[Ninong]

Remember the infamous 17-minute gap in the Nixon tape? Well, it turns out there's an 18-gay day gap in the emails that the DOJ turned over Monday night. Haha! And they refuse to turn over any internal White House emails between White House staffers.

Gee, I wonder why there would be an 18-day gap. Especially since they took days and days to compile these emails and then dumped them all at once late Monday night instead of releasing them Friday afternoon as originally scheduled.

[Ninong]

Fired U.S. attorney David Iglesias penned an op-ed in Wednesday's New York Times, asserting that "politics played a role" in the Justice Department's decision to end his tenure as a New Mexico federal prosecutor.

Referring to all eight axed attorneys, Iglesias writes that "the argument that we were fired for 'performance related' reasons (in the words of Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty) is starting to look more than a little wobbly."
Iglesias went on to recount phone calls he received from top New Mexico lawmakers, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), during which he was inappropriately pressed for information regarding "a politically charged corruption case."

"A few weeks after those phone calls, my name was added to a list of United States attorneys who would be asked to resign," wrote Iglesias, "even though I had excellent office evaluations, the biggest political corruption prosecutions in New Mexico history, a record number of overall prosecutions and a 95 percent conviction rate."

Indeed, a 2004 Justice Department memo described Iglesias as a "diverse up-and-comer, solid." The Justice Department was considering promoting Iglesias to run the Washington, D.C. office that served all U.S. attorneys. That memo was among 3,000 pages of documents delivered to the House and Senate Judiciary committees this week by the Justice Department.

Iglesias ends his op-ed expressing gratitude for President Bush's appreciation of his service, which he stated during a White House address yesterday, but added that "only a written retraction by the Justice Department setting the record straight regarding my performance would settle the issue for me."

According to a report in the Albuquerque Tribune, Iglesias is now calling for his position to be filled by one of his two former top aides instead of a politically appointed nominee.

P.S. -- Don't forget, all of these attorneys are Republicans appointed by the Bush Administration and confirmed by the Senate. Amazing that they're all starting to speak out and others are coming to their defense and saying that they were pressured by the Bush Administration, too, to go easy on big business and Republicans and find some dirt on Democrats and illegal immigrants. And obscenity cases. They needed to prosecute more obscenity cases and fewer corrupt GOP politicans.

[Ninong]

President Bush gave his "bring it on" speech about the U.S. Attorneys mess and in response both the House and the Senate Judiciary Committees have voted to authorize subpoenas.

If the Democrats win this one, and I think they might, I wish they would insist on public hearings. I'm afraid they're willing to allow Rove et alia to testify in a closed door session as long as it's under oath and with transcripts. That's no fun! I want live TV coverage just like we had when Sam Irvin chaired the Watergate investigation. That was a blast!

Bush wants Rove and Miers to be "interviewed" by a few select members of the Judiciary Committees behind closed doors, not under oath and no transcripts allowed. That way they can explain all of the previous lies in private and add a few new ones to the mix.

Don't forget that both Karl Rove and Scooter Libby assured Scott McClellan that they were not involved in the leaking of Valerie Plame Wilson's identity. It's important that Rove and Miers be under oath so that they can be prosecuted for perjury if they lie! The reason Bush doesn't want them under oath is because he doesn't want them to tell the truth. It's that simple. Bush wants them to lie! He does it all the time. Does anybody still believe that he was "looking for the leaker?" Does anybody still believe that he had no idea what was going on? Does anybody believe he never watches television? And, my favorite by far, does anybody believe his claim that he reads 60 books a year?

Worst. President. Ever.

[Ninong]

The Scooter Libby/CIA leak investigation was about lying about the intel to get us into war and then covering up those lies. This is about the Bush Administration interfering in the administration of justice for partisan purposes. Talk about naked obstruction of justice! It's a direct attack on the rule of law.

They pressured U.S. Attorneys (every one of them a Republican appointee) to do their bidding and any who didn't go along with the program, were fired. Lay off the corrupt Republicans and try to find more Democrats to charge. And woe be to anyone who caused problems for big oil, big tobacco or big pharma.

