Federal Prosecutor Is Making Inquiries in the Investigation of the Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys

[kpete]

Source: Washington Post

Federal Prosecutor Is Making Inquiries in the Investigation of the Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys

By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 3, 2008; Page A15

A prosecutor who is investigating the dismissals of nine U.S. attorneys has been meeting with defense lawyers, dispatching subpoenas and seeking information about the events, according to legal sources familiar with the case.

Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey appointed prosecutor Nora R. Dannehy two months ago, after the department's Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility reported that they had hit a roadblock in their lengthy probe into whether political interference prompted the dismissals. Internal investigators said they had been stymied by the refusal of key witnesses, including former presidential adviser Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers, to cooperate.

By naming a federal prosecutor to determine whether crimes have been committed, the attorney general ensured that authorities would have the power to compel testimony and documents. Dannehy, a longtime assistant U.S. attorney in Connecticut, in recent weeks has met with lawyers and government officials involved in the case. A grand jury in the District has issued subpoenas, the sources said.

The requests for documents could provoke another legal skirmish in a fight over the scope of executive power wielded by the Bush administration. In past cases, White House lawyers have asserted executive privilege in refusing to make available witnesses and information to Congress and interest groups. A lawsuit filed by the House, which also is demanding information about the prosecutor firings, is under consideration by an appeals court.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/02/AR2008120203292.html?nav=rss_politics

[Ilsa]

1. And Bushco promoted itself as the admin for accountability. What a freaking joke.

Too bad the south Texas indictment against Cheney and Gonzo was dismissed. I pray this investigation gets them all, once and for all, for attempting to turn the Justice Dept. into a branch of the RNC.

[Frustratedlady]

2. What is going to happen if, at the very end of his stay in the WH, Bush

locks up the documents, we'd all like to peruse, and seals them for, say...100 years? Can they be unsealed?

I will still be amazed if they actually give up control. Something nagging at the back of my mind. Mistrust, maybe?

[Peace Patriot]

3. Deeply suspicious here. Is this a rush to indict, before Bush it out and can pardon them?

I'm unclear on whether Bush can just pardon everybody on his "favorites" list for any crime whatsoever they may have committed, or can only pardon someone who has been indicted on specific charges and faces prosecution?

Any legal scholars here?

I believe Ford pardoned Nixon for anything and everything. But that was an emperor...er, president. Can't have our "royalty" being dragged into court like a common criminal, can we? What of lesser beings? Like Rove? Can Bush just say, "whatever you may have done, fine, you get the royal touch, you are free of prosecution forever"?

U.S. "justice" is making me sick to my stomach. I'm going to another thread. When I can stomach it, I will return, to see if anyone can answer this question.

[Piewhacket]

7. legal scholars appear to be saying...

That the full scope of the presidential pardon power has yet to be tested.

The us constitution (article 2, section 2) says:
"The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment."

Scooter was given a "Reprieve".
Whether he can issue blanket pardons, or pardon himself, or pardon a criminal enterprise etc. is not fully decided, and
the pardon power may be further extended by act of congress.

Here's some reading for fun :
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1865/civil-war-pardons.htm
http://www.drbilllong.com/LegalEssays/Pardons.html

[Baby Snooks]

8. Good question...

Ford gave Nixon a blanket pardon but Nixon also was facing impeachment and possibly conviction when he resigned. I am not an attorney, nor a legal scholar, but if memory serves me, if someone in government is currently under investigation, criminal or otherwise, or is connected to a matter currently under investigation or likely to be investigated, the president can issue a blanket pardon with regard to their "governmental service." What that meant in Nixon's case was he could not be indicted for anything that occurred while he was in office.

The Justice Department is supposedly independent of both Congress and the White House. In recent years that line separating the Justice Department from Congress and the White House has obviously been blurred. The concern here is whether this is a real investigation or merely an investigation to "whitewash" the White House before Bush leaves office.

Once the Justice Department closes an investigation, that is the end of it. And this is an Attorney General who has already said that one can violate the law without committing a crime.

