Political Termination of U.S. Prosecutors
- Thread starter QueEx
- Start date
Re: Atty General Gonzales Should Resign
<font size="5"><center>Rove subpoenaed to testify in Congress probe</font size></center>
Karl Rove is pictured at the end of a roundtable
meeting on financial literacy chaired by U.S.
President George W. Bush (not pictured) in the
Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington
April 25, 2007. Rove, who had been one of
President George W. Bush's top aides, was
subpoenaed on Thursday to testify before a
congressional panel investigating the
administration's firing of nine federal
prosecutors. REUTERS/Jason Reed
Thu May 22, 2008 3:13pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Karl Rove, who had been one of President George W. Bush's top aides, was subpoenaed on Thursday to testify before a congressional panel investigating the administration's firing of nine federal prosecutors.
House of Representatives Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers issued the subpoena after months of failed efforts to get Rove to voluntarily testify under oath.
The Judiciary Committee, like its Senate counterpart, has been investigating for more than a year the administration's dismissal of nine of the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys in 2006.
Despite White House claims to the contrary, critics charge the firings were politically motivated, perhaps in retaliation for the targeted prosecutors being too soft on Democratic lawmakers or too tough on Republican ones.
A Judiciary subcommittee authorized a subpoena of Rove in March. The one issued to Rove requires him to appear before the panel on July 10.
(Editing by Patricia Zengerle)
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN2250668820080522
<font size="5"><center>Rove subpoenaed to testify in Congress probe</font size></center>
Karl Rove is pictured at the end of a roundtable
meeting on financial literacy chaired by U.S.
President George W. Bush (not pictured) in the
Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington
April 25, 2007. Rove, who had been one of
President George W. Bush's top aides, was
subpoenaed on Thursday to testify before a
congressional panel investigating the
administration's firing of nine federal
prosecutors. REUTERS/Jason Reed
Thu May 22, 2008 3:13pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Karl Rove, who had been one of President George W. Bush's top aides, was subpoenaed on Thursday to testify before a congressional panel investigating the administration's firing of nine federal prosecutors.
House of Representatives Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers issued the subpoena after months of failed efforts to get Rove to voluntarily testify under oath.
The Judiciary Committee, like its Senate counterpart, has been investigating for more than a year the administration's dismissal of nine of the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys in 2006.
Despite White House claims to the contrary, critics charge the firings were politically motivated, perhaps in retaliation for the targeted prosecutors being too soft on Democratic lawmakers or too tough on Republican ones.
A Judiciary subcommittee authorized a subpoena of Rove in March. The one issued to Rove requires him to appear before the panel on July 10.
(Editing by Patricia Zengerle)
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN2250668820080522
Re: Atty General Gonzales Should Resign
<font size="5"><center>Prosecutor to probe role of politics
in attorney firings</font size></center>
McClatchy Newspapers
By Marisa Taylor and Greg Gordon
Monday, September 29, 2008
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Michael Mukasey agreed Monday to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other officials involved in the firings of nine U.S. attorneys broke the law.
The move comes at the request of Justice Department's Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility, who in a report released Monday detailed "substantial evidence" that partisan politics played a role in several of the ousters.
Gonzales "abdicated his responsibility to safeguard the integrity and independence of the department," said a statement from Inspector General Glenn Fine's office.
Mukasey appointed acting veteran federal prosecutor and acting Connecticut U.S. attorney Nora Dannehy to oversee the inquiry, virtually guaranteeing that the 18-month investigation will continue into the next administration.
Several of the prosecutors who were fired said they were pleased that the investigation would continue despite resistance from some administration officials.
"This report corroborates what my colleagues and I have been saying for the last 18 months: that the basis for our removal was improper, wrongful and now possibly criminal," said David Iglesias, the ousted U.S. attorney in New Mexico.
Fine and H. Marshall Jarrett, the head of the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility found the removal of Iglesias to be the most "troubling" example of the Department inappropriately weighing political considerations.
In their 358-page report, Fine and Jarrett concluded that White House officials were more involved in the firings than the administration initially admitted. However, their report said that investigators were impeded from resolving questions about the White House's actions because several former and current Bush aides, including former presidential political adviser Karl Rove, refused to cooperate with his investigation.
Their report recommended that Mukasey appoint a prosecutor who'd have the authority to demand more evidence from officials and determine whether lawmakers or former or current administration officials lied to Congress or obstructed justice.
George J. Terwilliger III, the lawyer representing Gonzales, asserted that the report "makes clear" that Gonzales did nothing wrong.
"It seems rather odd, then, that rather than bring the investigation to a close, the Department would escalate the matter to the attention of a prosecutor," he said.
However, Mukasey, who took the helm of the Justice Department after Gonzales resigned a year ago amid the controversy, acknowledged that key questions remain unanswered.
