Stories related to: Henry Waxman

"Scooter” Libby told the FBI it was “possible” that Dick Cheney ordered him to out CIA agent Valerie Plame to the press, the Washington Post reports. The revelation appears in a redacted FBI report under examination by a House panel led by Henry Waxman. The panel now wants the FBI to turn over more files, including interviews with Cheney and President Bush. More »

Clean air rules likely to be changed this summer are causing serious concerns about future pollution at some of America's most spectacular national parks, reports the Washington Post . The changes will pave the way for 28 new coal-fired power plants near ten parks, according to a report supported by some National Park Service officials . Parks already have "impaired visibility" because of pollution, and the changes represent a major "setback," said one official. More »

A House committee wants to know why the CEOs of three companies mired in the subprime crisis collected massive bonuses as their firms bled billions, AP reports. The targets include Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and Countrywide, all of which posted stunning losses last year. Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo and the former CEOS of Merrill and Citigroup, Stanley O'Neal and Charles Prince, will be on the hot seat. O'Neal and Prince were fired, but pocketed hefty payouts on the way out. More »

A congressional committee today asked the Justice Department to examine Roger Clemens’ denials under oath that he used performance-enhancing drugs and determine if they constitute perjury, the AP reports. In the letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Reps. Henry Waxman and Tom Davis cite the pitcher's statements contradicting those of his former trainer and a teammate. More »

The GOP National Committee is now refusing to search for and turn over backup tapes of thousands of missing White House emails, reports the Washington Post . The move is a reversal of a previous commitment to retrieve thousands of up to a million messages that vanished in a 1000-day period. A tech manager told a House committee yesterday that the email system used by President Bush's staff was so primitive that until 2005 emails could be modified by anyone on the network. More »

The congressional panel that questioned Roger Clemens about steroids has drafted a letter asking the Justice Department to investigate whether he committed perjury, the New York Times reports. The letter doesn't name his former trainer, Brian McNamee, who testified the same day and insisted Clemens is lying, but that could change before the letter is submitted. More »

The biggest fireworks in today's House Oversight Committee hearings on the Mitchell Report involved Brian McNamee's claims that Roger Clemens and Jose Canseco discussed steroids and HGH at a party at Canseco's house several years ago. Clemens says he was playing golf the day of the party, and has receipts to show it. At one point, Clemens' attorneys leapt up to defend him against what they described as committee chairman Henry Waxman's "innuendo" that he had interfered with a witness, a former nanny whose testimony put him at the party. More »

Congress will investigate baseball legend Roger Clemens' vehement denials that he used steroids. Both Clemens and his accuser, personal trainer Brian McNamee, were scheduled to testify next week before the House committee that exposed drug abuse in baseball. But their testimony has been postponed a month for a wider and more aggressive probe by investigators, reports the New York Times . More »

The EPA chief—under heavy pressure from the auto industry—rejected his own staff's advice in denying California’s request to set its own fuel economy standards, the Los Angeles Times reports. Stephen Johnson told the state that it’s request was unnecessary in the wake of the new energy bill and didn’t meet legal standards. But sources say his staff reached the opposite conclusion and was overruled. More »

An unnamed player who was found to have purchased anabolic steroids managed to keep his name out of George Mitchell's scathing 400-page report on drug abuse in baseball, the New York Times reports after interviewing the former senator. Contacted by Mitchell's investigative team, the player and his lawyer provided evidence that, though he'd purchased the drugs, he never used them. More »

A House committee chairman investigating the Valerie Plame affair says the White House is blocking special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald from providing key documents from his investigation, the Washington Post reports. Fitzgerald agreed to hand over his findings before the Bush administration stepped in, says Henry Waxman, who has called on Michael Mukasey to overrule his new boss at the White House. More »

The State Department’s top official investigating Blackwater withdrew from the probe today after a dramatic admission that his brother has links to the private security contractor. At a congressional hearing, Howard Krongard initially called the alleged ties “ugly rumors,” but after a recess during which he called his brother, the independent internal investigator recused himself from the probe, Reuters reports. More »

House Democrats today grilled Condoleezza Rice over alleged State Department bungling in Iraq, from failure to supervise private security contractors like Blackwater to ignoring corruption in the new Iraqi government to sloppy oversight of the new US embassy in Baghdad. Usually composed, Rice showed signs of frustration today, as Dems hammered her—and by extension, the administration—with questions, the Washington Post reports. More »

Blackwater, the private security firm under investigation for a dozen civilian deaths in Iraq last week, is now being faulted for actions that led to a 2004 battle in which 36 US soldiers and 600 civilians were killed.  Blackwater is charged with sending a disorganized, unprepared four-man team into the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, resulting  their murder and mutilation by insurgents, AP reports. That in turn triggered a bloody, month-long offensive by US forces. More »

Documents revealed yesterday show that the State Department ordered Blackwater USA, the private security firm accused of shooting Iraqi civilians last week, not to disclose information about its Iraq operations without White House approval. The State Department order has interfered with a congressional probe into Blackwater, angering the reps investigating the security firm, the Los Angeles Times reports. More »

Donald Rumsfeld took no responsibility today for the bungled handling of the reporting and investigation of Pat Tillman’s death, saying he always stressed honesty at the Pentagon. Before a House committee, the ex-defense secretary denied allegations he was involved in the military plot to claim the ex-NFL star was killed by enemy fighters rather than friendly fire. More »

Some 120,000 Hurricane Katrina victims lived in emergency trailers for months, even though FEMA knew they were toxic, with formaldehyde levels 75 times the safety threshold, the Washington Post reports. Officials suppressed the the information and failed to order tests, emails show, because they didn't want to do anything that would make FEMA liable. More »

Public appearances by top guns in the Office of National Drug Control Policy may have been used to support vulnerable GOP Congressman in the run-up to the '06 elections, a Democratic lawmaker charged yesterday. Henry Waxman, chair of the House Oversight Committee, said it was part of a larger White House scheme to politicize federal agencies. More »

For the past 4 years, Dick Cheney's office has declined to file reports on classified information in its possession, flouting an executive order. When pressed, the VP's staff recently proposed abolishing the oversight office, reports the Washington Post . Says the chair of the House committee that released a chronology of the dispute yesterday: "He's saying he's above the law." More »

Use of private e-mail accounts by White House officials is being probed by Democratic lawmakers who charge that they were employed to avoid scrutiny. Accounts set up by the Republican National Committee are intended to keep political activities separate from official business, but they were used in planning the firings of U.S. attorneys last year, the Wall Street Journal notes. More »