McClatchy: Rove asked to fire U.S. attorney; Firing of U.S. attorneys may be 'enormously problematic

[grytpype]

Holy moley... DAgate is exploding... it's moving from investigating why the Gonzales 8 were fired to political manipulation of US Attorneys, the GOP using the DoJ to attack Democrats... wow... pass the damn popcorn already...

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/16872058.htm?source=rss&channel=krwashington_nation

Rove asked to fire U.S. attorney
By Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Presidential advisor Karl Rove and at least one other member of the White House political team were urged by the New Mexico Republican party chairman to fire the state's U.S. attorney because of dissatisfaction with his job performance including his failure to indict Democrats in a voter fraud investigation in the battleground election state.

In an interview Saturday with McClatchy Newspapers, Chairman Allen Weh said he complained in 2005 about then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to a White House liaison who worked for Rove and asked that he be removed. Weh said he followed up with Rove personally in late 2006 during a visit to the White House.

Weh's account calls into question the Justice Department's stance that the recent decision to fire eight U.S. attorneys, including Iglesias, was made without the White House weighing in. Justice Department officials have said the White House's involvement was limited to approving a list of the U.S. attorneys after the Justice Department made the decision to fire them.

Rove could not be reached Saturday and the White House said it would have no immediate response. A Justice Department spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Weh's remarks come as Congress investigates the circumstances behind the firing of Iglesias and seven other U.S. attorneys. Democrats have charged the Bush administration tried to inject partisan politics into federal prosecutions in order to influence election outcomes.

And check out this bonus article:

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/16872019.htm?source=rss&channel=krwashington_nation

Firing of U.S. attorneys may be 'enormously problematic' for Republicans
By Ron Hutcheson
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The growing controversy over the Bush administration's abrupt dismissal of eight federal prosecutors raises a disturbing question: Has the Bush administration tried to use the federal government's vast law enforcement powers against its political enemies?

"It would be enormously problematic if, in fact, the Justice Department or the White House were trying to use U.S. attorneys for political purposes," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia. "The questions are now hanging in the air."

Some Democrats hear echoes of Watergate in the administration's dismissals of the prosecutors and suggest that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should resign. Others want to know whether Karl Rove, Bush's chief political adviser, played a role in the firings.

Justice Department officials say politics had nothing to do with the firings, but some of the ousted U.S. attorneys and outside legal experts think otherwise. Congressional Democrats say they're determined to find the truth.

(more at link)

[Diane R]

1. Kicking, recommending and popping popcorn. n/t

[Cha]

58. I just ate popcorn at The Dixie Chicks

"Shut UP And Sing" at my local theater..but I'll kick this puppy and Recommend. :patriot: :kick:

[fooj]

2. The noose is tightening...

[Cobalt-60]

32. I hope its a NEW ROPE

[babylonsister]

3. Hmmm, I wonder if Fitz is busy! nt

[Kagemusha]

18. Supposedly he's gone back to his day job.

We'll see if he still has a day job soon.

[robinlynne]

4. oh yeah, ask the questions!

[saltpoint]

5. The Fake Cowboy likely wanted his S. American trip as a headline on

tomorrow's news shows.

He may get it for all I know, but the increasingly dominant story out of Washington is Mueller's transgressions and Abu Gonzales' mealy-mouthed comments -- at least at the moment.

The political poker game is not breaking in the Bush administration's favor.

[Supersedeas]

24. Al Gonzo so wants this to go away--turn the security detail around--we need to make a deal

No subpoenas

[saltpoint]

25. Yep. Gonzales sounded almost contrite in the newsclip I heard today.

Well, not contrite exactly, but contrite for HIM.

If Rove's involvement with this is a clear, true line, we aren't going to be hearing much about Brazilian ethanol for some time.

Bush gets a few frequent flyer miles out of that S. American jaunt, but no political capital.

He'll come home to more headaches than he had when he left.

(And all of them are of his own making.)

[proud patriot]

6. Wheeee ! ! ! ! !

:popcorn: :think: :woohoo:

[TwilightGardener]

7. This admin might just go down like Al Capone did--

not for the obvious crimes, but for less-compelling legal/technical reasons. Either way, I'm hopeful.

[JohnnyLib2]

8. K & R, and must reread

history of Nazi Germany. Parallels?

[calimary]

9. Get thee to the Greatest page!

You have to remember one thing about this story - and ANY - repeat - ANY other story in which kkkarl rove has even a small involvment.

Once upon a time, as I remember reading, early-on in this bushian nightmare, he was quoted as telling somebody "everything is political."

