JUST RELEASED - Justice Department Documents - PROVE WHITE HOUSE INVOLVEMENT

[kpete]

Documents prove White House involvement in U.S. attorney firings

Documents that were turned over to Congress today prove that top Bush Administration staffers were intimately involved in the firings of eight former U.S. attorneys including David Iglesias of New Mexico, disproving the Justice Department’s prior assertion that the White House played almost no role.

The White House has also revealed that President George W. Bush personally relayed concerns that had been shared with him about a number of U.S. attorneys to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales weeks before the firings. Among those who complained to Bush was U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

Statements made Monday evening by the White House in conjunction with the release of records are the latest in a series of admissions the Bush Administration has made only after the media or others alleged that prior statements weren’t accurate. That failure to be up-front about information has increased suspicion that the firings were political and has caused the scandal to explode.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/13/13636/5650

3/13/2007 - Documents Regarding DOJ Firings, Part 1

http://judiciary.house.gov/media/pdfs/DOJdocsPt2070313.pdf

3/13/2007 - Documents Regarding DOJ Firings, Part II

http://judiciary.house.gov/media/pdfs/DOJdocsPt1070313.pdf

http://judiciary.house.gov/Text

Doc Lists Attorneys "in The Process of Being Pushed Out"

By Paul Kiel - March 13, 2007, 1:07 PM

See it for yourself, the September 13, 2006 email from Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, to Justice Department liaison to White House counsel Harriet Miers.


"I am only in favor of executing on a plan to push some USAs out if we really are ready and willing to put in the time necessary to select candidates and get them appointed -- It will be counterproductive to DOJ operations if we push USAs out and then don't have replacements ready to roll immediately. In addition, I strongly recommend that as a matter of administration, we utilize the new statutory provisions that authorize the AG to make USA appointments.... we can give far less deference to home state senators and thereby get 1.) our preferred person appointed and 2.) do it far faster and more efficiently at less political costs to the White House."

Sampson added, intrigiuingly, that he had "one follow up item I would want to do over the phone."

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002742.php

[helderheid]

1. speaking of red hot!

You're on FIRE!!

[Dinger]

3. Quick, Get The Fire Hose!

[Jack Rabbit]

4. As Paul Hogan might say . . .

. . . "Put another chimp on the barbie."

[corkhead]

2. Dems just have to stand back and watch the Republick Calliope crash to the ground

:party:

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

5. Public, provable and impeachable.

nm

[longship]

14. You're *impeaching* to the choir. ;-)

:evilgrin:

[BuyingThyme]

6. You're preaching to the choir.

Unfortunately.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

47. Wrong-o...

Doing nothing means that their spinmeisters will blanket the liberal media with obfuscation and lies. And they'll walk away unscathed.

Now is the time for the Democrats in Congress to become "conspicuous consumers" of their subpoena rights.

Bury them.

Six feet under.

Drive a stake through the black hearts.

[goclark]

7. Please Gonzo `get the hell OUT! nt

[The Cleaner]

8. Damn - it's been some day...some jaw droppin' day...

:wow:

Keep the fun coming!

Edit to add: Didn't some a-hole media figure say recently, "This has basically been a scandal-free administration?" LOL! This makes what, the upteenth scandal in the Bush admin.

[Jackpine Radical]

32. I think it was David Gargle...uh, Gergen

on Lehrer who said that.

God, I didn't see the show but I know that. Wotta fucken world, eh?

[Raksha]

41. Are you sure you don't mean David Gargoyle? n/t

[Little Wing]

9. Ahh, and he wanted to make old Harriet there a Supreme Court Justice

Nice try, Shrub

[Blackhatjack]

10. Where is Ann Coulter when they need her to suck the oxygen out of the press?? n/t

[Blackhatjack]

11. Given the document dump, Gonzales is likely to resign at 2 pm or wait weeks later to do it...

There is no way he would hang around to be questioned about these documents if he was going to resign anytime soon.

I think his resignation is a done deal --and Rove has already wrote his speech.

[doublethink]

12. .......

bold = Recommending retain strong US Attorneys who have produced, managed well and exhibited loyalty to the President and the Attorney General.
stikeout = Recommend removing weak US Attorneys who have been ineffectual managers and prosecutors chafed against Administration initiatives etc. -snip-

page 3 ....

http://judiciary.house.gov/media/pdfs/DOJdocsPt1070313.pdf

I don't know, sounds pretty political to me. :) K&R.

