April 30, 2010

by Bill Levinson

The President of the United States can be impeached and removed from office for a “high crime or misdemeanor” committed prior to or during his tenure. Internet gambling, specifically the “Dinner with Barack” promotions in which donors of $5 or more had a chance to win an expenses-paid trip to have dinner with Barack Obama, seems to qualify as a violation of U.S. Code Title 31 Subchapter IV, “Prohibition on funding of unlawful Internet gambling.”

The term “unlawful Internet gambling” means to place, receive, or otherwise knowingly transmit a bet or wager by any means which involves the use, at least in part, of the Internet where such bet or wager is unlawful under any applicable Federal or State law in the State or Tribal lands in which the bet or wager is initiated, received, or otherwise made.

Furthermore, a bet or wager is defined in part as, “includes the purchase of a chance or opportunity to win a lottery or other prize (which opportunity to win is predominantly subject to chance),” which encompasses the “Dinner with Barack” and “Backstage with Barack” solicitations. As for illegality under any applicable state law, Minnesota law enforcement is on record as saying that these solicitations were illegal in Minnesota. Most states, in fact, require purveyors of lotteries and other games of chance to obtain a license which, as far as we know, the Obama campaign never bothered to do. Barack Obama’s personal involvement in these lotteries mean that he may be guilty personally of one or more “high crimes or misdemeanors,” a finding of guilt on any count by the U.S. Senate would require his removal from office. Even worse, Barack Obama signed his name to a letter that showed that one lottery was fraudulent because it selected a winner before the entry deadline; in other words, later entrants were cheated of an equal chance to win.

Here is a screenshot directly from the Obama campaign; we have downloaded the page in question and we recommend that our readers do as well. Pay close attention to

Every supporter who made a donation of $5 or more between July 26th and July 31st took part in our second Dinner with Barack campaign.
On Labor Day, September 3rd, four lucky supporters from all over the country will join Barack for an evening of good food and good conversation.

Dinner with Barack lottery

Note the three elements of what is legally defined as a lottery, i.e. gambling.

(1) Mandatory payment of consideration to participate: “Every supporter who made a donation of $5 or more between July 26th and July 31st took part in our second Dinner with Barack campaign.” If it is possible to enter without payment, and subsequent promotions were modified to allow this only because of complaints and warnings from law enforcement agencies, the activity is not a lottery.

(2) Element of chance: “On Labor Day, September 3rd, four lucky supporters from all over the country”

(3) A prize: “will join Barack for an evening of good food and good conversation.”

Barack Obama’s personal participation in these solicitations, if they were in fact illegal, makes him guilty of “high crimes or misdemeanors” for which he can be impeached and removed from office. In addition, the issue goes beyond illegal Internet gambling to outright cheating and fraud as shown by the following E-mail.

From – Tue Jul 31 12:25:01 2007
X-UIDL: 8498-1156627068
X-Mozilla-Status: 1001
X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
Received: from mta-inap3.bluestatedigital.com ([70.42.50.185])
by vms169131.mailsrvcs.net
(Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006))
with ESMTP id for
[our home E-mail address]; Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:50:15 -0500 (CDT)
Received: by mta-inap3.bluestatedigital.com (Postfix, from userid 501)
id 4B67A4EDCB3; Tue, 31 Jul 2007 10:50:13 -0400 (EDT)
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 10:50:13 -0400
From: Barack Obama
Subject: Dinner invitation
X-Originating-IP: [70.42.50.185]
To: Bill Levinson
Reply-to: info@barackobama.com
Message-id:
MIME-version: 1.0
X-Mailer: PHPMailer [version 1.72-blue_mailer]
Content-type: multipart/alternative;
boundary=b1_6410a68c11e0cea969d3dd947ed112f6
X-Priority: 3
X-maillist-id: 4v-kVvgUkok
X-maillist-guid: CgdXWAJtUkJIWGZDVjBYDggw

–b1_6410a68c11e0cea969d3dd947ed112f6
Content-Type: text/plain; charset = “iso-8859-1″
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Make a donation by 11:59 pm tonight, Tuesday, July 31st, and you
could join us for our second Dinner with Barack:

https://donate.barackobama.com/dinner

Dear Bill,

A couple of weeks ago I sat down to dinner with four supporters like
you.

