Eight Members of RNC Activist Group Lodged with Terrorism Charges

Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman reports:

"Ramsey County prosecutors have formally charged eight members of a prominent activist group with conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism. The eight members of the RNC Welcoming Committee are believed to be the first persons ever charged under the 2002 Minnesota version of the federal PATRIOT Act. The activists face up to seven-and-a-half years in prison. We speak with the father of one of those charged and the president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. [includes rush transcript]..."

Another Giant Snow Job

Snow Responds To Potentially Illegal Use Of RNC Accounts: Clinton Did It Too

Only Clinton didn't do it. Does the mainstream press question Snow's false assertion? Of course not. Do they ever question baseless assertions?

Think Progress sets Tony straight here:

"In 1993, President Clinton’s then-Assistant to the President John Podesta issued a staff memo clearly stating that all administration e-mails dealing with official business had to be 'incorporated into an official recordkeeping system,' stressing that no “e-mail document that is a Presidential record should be deleted.'

The Clinton administration’s policy also made clear that personal and political e-mail accounts — which are generally exempt from the Presidential Records Act — could not be used for official business. Indeed, the Bush administration has seemingly implemented a policy opposite of the Clinton administration’s.

Read the full memo HERE.

See Snow video HERE.

TRANSCRIPT:

Q Waxman’s committee has put out an interim report on the issue of the RNC emails showing, they say, that there was more use of those emails than the White House suggested, indicating possibly widespread violation of the Presidential Records Act. It’s, like, 140,000 emails of Rove’s, so the White House Counsel’s Office is aware that official business was being conducted through this party (inaudible) system? Can you respond to all that and what –

MR. SNOW: Look, I can’t respond specifically to things that the committee may have put out. But those email accounts were set up, A, on a model based on the prior administration, which had done it the same way, in order to try to avoid Hatch Act violations. And we’ll just — we’ll leave it at that. I mean, these were designed precisely to avoid Hatch Act violations that prohibit the use of government assets for certain political activities.

Photo Credit: Tony Snow. (AP/Gerald Herbert/salon.com)
Document Credit: Podesta memo. (thinkprogress.org)
(Hat Tip to Al for the Title of this Post and the "heads up")

Technorati tags: Tony Snow, Illegal RNC emails, Bill Clinton, John Podesta, Rove, Waxman, news, Thinkprogress.com