August 24, 2009 News Corp
(Heather): Wow. Bill-O actually put someone on his show who does a good job of shooting down his talking points. O'Reilly thinks that no one wants torture investigated and that it's just a witch hunt, and that our torture program was "an absolute success". Jami Floyd hits back at him with some logic, like the Department of Justice is not supposed to be politicized, and that "we have federal laws on torture for a reason".
I guess after all of those years of the Bush administration using the D.O.J. as a political arm of the White House, Bill-O is having a little bit of trouble understanding that how the Bush administration did things is not exactly how they are supposed to work.
Transcript below the fold.
O'REILLY: "Unresolved problem" segment tonight, President Obama's on record as saying he does not want to prosecute CIA agents, who may have broken rules and laws and interrogating terror suspects after 9/11. However, Attorney General Eric Holder has now decided to appoint a prosecutor to investigate about dozen cases of alleged CIA wrongdoing, while interrogating the terror suspects. And he wants to see if crimes were committed.
Justice Department official John Durham will head the probe. And with us now to analyze, attorney and Democratic strategist Jami Floyd.
So this will make the ACLU happy, but I don't think it's going to make Barack Obama happy.
JAMI FLOYD, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, that's not Holder's job. You know, I think being A.G. is the hardest job in the administration because you're not working for the president. You're working for us. You're working for the constitution. You've got to do what's right by the constitution and by the laws of the United States. And if the special prosecutor is what's needed here, that's what he's got to do.
O'REILLY: Yeah, but you know.
FLOYD: .whether Obama likes it or not.
O'REILLY: .there are - I just don't know. I know Holder and Obama are friends. So I'm not going to say that Holder did - they're not playing some subterfuge game. They may be, excuse, but you know there's prosecutional discretion on most everything.
And in this case, all the polls show that Americans do not want this. They think it's a witch-hunt. And even the old memos that he's going by, this is at the end of the memo. And you will not see this on any other news program. The memo that Holder is going by to appoint the special prosecutor says, "The CIA's interrogation program was an absolute success in protecting Americans from another attack and that includes waterboarding and all of that. "Absolute success. "
FLOYD: The 2004 memo.
O'REILLY: That's what this is.
FLOYD: .goes back to 2004.
O'REILLY: Right.
FLOYD: .in the Bush administration.
O'REILLY: Right.
FLOYD: That pressure has been on to investigate what went on in these interrogations since long before Eric Holder had this job. And yes, it is correct that Obama has said from the beginning that he wants to look forward.
O'REILLY: Yeah, and he's smart to do that. Right.
FLOYD: And he doesn't want to look back.
O'REILLY: Right.
FLOYD: And that's a political choice. And it's probably a wise strategy, but Eric Holder is not in a political job.
O'REILLY: Yeah, but he can get fired.
FLOYD: That's right, he can, but you can't make decisions as attorney general because you're afraid of getting fired.
O'REILLY: But how many attorney generals did Nixon fire? He fired one a week.
FLOYD: I'm thinking about Nixon. I'm thinking about Nixon.
O'REILLY: Okay. All right, now.
FLOYD: But you can't be thinking about Nixon if you're attorney general.
O'REILLY: I don't trust Eric Holder. I'll tell you why. He's the guy that wanted Marc Rich to be pardoned. Do you know who Marc Rich is?
FLOYD: I know all about Mark Rich.
O'REILLY: Okay, he's.
FLOYD: I know about Scooter Libby, too.
O'REILLY: Who went to Bill Clinton on the last day of the Clinton administration, who pleaded Marc Rich.
FLOYD: This is not.
O'REILLY: Wait, wait, wait, Jami, who pleaded Marc Rich's case. The biggest tax cheat in American history, Holder goes in second in command in the Justice Department.
FLOYD: Bill.
O'REILLY: .says Mr. President.
FLOYD: Bill?
O'REILLY: .give this giant tax cheat a pardon.
FLOYD: Bill, the big news of today is the memo. It's not Marc Rich.
O'REILLY: But it's.
FLOYD: It's the 2004 memo.