"The report makes plain that, at a minimum, the process by which nine U.S. attorneys were removed in 2006 was haphazard, arbitrary and unprofessional, and the way in which the Justice Department handled those removals and the resulting public controversy was profoundly lacking," Mukasey said.
The controversy was sparked by the 2006 firings of nine U.S. attorneys and a little-noticed change in the Patriot Act that allowed the Justice Department to install replacements without seeking congressional approval.
Congressional Democrats launched an investigation into the firings after they grew suspicious that the prosecutors had been ousted because several had either investigated voter fraud allegations or politicians on corruption charges.
Monday, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the report's findings "disturbing" and assailed the White House for "stonewalling" the inspector general, as it has defied congressional subpoenas.
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate committee, praised Mukasey for appointing a prosecutor to investigate. "Wherever the facts lead," he said, "it warrants further investigation."
Initially, the Justice Department denied that any of the firings was politically motivated. Then-Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty testified before Congress that all of the prosecutors were fired for "performance reasons," except for Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins, whom he said was ousted to make way for Rove protege Tim Griffin. McClatchy, however, later revealed that most of the prosecutors had received positive performance reviews.
But Iglesias contended he'd been pressured by New Mexico Republicans Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson to speed up an indictment against local Democrats before the 2006 congressional election. While both lawmakers acknowledged calling Iglesias to ask about the case, they've denied pressuring him improperly.
Justice Department investigators found evidence to conclude that Iglesias was fired because Domenici and other Republican Party activists complained to the White House about his handling of the corruption case and separate voter fraud allegations.
In a statement Monday, Domenici's lawyer, K. Lee Blalack, said the report provided "no credible basis" to conclude that the senator interfered with or obstructed Iglesias' investigations.
Former Gonzales aide Kyle Sampson had drafted a letter saying that the department had no knowledge of Rove's role in the firings, but after a report by McClatchy, the White House acknowledged that Rove served as a conduit for complaints to the Justice Department about federal prosecutors not being aggressive enough in pursuing allegations of Democratic election fraud.
Monday's report reveals that Rove was aware that Iglesias was going to be fired even before the Justice Department sent its final firing list to the White House.
The investigators also pointed to the firing of Todd Graves, the former U.S. Attorney in Kansas City, Mo., as potentially motivated by partisan politics. The report concludes that Graves was likely singled out because of pressure from the office of Republican Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, who was feuding with Graves' brother, a Republican congressman in Missouri.
"It also appears that no one considered whether Graves was an effective U.S. attorney before seeking his removal," the report said.
While John McKay, the former U.S. attorney in Washington state, probably was singled out for his disagreement with Justice Department officials over a law enforcement program, investigators couldn't rule out that he also was targeted for declining to prosecute allegations of Democratic voting fraud.
Fine and Jarrett, however, said they didn't find any reason to believe that U.S Attorneys Carol Lam of San Diego and Paul Charlton of Arizona were forced out because they investigated Republican politicians.
Their report pins much of the blame on Gonzales, who the report said was "remarkably unengaged" and failed to take action on behalf of Iglesias even "when he had notice that partisan politics might be involved."
The report also takes Gonzales to task for "inaccurate and misleading" statements and said he'd determined that Sampson was the "person most responsible" for the firing plan.
Bradford Berenson, Sampson's attorney, said he found it "mystifying and disappointing that the Inspector General chose to impugn" Sampson when his client had cooperated.
Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, a former U.S. attorney, said Mukasey "has an important decision to make about the extent to which he is going to back his department and force the production of this information or allow the department to be rolled by the White House."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/53255.html
<font size="5"><center>Prosecutor to probe role of politics
in attorney firings</font size></center>
McClatchy Newspapers
By Marisa Taylor and Greg Gordon
Monday, September 29, 2008
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Michael Mukasey agreed Monday to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other officials involved in the firings of nine U.S. attorneys broke the law.
The move comes at the request of Justice Department's Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility, who in a report released Monday detailed "substantial evidence" that partisan politics played a role in several of the ousters.
Gonzales "abdicated his responsibility to safeguard the integrity and independence of the department," said a statement from Inspector General Glenn Fine's office.
Mukasey appointed acting veteran federal prosecutor and acting Connecticut U.S. attorney Nora Dannehy to oversee the inquiry, virtually guaranteeing that the 18-month investigation will continue into the next administration.
Several of the prosecutors who were fired said they were pleased that the investigation would continue despite resistance from some administration officials.
"This report corroborates what my colleagues and I have been saying for the last 18 months: that the basis for our removal was improper, wrongful and now possibly criminal," said David Iglesias, the ousted U.S. attorney in New Mexico.
Fine and H. Marshall Jarrett, the head of the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility found the removal of Iglesias to be the most "troubling" example of the Department inappropriately weighing political considerations.
