Sibel Edmonds, under oath

Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds has finally been given the opportunity to testify, under oath, about crimes that she became aware of during her work at the FBI.

The video and transcript of her deposition were released yesterday, and include details of "blackmail, bribery, espionage, infiltration, and criminal conspiracy by current and former members of the U.S. Congress, high-ranking State and Defense Department officials, and agents of the government of Turkey" according to Bradblog, who has done extensive reporting on this case.

The video and the transcript are available at Bradblog.

Bradblog reports:

The deposition included criminal allegations against specifically named members of Congress. Among those named by Edmonds as part of a broad criminal conspiracy: Reps. Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Dan Burton (R-IN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Bob Livingston (R-LA), Stephen Solarz (D-NY), Tom Lantos (D-CA), as well as an unnamed, still-serving Congresswoman (D) said to have been secretly videotaped, for blackmail purposes, during a lesbian affair.

High-ranking officials from the Bush Administration named in her testimony, as part of the criminal conspiracy on behalf of agents of the Government of Turkey, include Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, Marc Grossman, and others.

According to the deposition, her case includes, but is not limited to, activities involving attempts by Turkish, Israeli and Pakistani operatives:

"to obtain very sensitive, classified, highly classified U.S. intelligence information, weapons technology information, classified congressional records, recruiting key U.S. individuals with access to highly sensitive information, blackmailing, bribery. "

For many years, Sibel has wanted the opportunity to testify in public, under oath. All of her previous attempts to expose the crimes that she is aware of have been buried in what she calls the 'black hole' of testimony behind closed doors, where information goes in but never escapes. Hopefully this will change now that (some of) the charges have now been made in public, under oath.

A list of the guilty parties is available here. Sibel's blog is 123 Real Change. Bradblog will continue covering the story.

Some video

Bradblog brings us video from outside the deposition.



There's some more here from Eric Larson

Liveblogging

Bradblog is quasi-liveblogging Sibel's deposition today. Follow today's events here at Bradblog

DoJ intercedes to block testimony.

Bradblog has the latest:

DoJ Intercedes With Ohio Commission in Effort to Block Edmonds Testimony

Brad writes:

In short, the DoJ has informed the (Ohio Election Commission ) that Edmonds has "not complied with the procedures for obtaining authorization from the FBI, her former employer, prior to making any disclosure relating to information that she acquired in the course of her work for the FBI. Therefore, she is not authorized to testify at the deposition."

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The DoJ further claims in their letter that the OEC's subpoena is not enforceable, because the deposition is to take place outside of Ohio.

In response, the OEC has said they will not enforce the subpoena, but they have not withdrawn it either. Thus, it seems, Krikorian is still within his rights to carry out the deposition at this time, and Edmonds tells The BRAD BLOG she plans on being there in the morning to answer it.
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In a brief conversation with Edmonds moments ago, she re-iterated her belief that the "MSM will be a no-show tomorrow", and therefore says "citizen journalists are needed" to cover what may happen at the deposition. Both she and Krikorian, as well as attorneys from all sides, will be available to answer questions from media --- both corporate and citizen --- before and after the scheduled deposition tomorrow. It is slated to begin at 10:30am Saturday morning (8/8/09) at the National Whistleblowers Center, 3238 P St. NW, in Washington D.C..

What happens next?

Sibel Edmonds Fights to Testify

Bradblog has the latest.

The FBI and the Dept of Justice are trying to block Sibel from testifying, asserting that:

Edmonds is under “no compulsion” to testify in the Krikorian case and the FBI asserted that she, “does not have approval for any disclosure of any information.”

Sibel's lawyers responded that:

"the objections raised so far by the agency are not sufficient to block Edmonds' from "truthfully answer[ing] questions while under oath pursuant to a lawful subpoena" on Saturday morning in D.C. as scheduled.

Their press release [PDF], to be issued publicly later today, accuses the FBI and DoJ of attempting "censorship" and trying to "silence [a] whistleblower"."