[donkeyotay]

13. I knew that the word "loyalty" would come up when I read this

The White House has also revealed that President George W. Bush personally relayed concerns that had been shared with him about a number of U.S. attorneys to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales weeks before the firings. Among those who complained to Bush was U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

That's the only thing the thug-in-chief cares about: loyalty to his cabal.

Impeach Gonzo and his boss.

[doublethink]

23. And from the same pdf file .....

"Domenicis COS (chief of staff) is happy as a clam and will get us names forthwith". -snip-

next to last page ..... (37)
http://judiciary.house.gov/media/pdfs/DOJdocsPt2070313.pdf

Anyone paying attention could connect these dots easily huh? Geesh ......
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/03/domenicis_nono.html?nav=rss_blog

Peace.

[bdamomma]

37. bush's a$$ should be in a sling, when is enough enough

they have no morals and are shameless. Aren't those ropes getting tighter???

[RiverStone]

15. Other then firing/removing Atty. Gen. Gonzales - could this scandal go higher up?

It is always a good thing when rethug good-ol-boy crap hits the fan for public viewing.

Could ProsecutorGate climb up the ladder to the Executive Branch? I have not had time to read the fine print on this story.

[donkeyotay]

16. I still want to know who "slipped in" the part about not needing confirmation

The traffic's too heavy to get into the site to read the documents, but obviously they had a plan, so someone slipped the legislation in in preparation for the plan being carried out. I want to know who. Was it an elected legislator, or someone from the WH?

[Jackpine Radical]

33. Arlan Spectre.

The Senate Spook. Who else?

[volstork]

17. WOW!

This is getting GOOD!
don't forget the Raisinettes!

:popcorn:

[hardcore]

18. It's too close to '08

for this. If we make a big stink then we paint our next president into a corner on US Attorneys. Remember that Bill Clinton fired all but one all on the same day as soon as he came into office and Hillary will want to do the same thing if she's half as smart as I think. This is nothing compared to the firestorm another mass firing would bring especially if we've made a big deal about it.

[sabra]

19. huh?

[verse18]

20. I think our friend got the "Clinton did it too" memo.

The trolls have been out pushing this theme all day.

Not that I'm calling hardcore a troll, I'm just saying.

[Jackpine Radical]

34. There's that funny little "Alert" button

under your avatar. I just clicked on mine, for the helluvit.

[Raksha]

42. That sounds like so much fun...I just did it too!

Just for the hell of it, of course.

[TheLeftyMom]

48. The troll does have a bit of a point

Sadly, it seems that no matter what the dems do, it gets used against us later. Somehow, the pukes will make it difficult for an incoming president to do so -- no matter what decades of precedent says.

[NewJeffCT]

21. Umm, presidents typically fire all the US attorneys when they assume office

I'm sure Reagan did it, too.

It's unprecendented that 8 USAs were fired 6 years into his presidency for clearly partisan political purposes.

[blossomstar]

36. Bingo, that's what makes this different than Clinton.

It was retribution pure and simple.

[mtnHov]

49. "firing" is incorrect...usually their four year terms expire then anyway.

[WiseButAngrySara]

22. oh please. have you no decency? ... n/t

[doublethink]

25. Go here and learn something .....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3159804 Peace.

[senseandsensibility]

27. What?

Yah, okay.

[Kerrytravelers]

43. I find myself saying that quite often after reading...

... well, you know what I mean... I am smelling some yummy pizza in the oven. What tooping would you like?

[senseandsensibility]

52. LOL

There's only one brand I can think of at this moment.:)

[sendero]

35. Change your name to..

... tardcore, because you fucking don't get it.

[MsMagnificent]

50. From what I understand of this mess

U.S. attorneys are appointed by whatever incoming president for a term of 4 years. After that their term is up, which means they do not have to be fired. It is completely within the next incumbent president's right to choose what attorneys s/he wants for the duration of his/her presidency; which includes keeping any already appointed attorney's from the last administration if they so wish (as you mention, Clinton kept at least one from Bush I). The problem with chimpy's midterm terminations is the political bias --the loyalty to the president and the party factor-- towards a good U.S. attorney adequately doing their job without partisanship. This is being compared to Nixon's 'Saturday Night Massacre' of Archibald Cox.

After a new president is installed, the previous U.S. attorneys are not 'fired' -- their term is up. This has always been done, there is no corner to paint ourselves into.