Appoint a 24-yr old make-believe journalist to edit and revise articles written by NASA's top global warming scientist. To "make the president look good" and to "conform to administration policy."

Worst. President. Ever.

P.S. -- Prior to this latest incident with the Bush Administration, since 1981, only five of 500 U.S. Attorneys have been fired mid-term.

[CSeaSee]

Originally Posted by Ninong

it turns out there's an 18-gay gap in the emails that the DOJ turned over Monday night. Haha!

Were they compiling them in San Francisco?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by CSeaSee

Were they compiling them in San Francisco?

I need to re-read my posts more carefully before hitting the submit button.

Something Tom DeLay should have done with his new book before going on Chris Matthews' show to peddle it.

Matthews asked DeLay about a passage in his book where he described former Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX) as "drunk with ambition." Amazingly, DeLay denied writing that, even after Matthews showed him the underlined passage in his own book.

We know he didn't write the damn book, just as he has admitted that he doesn't write any of the stuff on his own blog or the guest blog entries he submits to redstate, but at least he could take the time to read the book in case people want to quiz him on it.



P.S. -- If Rove had anything to do with the email gap, maybe I should have left my post the way it was instead of "fixing" it.

[Ninong]

The Bush Administration found some more documents relating to the U.S. Attorney firings. As is their usual procedure, they released them late on a Friday night. Turns out Alberto Gonzales chaired the meeting to discuss which U.A. Attorneys should be fired and HE APPROVED THEIR FIRINGS!

Compare that with this:

On March 13, in explaining the firings, Gonzales told reporters he was aware that some of the dismissals were being discussed but was not involved in them.

“I knew my chief of staff was involved in the process of determining who were the weak performers — where were the districts around the country where we could do better for the people in that district, and that’s what I knew,” Gonzales said last week. “But that is in essence what I knew about the process; was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on. That’s basically what I knew as the attorney general.”

Later, he added: “I accept responsibility for everything that happens here within this department. But when you have 110,000 people working in the department, obviously there are going to be decisions that I’m not aware of in real time. Many decisions are delegated.”

He was not only aware of what was going on, he approved it. His goofy little speech where he said that he had no clue what the 110,000 people in his department were up to wasn't convincing then and now we know why. HE WAS LYING! Just as he lied in his last congressional testimony!

So why would the Bush Administration suddenly decide to release documents that directly contradict Gonzo's previous claims? Because Gonzo's former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week under oath, that's why. Gonzo fired Sampson a couple of weeks ago. Not only that, Leahy and Schumer are dropping hints that they have current DOJ employees (career employees, not political hacks) who are willing to come forward to tell the truth about what has been going on. These are long-time, career employees at Justice who are fed up with the corruption and lies of the present administration.

Breaking news, very late Friday night:

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting, according to documents released Friday that contradict earlier claims that he was not closely involved in the dismissals.

The Nov. 27 meeting, in which the attorney general and at least five top Justice Department officials participated, focused on a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of the prosecutors, Justice Department officials said late Friday.

There, Gonzales signed off on the plan, which was crafted by his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson. Sampson resigned last week amid a political firestorm surrounding the firings.

[schrocat]

Gonzo making it past Friday was a bad, bad thing.

Had he stepped down, this might have been dragged out long enough for Roger A. and his Fox News Partisan Apologists to spin the beejesus out of it 'til up was down...

Not now.
...gotta love the Nixonish "missing gap".

[Ninong]

Bush reaffirms support for embattled Gonzales

President backs attorney general after e-mails contradict earlier position


WASHINGTON - President Bush is standing firmly behind his embattled attorney general despite Justice Department documents that show Alberto Gonzales was more involved in the decisions to fire U.S. attorneys than he previously indicated.

Gonzales said last week he was not involved in any discussions about the impending dismissals of federal prosecutors. On Friday night, however, the department disclosed Gonzales’ participation in a Nov. 27 meeting where such plans were discussed.

That e-mail only added to the calls for Gonzales’ ouster.