REMEMBER THAT. "Everything is political."

ANYTHING his grubby little paws touch is done for political purposes. His very title for so long - the one that referred to him as the White House's or bush's senior political advisor - is proof-positive that political shit IS his game. It's his ONLY game. It's his reason for being, how he butters his bread, and why he walks the earth alongside those inhabitants of this nest of vermin. Never mind his public persona or the crap you may read about him being this otherwise pleasant, affable, mild-mannered, average Joe with a lovely wife-and-kids. He is, in Harry Potter lingo, a Death Eater. Death Eaters are members of the evil Lord Voldemort's inner circle, most of whom went under deep cover to lie in wait when Voldemort was first disabled. He should NEVER be trusted, NEVER be given the benefit of the doubt, NEVER be left unwatched and unsupervised. He's bush's soul brother and his dirty-work chieftain. If there's ANYTHING vile and criminal or near-criminal (at the very least suspicious and fishy as hell) that emanates from anywhere within this cabal, he will be found at the root of it.

[grytpype]

12. Wow, I have never had a post rise so fast... this thing is a meteor!

[paranoid floyd]

54. Well done

That is one of the best descriptions of Rove I've read in quite some time. I especially like this

He should NEVER be trusted, NEVER be given the benefit of the doubt, NEVER be left unwatched and unsupervised.

Thanks for your post.

[MissMarple]

So... Allen Weh just came out and "confessed" to a reporter?

What was THAT all about? He outed Rove? Hooboy!

[MissMarple]

10. I hate when that happens.

My laptop is VERY senstive. And I don't think it likes Rove very much....

[grytpype]

11. Like Krugman said in his last column, the real scandal is not the USAs who got fired for not playing

Like Krugman said in his last column, the real scandal is not the USAs who got fired for not playing ball with Rove... it's the ones who did play ball and still have their jobs!

Man, is this going to get good!

[calimary]

31. Tell me about it! I'm just waiting for the moment when SOMEBODY

on our side finally wakes up all the way and decides that what he or she is actually looking at are IMPEACHABLE offenses. So far they seem to see only bunny rabbits, Tooth Fairies, and sheep (not realizing it's sheep's clothing that a group of unruly wolves are wearing).

[qanda]

13. I think I've been in a cave

I had no clue about this. Is there a 101 on this somewhere?

[grytpype]

16. Talking Points Memo has been covering it.

And see if you can find Krugman's latest column, I think that's where he lays out the math, that if you look at prosecutions of local government officials (the kind that the national media don't cover), they are against Democrats almost 10 to 1.

[qanda]

21. Cool!

Thanks for the response.

[DemKR]

14. This is almost as fun as watching Mitt Romney flip-flop

[grytpype]

15. If Bush was involved in using the DoJ against the Democrats, that is impeachment material.

I've never been one of the OH NOES IMPEACHMENT NOWWWWW! people, but damn, if Bush is behind this it could be the last straw for a lot of folks in Congress.

One of Nixon's crimes was using the IRS against his political opponents. If Bush was using the DoJ for that purpose, watch the hell out!

[Occulus]

42. I think you're right.

Are we over the Soviet Union's border yet? We've been wandering in East German lands for some time now, and I'm just wondering if we've really gone that far back...

Christ on a trailer hitch.

[tanyev]

17. Karl's karma is on the warpath.

He seems to have squirmed his way out of Plamegate, but maybe this one will take him down.

[jamesinca]

19. Allen Weh just came out with this

Are they trying to use the same thing they used on 60 minutes with the Bush AWOL story? Discredit the messenger so you don't have to talk about the message? I am a little leary of this.

[Dudley_DUright]

20. Just confirms my suspicions that Rove has his grubby fingerprints

all over the US Attorney firings. Typical Rove MO. Can anyone say RICO?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act

[Pirate Smile]

22. Daily Kos: DoJ: As long as we're on the subject...

DoJ: As long as we're on the subject...
by Kagro X
Sat Mar 10, 2007 at 04:04:48 PM PST
How deep does the corruption at the Department of Justice run?

That's the question Congressional investigators are starting to ask, now that it's become clear that the fired U.S. Attorneys are just the tip of the iceberg, as NYT columnist Paul Krugman told us. (It's behind the paywall, but the story was covered in a recent diary, here.)

The revelation that there may be just as much corrupt behavior swirling around the U.S. Attorneys still holding their jobs as there apparently was around those who were terminated comes just as the FBI's Inspector General report has emerged, noting widespread and systemic failures (i.e., lawbreaking) in the issuance of National Security Letters and the gathering of confidential information on American citizens.

