Sibel Edmonds Deposition: Deep Corruption Beneath the Surface
NowPublic Blog
August 9, 2009
By Erik Larson
Aug 8, 2009, Sibel Edmonds gave a sworn deposition in which she
testified to her knowledge of treasonous crimes and corruption
involving current and former members of Congress and State and Defense
Dept. officials. Given the nature of the deposition, the lines of
questioning focused on Turkish espionage and services obtained through
bribery and blackmail by Turkish officials and proxies. However,
Edmonds has previously disclosed that the corruption involving
U.S. officials also includes money laundering, trafficking in drugs,
arms and nuclear secrets, U.S. support for Bin Laden/Al Qaeda, and
obstruction of FBI investigations related to 9/11, before and after
the attacks; she said these things came up `briefly’ during the
deposition. Edmonds learned of these things from wiretaps she listened
to while working as a translator for the FBI in 2001-2002.
Edmonds’ Aug 8 testimony was subpoenaed by David Krikorian (Democratic
2010 Congressional candidate- OH) to support his defense against a
lawsuit brought by Jean Schmidt, R-OH. Krikorian had circulated a
flier in his 2008 campaign in which he alleged that Schmidt had
accepted `blood money’ from Turkish interests in exchange for opposing
a Congressional resolution acknowledging the Turkish genocide of
Armenians in World War I. The deposition took place in Washington, DC
at the headquarters of the National Whistleblower Center
After the deposition, Edmonds took questions, and spoke in general
terms about the deposition subjects (video, 13:25):
Larson- `Were you able to talk about any of the stuff that you’ve said
about 9/11 in the past- did any of that come up?’
Edmonds- `We talked very briefly on Central Asia angle and 9/11 and
the Mujahideen and Al Qaeda¦and the role played by certain Turkish
entities, so we talked briefly about that, yes, but mainly on the
corruption U.S. persons, even in relation to those activities¦it
came
Larson- `How about the stuff about nuclear trafficking, drug
smuggling, arms trafficking?’
Edmonds- `Yes, it came up- not in detail- Mr. Grossman’s name came up
and Brewster-Jennings- I believe this is gonna be for the first time
under Oath, on the record, people getting answer on Brewster-Jennings
and the real story- not the crap that they got from the media.’
It seems that while a great deal of new information came out in this
deposition that will justify criminal investigations and widespread
media coverage, Edmonds was witness to a great deal more that remains
to be disclosed and properly investigated.
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft had invoked the State Secrets
privilege in 2002 to quash Sibel Edmonds’ lawsuit against the DOJ for
suppression of her Right to speak freely about the crimes and
corruption she had witnessed. He invoked the State Secrets privilege
again in 2004 to prevent her from testifying in a case brought by
family members of 9/11 victims, classified her date of birth and also
retroactively classified letters from Sens. Grassley and Leahy that
had been public for nearly 2 years (this was later overturned, when
POGO, who had published the letters, sued the DOJ). The DOJ attempted
to dissuade Edmonds testifying this time as well, but did not
re-invoke the State Secrets privilege and did not appear at the
deposition.
No so-called `mainstream’ print or broadcast media showed up to cover
the deposition. Too bad for them, as Edmonds’ allegations reportedly
include a juicy sex scandal involving a current Democratic
Congresswoman- exactly the kind of thing the mainstream media loves to
cover in depth ad nauseum. Given that these allegations intersect with
allegations of treasonous activities by high-level figures in the
Democrat and Republican establishment, it seems unlikely the corporate
media will report on this, even when the video and transcript are made
public.
One mainstream media outlet did acknowledge that the deposition would
be happening:
r Tests Justice Dept. Again ` CQPolitics.com
( k/2009/08/exfbi-translator-tests-justice.html).
S everal U.S. and Armenian independent media stayed until the press
conference following the deposition, and will be covering further
developments:
The event was reported on in advance and live blogged by Brad Friedman
of BradBlog.com; Friedman interviewed participants by cell phone with
the help of on-site associates, who also took video and photos.
8/8/09: LIVE BLOG: Deposition of Sibel Edmonds Completed, DoJ a ‘No
Show,’ Bombshells Under Oath
8/7/09: EXCLUSIVE: FBI Attempts to Block Edmonds Testimony in OH Election Case
8/7/09: EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: DoJ Pressures Ohio Election Commission to
Block Edmonds Testimony
8/5/09: Sibel Edmonds Subpoenaed, Set to ‘Break’ Gag Order
Drawn to the event by Krikorian’s campaign-related battles with
Schmidt and Edmonds’ reports of Turkish efforts to prevent
U.S. acknowledgement of Turkey’s genocide of Armenians, but also
interested in the extent of corruption were Horizon Armenian TV, The
Armenian Reporter and Armenian Public TV.
Andrew Krieg covered the event for HuffingtonPost.com:
Gagged Former FBI Translator Claims U.S. Rep Bribe Evidence
In response to my (and Brad Friedman’s) questions after the deposition
(video, 16:10), about when the entire video and transcript of the
deposition would be made public, David Krikorian said his first
priority was defending himself against Schmidt’s lawsuit, and that he
needed to confer with his legal and political teams about the
timing. He also stated, `I think that the information that was
provided in this testimony is something that every American Citizen
should be aware of¦. What I heard in that deposition room is fairly
troubling information¦. I don’t see any reason to not make it
public.’
David Krikorian said, quoted by Brad Friedman:
`From my opinion, if I’m some of the current members of Congress, I’d
be very very worried about the information that’s going to s
implicated in bribery, espionage. It’s not good. It’s crazy, it’s
absolutely crazy. For people in power situations in the United States,
who know about this information, if they don’t take action against it,
in my opinion, it’s negligence.’
Regardless of whether the Obama Administration or the
Democrat-controlled Congress want to investigate evidence of treason
by Democrats and Republicans, and regardless of whether the corporate
`news’ media are inclined to report on any of this, public opinion and
action organized through word of mouth and the web have the power to
compel public servants to follow the law, as well as turn this into a
story the corporate media can’t ignore.
onds-deposition-deep-corruption-beneath-surface
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
