Salon: Documents: White House vetted testimony on attorneys before hearings on USA's 3/5

[maddezmom]

Documents: White House vetted testimony on attorneys
George W. Bush said last week that he's troubled that "both Republicans and Democrats" believe they got something other than "straightforward communication" about the reasons for firing eight U.S. attorneys last year. What the president didn't say: The White House played a role in determining what at least one Justice Department witness would tell Congress.

Documents released by the Justice Department Monday night include e-mail communications regarding a meeting Deputy White House Counsel William Kelley called for March 5, 2007, the day before Principal Deputy Attorney General William Moschella was to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on the U.S. Attorney scandal. The purpose of the meeting: "To go over the Administration's position on all aspects of the US Atty issue and why the US Attys were asked to resign."

Kelley said the meeting would involve, among others, Justice Department officials Kyle Sampson, Paul McNulty and Moschella as well as "some folks here" -- "here" meaning, presumably, the White House or at least the White House counsel's office. In a follow-up e-mail, Sampson said that the White House would want to cover "how we are going to respond substantively to each of the U.S. Attorney's allegations that they were dismissed for improper reasons."

The documents show that, later in the evening on March 5, Sampson forward to Kelley-- which is to say, the Justice Department forwarded to the White House counsel's office -- a draft of the opening statement Moschella would deliver the next morning. In response, Christopher Oprison, a lawyer in the White House counsel's office, said he was "gathering comments," then sent back a "redlined version with suggested edits" at about 9:30 p.m.

It's not clear whose comments Oprison had collected, but the "cc" list on his e-mail back to Justice may provide some clues. It includes Kelley and White House Counsel Fred Fielding as well as Associate White House Counsel Michael Scudder and Landon Gibbs, who appears to be a staff assistant in the White House counsel's office.

more:http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2007/03/19/documents/index.html?source=rss

previous link from the War Room:

Can anyone tell the truth?
Two more congressional Republicans have now called for the resignation of Alberto Gonzales, and Chuck Schumer says he has learned that the White House is having an "active and avid discussion" about whether the attorney general will have to go.

The problem for the White House: Gonzales isn't the only problem.

As we learn more about the process that led to the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year, it has become increasingly clear that a whole host of Bush administration officials -- some at the Justice Department, some at the White House -- have seriously misrepresented what actually happened.

Some, like principal Deputy Attorney General William Moschella, have done it under oath. At a March 6 hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers asked Moschella: "Was anyone at the White House consulted, or did they offer any input in compiling the list of U.S. attorneys to be terminated -- to the best of your knowledge?" Moschella's response: "The list was compiled at the Department of Justice." Conyers: "But was the White House consulted?" Moschella: "Well, eventually, because these are political appointees ... we would -- which is unremarkable -- send the list to the White House and let them know." Later in the same hearing, Rep. Hank Johnson asked Moschella if it was possible that there had been other conversations about which he might not know. His response: "Well, Congressman, in preparation for this hearing, I did, I think, the appropriate amount of due diligence to collect the facts, and so while anything is possible, I believe I know."

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2007/03/15/firings/index.html

[izzybeans]

1. This is the problem with government or any non-profit "run like a business"

The priniciples monopolize communication channels to save their assess (a.k.a protect their interests). It's the corporate model and not unique to these fools. Fools are everywhere. Just like criminals before the trial they "get their stories straight" and out the snitches.

[bobthedrummer]

2. kick