Rightwing Republican Phone tamperers Tweet may violate court order
Phone tamperers Tweet may violate court order - 'Govt official concedes no attempt to wiretap,' O'Keefe Tweet gloatsWhat they were charged with,
If there is a gag order against accused phone tamperer James O'Keefe then the once-celebrated conservative activist/journalist/prankster/defendant just might have broken it Wednesday night.
"Govt official concedes no attempt to wiretap," O'Keefe Tweeted a half-hour before midnight.
Wednesday afternoon, NBC News reported that the judge had instructed O'Keefe not to talk about the case.
Contacted by RAW STORY, Professor Jonathan Turley, a nationally recognized legal expert, concurred, "It could indeed violate an order. It is extremely unwise for clients to be tweeting on their case even without such an order. Mr. O'Keefe has a record of reckless conduct and this would certainly add to that record."
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"Having said that, these orders often create a conflict for counsel in zealous representation and protecting a fair trial," Turley added. "Mr. O'Keefe is being widely accused of an attempted wiretap. He has an interest in rebutting such claims. Yet, it is always problematic for a client to directly manage the media. While a tweet is not likely to result in serious punishment in this case, it can bring a sharp rebuke and undermine the relationship with the court."
......."Supporters say O'Keefe and his friends entered Landrieu's office to conduct another undercover sting: to show on video that citizens trying to call Landrieu's office could not get through. Now O'Keefe -- a celebrated figure among some Republicans for his undercover sting last fall targeting the nonprofit Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) -- and three other men face charges of entering federal property on false pretenses as part of a plot to tamper with the lawmaker's phone. If convicted, they could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine."
Prescient liberals at Daily Kos, TPMMuckraker and Democratic Underground had predicted that conservatives would attempt to downplay the story by jumping on the media for assuming "maliciously interfering" and reports that a suspect nabbed outside had a listening device in his possession could only mean bugging.
In his email to RAW STORY, legal expert Jonathan Turley noted that he hadn't jumped the gun like others had: "The government is charging him with trespass with intent to commit a felony. Many of us have been speculating on what that felony was. I stated on the day of the arrest that I thought it was odd that the felony was not identified and that, if surveillance was the intent, no surveillance devices were referenced in the affidavit of the agent."
Even if "Tampergate" turns out to only be about shutting down a US Senator's phones instead of tapping them, O'Keefe and his alleged accomplices are still facing serious charges, and legal analyst Jonathan Turley speculated on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann Tuesday night that more could be tagged on at a later date.
All four men are free on $10,000 bail after being charged with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony, which carries up to 10 years in prison.As many have asked about O'Keefe and his co-conspirators passing this off as a prank; imagine if four Muslim men had done the same thing to a Conservative senator's office. Would the same conservatives defending these four rightwing miscreants be accepting that defense from the Muslims. We are in two war zones. In that kind of environment - post 9-11 - what kind of hate filled conservative screw balls think they would be exempt from the law.