Christina, Haile, Margaret, and Michael each made a small online
donation, and we flew them across the country for some good food and
good conversation.

What I enjoyed most about this dinner was the opportunity to listen
to the stories and concerns of ordinary Americans in a relaxed
environment. Out on the campaign trail, there isn’t always time for
that kind of interaction.

Last week we started planning our second dinner, and on Friday
evening at 6:42 pm, a woman named Dorothy Unruh of Lakewood,
Colorado made a donation.

I’m pleased to announce that Dorothy will be one of my guests for
the second dinner. You could join us if you make a small
donation before 11:59 pm tonight, July 31st:

https://donate.barackobama.com/dinner

Here’s what Dorothy told us about herself:

“I’m a senior citizen fed up with the current state of our
government. I’m sad that our great nation has lost its stature in
the eyes of the rest of the world. I have been a registered
Republican for years, but recently officially changed parties so I
can attend the Democratic caucus and help elect Senator Obama. He is
like a breath of fresh air to my husband and me.”

Dorothy has never taken part in a political campaign before, but she
and millions of other voters who want change are going to be the key
to Democratic victories up and down the ballot next year.

I’m looking forward to having dinner with Dorothy, but there are
still three seats left at the table. Will you be in one of them?

If you make a donation by 11:59 pm tonight, Tuesday, July 31st, you
could join us for dinner very soon:

https://donate.barackobama.com/dinner

We’ll pay for your trip and the meal — all you need to bring is
your story and your ideas about how to make this a better country
for all Americans.

Small donations from ordinary Americans have set our campaign apart
and allowed us to reject the influence of Washington lobbyists and
special interest groups. Not only is your support the key to our
success, it’s essential to reclaiming a government that is of the
people, by the people, and for the people.

I hope you will make a donation now and participate in this
opportunity. Take ownership of your part in this
campaign and strengthen your role in our movement.

Together we can put an end to pay-for-influence politics. We can
turn the page in Washington, and it all begins with you.

Thank you for your support.

Barack Obama

————————————————————————
Paid for by Obama for America
This email was sent to: [our home E-mail address]
To unsubscribe, go to: http://my.barackobama.com/unsubscribe

Note again all the elements of a lottery, i.e. gambling.
(1) Mandatory payment of consideration: “If you make a donation by 11:59 pm tonight, Tuesday, July 31st,”
(2) Element of chance: “you could join us for dinner very soon:”
(3) A prize: “We’ll pay for your trip and the meal”

Furthermore:
(1) Barack Obama signed his name to this lottery solicitation, thus making him a direct party to a crime if one was in fact committed under U.S. Code Title 31.
(2) He announced that Dorothy Unruh was selected as a winner prior to the entry deadline, thus reducing the chances of those who entered after 6:32 P.M. by one-quarter. In other words, the “house” (Obama campaign) effectively drew at least one winning lottery ticket from the pool before everybody had entered. Those who entered after 6:32 had a 3 out of N (N=total entrants) chance to win instead of a 4 out of N1 (entrants prior to 6:32) chance. Barack Obama said so himself: “I’m looking forward to having dinner with Dorothy, but there are still three seats left at the table.” This sounds a lot like cheating or some other kind of fundraising fraud at the expense of the people who entered after 6:32.

This is not the only such lottery that was sponsored by the Obama campaign.

Backstage with Barack

Dinner with Barack lottery

Any member of Congress can end Barack Obama’s Presidency by calling for his impeachment on the grounds of U.S. Code Title 31 5362, “Unlawful Internet Gambling.” Once it is demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that Obama participated personally in illegal Internet gambling to fund his campaign, his position will be absolutely untenable and even his fellow Democrats won’t dare to oppose impeachment. This is because we cannot have one U.S. Code Title 31 for the President and another for everybody else, at least not if Federal law enforcement agencies want public support and respect for their efforts to suppress illegal Internet gambling. Recall that Richard Nixon had to resign to avoid removal from office because even his own party could not have afforded to defend him in light of the Watergate scandal. In this case, the evidence is stronger even than for Watergate because it comes directly from the Obama campaign and Obama himself.