In their 358-page report, Fine and Jarrett concluded that White House officials were more involved in the firings than the administration initially admitted. However, their report said that investigators were impeded from resolving questions about the White House's actions because several former and current Bush aides, including former presidential political adviser Karl Rove, refused to cooperate with his investigation.
Their report recommended that Mukasey appoint a prosecutor who'd have the authority to demand more evidence from officials and determine whether lawmakers or former or current administration officials lied to Congress or obstructed justice.
George J. Terwilliger III, the lawyer representing Gonzales, asserted that the report "makes clear" that Gonzales did nothing wrong.
"It seems rather odd, then, that rather than bring the investigation to a close, the Department would escalate the matter to the attention of a prosecutor," he said.
However, Mukasey, who took the helm of the Justice Department after Gonzales resigned a year ago amid the controversy, acknowledged that key questions remain unanswered.
"The report makes plain that, at a minimum, the process by which nine U.S. attorneys were removed in 2006 was haphazard, arbitrary and unprofessional, and the way in which the Justice Department handled those removals and the resulting public controversy was profoundly lacking," Mukasey said.
The controversy was sparked by the 2006 firings of nine U.S. attorneys and a little-noticed change in the Patriot Act that allowed the Justice Department to install replacements without seeking congressional approval.
Congressional Democrats launched an investigation into the firings after they grew suspicious that the prosecutors had been ousted because several had either investigated voter fraud allegations or politicians on corruption charges.
Monday, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the report's findings "disturbing" and assailed the White House for "stonewalling" the inspector general, as it has defied congressional subpoenas.
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate committee, praised Mukasey for appointing a prosecutor to investigate. "Wherever the facts lead," he said, "it warrants further investigation."
Initially, the Justice Department denied that any of the firings was politically motivated. Then-Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty testified before Congress that all of the prosecutors were fired for "performance reasons," except for Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins, whom he said was ousted to make way for Rove protege Tim Griffin. McClatchy, however, later revealed that most of the prosecutors had received positive performance reviews.
But Iglesias contended he'd been pressured by New Mexico Republicans Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson to speed up an indictment against local Democrats before the 2006 congressional election. While both lawmakers acknowledged calling Iglesias to ask about the case, they've denied pressuring him improperly.
Justice Department investigators found evidence to conclude that Iglesias was fired because Domenici and other Republican Party activists complained to the White House about his handling of the corruption case and separate voter fraud allegations.
In a statement Monday, Domenici's lawyer, K. Lee Blalack, said the report provided "no credible basis" to conclude that the senator interfered with or obstructed Iglesias' investigations.
Former Gonzales aide Kyle Sampson had drafted a letter saying that the department had no knowledge of Rove's role in the firings, but after a report by McClatchy, the White House acknowledged that Rove served as a conduit for complaints to the Justice Department about federal prosecutors not being aggressive enough in pursuing allegations of Democratic election fraud.
Monday's report reveals that Rove was aware that Iglesias was going to be fired even before the Justice Department sent its final firing list to the White House.
The investigators also pointed to the firing of Todd Graves, the former U.S. Attorney in Kansas City, Mo., as potentially motivated by partisan politics. The report concludes that Graves was likely singled out because of pressure from the office of Republican Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, who was feuding with Graves' brother, a Republican congressman in Missouri.
"It also appears that no one considered whether Graves was an effective U.S. attorney before seeking his removal," the report said.
While John McKay, the former U.S. attorney in Washington state, probably was singled out for his disagreement with Justice Department officials over a law enforcement program, investigators couldn't rule out that he also was targeted for declining to prosecute allegations of Democratic voting fraud.
Fine and Jarrett, however, said they didn't find any reason to believe that U.S Attorneys Carol Lam of San Diego and Paul Charlton of Arizona were forced out because they investigated Republican politicians.
Their report pins much of the blame on Gonzales, who the report said was "remarkably unengaged" and failed to take action on behalf of Iglesias even "when he had notice that partisan politics might be involved."
The report also takes Gonzales to task for "inaccurate and misleading" statements and said he'd determined that Sampson was the "person most responsible" for the firing plan.
Bradford Berenson, Sampson's attorney, said he found it "mystifying and disappointing that the Inspector General chose to impugn" Sampson when his client had cooperated.
Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, a former U.S. attorney, said Mukasey "has an important decision to make about the extent to which he is going to back his department and force the production of this information or allow the department to be rolled by the White House."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/53255.html
E-Mails Show Larger White House Role in Prosecutor Firings
source: Washington Post
Friday, July 31, 2009
Political adviser Karl Rove and other high-ranking figures in the Bush White House played a greater role than previously understood in the firing of federal prosecutors almost three years ago, according to e-mails obtained by The Washington Post, in a scandal that led to mass Justice Department resignations and an ongoing criminal probe.
