DoJ Docs: AG Met with Aides before Purge, DoJ Flack Brainstormed on Dismissals

[babylonsister]

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002864.php

DoJ Docs: AG Met with Aides before Purge, DoJ Flack Brainstormed on Dismissals
By Paul Kiel - March 24, 2007, 9:33 AM

So let's start with what the major papers gleaned from the documents dumped at 7:30 last night. Then I'll return to what people found in the comments.

McClatchy hits all the high points, the main one being, of course, that Alberto Gonzales sat in on a meeting about the firings on November 27 to review the firing plan. The firings occurred ten days later. During his "I take full responsibilty but I didn't know anything about it" press conference earlier this month, Gonzales said "I was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on."

The response from a DoJ spokesman is that the meeting doesn't contradict Gonzales: "This meeting concerned the roll-out of the U.S. attorney plan. The information available to us does not indicate that there was discussion at this meeting about which U.S. attorneys should or should not be on the list." Huh. Still seems to me to be a discussion about "what was going on."

There are, of course, other highlights -- an email shows public relations officials from the Justice Department and the White House apparently brainstorming about how to sell the firings to the public.

DoJ's Tasia Scolinos wrote on November 21 to the White House's Catherine Martin, little more than two weeks before the firings: "The one common link here is that three of them are along the southern border so you could make the connection that DOJ is unhappy with the immigration prosecution numbers in those districts."

Other emails between the two show Scolinos optimistic that the purge would go over quietly: "I don't see it as being a national story - especially if it phases in over a few months." Oops.

Her explanation:

Speaking with reporters on Friday evening, Ms. Scolinos said that when she sent that message she had only a fragmentary understanding of the plan to dismiss the prosecutors.

More soon.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. I think that one little email will turn into a MAJOR smoking gun

We now know that there was a concerted effort by the White House and the DOJ to get these particular people into these particular areas for a reason they don't want anyone to know. We know they don't want us to know the real reason because of this email that show them concocting fake reasons out of whole cloth.

So what was the real reason? We also know that most are placed in areas deemed by Karl Rove to be immensely valuable in the next election. I know where I'm headed with this. I think it's about securing and enlarging a corruption of the election process, with the added side benefit of being able to derail Republican corruption investigations while at the same time prosecuting inconvenient Democrats.

( side note -I still want to know why the IRS was collecting political party affiliations of citizens. I think this deserves it's own hearing about who started it, who wanted it, and what use was it going to be put to?)

[babylonsister]

3. Can you imagine if this is all tied into election fraud in the end? And

did you see this thread?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x491130

[C_U_L8R]

2. flubbed talking points

it's hilarious watching all the rightwing hacks & flaks flounder in a carcrash of talking points...
"the USAs were incompetent.. no it's immigration, no it's voter fraud, no we just wanted to give other people a chance, blah blah blah"
it's really freaking transparent who gets their orders from the White House and it is totally hilarious.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. Will these crony, self-described "Bushie" US Attorneys face a confirmation

hearing now, since that provision was repealed?

I'm particularly interested in the guy who "caged" minority voters. Calling Greg Palast.