The Biden/CIA Attempt to Usurp authority over the JFK Records

[James DiEugenio]

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/the-biden-cia-attempt-to-usurp-congress-authority-over-jfk-records

You will not read a better essay on what Biden and the CIA did on June 30th than the above.

Mark and Andrew really know the JFK Act.

There is no other way to say this:  they not only broke the law, but they actually unilaterally altered an act of congress.  Without a peep from either committee governing such matters on the Hill.  This from a guy, Joe Biden, who voted for the act back then.  As the article notes, the act originally states that the excuses for secrecy should get weaker as time goes on. But what Biden did appears to actually make them stronger.

What a disgrace.

Edited July 22, 2023 by James DiEugenio

[Benjamin Cole]

There is no defense for President Biden, the Justice Department, or the Obama-appointed Judge Seeborg. 

They should just fly the CIA-logo flag over the White House and Justice Department HQ in DC, and be done with Orwellian terms like "transparency." 

Want to hear a demented irony?

The name of the Justice Department HQ building in Washington?

It is....The Robert F. Kennedy Building. 

You can't make this stuff up. 

"Democracy Dies in Darkness"---no longer a warning, but a boast from neo-liberal martinets. 

 

[Benjamin Cole]

EF-JFKA'ers:

If, nothing else, read the excellent Iler and Adamczyk article for the lead paragraphs:

 

The Friday Night News Dump

In the waning hours of the evening of Friday, June 30, 2023, long after the filing deadlines of the media elite in Washington D.C. and even longer after the most dedicated talking head had left to celebrate their July 4th independence from tyranny in the Hamptons, the Biden Administration issued an Executive Memorandum that is a flagrant and illegitimate attempt to terminate an Act of Congress and usurp congressional authority over its own processes and records. A copy of President Biden’s Executive Memorandum is here.

It is unclear what truly prompted President Biden to take a flamethrower to an Act of Congress that he himself voted for in 1992 as a member of the Senate, due to bipartisan public pressure to release records related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. 

---30---

Some have posited AG Merrick Garland was out of the loop on this executive order. Maybe so...but the Biden White House knew they were doing the work of blackguards, hence the "Friday night massacre" timing of the Biden snuff job on the JFK Records Act.

The "consciousness of guilt" may not explain the Biden White House Friday Night Massacre timing, as guilt may not be an emotion felt in the Biden White House, but rather only a calculation of "the best way to get away this." 

Seems to me the White House would have done a courtesy consultation with the AG of the land, no? 

If not, is that also a "consciousness of guilt" or just a practical calculation? After all, if Garland had a shred of lawyer or ethics in him, he would have said, "I cannot sign off on of this executive order. It directly violates the letter and spirit of the law." 

One can wonder if Garland should resign now, in protest. 

 

 

[James DiEugenio]

Thanks Ben.

Its really something that neither committee in congress has, to my knowledge,  has said anything of consequence about this executive order.  

Because what Biden is doing, at the CIA's request, it overriding an act of congress.

And also, to my knowledge, there was no consultation with the intel committees about it.

Recall, the approval of the JFK Act was pretty much unanimous.  And it was pretty public, with hearings featuring people like Lou Stokes, Oliver Stone, and Herbert Parmet.

To do this on a Friday night, hoping to slip it by the media, which they did, betrays a sinister agenda.

And as the authors' note, it pretty much reverses the law, since the pretenses for secrecy were supposed to get weaker not stronger, as time went on.

Well, at least Trump and DeSantis are on board.

[W. Niederhut]

4 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/the-biden-cia-attempt-to-usurp-congress-authority-over-jfk-records

You will not read a better essay on what Biden and the CIA did on June 30th than the above.

Mark and Andrew really know the JFK Act.

There is no other way to say this:  they not only broke the law, but they actually unilaterally altered an act of congress.  Without a peep from either committee governing such matters on the Hill.  This from a guy, Joe Biden, who voted for the act back then.  As the article notes, the act originally states that the excuses for secrecy should get weaker as time goes on. But what Biden did appears to actually make them stronger.

What a disgrace.

Larry Schnapf may have already addressed this question, but is there any way for the public to obtain a judicial ruling invalidating  Biden's illegal June 30th executive order?

It seems quite clear, from this article, that Biden's order violates the letter of the law.

 

[James DiEugenio]

I think it might be possible.

As this order contravenes the JFK Act.

I am surprised the House and Senate committee had not held hearings on this.