Note the headlines on this, by the way.

In the U.S.:

- F.B.I. Head Admits Mistakes in Use of Security Act http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/10/washington/10fbi.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
- FBI admits violating Patriot Act spying limits http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/nation/16874498.htm
- Tighter controls at FBI? http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Tighter+controls+at+FBI%3F&articleId=5499858b-f6c3-4601-aeca-1af4e49c8383

Oopsies!

How about the foreign headlines?

- FBI obtained records 'illegally' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6435891.stm

Oh, so that's what it's about!

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee will be investigating the matter further, since it now appears that Harriet Miers and the White House Gang were directly involved, as smintheus points out. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/10/155140/594

Yes, turn over any rock with this "administration," and you'll find all kinds of unattractive creepy-crawlies. So it won't be long before we find our way back to this mess http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/01/AR2005120101927.html :

Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal
Voting Rights Finding On Map Pushed by DeLay Was Overruled

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 2, 2005; Page A01

Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by The Washington Post. But senior officials overruled them and approved the plan.

If you're going to look into the use of political pressure to force out DoJ attorneys who won't "play ball," we might as well inquire what happened to the voting rights section attorneys who, though they unanimously found DeLay's Texas redistricting plan (and Georgia's too) discriminatory on its face, were overruled by DoJ brass, and began leaving the secure, non-political civil service jobs they had held, some for decades.

The "approval" of the plans, by the way, entitled them to nearly bulletproof status in court, which is what ultimately defeated the suits filed by Texas Democrats. A plan approved by DOJ begins in court with the presumption that it's nondiscriminatory. Why? Because the law was written back in the days when "quaint" notion of having a nonpartisan DoJ was still in fashion.

Dozens of the DoJ's top career civil servant civil rights lawyers have left the Department and been replaced by ideologues http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/07/23/civil_rights_hiring_shifted_in_bush_era/ with no discernible experience (or interest) in civil rights law:

The profile of the lawyers being hired has since changed dramatically, according to the resumes of successful applicants to the voting rights, employment litigation, and appellate sections. Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Globe obtained the resumes among hundreds of pages of hiring data from 2001 to 2006.

Hires with traditional civil rights backgrounds -- either civil rights litigators or members of civil rights groups -- have plunged. Only 19 of the 45 lawyers hired since 2003 in those three sections were experienced in civil rights law, and of those, nine gained their experience either by defending employers against discrimination lawsuits or by fighting against race-conscious policies.

Meanwhile, conservative credentials have risen sharply. Since 2003 the three sections have hired 11 lawyers who said they were members of the conservative Federalist Society. Seven hires in the three sections are listed as members of the Republican National Lawyers Association, including two who volunteered for Bush-Cheney campaigns.

Several new hires worked for prominent conservatives, including former Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr, former attorney general Edwin Meese, Mississippi Senator Trent Lott, and Judge Charles Pickering. And six listed Christian organizations that promote socially conservative views.

Surprise, surprise. An executive branch full of conservative ideologues, often openly hostile to voting rights enforcement, hired to blind the judicial branch to the intentional discrimination buried in Congressional redistricting plans pushed by hyper-partisans and designed to maximize and institutionalize a Republican advantage in the legislative branch.

The rot doesn't get much deeper than that.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/9/231256/6397

[Hekate]

23. Want more salt or butter with that popcorn? Pull up a chair...

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

Hekate

[emulatorloo]

26. KICKING FOR KARL n/t

[NastyRiffraff]

27. McClatchy has been all over this story

since almost the beginning. Good for them. Not at all suprising that Rove's pudgy fingers are all over this mess.

[truthisfreedom]

28. If there was ever a time for a terralert, expect one now.

I knew this shit was rovian from the start... It looks like they finally overstepped the bounds with both feet.

[laylah]

29. I look forward to the day

anything this slug (Rove) does has repercussions! Dare I hold my breath?

Jenn

[caligirl]

30. here is the popcorn, this ets better and better.

:woohoo: :popcorn: :popcorn: :applause: :popcorn: :woohoo: :popcorn: :woohoo: :popcorn: :spray:

[originalpckelly]

33. This "overblown personnel matter" is looking more like a "third rate burglary" every day.

In reference to AG Gonzales own characterization of this firing flap.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070307/oppose07.art.htm

It's the last line.

[jaybeat]

51. Yeah, and Nixon's "dirty tricks" were all thumbs...

Compared to these guys. They are pros.

The Nixon presidency was their model. Only that was executed so poorly we can laugh about it now. Rove and all the rest want to do it "right" this time.

