Rep. James Traficant (D-Ohio) is making a blustery but at-times eloquent case for his own innocence and abuse of power by the FBI and IRS. Traficant sees a conspiracy against him. He faces expulsion from the House after a conviction in Ohio. He is asking for permission to have witnesses testify on his behalf. He says some of his witnesses have been threatened by the executive branch if they testify. Quotes from hearing: "you've allowed the executive branch to become so powerful that people fear their government. "the american public in a free republic should not fear the government. but they do. "The fbi and the mob in youngstown has been together for years. they own them "janet reno is a traitor. she betrayed america by not investigating the money that was received (by a red chinese general) "I'm a member (of the House) too, and I'll be damned if I'm treated like a dog (by having no witnesses testify) "if they put me in jail in ohio, i just may be the first american to hold a congressional seat while incarcarated "if a member of the congress can't come to the congress, where do the american people go? Background on hearing: http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/07/15/traficant.ethics.ap/index.html http://www.business-journal.com/Traficantindex.html Webcast: http://www.cspan.org/watch/cspan_wm.asp -Declan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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