They are being neutered.

[Roger Odisio]

Thanks. Very thorough article. I was particularly glad they focused on the importance of Section 12 (b) of the Act which refutes some central claims by the judge, and that has not gotten a lot of attention:

 

"Section 12(b) legally mandates that section 6 remains in full force and effect as operational law [after the ARRb closed] and is applicable to the President’s authority to postpone disclosure of records, “as required by this Act” pursuant to sections 5(g)(2)(D) and 9(d)(1)".

 

I would expand that.  Section 12 (b) applies not only the President's authority to postpone release of records from government agencies, but to *all* JFKA recordsnot currently in the Collection, regardless of who has them.  Congress delegated to the ARRB the responsibility to define the term JFK record, and the ARRB made clear that definition must include all relevant information, not only that held by government agencies.  Hence the ARRB's pursuit and retrieval of the Zapruder film, for example.

 

The authors quote Section 12 (b) which says that Act remains in effect until NARA's Archivist certifies to the President *and Congress* that *all* assassination records (not just those held by government agencies ) have been made available to the public. 

 

Judge Seeborg, as is his wont, also tries to throw up another roadblock to consideration of what Biden is trying to do by saying the "Transparency Plans" he has accepted "merely set forth when that postponement [of a record} will end". While ignoring the rest of the June 30 memo that is so egregious.

[Matt Allison]

One would think the GOP could make hay over this without breaking a sweat.

My question is this: Why aren't they?

[James DiEugenio]

My question is :  Why is nobody doing it?

Period.

Bill Kelly is trying to organize some reaction and I think he has suggested going to the committees.  And at K and K, we gave out the info to get to the House intel committee.

But I have not seen one  MSM story on the subject.  I hope I am wrong about that.  And I will stand corrected if I am.  But please show it to me.

 

[Matt Allison]

Nah.

Far more mysterious is why the GOP is silent.

They've been getting publicly clowned for their fake investigations of Biden in the House, and then when they get an actual factual nugget they ignore it?

Even after they invited RFK Jr. to talk to them???

That's just incompetence. Or something.

[Leslie Sharp]

3 minutes ago, James DiEugenio said:

My question is :  Why is nobody doing it?

Period.

Bill Kelly is trying to organize some reaction and I think he has suggested going to the committees.  And at K and K, we gave out the info to get to the House intel committee.

But I have not seen one  MSM story on the subject.  I hope I am wrong about that.  And I will stand corrected if I am.  But please show it to me.

 

Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC apparently invited RFK Jr. to join him on his broadcast. Would this be an opportunity for Robert Jr. to accept the invitation and speak to the Records Act specifically? 

[Benjamin Cole]

1 hour ago, Matt Allison said:

Nah.

Far more mysterious is why the GOP is silent.

They've been getting publicly clowned for their fake investigations of Biden in the House, and then when they get an actual factual nugget they ignore it?

Even after they invited RFK Jr. to talk to them???

That's just incompetence. Or something.

The 'Phants were largely intel-state assets before the Donks, and largely remain so. 

Trump was an aberration, and his populist movement also.

There may be some differences between the two major parties on certain limited domestic issues, and, of course, the M$M and coopted media play up 100% the culture wars. 

But on issues of interest to the EF-JFKA, the Deep State, militarism, the JFKA---the red-blue kool-aid pissing wars are a misleading fiction.

There is the purple kool-aid pissing circle, with voters at centerpoint. 

[W. Niederhut]

3 hours ago, Matt Allison said:

Nah.

Far more mysterious is why the GOP is silent.

They've been getting publicly clowned for their fake investigations of Biden in the House, and then when they get an actual factual nugget they ignore it?

Even after they invited RFK Jr. to talk to them???

That's just incompetence. Or something.

Matt,

     Did the subject of the JFK records come up in RFK, Jr.'s recent House testimony?

[James DiEugenio]

I don't think it did.

At least I do not recall it coming up.

[Mart Hall]

Thanks to the authors for producing this essay. I was aware of most of the main requirements of the JFK Act but the essay really helps to gain a fuller understanding as it explains the types of processes that should have been followed.   

On a positive note, given that there has been so many violations of the JFK Act this should provide further opportunities to challenge the Biden memorandum. 

I would have thought that the most effective way to challenge this would be through political pressure rather than litigation, but it is bizarre that the President is not coming under any pressure from anyone within the US political arena when there is so much scope for political capital to be gained.