Bad Days for McKinney

In addition to her altercation with a Capitol Hill police officer, Cynthia McKinney has had to face some more trouble.

I don't think she can blame the latest on racial profiling, and I don't think Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte will be able to help her.

After an interview with Atlanta's WGCL-TV, the testy McKinney left, but her microphone was still on, picking up her comments.Here is a partial transcript of the interview and its aftermath.

Question: Has anyone asked you about your confrontation with the Capitol police officer?

McKinney: Actually you, media people, are the only ones who are asking about that.

Question: I'm sure you thought about this – potentially someone might ask you about this, outside of the media, about the confrontation – what would your response be, how do you explain it to the people of DeKalb County?

McKinney: Well, actually no one has asked me other than you and so ... I talk to my constituents about the things that are on their minds ...

Question: Do you think the incident will affect your chances for re-election?

McKinney: You're talking about the incident I'm talking about issues.

Question: You want to talk about issues, has the confrontation made it harder for you to focus on the issues? Has it been a distraction?

McKinney: You're a distraction because that seems to be all you want to talk about – but people here understand that my representation is much larger than any discreet incident.

(OFF CAMERA, WITH MIKE STILL ON:)

Oh crap, now you know what? They lied to Coz and Coz is a fool for believin' 'em. [Referring to aide Coz Carson]

(BACK ON CAMERA, SEATED:)

Anything that is captured by your audio while I'm not seated in this chair is off the record and is not permissible to be used – is that understood?

WGCL's assistant news director Mike Machi made no apologies about airing McKinney's off camera comments. He also insisted that McKinney knew that the reporter was going to question her about the assault incident.

Although this "McKinney uncensored" story is embarrassing for the congresswoman, in terms of significance to her political future, it doesn't begin to compare with the ongoing grand jury investigation into her attack on a police officer.

On that front, things aren't looking any better today for Cynthia McKinney.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More House aides have been served with subpoenas to testify in the grand jury investigation of an incident last month where Rep. Cynthia McKinney hit a Capitol Police officer.

Staffers from four congressional offices, in statements read on the House floor Tuesday, announced they would comply with subpoenas issued by the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

The offices of Reps. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., and Barbara Lee, D-Calif., confirmed that the subpoenas were related to the March 29 incident where McKinney, a Georgia Democrat, entered a Capitol building unrecognized by the officer on duty and then hit him when he tried to stop her.

...The other two subpoenas went to aides to Reps. Lois Capps, D-Calif., and Donald Payne, D-N.J. Capps' office would not comment on the purpose of the subpoena and there was no immediate response from Payne's office.

Subpoenas were previously issued for aides to Reps. Sam Farr, D- Calif., and Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich. Troy Phillips, senior legislative assistant to Farr, witnessed the incident and testified about it before the grand jury on April 18, Farr's press secretary, Jessica Schafer, said Tuesday.

The officer involved in the incident, Paul McKenna, testified before the grand jury within the past week, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call said Tuesday. McKenna has said he asked McKinney three times to stop. After she refused, the officer reportedly placed a hand on her and she hit him.

McKinney's timeline of the "Capitol Police Incident," posted on her website on April 14, needs to be updated.

DRAMATICALLY.

If a Republican were the alleged assailant, you know that the lib media would be drooling over every detail of the investigation. They would be giving it priority coverage. Instead, details only slip out here and there, no feeding frenzy.

As far as I know, even the "demonic" Tom DeLay never hit an officer.