an invasion of privacy case, Baker noted.
[….]
From Jean Peters Baker, Jackson County Prosecutor:
In an earlier statement, I said that my office will not comment about the case involving Governor Greitens or its review until our Office’s work had been completed. Given today’s events, however, we believe that a brief statement is needed.
In short, our investigation continues. In the interest of pursing justice to its fullest lengths, we will continue until our work on the case is completed.
Specifically regarding any deals we made with Governor Greitens’ attorneys, no deals were made by my office. Our review of this case, as I have stated before, will be pursued without fear or favor.
My office will not make any further comments on this case.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker [2017 file photo].
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker has been appointed as the special prosecutor in the Eric Greitens (r) criminal case:
Kimberly Gardner @StLouisCityCA
I’m pleased to announce that the Prosecuting Attorney of Jackson County, Jean Peters Baker has agreed to serve as the special prosecutor in the felony Invasion of Privacy investigation against Governor Eric Greitens. 5:12 PM – 21 May 2018
Meanwhile:
Christopher Ave @ChristopherAve
“I’m not lying,” woman at center of #Greitens controversy says. 10:05 PM – 21 May 2018
For Immediate Release May 09, 2017
Statement from the Press Secretary
Today, President Donald J. Trump informed FBI Director James Comey that he has been terminated and removed from office. President Trump acted based on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“The FBI is one of our Nation’s most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement,” said President Trump.
A search for a new permanent FBI Director will begin immediately.
The letter:
Read that second paragraph. Several times. He never got out of junior high school…
One of many reactions:
Joy Reid @JoyAnnReid
We’ll soon find out if we also have a compromised congress, in addition to a scandalized White House. 1/ 5:27 PM – 9 May 2017
Joy Reid @JoyAnnReid
If Senate Republicans rubber stamp a Trump lackey to replace Comey and don’t appoint a special counsel, we’ll know Rome has fallen. 2/ 5:28 PM – 9 May 2017
Joy Reid @JoyAnnReid
Trump, with Jeff Sessions and his deputy’s help, may have just took a huge step toward putting himself beyond the reach of law. 3/ 5:29 PM – 9 May 2017
Click to sign the petition to Attorney General designate Eric Holder:
Dear Attorney General-Designate Eric Holder,
We the undersigned citizens of the United States hereby formally petition you to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute any and all government officials who have participated in War Crimes. CLICK TO SIGN:
Collect signatures in the real world by printing out this PDF.
Please also phone the Office of the Attorney General at 202-353-1555.
First let me say that we want Eric Holder confirmed as Attorney General. We want him confirmed because of statements like this…
Washington, D.C. — Eric H. Holder Jr., Deputy Attorney General during the Clinton administration, asserted in a speech to the American Constitution Society (ACS) that the United States must reverse “the disastrous course” set by the Bush administration in the struggle against terrorism by closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, declaring without qualification that the U.S. does not torture people, ending the practice of transferring individuals involuntarily to countries that engage in torture and ceasing warrantless domestic surveillance.
“Our needlessly abusive and unlawful practices in the ‘War on Terror’ have diminished our standing in the world community and made us less, rather than more, safe,” Holder told a packed room at the ACS 2008 Convention on Friday evening. “For the sake of our safety and security, and because it is the right thing to do, the next president must move immediately to reclaim America’s standing in the world as a nation that cherishes and protects individual freedom and basic human rights.”
We want the man who said those words to be our next Attorney General. Because in truth and in a logical world the best way, perhaps the only way, to “reclaim America’s standing in the world as a nation that cherishes and protects individual freedom and basic human rights”…..is to investigate and then prosecute those who have criminally destroyed that standing. They destroyed it by using torture.
For those of you still on the fence as to whether the Bush Administration engaged in actual torture as opposed to merely “Enhanced Interrogation,” I offer this statement released today by a Bush appointee.
The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, interrogating him with techniques that included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, leaving him in a “life-threatening condition.”
“We tortured [Mohammed al-]Qahtani,” said Susan J. Crawford, in her first interview since being named convening authority of military commissions by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in February 2007. “His treatment met the legal definition of torture.”
One of the arguments made in defense of the Bush Administrations official policy of torture that first surfaced at Abu Ghraib is that it was “a few bad apples.”
In an interview with Brit Hume that aired today on Fox News Sunday, President Bush admitted that he personally authorized the torture of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He said he personally asked “what tools” were available to use on him, and sought legal approval for waterboarding him:
BUSH: One such person who gave us information was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. … And I’m in the Oval Office and I am told that we have captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the professionals believe he has information necessary to secure the country. So I ask what tools are available for us to find information from him and they gave me a list of tools, and I said are these tools deemed to be legal? And so we got legal opinions before any decision was made.
KARL: Did you authorize the tactics that were used against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?
All of their false claims of legality come from one source, their own pet lawyers. Much of whose legal “work” has already been destroyed by the Supreme Court. Their only claim to legality comes from complicit lawyers in the White House and in the now famously corrupt and politicized Department of Justice.
The Department of Justice that Eric Holder has now been nominated to lead.
A Department of Justice that should, unlike the DOJ under Bush, be independent of political concerns. As Obama himself acknowledges..
OBAMA: What I — I think my general view when it comes to my attorney general is he is 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 to be swayed by my day-to-day politics. So, ultimately, he’s going to be making some calls….
The Attorney General does NOT, unlike the DOJ under Bush, work for the President. He works for The People of the United States. And he works for justice. Non-partisan, non-politicized justice, with no other agenda other than serving justice and representing the legal interests of the American people.
