Larry Klayman
Welcome to 'Liars Central': Washington, D.C.
By Larry Klayman
You have certainly heard of and some of you watch "Comedy Central," home to Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and a host of other comedians. But have you heard of "Liars Central," the show in Washington, D.C., which is not funny, but instead the root of the nation's ethical, legal and domestic and international decline generally?
Last week, the continuing reality series of "Liars Central" was broadcast and seen in the hearing room of House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, where a bevy of professional lying congressmen from both sides of the political aisle grilled our professional lying Attorney General Eric Holder. It was a "real treat" to see so many liars in one room, a small snapshot of the cesspool of Washington's corrupt political establishment. The game show atmosphere of the "event" was captivating, but hardly reassuring for the country — which is headed with each passing day into an increasing death spiral of sleaze, incompetence and indifference to the sinking plight of "We the People" caused in large part by our so-called ruling elite. Indeed, we no longer have a republic, but simply a televised tragicomedy I call "Liars Central."
I am hardly a fan of Eric Holder. During the Clinton years — when he was deputy attorney general — he was an accomplice with Janet Reno, then Clinton's attorney general, in deep-sixing the Justice Department's Chinagate investigation by not only hiding evidence of illegal contributions from China and traitorous technology transfers to the communist state, but also indicting a key witness and my client, Nolanda Hill — Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown's "main squeeze" who attempted to spill the beans on Bill's and Hill's bribery schemes with our "little yellow friends" — to borrow a phrase from Peter Seller's comedic film character, Inspector Clouseau. (See my book for more on this: "Whores: Why and How I Came to Fight the Establishment.") Then, for good measure, Holder was the point person at Justice who assisted the Clintons in selling pardons as Ms. Hillary was walking out the White House door, attempting to also steal the mansion's furniture at the end of her hubby's administration.
While I had contact with many of the Clinton criminals during the 1990s and early 2000s while I was chairman of Judicial Watch, I had never met Holder, much less deposed him in court proceedings. But at last year's Vanity Fair-Bloomberg News after-party, following the White House Correspondents' Dinner, I came upon Holder on the patio of the French ambassador's residence, which is where the soiree was held. Having been a bit lubricated, as I turned to greet other guests, there he stood, "Sir Eric." So I said to myself, what the heck; let's say hello and take the man's measure after all these years.
Approaching him slowly, and he was only a few feet away from me at the time, I said," Eric, I thought I'd just say hello. We have never met," adding a little sarcastically and tongue in cheek, "We never had a chance to meet." With a wry smile, and in a soft calm tone, he replied, chuckling, "Are you here to serve me with a subpoena" — a funny but very pathetic retort from the attorney general of the United States.
However bizarre his response to me, I found Holder very personal and distinguished. Indeed, his tall presence is impressive. And in the words of David Johnson, former editor of Page 6 of the New York Post, who was also there that evening, "Holder is the whitest black guy" one could ever meet — not that acting white is a virtue and being black is not. But the bottom line is that he is a very smooth operator, who like Woody Allen's movie character, Zelig, can morph into any form, like a chameleon, that furthers his ends. His likability that evening reminded me of many other Clinton criminals like Janet Reno, Terry McAuliffe (former DNC chair and fundraiser extraordinaire), Mac McClarty (former Clinton White House chief of staff) — all of whom I either deposed or met elsewhere — who have the same trait, a trait that had served them well in helping to keep them out of prison.
Operation Fast and Furious — the Obama Justice Department's botched Mexican gun-running scheme that Republicans grilled Holder about to use as a sword against the president and Democrats — was a huge, stupid mistake that lead to the death of a brave Border Patrol agent. It was even more stupid for Holder to lie to Congress about his involvement with this scam! For lying under oath, he should be indicted and tried for perjury. Others, like Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, two baseball stars who lied to Congress about their steroid use, got this treatment. But Clemens and Bonds, however famous, are not part of the incestuous, bipartisan Washington, D.C., political establishment, which protects itself at the expense of the American people.
So it came as no surprise that House Republicans threatened only to impeach Holder if he does not come totally clean on Operation Fast and Furious. This empty threat is meaningless in the world of Washington, D.C., politics. When was the last time anyone was impeached?
You see, lying in the nation's capital may make for good theatre, but it's really no "big deal," whether it's Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton during her scandalous reign of terror in the White House, or anyone else, including Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush, who lied about various issues involving the lead up to the Iraq war. Threats of impeachment of Holder are just part of the overall dog-and-pony show to position Republicans for the next election — just as the impeachment of Bill Clinton was intended only to weaken Democrats for the 2000 presidential election. There never was any Republican intention to convict and remove the criminal from office, lest Al Gore assume the presidency and run as an incumbent in 2000.
It again falls to "We the People" to take action. If Holder is not indicted for perjury, should we not empanel a citizens' grand jury and charge him ourselves — a legal right under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution? And, let's not single out Sir Eric! The mainstay of the Washington, D.C., political establishment, with few exceptions, should also be indicted for destroying our country and lying to us in the process!