Bradblog reports:

Edmonds told The BRAD BLOG today that she "absolutely intends to answer any questions, unless it's about intelligence gathering or informants." But, since "that has nothing to do with this case," she didn't anticipate any such questions.

She did say, however, that she was "obligated to respond to any questions that come out about any of the people in the 'State Secrets Privilege Gallery'". The "State Secrets Privilege Gallery" referenced is a webpage of unnamed photographs --- featuring current and former Congressmembers, high-ranking State and Defense Dept. officials, as well as lobbyists and agents from Turkish public interest groups --- which Edmonds posted in 2007. The names of most of those officials, and their ties to Edmonds own whistleblower case, has been detailed by Edmonds expert Luke Ryland here. Some of the names, said to have been illegally tied to Turkish influences, include former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Congressmen Dan Burton (R-IN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Stephen Solarz (D-NY), as well as Bush Administration officials such as Richard Perle, Marc Grossman, Douglas Feith and others.

Bradblog continues:

Edmonds told The BRAD BLOG this afternoon that she believes she has an obligation to respond to questions raised during the deposition.

"This is not about being idealistic or heroic," she told us. "I am responsible to inform the citizens, and these people's constituents about who they're voting for. I'm responsible to the citizens of this country and the Constitution. I'm going to do my best answer to those citizens, especially when it comes to important issues of the Constitution."

The DoJ and the FBI have a few possible options, including re-invoking the State Secrets Privilege. Unless they actively move to block the testimony, it is scheduled to proceed at 10.30AM Saturday.

Dept of bad timing

Sibel has been locked out of her blog and can't post anything there at the moment. I suspect that it is a coincidence more than a nefarious plot, but the timing is awful given her upcoming deposition.

Sibel obviously won't be able to post any updates there until that problem gets rectified, but Sibel has other ways of publishing any important messages. I will re-publish them at Against All Enemies.

Sibel Edmonds to break gag order

Update: Sibel's deposition will now be closed to the press & public, although the deposition will eventually be available on video.

Bradblog has the full story on the latest Sibel Edmonds news. Here is the intro:

FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds Subpoenaed, Set to 'Break' Gag Order Unless DoJ Intercedes

Former agency translator called to testify in Ohio election case this Saturday on Turkish infiltration of U.S. government...

Unless the Dept. of Justice re-invokes their twice-invoked "state secrets privilege" claim in order to once again gag former FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, her attorneys have notified the department by hand-delivered, sworn letter of declaration [PDF] this week, that she intends to give a public deposition, open to the media, in response to a subpoena this Saturday in Washington D.C..

Edmonds has confirmed her intentions to answer any questions asked of her during the sworn proceedings, fully and publicly, during conversations with The BRAD BLOG this week. She notes that her agreement with her former employer, the FBI --- who fired her illegally after she filed whistleblower allegations about corruption and foreign infiltration in the linguistics department --- includes certain non-disclosure requirements. However, those requirements do not preclude her answering to a legally issued court subpoena.

The subpoena and request for sworn deposition is part of a case now pending before the Ohio Elections Commission in which Ohio's Republican U.S. Congresswoman Jean Schmidt (R-2nd District) has filed a complaint against her 2008 independent challenger, David Krikorian who Schmidt has charged distributed false statements about her during last year's campaign.

The resulting testimony, if it indeed occurs this weekend, could be far more explosive than either Schmidt or Krikorian might have ever guessed...

Read the rest at BradBlog

ATC / ATA bribed Dennis Hastert

The following snippet is from a recent interview of Sibel Edmonds by Brad Friedman.

Brad Friedman: (24.30min) One of those folks is actually Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the House, who has now gone to work for the Turkish government.

Sibel Edmonds: Isn't that amazing. Because as you know in August 2005 Vanity Fair had a six or seven page on this issue, and the fact that several FBI agents and Dept of Justice officials as sources, and some congressional people confirmed to this reporter, David Rose, that then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was the recipient of various bribery and other illegal conduct, let's put it that way.