Dan Bartlett, counselor to the president, said Saturday that Bush continues to support Gonzales despite the latest disclosures.

Here.

P.S. -- Meanwhile, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) has hired prominent Washington lawyer Lee Blalack, "best known for defending jailed former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) against bribery charges." Hmmm... I think I would have looked for someone who was "best known" for something else.

[Ninong]

This story is developing fast now that the White House released that last batch of documents last night. There are still obvious gaps in the docs they have released so far but a clear picture is emerging of a White House that was deeply involved at the very highest level in planning and executing the replacement of "troublesome" U.S. Attorneys.

There is now little doubt that the idea to insert that new provision into the Patriot Act renewal came from the White House. That would mean Karl Rove. And everything that Karl Rove does, his boss knows about and condones.

I'm now beginning to doubt Arlen Specter's claim that he wasn't even told about the provision that he inserted. He blames it on his chief counsel and says he himself didn't realize the impact the change would have and doesn't recall anyone explaining to him why it was requested by the Justice Department. It was almost certainly requested by the Justice Department because Karl Rove called Alberto Gonzales and gave him instructions on what they wanted him to do and why. Gonzo is nothing more than Karl Rove's water boy.

Everything that everyone at Justice has said in the past few weeks has turned out to be false. And it is almost certain that it was known by the White House to be false at the time the false statements were made to the public and to Congress.

This is no different than what we went through with the CIA leak investigation. Now that Scott McClellan is no longer a part of the administration, it is interesting to see exactly what he is saying about that period. You have to gather all of his recent comments and look at them as a whole. What he is saying is that he was deliberately misled by Karl Rove and by everyone in the Office of the Vice President. Everyone in that office!

McClellan said at the time that he personally talked to both Scooter Libby and Karl Rove and both of them assured him that they were not involved. Period! That was a lie! McClellan now admits that he was "misled." He went on to say that knowing what he knows now, he would NOT have made the statement he made at that press conference. So the former White House Press Secretary is acknowledging that he was deliberately lied to by senior members of the White House staff. He hasn't singled out Dick Cheney by name but you can read between the lines.

Another interesting development is that the woman who was the Justice Department's liaison with the White House has just taken a "leave of absence."

The Justice Department said yesterday that Monica Goodling, a senior counselor to Gonzales who worked closely with Sampson on the firings, took an indefinite personal leave from her job on Monday. A Justice official said that she is still employed there but that it is not clear when she will return.

[Ninong]

From the WSJ:

Senate Records Prove Important in Lobby Case


Evan Perez reports on the link between J. Steven Griles guilty plea and Congress’s confrontation with the White House over executive privilege.

If there’s any doubt about the importance of getting a record of Senate investigative interviews, consider the case of J. Steven Griles.

Griles, the former deputy Interior secretary, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Washington today to lying to Senate investigators when he was asked about the nature of his relationship with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was trying to help clients on matters before the Interior Department. Abramoff, in prison after pleading guilty to felony charges, has been aiding a wider investigation that has netted eight convictions or plea deals for the Justice Department.

A transcript of the Senate interview is what helped get Griles in trouble. (See the plea agreement.) Former White House aide David Safavian found himself in similar hot water, and was convicted earlier this year on charges that included lying to Senate investigators.

The importance isn’t lost on lawmakers who are pushing the White House to reconsider its insistence that President Bush’s political adviser, Karl Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and other aides can be interviewed only in private, not under oath and with no transcript.

House and Senate committees have approved subpoenas to try to compel public testimony, but officials are trying to negotiate a compromise to avoid a legal confrontation. President Bush staunchly defended his proposal and accused Democrats of trying to go on a “fishing expedition” with their threats of subpoenas.

Some Republicans find the White House’s stance hard to defend. Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) is among those trying to get the White House to at least allow a record of the interviews in order to help the Senate complete its investigation into the ouster of eight U.S. attorneys.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Ninong

Another interesting development is that the woman who was the Justice Department's liaison with the White House has just taken a "leave of absence."