© Larry Klayman
You have certainly heard of and some of you watch "Comedy Central," home to Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and a host of other comedians. But have you heard of "Liars Central," the show in Washington, D.C., which is not funny, but instead the root of the nation's ethical, legal and domestic and international decline generally?
Last week, the continuing reality series of "Liars Central" was broadcast and seen in the hearing room of House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, where a bevy of professional lying congressmen from both sides of the political aisle grilled our professional lying Attorney General Eric Holder. It was a "real treat" to see so many liars in one room, a small snapshot of the cesspool of Washington's corrupt political establishment. The game show atmosphere of the "event" was captivating, but hardly reassuring for the country — which is headed with each passing day into an increasing death spiral of sleaze, incompetence and indifference to the sinking plight of "We the People" caused in large part by our so-called ruling elite. Indeed, we no longer have a republic, but simply a televised tragicomedy I call "Liars Central."
I am hardly a fan of Eric Holder. During the Clinton years — when he was deputy attorney general — he was an accomplice with Janet Reno, then Clinton's attorney general, in deep-sixing the Justice Department's Chinagate investigation by not only hiding evidence of illegal contributions from China and traitorous technology transfers to the communist state, but also indicting a key witness and my client, Nolanda Hill — Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown's "main squeeze" who attempted to spill the beans on Bill's and Hill's bribery schemes with our "little yellow friends" — to borrow a phrase from Peter Seller's comedic film character, Inspector Clouseau. (See my book for more on this: "Whores: Why and How I Came to Fight the Establishment.") Then, for good measure, Holder was the point person at Justice who assisted the Clintons in selling pardons as Ms. Hillary was walking out the White House door, attempting to also steal the mansion's furniture at the end of her hubby's administration.
While I had contact with many of the Clinton criminals during the 1990s and early 2000s while I was chairman of Judicial Watch, I had never met Holder, much less deposed him in court proceedings. But at last year's Vanity Fair-Bloomberg News after-party, following the White House Correspondents' Dinner, I came upon Holder on the patio of the French ambassador's residence, which is where the soiree was held. Having been a bit lubricated, as I turned to greet other guests, there he stood, "Sir Eric." So I said to myself, what the heck; let's say hello and take the man's measure after all these years.
Approaching him slowly, and he was only a few feet away from me at the time, I said," Eric, I thought I'd just say hello. We have never met," adding a little sarcastically and tongue in cheek, "We never had a chance to meet." With a wry smile, and in a soft calm tone, he replied, chuckling, "Are you here to serve me with a subpoena" — a funny but very pathetic retort from the attorney general of the United States.
However bizarre his response to me, I found Holder very personal and distinguished. Indeed, his tall presence is impressive. And in the words of David Johnson, former editor of Page 6 of the New York Post, who was also there that evening, "Holder is the whitest black guy" one could ever meet — not that acting white is a virtue and being black is not. But the bottom line is that he is a very smooth operator, who like Woody Allen's movie character, Zelig, can morph into any form, like a chameleon, that furthers his ends. His likability that evening reminded me of many other Clinton criminals like Janet Reno, Terry McAuliffe (former DNC chair and fundraiser extraordinaire), Mac McClarty (former Clinton White House chief of staff) — all of whom I either deposed or met elsewhere — who have the same trait, a trait that had served them well in helping to keep them out of prison.
Operation Fast and Furious — the Obama Justice Department's botched Mexican gun-running scheme that Republicans grilled Holder about to use as a sword against the president and Democrats — was a huge, stupid mistake that lead to the death of a brave Border Patrol agent. It was even more stupid for Holder to lie to Congress about his involvement with this scam! For lying under oath, he should be indicted and tried for perjury. Others, like Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, two baseball stars who lied to Congress about their steroid use, got this treatment. But Clemens and Bonds, however famous, are not part of the incestuous, bipartisan Washington, D.C., political establishment, which protects itself at the expense of the American people.
So it came as no surprise that House Republicans threatened only to impeach Holder if he does not come totally clean on Operation Fast and Furious. This empty threat is meaningless in the world of Washington, D.C., politics. When was the last time anyone was impeached?
You see, lying in the nation's capital may make for good theatre, but it's really no "big deal," whether it's Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton during her scandalous reign of terror in the White House, or anyone else, including Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush, who lied about various issues involving the lead up to the Iraq war. Threats of impeachment of Holder are just part of the overall dog-and-pony show to position Republicans for the next election — just as the impeachment of Bill Clinton was intended only to weaken Democrats for the 2000 presidential election. There never was any Republican intention to convict and remove the criminal from office, lest Al Gore assume the presidency and run as an incumbent in 2000.
It again falls to "We the People" to take action. If Holder is not indicted for perjury, should we not empanel a citizens' grand jury and charge him ourselves — a legal right under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution? And, let's not single out Sir Eric! The mainstay of the Washington, D.C., political establishment, with few exceptions, should also be indicted for destroying our country and lying to us in the process!
© Larry Klayman
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