By GottaLaff
TPM has the details:
US Attorney firing scandal luminary Tim Griffin, the Rove protege who was installed as US Attorney in Arkansas after his predecessor Bud Cummins was fired, has just announced he's running for Congress.Whoever his opponent is, we support, we donate, we make sure he/she beats Griffin. That's an order!
By GottaLaff
[...] Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden, along with six other U.S. attorneys, was told by the Bush Justice Department to resign [...] Murray Waas reports that there is “a real possibility” that the Justice Department will re-hire him:
A Justice Department official told me that the idea of hiring Bogden back is in fact a real possibility, and said that the White House counsel’s office has been quietly vetting his background in anticipation of his possible reappointment — not a difficult task, considering that he has been employed by the government for the majority of his adult life.
Bogden still “has no official explanation as to why he was fired, or even who made the decision.”
By GottaLaff
As usual, Bush is off limits:
You can see a copy of the agreement here.Are any subjects off limits?
The scope of the interviews will be limited to: (1) facts relating to the evaluation of, decision to dismiss, or decision to replace the former U.S. Attorneys in question; the alleged decisions to retain certain U.S. Attorneys; and any allegations of selective prosecution related thereto; and (2) testimony or representations made by Department of Justice officials to Congress on the U.S. Attorneys matter. For the period beginning on March 9, 2007 (the date of the Committee's first written demand for information from the White House), interviews will not include the content of conversations involving: (i) Mr. Rove and members of the White House Counsel's office; or (ii) Ms. Miers and members of the White House Counsel's office. In the case of Mr. Rove, the interview also will include facts relating to the prosecution of Alabama governor Don Siegelman.And when can Rove and Miers claim executive privilege?
As to official privileges, counsel will direct witnesses not to respond to questions only when questions relate to communications to or from the President or when questions are outside the scope of questioning set forth above.
By GottaLaff
Sen. Patrick Leahy, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, proposed establishing an independent “truth and reconciliation commission” to investigate several allegations of wrongdoing at the Justice Department during the Bush administration.
Inhale that for a second. I'll wait. Come on, you can do it: De-e-e-ep breath. Hold it. ... Hold it... longer... you know, as you would if you were taking a hit of... truth! What did you think I meant? Who do you think I am, Michael Phelps?
Sorry, you can exhale now. Your lungs are now truth-filled. Wasn't that refreshing? Are you high on life yet?
The Vermont Democrat said the commission should investigate the department’s once-secret warrantless wiretapping program, the politically motivated firings of some U.S. attorneys and the department’s highly controversial memos on the treatment of terrorism detainees.Time for another hit.
Anyone got any Twinkies?
Oh man, what just happened? This turned this into a totally bad trip. Whoa. Seriously. I'm so bummed. What was I thinking? Commissions are meaningless. And toothless ones are even more meaningless.Leahy said his proposal marked a middle ground between prosecuting former officials in President George W. Bush’s administration and doing no investigations at all.
The truth commission should have subpoena power and witnesses would not face charges except if they commit perjury, he said. “Rather than vengeance, we need a fair minded pursuit of what actually happened,” he said.
By GottaLaff
A former White House lawyer who handled executive privilege issues for Bill Clinton tells TPMmuckraker that in his view Obama's executive order on presidential records was specifically intended to bolster pending legal efforts aimed at unlocking some of the secrets of the Bush years, such as the White House role in the U.S. attorney firings.If President Obama manages to open this door...
By GottaLaff
Iglesias is a very bright man and understands this mess far better than I do. If he really believes this, then I just became a lot more optimistic.Now, 22 months after his dismissal, [former New Mexico U.S. Atty. David] Iglesias said in a phone interview that the IG report vindicates his repeated assertion that he was fired for improper and possibly illegal reasons.
He also had a surprisingly upbeat assessment of where the U.S. attorney investigation will go next.
So far, neither Justice Dept. nor congressional investigators has gotten cooperation from the White House, especially former top Bush advisers Karl Rove and Harriet Miers. But Iglesias said that could change with the Justice Dept. naming a special prosecutor, acting Connecticut U.S. Atty. Nora Dannehy, to probe criminal misconduct in the firings.
“The special prosecutor has the ability to get White House documents,” Iglesias said. “If she has authority similar to what Patrick Fitzgerald [the special prosecutor in the Valerie Plame investigation] had, she’ll have a lot of power.”
Not only did Rove and Miers not answer questions from the inspector general, but the White House did not turn over documents on the attorney dismissals. But Iglesias said that by specifically citing what documents were not turned over, the IG was “signaling to the special prosecutor what evidence was still out there and what was necessary.”
Iglesias is also confident that Congress’ probe into the scandal will last into the next administration. [...]
Iglesias said he has kept in frequent contact with other dismissed U.S. attorneys since the IG report. “There’s been a lot of email chatter back and forth… we’re pretty high-spirited” he said. “The report made crystal clear that there is a small class of reasons that you cannot use to let go of a U.S. attorney.”
If the assessments of Iglesias are accurate, Alberto Gonzales and other former Justice Dept. officials may eventually face criminal charges.
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