The Justice Department said yesterday that Monica Goodling, a senior counselor to Gonzales who worked closely with Sampson on the firings, took an indefinite personal leave from her job on Monday. A Justice official said that she is still employed there but that it is not clear when she will return.

Monica Goodling, who mysteriously took an indefinite leave of absence from the Justice Department last week has sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee informing them of her intention to take the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination when called to testify. She will answer no questions before the committee because she's afraid to end up like Scooter Libby. Believe it or not she actually made that argument.

Poor Scooter Libby. If he hadn't lied to the FBI and lied to the grand jury and obstructed justice, he wouldn't have been convicted. Of course, had he told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, Dick Cheney might be facing trial in the Senate by now.

I wonder why Monica Goodling decided to take an unexplained extended leave of absence? Is she protecting herself or someone else by taking the Fifth? Obviously she's protecting herself from possible perjury but I wonder if the perjury would be to cover up her own criminal acts or those of someone higher up the food chain? Replacing a U.S. Attorney in order to affect the outcome of a pending investigation would be blatant obstruction of justice, or, depending on the perp, "high crimes and misdemeanors."

P.S. -- Maybe we should dig up that thread from about a year ago wherein Schrocat and I speculated on the possibility of a double impeachment resulting in a President Denny Hastert. Actually, Schrocat speculated it would result in a President Denny Hastert, I quickly pointed out that an impeachment, single or double, would take a considerable length of time and that by that time the Speaker would be Nancy Pelosi. My how time flies when you're having fun! Poor Brilliant Invincible Commander, this is going to be a very long 22 months for him I'm afraid.

[Ninong]

Goodling, 33, is a 1995 graduate Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., an institution that describes itself as "committed to embracing an evangelical spirit."

She received her law degree at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va. Regent, founded by Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, says its mission is "to produce Christian leaders who will make a difference, who will change the world."

Trivia: Guess who's a professor at Regent University now? Go ahead, take a wild guess!

Hint: He probably anointed himself with Crisco upon embarking on this new endeavor.

Yep, our good buddy, the one who lost a race to a dead man, John Ashcroft! According to reports on the Regent University website, former Attorney General Ashcroft is known for his wild parties where the students gorge themselves on ice-cream and sing songs about their lousy grades. (Regent does have the lowest bar exam passing rate in the state of Virginia!)

In January of this year, John Ashcroft hosted his fourth ice cream social for 55 Regent law school students at his home.

From the Regent University website:

"...When everyone's bowls were empty, General Ashcroft served seconds (and thirds) before students broke into small groups to compose songs about their law school experiences. After a short time, students gathered together for a joyous time of praise and worship. As General Ashcroft played the piano, students gathered around and sang hymns such as "Great is Thy Faithfulness."

After enjoying an exciting time of worship together, the students encouraged one another to sing the law school songs which they had worked together to create. One such song was created to the tune of the Garth Brooks' hit, "Friends in Low Places":

"I've got grades in low places,
'Cause I didn't brief any of my cases
C's mean I stay, so I'll be okay.
Well I'm not big on writing papers,
Oh, I've got grades in low places."

Aside from the sheer entertainment that the evening provided, the song writing exercise also helped foster teamwork and camaraderie among the students. "It was a blast. I got to make up a song with my fellow classmates and sing it to General Ashcroft," said first year law student Aaron McDonnell..."


John Ashcroft plays piano while students sing ribald ice-cream gorging songs!


Check it out here.

[Ninong]

Deputy AG Paul McNulty was given specific orders from the White House that under no circumstances was he to reveal to the Senate Judiciary Committee that politics played any role in the firing of the eight U.S. Attorneys. You might remember that his boss, AG Alberto Gonzales, had already testified to the same committee that politics played no role whatsoever! None!

Well, somehow or other, under questioning by Chuck Schumer, McNulty admitted that politics had played a role, especially in the naming of Karl Rove's buddy to the Arkansas job. It seems McNulty was concerned that deliberating misleading the committee might result in his becoming one of Scooter Libby's new roommates. This opened a can of worms because it directly contradicted what Gonzo had already said. Now the White House is furious! And people at Justice are suddenly taking unexplained extended leaves of absence while informing the Senate Judiciary Committee that they will refuse to answer any questions at all on the grounds that doing so could result in their incarceration.

