I continue to believe, perhaps mistakenly, that the GOP phone-jamming scandal in New Hampshire is a bigger deal than the attention it’s been getting. To follow up on last month’s item about the White House’s possible connection to the controversy, a new report suggests one of the indicted phone jammers may end up pointing the finger at the RNC and the Bush gang.
According to a recent court filing, indicted phone jammer Shaun Hansen may offer an affirmative defense at his upcoming fall trial, arguing that the phone jamming scheme which his company carried out had the seal of approval of both the Republican National Committee and the White House.
Apparently, Hansen’s defense strategy is not going to focus on whether or not he jammed Democratic phone lines on Election Day in 2002. Rather, his defense strategy will be to persuade a jury that he may have been persuaded not just that the phone jamming was legal, but that he would be carrying out the scheme on behalf of the United States government.
As John Byrne explained, Hansen owned the company that did the literal phone jamming, and was “indicted in March for conspiring to commit and aiding and abetting the commission of interstate telephone harassment relating to a scheme to thwart get out the vote efforts on Election Day, 2002.”
According to the filing, Hansen “does not have firsthand knowledge of Administration intervention.” That’s a pretty big caveat. But Hansen nevertheless believes, and apparently hopes to prove in court, that his indictment was tantamount to entrapment — White House officials, who spoke with master-schemer James Tobin 12 times during the actual phone jamming on Election Day 2002, allegedly signed off on the calls as legal, which suggests to Hansen that “the government, or an agent thereof, actually induced the offenses.” Interesting defense.
The broader phone-jamming story still isn’t generating much excitement, but I still have a hunch this could turn into a big deal. At a minimum, it’s worth keeping an eye on.