Use the full weight and power of the executive and their corporate sponsors to destroy political enemies, vaporize rights and freedoms, rig elections, control and manipulate the media and public opinion, enrich themselves, lie to create perpetual war, all towards one end: preserve and enhance their own power.

They have had over 30 years to "postmortem" what went wrong in Nixon's attempt at the imperial presidency. We shouldn't be surprised at how completely they have put these ideas into effect. Or how insidious and relentless their efforts have been.

The only thing that surprises me, really, is how, despite all of this, it appears to be unraveling.

Almost enough to give one reason to have faith in America.

:patriot:

Thanks, George!

[antonialee839]

34. Karl is in this up to his eyeballs. I hope

this ratbag finally gets his comeuppance.

[libodem]

35. boy howdy n/t

[grytpype]

36. Rove escaped Plamegate but he won't escape this.

I think we finally have something we can pin on Rove.

A plot to influence District Attorneys to prosecute Democrats, and those that didn't go along got purged.

Wow. There will be some resignations over this. Rove can't survive. Gonzalez can't survive. And it might go all the way up to Bush.

[KoKo]

37. Gonzales has to Go....but getting Rove would be a bonus that's

too much to dream of.

[hootinholler]

38. Don't forget this goes back to Jack Abramoff

The Marianas prosecutor investigating child labor.

-Hoot

[caligirl]

39. Holy Sh*t batman. The connection is amazing. SOP for Rove.

Great connection. I forgot all about that. How many people have forgotten about Abramoff? Its time to bring him back to the spotlight.

[rodeodance]

40. well, -----a silly advisor to Bush is at the wheel.

[rodeodance]

41. NBC eve. news said Pete Damiaci hired a high profile DC lawyer. YUP

[grasswire]

43. keep your eye on deputy AG Paul McNulty

Never forget that his face was all over the Florida recount, too. He's a Bush fixer, transferred from the US attorney seat in the rocket docket in Alexandria, just prior to the firings.

[Peace Patriot]

44. "Has the Bush administration tried to use the federal government's vast law enforcement

powers against its political enemies?"

Is the Pope Catholic? (--as they used to say.)

I haven't the least doubt that these criminals have used "the federal government's vast law enforcement powers," pervasive domestic and foreign spying, blackmail, extortion, threats, bullying, torture, black ops, the NSA, the Pentagon's "Office of Special Plans," the FBI, the CIA, the "war on drugs," military bases, spy apparatuses, diplomatic immunity, and every power available to them, plus all the extralegal powers that they have asserted, to frighten and destroy people, to perpetrate a reign of secret terror, and to cover up many crimes and 'disappear' witnesses, in Washington DC, across the country, and around the world. I'm just surprised that some of it is coming out.

These are bad, bad dudes.

I began to suspect black ops to destroy US politicians when California's Secretary of State Kevin Shelley was taken down. Shelley had sued Diebold, demanded to see their source code, decertified the worst of the their election theft machines, and provided Californians with a paper ballot option, about six months before the 2004 election. He was smelling a rat. And his leadership was inspiring other election officials around the country to look more closely at Diebold/ES&S voting technology. He was then "swiftboated" out of office on entirely bogus corruption charges. It was very weird how it happened. Some of the corrupt county election officials were involved (notably Connie McCormack, head of Los Angeles elections, who has close ties to Diebold). Charges appeared in the war profiteering corporate news monopolies just before the election. Vague charges. Something described as "misuse of HAVA funds." (HAVA--the "Help America Vote for Bush Act" of 2002). Later, it turned out that "misuse of HAVA funds" was Shelley withholding federal money from the counties for the purchase of Diebold's crapass, extremely insider hackable touchscreen voting machines--funds that the crooked election officials needed to seal their million dollar deals with Diebold, ES&S and other Bushite corporations. (McCormack testified that she wanted to "bulldoze the Secretary of State's office" to get that money.) Although no charges were ever filed against Shelley--the charges just evaporated (there was also one about sexual harassment, another about a campaign contributor), Shelley was so harassed by all this--and so penniless (no money for lawyers), that he resigned soon after the 2004 election. Then the state Dem legislature (after helping to get rid of him, or hiding under their desks)--who had 2 to 1 and 3 to 2 majorities--helped Schwarzenegger APPOINT a REPUBLICAN Sec of State, and a DIEBOLD SHILL, to that office. (Shelley had been elected in 2002, pre-Diebold.)

