Translator Sibel Edmonds exposes Turkish bribery of Congressmen and State Department officials.  Justice Department chooses to studiously ignore and stonewall the deposition.

Ohio Election Commission officials and lawyers representing Ohio Democratic House of Representatives candidate David Krikorian and incumbent Ohio Republican Representative Jean Schmidt heard testimony Saturday morning and afternoon from former FBI Turkish and Farsi translator Sibel Edmonds in a case brought against Krikorian by incumbent Republican Representative Jean Schmidt. Schmidt alleges in her complaint to the commission that Krikorian made "false statements" in his 2008 independent race against Schmidt. The commission subpoenaed Edmonds in the case, Schmidt v. Krikorian and the deposition was held at the offices of the National Whistleblowers Legal Defense and Education Fund in Georgetown, Washington, DC.

According to sources attending the deposition, Edmonds testified that while she was working as a translator for the FBI she was aware of bribes being made by the Turkish government to elected and former members of Congress, as well as senior officials of the executive branch, including the Department of State.

The Eric Holder Justice Department attempted to block Edmonds's testimony and said it considered the subpoenaed testimony by the Ohio Election Commission to be void since it was conducted in the District of Columbia and not Ohio. However, no Justice Department or FBI representatives attended the deposition by Edmonds as had been previously expected. Edmonds has been blocked from revealing the nature of the Turkish espionage and bribery ring by a State Secret gag order that was imposed by Attorney General John Ashcroft. There is uncertainty as to whether the Holder Justice Department will block release of Edmonds's testimony transcript and video.

Edmonds (on phone foreground) during break with her attorney.

After Edmonds was fired from her FBI job after she complained to her superiors about Turkish intelligence infiltration of the translation branch of the bureau, she was exonerated in a report by the FBI's Inspector General. Her allegations were also supported by senior members of the U.S. Senate.

Edmonds's testimony under oath revealed that the American Turkish Council (ATC), which has been cited by a number of informed observers as a sister organization of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), paid bribes to a number of members of the House of Representatives in return for opposing the Armenian genocide resolution as well as providing other legislative assistance to Turkish special interests. Other Turkish organization in the United States named in the bribery scandal is the Assembly of Turkish American Assoiactions (ATAA).

WMR has learned that attorneys for Schmidt objected to most of Edmonds's statements.

Krikorian (far right) with his attorneys during recess in deposition.

Named as recipients of Turkish government bribes are, in addition to Schmidt, former House Speakers Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Dick Gephardt (D-MO), and brief House Speaker Robert Livingston (R-LA), as well as Representative Dan Burton (R-IN) and former Representative Stephen Solarz (D-NY). Also named are Brent Scowcroft, former National Security Adviser under George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford and former George W. Bush State Department Political Undersecretary Marc Grossman.

Edmonds's testimony also dealt with the involvement of the Rand Corporation with the Turkish espionage and bribery operations in the United States. Edmonds's testimony also dealt with Turkish and Israeli joint operations to engage in smuggling nuclear technology from the United States. In particular, the Turkish espionage and influence-peddling ring was heavily involved in the Bush White House "outing" the covert identities of CIA counterproliferation officer Valerie Plame Wilson and her Brewster Jennings & Associates non-official CIA cover firm. WMR has learned from another informed source that the nuclear smuggling operations also involved Israel PhD students at American universities and research firms.

The Turkish operations also involved the U.S.. corporate media, which was pressured by the Turkish organizations not to cover the Armenian genocide issue.

Krikorian, in a statement during a break in the deposition, said that based on what he heard, such criminality "should not be tolerated in the land of the free and home of the brave," adding that what he heard constitutes "high crimes against the U.S. government."

Perhaps the most explosive part of the deposition involved the Turkish government being engaged in a sexual blackmail operation against a sitting member of the House of Representative. In what the FBI termed a "hooking process," an ATC female operative enticed a female member of the House into a lesbian sexual encounter at a Washington, DC townhouse. A Turkish intelligence surveillance team had placed surveillance bugs throughout the townhouse, including the bedroom and captured the lesbian tryst on tape, according to Edmonds's testimony. To ensure the surveillance team successfully completed its technical surveillance operation, another Turkish operational team was present outside the townhouse to make sure the surveillance team carried out its task.

After the surveillance recordings were made known to the House member, she changed her support for the Armenian genocide resolution and announced her opposition to it.

The identity of the House member in question was not revealed during the deposition by Edmonds.. However, WMR has learned from another informed source that it is Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a strong supporter of AIPAC and Israel and a close political ally of President Obama and his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel..

The first sexual encounter between Schakowsky and the Turkish lesbian prostitute reportedly occurred at a vulnerable time for Schakowsky, just after her mother's death. The first sexual encounter was followed by numerous others, according to U.S. law enforcement sources.

To her credit, Schakowsky has been a vocal opponent of private military contractors and the lack of government oversight of their activities, especially in Latin American and Iraq.

Informed Ohio political sources report that Schmidt's complaint against Krikorian has resulted in unforeseen "blow-back" with the Edmonds testimony and that Schmidt is under significant pressure to drop her complaint against Krikorian lest more damaging information is revealed about members of both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Schakowsky in a a Chief Democratic Deputy Whip in the Hosue and a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. She is married with grown children and was mentioned as a possible replacement to fill Obama's Illinois Senate seat. She has also been mentioned as a possible Senate candidate in 2010 to replace tainted Senator Roland Burris.

The revelations about Schakowsky will not come as god news to Democrats in Illinois, already buffeted by scandals involving indicted and impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich and ethics issues involving Burris, Obama's replacement in the Senate. However, the Turkish bribery scandal is bipartisan with Hastert also implicated in bribe taking.

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