In a logical sane and rational world….a non-politicized world….AG Holder’s task would be clear cut. A “slam dunk” if you will.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has just released a 487 page report (NOTE: pdf file) whose table of contents clearly spells out what must be on AG Holders agenda in both reforming the DOJ and to effectively “reclaim America’s standing in the world as a nation that cherishes and protects individual freedom and basic human rights.”:
Hiring and Firing of U.S. Attorneys and other Department Personnel
Selective Prosecution
Politicization of the Prosecution Function
Politicization of the Civil Rights Division and Voting Rights Enforcement
Detention
Enhanced Interrogation
Ghosting and Black Sites
Extraordinary Rendition
Warrantless Domestic Surveillance
National Security Letters (NSLs) and Exigent Letters
Use of Signing Statements
Midnight Rulemaking
The Leak of Valerie Plame Wilson’s Covert CIA Identity
Improper Use of State Secrets and Other Authorities
Manipulation and Misuse of Intelligence
All of these charges have been well documented and backed up with evidence. In addition to the admissions by Bush and Cheney of authorizing an entire network of torture and torture facilities. There is no question that crimes have been committed. The only questions left are what to do about it….and if we can overcome the politics that surround and protect the Bush Administration’s crimes.
We The People want Eric Holder confirmed as the nex
t Attorney General of the United States.
IF Attorney General Holder will uphold his statements of principle. Especially as to his objections to “Our needlessly abusive and unlawful practices in the ‘War on Terror'”
However, thanks to the efforts of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, Addington, Yoo and Bybee….we do NOT live in a logical sane and rational world, a non-politicized world. They have succeeded, so far, in muddying what should be crystal clear water. The evidence is there. Will we as a people and a country under the Rule of Law ignore it?
Due to politics and separate from any question of law, AG Designate Holder may not be able to directly come out at the confirmation hearings and state that he will even investigate these crimes, but he must be asked the question. In the muddied waters of our current political environment it would be political suicide to directly state that he will pursue justice. How low we as a nation have sunk into those muddy waters when the chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America must not, for purely political reasons, openly state that he will pursue criminals.
“Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor — ideally Patrick Fitzgerald — to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping,”
There is an internet campaign by The Center for Constitutional Rights and by The Pen urging us to call (800-828-0498 or 800-473-6711 ) the following Senators and urge them to ask that question:
We have in Eric Holders confirmation hearing a chance to make our voices heard even more in this quest for accountability. Please take this opportunity to add your voice.
We do NOT want to torpedo Eric Holders chances of becoming Attorney General. But we DO want to make sure he lives up to his statements and principles. Please take this opportunity to let the Senators on the Judiciary Committee and AG designate Holder know that you support the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to investigate the crimes of the Bush Administration.
Sign the petition, call the above Senators and your own representatives, and make your voice, and the voices of your fellow citizens, heard.
The Kansas City Star has an online copy (pdf) of the lawsuit filed in Cole County by Special Investigator C.E. Fisher against Governor Matt “baby” Blunt in the e-mail destruction/obstruction case. It’s kind of nice that the paper saved us a drive down to Jefferson City to get a copy. The document provided by the paper does not have the case number nor any filing stamp on the header. tiny URL
Oh, yeah. The Kansas City Star did a front page story (below the fold) in this morning’s Kansas City Edition. tiny URL
08AC-CC00370 – STATE OF MO EX REL V MATTHEW R BLUNT ET AL
Judge Assigned: CALLAHAN, RICHARD G
Date Filed: 05/05/2008
Location: Cole Circuit
Case Type: CC Declaratory Judgment
Disposition: Not Disposed
There are some interesting revelations:
First, someone in the Blunt administration who was concerned about the law spilled the beans on the Blunt administration:
…30. On November 1, 2007, after hearing the aforementioned confrontations with Ross, an employee of the Office of Administration contacted a member of the Attorney General’s office and confidentially reported the activities of Ross to the Office of the Attorney General. After receiving this information, the Attorney General took steps to begin an investigation…
Second, that big bill for the records request was not exactly a big bill for the records request:
…63. On February 8, 2008, Mr. Holstein provided his supplementary response to his January 8, 2008 correspondence. In his response on behalf of Defendant Blunt and the Office of Administration, Holstein communicates an estimated cost of $540,940.00 to determine which records Defendant Blunt is required to produce, said amount not including any costs of copying or electronic formatting. Of the $540,940.00 estimated costs, $467,840.00 was for attorney time to review the records…
It was a big bill for attorney’s fees.
What’s the lawsuit all about?:
…73. In order to complete the instant investigation, Plaintiff must review the records of e-mail transmissions and other records currently in the custody of the Office of the Governor and the Office of Administration…
The big revelation?:
…89. Defendant Blunt or those acting on his behalf, under his control or at his direction have violated or attempted to violate the provisions of Chapter 610, by:
a. instituting and overseeing practices to delete email transmissions from forty-three (43) computers located in the Office of Governor…
…b. attempting to compel employees of the Office of Administration to place backup tapes containing public records back into a rotation cycle after Sunshine Law request had been made for such records which would prevent the proper disclosure of public records…
Uh, oh.
And why did they do it?:
…90. The actions set forth in the preceding paragraph where taken to mitigate potential personal and political damage to Defenfdant Blunt and not in furtherance of any legitimate governmental interest…
Yeah, read the “Exhibit 3” attached to the lawsuit.