Does this mean that they will now have to remove the name of the number two guy at the Justice Department from the list of "loyal Bushies?" At this rate, there won't be very many "good Bushies" left within the next few months.

[Ninong]

...this is much ado about nothing, right?

Wrong!

In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday-Sunday, respondents said by nearly 3-to-1 that Congress should issue subpoenas to force White House officials to testify.

By 53%-26%, respondents say the U.S. attorneys were dismissed primarily for political reasons, not because they weren't doing their jobs well — as Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has said.

The poll finds little sympathy for the administration's claim that White House aides shouldn't have to testify to ensure that a president gets candid advice. By 68%-26%, those surveyed say the president should drop the claim of executive privilege in this case.

P.S. -- Hmmm... So 26% think politics played no role in the dismissal of the U.S. Attorneys and 26% agree with the President that his aides should not be required to testify under oath before Congress. I wonder if they're the same 26% that agrees with his handling of the Iraq war? Just asking.

(I think we're dipping into lizard brain territory here. One-fourth of the people will support whatever this administration does no matter what the evidence of malfeasance. I saw another poll recently that said that 88% of Fox News viewers support the administration. That's even higher than the numbers reported for people who identify themselves as Republicans! So, being a regular viewer of Fox News correlates well with mental retardation.)

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Ninong

And people at Justice are suddenly taking unexplained extended leaves of absence while informing the Senate Judiciary Committee that they will refuse to answer any questions at all on the grounds that doing so could result in their incarceration.

I could never understand that "fifth" privilege and how is that serves Justice?

So, is Gonzo getting a boot or he has full and unconditional support of the GW?
Jokes aside, it is incredible how this people twisting their own arms on the Hill without doing anything to solve this mistery of the firings... talk and talk and talk...
Can someone just get up and say that the retard from the oval office got to go home now because he can;t play nice with others?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by zhenya

I could never understand that "fifth" privilege and how is that serves Justice?

Gene,

It's part of the Bill of Rights, something the Bush Administration usually ignores. Now, all of a sudden, they're embracing it!

The Fifth Amendment says that you cannot be compelled to give testimony that might lead to your incrimination for your own criminal acts or that might reveal your knowledge of or association with criminal activity. In other words, they can't force you to say something that might be used against you in a court of law.

That means, if you did something wrong, the government will have to prove it without your help. And they're not supposed to waterboard you to persuade you to talk.

P.S. -- Scroll back up a couple of posts. I added something about John Ashcroft to my Monica Goodling post. It's hilarious!

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Ninong

P.S. -- Scroll back up a couple of posts. I added something about John Ashcroft to my Monica Goodling post. It's hilarious!

Wow! I wonder of I'm too old to join that school, sounds like lots of fun and games...

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Wow! I wonder of I'm too old to join that school, sounds like lots of fun and games...

OK, now I added a picture and a link to Regent's website.

[Ninong]

In a 329-78 vote last night, the House of Representatives followed the Senate (the Senate voted 94-2 on March 20) and stripped President George W. Bush of the authority to appoint United States Attorneys on an interim basis, ending the ability of the Bush administration to do an end run around the Senate in putting controversial US Attorneys in office. (Let's see Bush try to veto this!)

The bill sponsored by Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) places a 120-day limit to the term of a United States Attorney appointed on an interim basis.

Democrats allege that the previous authority to appoint interim US Attorneys on an unlimited basis, inserted stealthily into the 2006 reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act, was used as a 'loophole' to insert Bush administration political loyalists into office.

P.S. -- I still don't understand how Arlen Specter can insist that he was not informed of this provision that he personally inserted in the Patriot Act renewal bill. It was done by Specter's chief legislative counsel at the request of the White House. Specter insists that he knew nothing about it. It was slipped in without anyone paying any attention to it or its ramifications. Sounds like a Rovian trick to me.