Did Nancy Pelosi Commit a Crime?

by Richard L. Franklin
10/20/07

Consider the following: Nancy Pelosi has in fact admitted to having knowledge of the Bush-Cheney program of illegal warrantless eavesdropping initiated by Bush immediately after assuming office. She apparently learned of this soon after Bush initiated it. She therefore has quite possibly known about it since before 9/11. By not reporting criminal actions by Bush, Pelosi has made herself blatantly guilty of a serious crime.

The crime I speak of is known as 'misprision of felony'. According to the prestigious 'Black's Law Dictionary', it is defined thusly:

'Misprision of felony: Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as soon as possible make known to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States, is guilty of the federal crime of misprision of felony.' 18 U.S.C.A. & 4.

Pelosi has brazenly admitted to having concealed ongoing illegal acts by members of the Bush administration for several years. She defends this by claiming she was simply following proper protocol in not revealing criminal actions that the president had told her he was committing. The president, after all, had told her of his illegal acts while she was a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Pelosi claims she therefore could not properly reveal this to law enforcement or to her colleagues in the House. Her sense of etiquette in this case might be in some twisted way correct, but her sensitivity to the laws of the United States and provisos of the US Constitution is egregiously lacking.

The fact that she deemed it a matter of honor to conspire with the president to keep his illegal acts secret is a form of blatant sophistry. Her concealment of a crime is itself a crime. Consider that Mafiosos also consider it a matter of honor to never rat on their associates. They may call their silence a matter of honor, but that does not make their silence legal or honorable by normal societal standards.

Since Bush and Pelosi have been de facto partners in crime, it is crystal clear why Pelosi dictatorially removed impeachment of Bush and Cheney from any consideration by the Democratic controlled House. She never has offered a coherent or believable reason for her obstinacy in this matter. I believe we now know the reason.

I suggest we all write letters to our local FBI branches asking them if they plan to initiate an investigation of Pelosi's admitted misprision of felony. If not, then why not? The FBI has a huge file of form letters used to reply to citizen's questions; however, I guarantee you they won't have an appropriate reply for this question.

We should also take note of the fact that the victims of warrantless, illegal spying by Bush and associates have had their civil rights seriously violated; so we can only hope the ACLU also will have something to say about Pelosi's de facto silent collaboration in those violations.

Mr. Franklin is the author of 'The Mythology of Self Worth'.