Using Caller ID on the Third Rate Crank Phone Calls

by emptywheel

I've been saying this for months. It's not Plame that will get these guys chased outta government. It's the NH phone jamming and Tom Noe's piggy bank. Now, via Susie Madrak, I see that things are closing in on the White House.

According to a recent court filing, indicted phone jammer Shaun Hansen may offer an affirmative defense at his upcoming fall trial, arguing that the phone jamming scheme which his company carried out had the seal of approval of both the Republican National Committee and the White House.

Apparently, Hansen's defense strategy is not going to focus on whether or not he jammed Democratic phone lines on Election Day in 2002. Rather, his defense strategy will be to persuade a jury that he may have been persuaded not just that the phone jamming was legal, but that he would be carrying out the scheme on behalf of the United States government. [my emphasis]

Got that? Apparently, in this post-9/11 world, it is in the interest of the United States government to make sure New Hampshire's Democratic seniors can't call their local Democratic campaign office to ask for a ride to the polls.

The thing I'm most amused by? Apparently one of the key differences between the soon-to-be-chatty Hansen and James Tobin, on whom the RNC dumped $3 million in defense fees, is that the Republicans have declined to pay for Hansen's defense.

Unlike Tobin, Hansen's defense is not being financed by the Republican National Committee. Rather, it is being paid for by the taxpayers.
Hansen is being represented by Jeffrey Levin, Assistant Federal Public Defender in the New Hampshire Federal Defender's office.

You know what? Assuming a couple of a million dollars in defense funds don't appear out of nowhere (which they may, after this filing), I think we might get our money's worth on Shaun Hansen's public defender fees.

Comments

[mainsailset]

It looks like Hansen is going to claim "derivitive entrapment" according to Raw Story, where his attorney lays out that he doesn't have first-hand knowledge but that the Admin told his superiors that the calls were legal. Rove/Mehlman may have met their final jar of vasoline in the world of slippery slopes.

[emptywheel]

Rove/Mehlman and don't forget Haley Barbour and Ed Gillespie. We're going to roll up the last 3 RNC chairmen with this.

(Wishful thinking, no doubt, but it'd be fun!)

[mainsailset]

Wouldn't offend me a bit to pop the cork on my Plamegate champagne bottle in celebration of the success of a public defender getting the goods on these guys. Here's wishing him success.

[Mimikatz]

They should have remembered what happened to "heckuva job, Brownie" when the gov't wouldn't pay his legal fees.

And via Josh marshall, this tidbit at the end of the article about an aide kept Abramoff up on matters concerning Guam "at the behest of Ken Mehlman, the White House Political Director".

The noose tightens indeed.

[emptywheel]

In one of my most recent Anatomy posts, I realized how much work Mehlman did to help Rove stay out of jail (including issuing the talking points about welfare reform). I do believe Rove is going to try to return the favor.

[Kagro X]

On what planet is that a defense?

That's a proffer for a plea bargain, but it's not a defense.

But please, let him say so in court. Finally, the link between "national security," "inherent authority," and political targeting we've all been waiting for.

A cheap Nixon imitation.

[JohnLopresti]

These subterfuges always have the potential to nip the canines who perpetrate them. The guys and ladies in the Brooks Brothers rebellion take care of theirs, but the poor campaign specialist with the blaster jammer has to do some time up the river.

What ever happened to Rollin Post, that election eve payola expert who guided Christie Whitman to winning the governorship in NJ? I think he dwelled in ignominy a few months or less; meanwhile Christie W acceded to the post at the helm of EPA, that is, until she had to leave dismayed that so many Republicans in office had begun to resent her actual efforts to protect the environment.

I will check on the whereabouts of some of these historical icons; all this week, since the discovery of several million accidentally uncanvassed votes in MX-DF, I have been thinking the Rebeldes Hermanos Brooks must be on a little boondoggle in Cancun or thereabouts. While on this web search, I will see what the prospects are for the blaster jamming campaign service person; your links to that developing story help. There have been similar incidents elsewhere in the past few years; and some tacticians are considering the possibility that the defendant or others with similar equipment are at work in places like NJ, CO, and CA. It will take a while if I am to find all the particulars; though I have made some notes as reports surfaced. One of the most encouraging recent developments in this arena has been the primary victory of a very interested person in CA, one who incidentally apparently has had a few teleconferences jammed, or maybe simply the routers were poorly programed. Maybe I will ask WO if I ever happen upon him on an open thread somewhere in cyberdom.
J

[judyo]

The Regime will find a way to derail this trial ... states secrets or some such to muffle the testimony; mis-trial or finding Hansen is an enemy combatant, etc. Don't you know it's treason to disagree with George.

[Blue Meme]

My guess is the reason Hansen doesn't have the fat GOP defense fund is that he can't directly implicate anyone above Tobin, whose firewall function has been bought and paid for. His "I thought it was legal" defense might get him off (depends on the language of the statute), but if he can't bring in hard evidence to support his state of mind, it won't cause much agita at the White House.

[clueless]

Wow. 9-11 really DID change everything, didn't it?

[TZG]

has anyone here checked out caller id spoofing by the zero group
http://www.thezerogroup.com