And this (article) came out, and Dennis Hastert didn't do anything, they didnt sue Vanity Fair. In fact, they didn't really issue a real denial, and as you know he resigned a year later, and now he works actually for the Turkish Lobby that the Vanity Fair article named as one of the entities that was giving Mr Hastert these bribes.

Brad Friedman: Oh, Vanity Fair actually named that particular firm?

Sibel Edmonds: Correct, because they work with the American Turkish Council, and the ATA, and they are the clients for the lobbying firms that he's working for today. And the Government of Turkey of course, this lobbying firm for Hastert is now registered for Foreign Agents Registration Act...

Deposition pending...

Sibel Edmonds may finally get a chance to speak. She has been asked to provide sworn deposition and affidavit testimony in an Ohio Election case. Her testimony will include details regarding:

How certain Turkish entities had illegally infiltrated and influenced various U.S. government agencies and officials, including but not limited to the Department of State, the Department of Defense and individual members of the United States Congress.

How certain Turkish American cultural and business lobby groups conduct their illegal operations with direct and indirect support from the foreign governments.

Sibel's deposition is scheduled for:

Saturday, August 8, 2009, at 10:30am. It will be held at the National Whistleblowers Center at 3238 P. St. NW, Washington, DC. The event is open to the press.

Jeff Stein has a story about this matter at CQ Politics.

Sibel Edmonds interviews NSA's Russ Tice

This is a partial transcript of an interview by Sibel Edmonds & Peter B. Collins of NSA whistleblower Russ Tice. The audio is here.

Sibel Edmonds: (38min) ...And of course, what we have been seeing with the Congress, and I agree with you on the blackmail angle, because as you know yourself, the FBI has been doing this for a long, long time.

I know of several, 8, 9 congressional people that we were maintaining files on, files that were obtained under FISA on foreign entities.

And under the FISA laws, when you get information on US persons you have two options - you either pursue them criminally by going to the Justice Department and asking for warrants - separate warrants than FISA - to go and legally collect evidence on those Congressional people, any US persons, or you destroy those files.

Well, I'll tell you this, they didn't go after them criminally, and they never destroyed those files, and those were pretty thick files - whether it was a certain congresswoman who is currently serving, and has a lesbian relationship even though she has a husband and two grown up children, and how that is being used against her. I can't name names, but of course the State Secrets Privilege comes into work.

[SNIP]

Peter B Collins: (48 mins) Now, I do understand the compartmentalization of secure organizations, but we also have to allow for human beings and for constitutional rights, and when you took your pledge of secrecy to work in these various agencies. Russ, did you give up any constitutional rights?

Russ Tice: Now here's the thing, when you say 'pledge,' pledge is something that is spoken. The pledge that I take is the standard pledge in government to support and defend the constitution of the US. That was my pledge.

Now, when you are read into these programs, and I've been read into so many 'black' programs - 219 black world programs in my career, which is astounding for one person.

So when you read into these programs, you read it through and you sign something that says that you will not divulge the information that you've learnt in this program, so your pledge is to support and defend, and you're signing individual programs and your general clearance at a TS/SCI level - Special Compartmented Information - at that level you also sign something that says that you're not going to give up classified information.

But ultimately, when a program violates the law and the constitution, under Executive Order, that program classification is ultimately null and void, because the constitution trumps any illegal and unconstitutional classification stamped on any program.

Sibel Edmonds: Well that brings us to this whole issue of obliging with this secrecy, and I signed those papers too, OK.

And I also know our rights under this law that says the Executive Branch shall not classify criminal information that it has committed, to cover it up, or embarrassing information. So that law actually takes precedence over the secrecy and all those documents that we have signed.

So if you are in that position - and Russ this is actually a question because I really don't know the answer - and you know that the program is illegal, you know that the program is not constitutional, you know that the program is against the interests and the liberties of the nation, then do you test that and say well, they say it is classified (and that is kind of arbitrary because the executive branch is in charge of classification) yet the conduct is illegal?

