It took Mike Rounds five months to come up with answers to the questions Bob Mercer submitted to him in May concerning Joop Bollen's EB-5 visa investment scam. Amidst repeating eight times that he was not involved in the "transactional details" of a program that was crucial to his legacy-building Northern Beef Packers project, Rounds throws this grenade into his own foxhole:
[Bob Mercer]: In March 2013, Gov. Daugaard's office received a federal grand jury subpoena. Were you the target of any part of that subpoena? If so, for what purpose?
[Mike Rounds]: No. And, I believe the federal subpoena should be made public. So Attorney General Marty Jackley has repeatedly stated that I was [not] a target of the investigation. Eight separate law enforcement and investigatory agencies have reviewed various aspects of this case. Local, state and federal authorities have worked cooperatively. And yet, the U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson maintains his silence. The federal subpoena was delivered to the state in March or April of 2013, Governor Daugaard notified SD Attorney General Marty Jackley a short time later, the SD attorney general concluded his investigation in October 2013 — almost a year ago. The U.S. Attorney, Brendan Johnson, has had this file longer than anyone — despite the SD Attorney General concluding his investigation almost a year ago. The U.S. Attorney should release the federal subpoena [emphasis mine; Bob Mercer, "Rounds Answers Reporter's Questions on EB-5 Scandal," Black Hills Pioneer, 2014.10.02].
Notice that if Rounds were just answering the question, he could have stopped at "No." But Rounds then returns to this strange SDGOP obsession with a U.S. Attorney who is not on the ballot. Rounds and the GOP are like the bullies shooting spitwads at the smart kid in study hall who's just sitting quietly at his desk doing his homework, trying to goad the smart kid into doing something stupid that gets him in trouble and keeps the teacher from noticing what the smirking bullies are up to.
Round also misses one key fact. A subpoena involves at least two parties. Brendan Johnson is the subpoena-er. The state is the subpeona-ee. Governor Daugaard or Nila Novotny or somebody in the Capitol received that subpoena on our behalf last March. Now I know Mike says folks in the Governor's office are kind of bad at keeping the boss up to speed on such legal matters, but I'm sure someone in the Capitol has the subpoena says should be made public.
I agree wholeheartedly with Mike Rounds that the federal subpoena that Governor Daugaard announced last year should be made public. I think all eight of the subpoenas relating to the federal investigation of Rounds and Daugaard's EB-5 program and who knows what else should be made public. And Rounds's buddy and ticketmate Governor Daugaard could make that happen right now.
("Thanks, Mike," Governor Daugaard is muttering under his breath.)
There was this in the Argus story yesterday:
Gov. Dennis Daugaard's office has refused to release the subpoena it received from federal investigators, despite the lack of a gag order, citing "deference" to the federal policy to "not talk about the details of their investigation." The Regents have refused multiple other records requests from private citizens and Democratic lawmakers. Even the federal government has denied or heavily redacted some records requests from the media.
If the Governor and former Governor want to play hide-and-seek with the truth, then they should withdraw from their races until we know that they have no culpability in this matter. Their actions show a total lack of respect for the voters, transparency and ethics in government.
Who was Rounds' lawyer while governor?
"Amidst repeating eight times that he was not involved in the "transactional details" of a program that was crucial to his legacy-building Northern Beef Packers project"
Not only NBP, but also the corporate dairies that will be supplying milk to the French cheese maker, who is having a grand opening in Brookings. How many politicians from both parties will be there celebrating?
Sibby: pick a lane, little buddy.
jana and larry- good points. rounds didn't lawyer up soon enough like chris Christie. prolly a cheapskate and he is gonna regret it.
Ever notice that neo-idiots get backed into the corner with their scandals they ultimately blame "both parties?
It is a complete waste of time responding to sibby except when it isn't
Like I said at another time about Ronnie Taygun admin.,no one changed lightbulbs som they could keep Raygun in the dark. Apparently the Rounds table is keeping Doofus in the dark.
sibby is obviously intelligent but prolly suffers from a mental health issue. takes one to know one. no shame, no stigma. often very elusive to treat. see my rant yesterday on addiction as merely one example. the whole world misunderstands it, by and large.
I'm pretty sure the U.S. Attorney can't release that, he can comment, but why?
Joseph,
It is the policy of the U.S. Attorney's office not to comment on ongoing investigations, they won't even acknowledge if there is an investigation.
The Rounds Scandal shouldn't be an exception.
Mike Rounds is barking up the wrong the tree in asking Brendan Johnson to release his findings.
Rounds needs to demand that South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley disclose all of the investigative material he has in his procession now that those cases are closed.
This should include all communications Jackley has had with U.S. Attorney Johnson.
Jackley probably knows what Johnson knows and it wouldn't be out of order for Jackley to make public that in information, unless .......................
how do we get rounds and daugaard to withdraw? part of a plea deal? it IS gonna come out. this is not like transparent suggestions rick withdraw to beat the SDGOP
Who appoints a new Attorney General mid-term?
why does rounds want Brendan to betray his oath? does he know it will insulate him? if rounds, daugaard and jackley are unelectable because of the multiple frauds, does this BRING DOWN THE ENTIRE SDGOP- some 30 days before the election??
we need MSNBC in here right now!!!!!!!!!!!
Just read the Mercer article, Bob laid out excellent questions to help build Rounds' culpability in the EB-5 scandal.
As expected, Rounds evaded, dodged, and ducked the direct questions, he should be a pro boxer.
Sentence of the day is the repeated answer, "I wasn't aware of the transactional details......."
Rounds keep asserting eight separate agencies investigated and he hasn't been implicated. Doesn't the same hold true for Joop?
Just wondering when the Daugaard team finally says enough is enough!
First you dump a huge deficit on my first term that paints me as the bad guy in slashing education and healthcare...and now this sh*t sandwich that is the GOED/suicide/fraud suspicion.
When does Tony V say enough is enough?
Rounds and Daugaard may both win, but if the truth is even perceived to be stonewalled, the damage to the GOP and themselves will have long lasting consequences.
I am amazed at how little the state house and senate members are being held accountable for this mess.
I for one will ask every candidate who comes to my door:
What is going on?
How much did we lose?
Why didn't you do anything about it?
Do you think the voters deserve the truth?
Should be a fun conversation.
It is my understanding that Schultz (MSNBC) will focus on IA and SD races next week. Schultz mentioned EB-5 scandal with his announcement.
thanku union. should be a good start. from there all the national, intl press may amplify it, reid should pay attention, but we will still be operating in the dark as to what dennis, marty and marion know. thanks GOAC, tidemann and regents. (thats why they want to falsely smear brendan.)
Jana, word will get out and they will quit stopping at your door.
leslie,
If you think about it, Tidemann is responsible for giving the EB-5 scandal some wheels.
When he shutdown the investigation in July and again last month, he gave Democrats a chance to expose what was happening and Rounds' involvement.
With Tidemann's fear of Rounds and Daugaard he allowed them to give written responses to GOAC questions, again this gave Democrats the platform to speak out further and the press has been paying attention every since.
We may not have gotten the answers we wanted from GOAC, but the appearance of stonewalling and cover up spoke volumes.
lesliengland-Tomorrow morning Rick is going to be on the Up With Steve Kornacki show on MSNBC at 8:45 AM Central Time.
He is on the Up With Steve Kornacki show tomorrow and will be on the Ed Show later this week per there email.