Prosecutor purge reaches crisis mode for White House

[babylonsister]

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/10187.html#more-10187

Prosecutor purge reaches crisis mode for White House


The prosecutor purge scandal is now cooking with gas. There’s no way around it: these guys are busted. Given what we’ve learned this morning, the house of cards Whiet House and Justice Department officials built is crumbling.

The White House was deeply involved in the decision late last year to dismiss federal prosecutors, including some who had been criticized by Republican lawmakers, administration officials said Monday.

Last October, President Bush spoke with Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to pass along concerns by Republicans that some prosecutors were not aggressively addressing voter fraud, the White House said Monday. Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, was among the politicians who complained directly to the president, according to an administration official.

Up until now, administration officials had said, repeatedly, that the White House had a tangential connection to the purged prosecutors, having “signed off” on a Justice Department list that was based solely on “job performance” issues. Every rationalization was bogus — officials have been lying, blatantly, in some instances under oath.

Indeed, as far as the White House was concerned, there was talk of firing all the federal prosecutors.

The White House suggested two years ago that the Justice Department fire all 93 U.S. attorneys, a proposal that eventually resulted in the dismissals of eight prosecutors last year, according to e-mails and internal documents that the administration will provide to Congress today.

The dismissals took place after President Bush told Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales in October that he had received complaints that some prosecutors had not energetically pursued voter-fraud investigations, according to a White House spokeswoman.

Just to clarify, White House concerns about the prosecutors failing to purse voter fraud enough are referring, of course, to prosecuting Democrats. Several of the purged U.S. Attorneys were definitely “energetically pursuing” voter-fraud investigations, but because the targets were often Republicans, the White House was displeased.

The resignations have already begun.

more...

[maddezmom]

1. Miers, Battle and Sampson already gone

who will be next? :shrug:

[maddezmom]

4. how about Elston, chief of staff to McNulty?

WP: Justice Official 'Horrified' Phone Call Was Seen as Threat (Elston)

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 12, 2007; Page A03

Until last Tuesday, Michael J. Elston was the happily anonymous chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty.

But then a former U.S. attorney told Congress that Elston had warned him and other fired prosecutors to stay quiet or risk retaliation from the Justice Department.

The testimony from former U.S. attorney Bud Cummins of Little Rock was one of a string of damning accounts to emerge from the firings of eight federal prosecutors. The firings have prompted outrage in Congress and moves to limit the attorney general's power to appoint replacements.

Elston said in an interview that he is "horrified" by the accusation, portraying it as an unfortunate misunderstanding fueled by rising tensions over the firings.

"By no means did I have any message in mind," Elston said. "I think he misinterpreted what I was saying, and I'm very sorry that occurred."

more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2763890&mesg_id=2763890

[Desert Liberal]

8. WaPo link says

We are unable to locate the page you requested.
The page may have moved or may no longer be available


as of 8:48 a.m.

[maddezmom]

13. Sorry about that, the DU link takes you to it but doesn't copy and paste

but here you go :hi:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/11/AR2007031101042.html

[Desert Liberal]

14. Thanks very much!

[Divernan]

2. Bigger than Watergate, & Domenici sent over MORE names after he got Iglesias fired

* Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) better have a damn good lawyer.
On the day of the Dec. 7 firings, Miers’s deputy, William Kelley, wrote that Domenici’s chief of staff “is happy as a clam” about Iglesias. A week later, Sampson wrote: “Domenici is going to send over names tomorrow (not even waiting for Iglesias’s body to cool).”

* Rove was directly involved with replacing Bud Cummins with one of his acolytes. The e-mails show that Rove was interested in the appointment of a former aide, Tim Griffin, as an Arkansas prosecutor. Sampson wrote in one that “getting him appointed was important to Harriet, Karl, etc.”

* Bush officials lied to Congress, which the last time I checked, was illegal. Administration officials say they are braced for a new round of criticism today from lawmakers who may feel misled by recent testimony from Gonzales, Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty and William E. Moschella, principal associate deputy attorney general.

Josh Marshall summarizes:

As has happened so many times in the last six years, the maximal version of this story — which seemed logical six weeks ago but which I couldn’t get myself to believe — turns out to be true. Indeed, it’s worse. We now know that Gonzales, McNulty and Moschella each lied to Congress. We know that the purge was a plan that began at the White House — and it was overseen by two of President Bush’s closest lieutenants in Washington — Miers and Gonzales.

Watergate was a third-rate burglary. This has just as much potential.

[babylonsister]

3. I just wonder what dimson will do when he no longer has anyone

to 'consult' with. And who in their right mind would want to work there, for him, now anyway?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. How many MORE people are going to "fall on their swords" for Bush & Cheney

When will there be nobody BUT Bush & Cheney left for us to hold accountable? They have been too well protected for too long even though they have unmistakably right in the middle of EVERYTHING (negative) that has transpired over for the past 6 years.

[Divernan]

7. Republicans who know where the bodies are buried never REALLY fall on their swords.

Their resignations are just Kabuki theatre dramas - transitioning from their paltry-paying political appointments to lucrative packages of Board of Director appointments (6 figures annually), and similarly high paying partnerships in GOP/neocon law/lobbying firms. Did you know they get "signing bonuses" to go with these firms? Fuckover the Constitution & quadruple your income! What A Deal! It's the GOP way.

The chilling thing about some of these sacrificial snakes is that they are so young that they may return to inflict further damage on our country, as have Cheney, Rumsfeld, Perle, et al.

The rats deserting Justice are high level enough to know the dirty details of Bush's involvement in decisions re Guantanamo torture deaths, the black ops rendition flights, etc.

[sutz12]

5. "lawmakers who may feel misled"

You think? :shrug:

[cascadiance]

12. Do we think we might be able to force Domenici to resign?...

If then perhaps Bill Richardson can nominate a replacement that can get rid of the "Lieberman factor" and not force us to play his game as much!

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Here's a crazy idea:

The next time a candidate for the U.S. President turns up at a debate and admits he doesn't know shit about foreign policy, don't vote for the son of a bitch even if he promises to surround himself with experienced individuals. I mean, HOW THE FUCK WORSE CAN THIS GET? There are three kinds of people in the White House: Those that wanted to rule the world, those that wanted to give the first group the means to rule the world, and the third group were those who were willing to wipe the backsides of future royalty.

I say we ban all Republicans from office for thirty years while we clean up this mess!

[babylonsister]

10. I second your ban!!!

:D

[cascadiance]

11. Was this Rove's "October surprise" that never *seemed* to happen at the time?!