Why is it that a lot of us are complying with this illegal classification which has actually been nullified based on an existing law that says 'Thou shalt not classify criminal conduct by the executive branch, or the embarrassing information' - so how do you explain that Russ?

Russ Tice: Well, first it is not a law, it is an Executive Order that says that, so ultimately the ability to counter that and say 'This violates the law and the constitution and I'm going to step up and I’m going to say something about that...' Ultimately your fate depends on the integrity of the Executive in the big White House. If the executive has no integrity, you're probably going to find yourself in jail, and no one is going to help you.

Sibel Edmonds: No, but first you're going to end up in court, OK. That means that you have to bring before the judge this information, and if they have brought criminal charges against you then it is going to be harder - they are still doing it, the Executive Branch today - for them to say 'Oh, it is all classified.'

If they are bringing criminal charges to jail you, then you get your opportunity to present to the court, the jury - because it is 'criminal', it is not the same as the administrative lawsuits that we have dealt with - and say 'OK. Here are these documents that shows that these operations, or what I reported, was illegal against the Constitution' and then it becomes up to the members of the jury to decide whether or not that information was not qualified to be classified. But it goes before the court first, and it goes to the criminal court - and if it goes to the criminal court, it is not the same dog-and-pony-show that they have had with us, because then you have access to the whole jury. Not?

Russ Tice: Well I think it would be exactly the same problem that you had. You know, why wouldn’t they tell a criminal judge or jury the State Secrets Privilege thing that they did in your case?

Sibel Edmonds: Because I've been trying to go to the criminal court, and they are not taking me there, because that was not the criminal court, that was the Federal Court under 'Employment', and the First Amendment.

And actually that lawsuit was brought by me, but two years ago I declared publicly, I said "OK. The mainstream media (and under two main conditions,) I will be willing to go and tell the American people what the Department of Justice and the State Department have been hiding under the State Secrets Privilege."

Of course, nobody is willing to do that within the mainstream media, because I was prepared to say 'Fine, you take me to the criminal court,' OK, because I have never been to the criminal court, then they can't really use the State Secrets Privilege because if they use it they have to drop the charges, and if they don't use (the State Secrets Privilege,) I get the chance to show the documents, to show the court, the public, the jury, documents that says 'No, this information is not State Secrets Privilege. (They show that) it is criminal conduct by the State Department and Pentagon between the years 1996 and 2002.' That's a different story isn't it?

Russ Tice: Well, in concept you could think of it that way, but in reality I have a feeling you'd end up with some sort of Kangaroo Court scenario and some sort of Kangaroo Court judge that would be hell-bent on...

Sibel Edmonds: (interrupts) Exactly, and we have problems with our courts today, you are right. You are absolutely right.

Russ Tice: So, like I said, when you have no one in the judiciary, no one in the legislature, and no one of course in the Executive that is willing to back you up, and the press themselves not doing their job, the poor guy or gal who is trying to get the word out is going to be crucified, and no one is going to shed a tear.

Update: From a BOILING FROGS interview with Phil Giraldi:

Sibel (32.50): You (Giraldi) are right, and you mentioned something else and you mentioned this process of 'hooking' and that's exactly what they do.

Now, the hooking can be via getting first some innocent information, and then making that information-level go higher and higher; money; and in some cases it is just the sexual stuff.

In one case that I had, and I can't talk about the specifics, it was this particular congresswoman, and she's still a congresswoman, that these ATC and AIPAC-related individuals got dirt on her, OK. They found out that even though she was married, and she still is, and has grown up kids, she is bi-sexual, she also has interests in other women. And they used that. They actually provided a Turkish lady to go and have an affair with her, and they recorded her, they tape-recorded the entire relationship , OK. Because their initial attempt to hook this particular congresswoman for a particular objective they had did not work, had not worked, so they went to the next level and said 'OK, this is how we hook', so there are various ways that they go and they hook people.

.