These back-and-forth 'Troll' accusations, especially when the mechanics of this scandal are so little understood by so many, is highly unbecoming to D.U. posters.

[Kingofalldems]

53. What do you mean by "we"?

Nice one.

[doublethink]

24. And on page 20 ..... the first link ....

"The list is expanded: still waiting on the green light from the White House (though we would not launch until after 12/7 anyway)" -snip-

http://judiciary.house.gov/media/pdfs/DOJdocsPt2070313.pdf

That was from Sampson Kyle ..... the guy who resigned .... to funny, in one sentence he more than implicated the White House, and since Gonzo said he knew nothing of this mess today (yea right) ..... well then just who was Mr. Kyle referring to here? :think: These guys are so full of hot air, must be embarrassing to be them. Peace.

[Major Hogwash]

26. They may have to impeach Gonzales, he said he won't resign over this issue.

Can't Congress impeach an Attorney General who selectively enforces the law and uses his position for political reasons?

[flaliberal]

28. Someone pass the Milk Duds!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[flaliberal]

29. So these documents were released before AG's press conference?

Do we know if he knew about them yet?
If so, he's got big ones.

[Patsy Stone]

30. Scott's address is "@gwb43.com"

Is that some cute little internal WH espionage domain address?

[Rex]

31. Shit, meet fan.

nt

[lovuian]

38. Dominici was being investigated is this obstructive justice

Abuse of power

[porphyrian]

39. I'll kick that. - n/t

[Spazito]

40. These e-mails are a treasure trove showing WH involvement

For example, here is one:

"From: Goodling, Monica
Sent: Friday, August 18, 2006 12:09 PM
To: Sampson, Kyle
Subject: Re: Conf Call, re: Tim Griffin

Fyi - to catch you up on the latest here (unless something else has happened this week), scott and I spoke last thurs or fri and this is what's going on...

We have a senator problem, so while wh is intent on nominating, scott thinks we may have a confirmation issue. Also, WH has a personnel issue as tim returns to the states this week and is still on the WH payroll. The possible solution I suggested to to scott was that we (DOJ) pick him up as a political, examine the BI completed in May pursuant to his WH post, and then install him as an interim. That resolves both the WH personnel issue and gets him into the office he and the WH wants him in. I asked Elston to feel out the DAG on bringing tim into one of the vacant ADAG spots there, just for a short time until we install him in Arkansas. The DAG wanted to look at his resume and I sent it him before I left. Was going to run this plan by you once I knew the DAG was onboard. If not, I suppose we can look at CRIM, but knowing Tim, my guess is he would prefer something else given that he was in CRIM in 2001. (Tim knows nothing about my idea for a solution at this point - wanted your signoff, and a home for him, before I called him.)


From: Sampson, Kyle
Sent: Friday, August 18, 2006 5.15 PM
To: Goodling, Monica
Subject: RE: Conf call, re Tim Griffin

I agree, but don't think it really should matter where we park him here, as AG will appoint him forthwith to be USA (Is Cummins gone?)"





Tim Griffin was Karl Rove's personal pick but, he backed out when the crap began to hit the fan re the firings of the US attorneys.


Edited to add this tidbit about Tim Griffin, from an article also included in the documents:

The Final Days
Arkansas Time Staff
Updated: 8/24/06

snip

More newsy, perhaps, is who Cummin's successor might be. Informed sources say one possibility for a WH nomination is Tim Griffin, an Arkansas native who has worked in top jobs in both the Republican National Committee and the White House on hard-charging political opposition research.

Though Griffin, currently finishing a military obligation, spent one year in Little Rock as an assistant U.S. attorney, his political work would likely get more attention - and Democratic oppostion - in the Senate confirmation process. He'd likely have to endure some questioning about his role in massive Republican projects in Florida and elsewhere by which Republicans challenged tens of thousands of absentee votes. Coincidentally, many of those challenged votes were concentrated in black precincts.

End of snip

[omega minimo]

44. So. What's yer point. ?

:yourock:

[opihimoimoi]

45. Alberto will soon be Gonso

[DemReadingDU]

46. morning kick

[mvd]

51. I wish I could still recommend this

More evidence of the fascist tendencies of this White House. No, the Dixie Chicks aren't in jail, and we can type these messages, but what Bush has is just a gentler form of fascism. Just as long as he and the neo-cons control policy, we can squeal all we want.