The whole thing stunk to high heaven--and I would not be surprised to find that Rove orchestrated it, or some Rove operative in California--the innuendo type "news" articles planted in the corporate papers; the fake outrage of McCormack and others at not getting "their" money; the Freeper-type lawsuit that the corrupt county officials filed against Shelley (that evaporated, too--thrown out of court); the dark threats from the Bush-appointed federal "Election Assistance Commission" of a federal investigation. Shelley was probably the cleanest politician in the country. An honest man. A man of integrity, trying to protect the rights of voters. And they took him down for nothing--nothing! I suspect they had operatives planted in his campaign and perhaps in his offices--to concoct these fake charges, that could be bandied about in the newspapers, to create the IMPRESSION that he was dirty.

The whole thing was extremely baffling and strange--and very, very ugly. I haven't seen its like in California politics. (Maybe the far right campaign, long ago, against Rose Bird is comparable--the first woman CA Supreme Court Chief Justice, who opposed the death penalty--driven out, also for nothing.) (Freeper frenzy type campaign--John O'Neil type. Rove type.)

And guess what? Shelly was right about the touchscreens and about Diebold, those filthy, rightwing, Bushite bastards who stole the 2004 election, and compromised Congress. (You wonder why it's so hard to get a Congress that truly represents the American people. This is why.)

So, having watched this horrid spectacle, I began to view the Bush Junta as the Mafia, as a crime family (as Mike Malloy says)--a protection racket, a bashing kneecaps operation, a real dirty, secretive, criminal organization, with the powers of the federal government at their fingertips. Think about the Mafia with vast spying powers, with official and probably also privateer operatives destroying good Americans and enforcing obeisance to Bush fascism all over the country. Imagine what they know about people, what they can cook up about people, and the extensive lapdogism of the corporate media, as the promulgator of their hit campaigns.

It is absolutely NO SURPRISE that they would try to purge the honest professionals in the Dept. of Justice, especially considering the mind-boggling corruption of the Republican Party, so ripe (like a truckful of rotten fruit) for investigation. They have assaulted honest professionals in every agency--including the famous one, of outing a CIA agent and an entire WMD counter-proliferation network. And I truly hope that the end is near for this reign of terror. The exposure of DoJ attorney firings is a good sign. Although you really have to wonder, HOW MANY "high crimes and misdemeanors" does it take? You also have to wonder about the Democrats and Diebold. How compromised are they?

[radfringe]

45. again with the "faulty memory"?

Justice Department officials have revealed that Domenici repeatedly contacted officials within the department requesting Iglesias' removal. But when asked Friday whether he contacted Rove about the issue, Domenici said he could not remember.

Top 2 excuses from the Bushies:
We were surprised
I don't remember

The only thing missing in this particular scandal is the Halliburton connection. Anyone care to bet that at least one of the cases the fired A.G.s were working on included Halliburton or one of its subsidiaries/spin-off companies?

[dethl]

46. Is it me or are the Republics a bunch of masochists.....

They seem to enjoy getting their party into deeper and deeper shit every day.

[sellitman]

47. Revenge is a dish best served cold....

Watching these monsters turn on a spit is the main course.

Popcorn? Heck I want Roast Rove!

[Doctor_J]

48. If you think anything will come of this, I have a bridge to sell you

the game's fixed folks. We can't do anything about any of these issues.

[donco]

52. Spoken like a true Cub fan

or wait till next year.}(

[PassingFair]

53. Have a LITTLE hope, OK?

We've only had the house for 2 months....

3 months ago, we didn't even have to power
to hold HEARINGS. The dumb bastards are
waking up. Some of them have to be SHAKEN
awake, but they ARE waking up.

A lot of the problem is in our own party.
Those that want to wait until the house of
cards falls down upon itself totally, and
thereby avoid ANY potential political blow-back.

We need decisive leadership NOW, or the pukes
are going to drive down the center with a Hagel-
type character and take the baton right out of
our hands.....

[Evergreen Emerald]

49. I don't know how many times I've thought, "this is it, this is the one"

And yet lie after lie, illegal act after illegal act, nothing happens. They are free to rape and pillage our democracy.

I used to wait for the tipping point. But there is none. The coup is complete. And that is why they can get away with treason (Plame) and theft (oil) and destruction of our Constitution (WSA) with no consequences.

[indie_voter]

50. I agree with you. n/t

[krispos42]

55. All the US Attorneys should just mass resign in protest

"We cannot perform out job as officers of the courts representing the interests of the citizens of the United States due to extreme and unwarrented political influence by the senior levels of the Bush Administration and resign, effective immediately."

[dEMOK]

56. k & r... n-t

[lovuian]

57. Rove wasn't he involved with the Plame schmear???

Boy he gets around

[bobthedrummer]

59. Crimes have been committed, kick