This includes being the highlight of “karaoke nights” during burdensome congressional sessions, “when things got tough or extremely difficult on the House floor.” The corrupt congressman, Jesse Jackson Jr., pleaded guilty to fraud earlier this year for illegally using $750,000 in campaign money to finance his lavish lifestyle. He hasn’t been sentenced and his buddies in Congress are trying to help him out by appealing to the federal judge that will determine how much time he serves.

This particular request for leniency in Jackson’s sentencing comes from Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, a Cleveland Democrat who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus. In a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Robert Wilkins Fudge describes Jackson Jr. as “highly intelligent” and reminisces about the disgraced lawmaker’s karaoke skills and one-man skits. “He made us realize that we could still have fun while addressing important national issues,” Fudge writes.  

The congresswoman also tells the judge that Jackson Jr. is a “tireless advocate for the poor and underserved” who is known for his efforts to redevelop decaying neighborhoods. In short, Fudge claims Jackson Jr. is a “loyal public servant with so much more to give” and she humbly tells the judge that “Jesse is worth saving and I know he can continue to have a positive impact on the lives of others as he has with my colleagues and me.”

Here is a more accurate version of this not so loyal public servant, whose many transgressions landed him on Judicial Watch’s list of Washington’s Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians. Before getting busted for illegally financing his extravagant lifestyle with campaign money, Jackson Jr. was embroiled in a massive political scandal for attempting to bribe his way into the U.S. Senate.

The brazen scheme was exposed during the corruption trial and retrial of convicted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who is serving a 14-year sentence in Colorado. JW covered both trials live in a Chicago federal court where major political drama that reached all the way up to the White House unfolded daily.

According to court testimony, Jackson Jr., who represented the Chicago area in the U.S. House for nearly two decades, and his top fundraiser offered to buy the Illinois seat that opened up in the U.S. Senate when Barack Obama got elected president. The son of the world-renowned “civil rights” con man met with the disgraced ex governor’s representative in late 2008 and offered to pay $1 million in exchange for the appointment, which was to be made by the governor.

The raw document, from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), is from 1998 and Judicial Watch conducted a thorough analysis after obtaining it years later as part of an ongoing Terrorism Research and Analysis Project. It was distressing enough when JW pieced it together and published its analysis in 2005 and it’s incredibly disturbing now that “radicalized” Chechen brothers detonated bombs at the Boston Marathon.

Last week JW was the first to report that the older terrorist, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, could have been deported years ago after a criminal arrest and that his brother, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was granted American citizenship on the anniversary of 9/11. In that report JW also revealed that it had uncovered critical intelligence documents detailing al Qaeda’s activities in Chechnya, including the creation of a 1995 camp—ordered by Osama bin Laden—to train “international terrorists” to carry out plots against Americans and westerners.

Previous to that, JW conducted the analysis of the 1998 intelligence report for a project called Working Group on Children as Intended Targets of Terrorism at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. The intelligence report focuses largely on al Qaeda’s expansion into Chechnya and the Caucuses and reveals that bin Laden deployed an Islamist leader named Amir Khattab to Chechnya in order to organize terror training bases and expand the influence of the al Qaeda network.

The ultimate goal is to put “sleeper cells” in place, the intelligence document shows. That means operatives go about their ordinary, inconspicuous lives among the targeted population until they are activated for a specific act or in support of a particular mission. It certainly appears that the Boston Marathon bombers operated this way. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been referred to as a regular college student by those who knew him and Tamerlan Tsarnaev was an award-winning boxer with aspirations of making the U.S. Olympic team.

Chechen terrorists, namely Shamil Basayev and the Islamic nationalist gang led by terror chieftain Mosvar Baryayev, have led the way with adaptations and experiments that have been employed in terror strikes around the world, according to JW’s findings. Besides cell phone detonation of backpack bombs, among their favored tactics are hospital bombings and hostage taking, suicide bombers and multiple rail attacks.

The confirmed existence of a secure, reliable, terrorist-sponsored direct route to Chechnya from Pakistan and Afghanistan through Turkey and Azerbaijan is the most stunning information point within the 1998 intelligence report, JW found, because it dates back to the 1990s. It’s also incredibly noteworthy that al Qaeda is developing bases in Chechnya and the North Caucuses because those areas are “unreachable by strikes from the West” and therefore a “safe haven” for radical, militant Islamists to recruit, plan, train and operate.   

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announces its participation as a major sponsor of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), February 9-11, 2012, at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2660 Woodley Road, NW, Washington, DC. Judicial Watch is sponsoring the conference’s main event, the Ronald Reagan Banquet, which will feature a presentation by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and a speech by Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.  Other major Judicial Watch activities include a major press conference on a new election integrity campaign, a panel on the constitutional issues of Obamacare and an educational seminar on the use of the Freedom of Information Act.

The following are details of Judicial Watch’s CPAC 2012 activities:

·     Thursday, February 9, 9:30 a.m., Virginia Ballroom:  Press conference event announcing an important effort to help protect the integrity of the 2012 elections.

·     Friday, February 10, 1:25 pm, Marriott Ballroom:  Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton will moderate a panel discussion, “Obamacare: Why It’s Unconstitutional and What Conservatives Need to Do.”  (The event immediately follows a scheduled presentation by Gov. Mitt Romney.)

·     Friday, 7:30 pm, Marriott Ballroom:  Judicial Watch will sponsor the premiere event at CPAC:  the Ronald Reagan Banquet.  Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is the scheduled keynoter for that special evening.  Judicial Watch and Victory Film Group will also release the teaser trailer for the upcoming documentary film directed by Stephen K. Bannon.

·     Saturday, 1:30 p.m., Taft meeting room:  Judicial Watch will teach a seminar on how conservatives can put the Freedom of Information Act to work to uncover government secrets.

“Americans are fed up with the unprecedented expansion of government power and secrecy we have seen over the last three years. With our participation in CPAC, Judicial Watch is proud to stand with thousands of other conservatives seeking to combat Washington corruption. We must fight for ethics, accountability and transparency in the White House and in Congress — that is our message for CPAC.  Judicial Watch is the largest and most active government watchdog in the nation.  Through our major sponsorship of CPAC, we look forward to educating more members of the grassroots about the bipartisan corruption enveloping our nation’s capital,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

About CPAC: Taking place in Washington, DC, each year, CPAC brings together nearly 10,000 attendees and all of the leading conservative organizations and speakers impacting conservative thought in the nation. Regularly seen on C-SPAN and other national news networks, CPAC has been the premiere event for any major elected official or public personality seeking to discuss issues of the day with conservatives. From presidents of the United States to college student leaders, CPAC has become the place to find our nation’s current and future leaders.

About Judicial Watch, Inc.: Judicial Watch is a conservative, nonpartisan educational foundation that promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law. Through its educational endeavors, Judicial Watch advocates high standards of ethics and morality in our nation’s public life and seeks to ensure that political and judicial officials do not abuse the powers entrusted to them by the American people. The motto of Judicial Watch is “Because no one is above the law!” To this end, Judicial Watch uses the open records or freedom of information laws and other tools to investigate and uncover misconduct by government officials and litigation to hold to account politicians and public officials who engage in corrupt activities.  Judicial Watch does not endorse or oppose candidates for public office.