O'REILLY: I just tell you why I don't trust him.
FLOYD: Look.
O'REILLY: Unless you can explain to me why he did that, I don't trust this guy.
FLOYD: But here's the good news if you don't trust him. Here's the good news. He has now appointed.
O'REILLY: Yeah?
FLOYD: .another man, a prosecutor, independent of Eric Holder, a prosecutor, independent.
O'REILLY: Yeah.
FLOYD: .who is a special prosecutor.
O'REILLY: Yeah.
FLOYD: .who is now going to look into this matter.
O'REILLY: Right.
FLOYD: .that has been on the table since 2004. Since before Eric Holder's time. The pressure has been on the Justice Department for years.
O'REILLY: From whom? The ACLU.
FLOYD: No.
O'REILLY: Not from the folks.
FLOYD: No, no, no.
O'REILLY: The folks don't want it.
FLOYD: But the pressure has been on from all sectors.
O'REILLY: What sectors?
FLOYD: Having to do with the memos of John, you, and others. Having to do with what went on in Abu Ghraib.
O'REILLY: There's no - wait, wait, Jami, you're crazy.
FLOYD: Having to do.
O'REILLY: Obama doesn't want it. O'Reilly doesn't want it. Those are the two most powerful people in the country. All right?
(LAUGHTER)
FLOYD: The big O's aren't the question.
O'REILLY: All the polls say 65 percent.
FLOYD: The big goal.
O'REILLY: .don't want it.
FLOYD: The big goal is not the question.
O'REILLY: There is no pressure.
FLOYD: The big O's aren't the question. The question is the constitution and the federal law on torture.
O'REILLY: Oh, stop, stop.
FLOYD: .and whether it's violated.
O'REILLY: It's totally discretionary.
FLOYD: All that's being looked at here is whether or not there's enough evidence to investigate.
O'REILLY: That's true.
FLOYD: If there's not enough evidence.
O'REILLY: That's true.
FLOYD: .we move on.
O'REILLY: All right.
FLOYD: If there's evidence, we indict.
O'REILLY: Leon Panetta issues a statement today to his guys and says we don't want this. And then.
FLOYD: Well.
O'REILLY: Mukasey.
FLOYD: See, that's a CIA.
O'REILLY: Right.
FLOYD: Of course he doesn't want it.
O'REILLY: That's a good point, but Panetta's a Democrat. Says I don't want. Mukasey, the former CIA guys go, hey, if do you this, Holder, no foreign country is going to cooperate with the United States and intel gathering because they don't want to be dragged into any scandal. So we're going to lose all intel drying up around the world. And you might be killed because of it, Jami.
FLOYD: This is not about politics. This is not about party.
O'REILLY: See, you're totally ignoring my question.
FLOYD: This is about -- you didn't ask a question.
O'REILLY: I did. You made a statement.
O'REILLY: You made statement.
O'REILLY: You may be killed because of this crazy decision by Holder.
FLOYD: We have federal laws on torture for a reason. We can't just violate them willy-nilly. And if they've been violated, we need to prosecute.
O'REILLY: You go any war, you could have prosecuted Abraham Lincoln for suspending habeas corpus.
FLOYD: Okay, look, they're going to investigate.
O'REILLY: Okay?
FLOYD: We'll see what they find.
O'REILLY: Yeah.
FLOYD: And then you'll have me back. And we'll talk about what they found.
O'REILLY: I'll have you back if you're alive.
FLOYD: I'll be alive, Bill.
O'REILLY: You may be killed because the terrorists -- all of that stuff's going to dry up according to Mukasey.
FLOYD: I`ll be alive Bill O'Reilly.
O'REILLY: I'm sorry, Hayden . I made a mistake. I said it's Mukasey. It's Hayden. Michael Hayden. All right? Do I have that right? I hope I do. Yes, Hayden.
FLOYD: Yes, it's Hayden.
O'REILLY: Michael.
FLOYD: Mukasey was at Justice.
O'REILLY: You know, I can't keep track of them all. Jami Floyd, everybody.