Reality is it is going to take a long time to "uncorrupt" the Justice Department. Not only in Washington but around the country. Loyalties run deep in the US Attorney's offices and replacing one with another is no guarantee that the corruption has come to an end.

We are a nation of sacred cows. Most of them Republicans. But not all.

If a Republican is indicted, it is only because of immense pressure and incredible evidence and because he or she is not connected to other Republicans in the matter they are being indicted for.

If a Democrat is not indicted, it is because of politics and little evidence and because he or she is not connected to Republicans in the matter they are being indicted for.

That pretty much sums up the standards by which the Justice Department seeks indictments of our public officials.

[Lochloosa]

11. Nixon was never indicted.

[stillcool]

4. ACORN is involved in this too...

and the Obama Campaign legal advisor sent a letter to the Justice Department a while back, asking the Special Prosecutor to include the recent attack on ACORN as part of this investigation. I wonder if they ever got a reply back.

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/17/obama-counsel-to-muaksey-sic-your-special-prosecutor-on-the-republicans/
Obama Counsel to Mukasey: Sic Your Special Prosecutor on the Republicans

The Obama campaign general counsel, Bob Bauer, has demanded that Michael Mukasey expand the scope of Special Prosecutor Nora Dannehy's investigation to include Republican claims of voter fraud in this election.

As a reminder, Dannehy was appointed to investigate the US Attorney firings. Arguing that Republicans' bogus claims of "vote fraud" are the same kind of misconduct as firing a bunch of US Attorneys in 2006 was, Bauer says Dannehy should include current Republican activities in her investigation.

The Dannehy investigation concerns, most fundamentally, abuse of the law enforcement process to advance, in the name of combating "voting fraud", a partisan political agenda. The appointment of a Special Prosecutor was required because the Department's leadership was the focus of the investigation and unable to credibly undertake an independent, professional and credible inquiry.

Now, on the emerging evidence of recent conduct undertaken by Bush Administration officials, Republican party officials, and representatives of the McCain-Palin campaign, it appears that further misconduct of the same nature, directly relevant to the work of the Special Prosecutor, requires that the scope of the Special Prosecutor's assignment be expanded.

Accordingly, I request that Special Prosecutor Dannehy's inquiry incldue a review of any involvement by Justice Department and White House officials in supporting the McCain-Palin campaign and the Republican National Committee ("RNC")'s systematic development and dissemination of unsupported, spurious allegations of vote fraud. It is highly likely that the very sort of politically motivated conduct identified in the Department's investigation to date, necessitating the appointment of a Special Prosecutor, is repeating itself, and for the same reason: unwarranted and politically motivated intervention in the upcoming election.

[maddezmom]

5. TPM: Prosecutor On US Attorneys Case Seems To Be Going All Out

`SNIP`

The Post says Dannehy "has been meeting with defense lawyers, dispatching subpoenas and seeking information about the events, according to legal sources familiar with the case."

It adds: "A grand jury in the District has issued subpoenas, the sources said."

And there's another interesting nugget:


D. Kyle Sampson, who served as the chief of staff to Gonzales until his March 2007 resignation, recently took a leave from his job as a partner at the law firm Hunton & Williams while the investigation proceeds. A spokeswoman for the law firm said he is on leave "pending admission to the D.C. bar."

DOJ's Inspector General report, released in late September, found that Sampson's testimony was "not credible" and "unpersuasive."

more:http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/prosecutor_on_us_attorneys_cas.php

[Wizard777]

6. Not really. They have yet to use the two words that can overcome Executive Privilege.

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION.

[Baby Snooks]

9. All they investigate...

All investigations by the Justice Department are criminal investigations. They become civil cases when the guilty party is 1) well-connected and 2) willing to not admit guilt but pay a fine.

Think BP. And think Marc Rich.

[Wizard777]

12. True. But when people like Rove say executive Privilege. The response needs to be criminal -

investigation. Executive privilege no longer applies.

[rhett o rick]

10. Two other words would help: IM PEACH! NM