The e-mails and new interviews with key participants reflect contacts among Rove, aides in the Bush political affairs office and White House lawyers about the dismissal of three of the nine U.S. attorneys fired in 2006: New Mexico's David C. Iglesias, the focus of ire from GOP lawmakers; Missouri's Todd Graves, who had clashed with one of Rove's former clients; and Arkansas's Bud Cummins, who was pushed out to make way for a Rove protégé.
The documents and interviews provide new information about efforts by political aides in the Bush White House, for example, to push a former colleague as a favored candidate for one of the U.S. attorney posts. They also reflect the intensity of efforts by lawmakers and party officials in New Mexico to unseat the top prosecutor there. Rove described himself as merely passing along complaints by senators and state party officials to White House lawyers.
The e-mails emerged as Rove finished his second day of closed-door-testimony Thursday about the firings to the House Judiciary Committee. For years, Rove and former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers had rejected efforts by lawmakers to obtain their testimony and their correspondence about the issue, citing executive privilege. The House sued, igniting a court fight that was resolved this year after discussions among lawyers for former president George W. Bush and President Obama.
Robert D. Luskin, Rove's attorney, said, "I certainly can confirm that Karl answered all of the committee's questions fully and truthfully. His answers should put to rest any suspicion that he acted improperly."
Rove and Miers, as well as other Bush administration figures, still could be called to testify at a public hearing on Capitol Hill. Transcripts of their behind-closed-doors accounts could be released by the House Judiciary panel as early as August under the terms of the court settlement.
At the same time, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nora R. Dannehy continues to investigate whether the firings of the prosecutors and the political firestorm that followed could form the basis of possible criminal charges such as making false statements or obstruction of justice. Rove and Miers each met with Dannehy this year.
In an interview with The Post and the New York Times this month, Rove described himself as a "conduit" of grievances from lawmakers and others about the performance of home-state prosecutors. The e-mails and interview were provided on the condition that they not be released until Rove's House testimony concluded. He said he did not recall several events because of his busy job and asserted that he had done nothing to influence criminal cases, an allegation by Democrats that has dogged him for years. Luskin, Rove's attorney, asserted that "there was never any point where Karl was trying to get a particular prosecution advanced or retarded."
"Yes, I was a recipient of complaints, and I passed them on to the counsel's office to be passed onto Justice," Rove said. The complaints about weak enforcement of voter fraud laws and public corruption "had the sound of authenticity to me. If what I'm told is accurate, it's really troublesome."
Rove added that he had "no recollection" of how he learned of the firing of Iglesias, who had been a rising star in New Mexico. A lengthy report released last year by the Justice Department inspector general said that Rove told then- Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) at a White House party in mid-November 2006 that "that decision has already been made, he's gone." But Justice Department lawyers did not send a dismissal list to the White House until hours after the party, the report said.
Complaints about Iglesias began at least a year before he was relieved of his job, according to documents reviewed by The Post. Then- Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), his chief of staff, Steve Bell, and GOP lawyers in the state lobbied aggressively to oust the prosecutor. But the activity accelerated in fall 2006.
Responding to questions about another little-understood event, Rove told reporters in the interview this month that he had not seen a letter that Justice Department officials prepared and sent to the Senate on Feb. 23, 2007. The letter stated that "the department is not aware of Karl Rove playing any role in the decision to appoint [protégé] Mr. Griffin" to a top job in Little Rock.
The Justice Department later retracted the statement, which the inspector general concluded was "misleading."
Rove said that he had "nothing" to do with the letter, that he did not draft it and did not approve its contents. "I'm not even sure I was still there at that point." Rove did not leave the White House for six more months, in late August 2007.
But internal White House correspondence dating to two years earlier suggests that job prospects for Timothy Griffin, who had worked for Rove in the administration, were a hot topic of conversation. In a Feb. 11, 2005, e-mail, Rove wrote to deputy Sara Taylor: "Give him options. Keep pushing for Justice and let him decide. I want him on the team."
Then-White House counsel Miers e-mailed Taylor a month later, writing, "Sara, Karl asked me to forward you a list of locations where we may consider replacing the USAs."
Rove suggested Little Rock, where Cummins was U.S. attorney, as a post for Griffin, reminding Miers in March 2005 that "that's where he's from." The next day, Sara Taylor forwarded communications about Griffin to then-Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who wrote, "let me know his reaction," according to the e-mails.
In the interview, Rove said he made no secret to anyone of his support for Griffin and cited published reports that Cummins was considering stepping down.
Graves, the U.S. attorney in Missouri, was removed after staff members of Sen. Christopher S. "Kit" Bond (R) repeatedly complained to the White House, according to interviews and the inspector general. Rove, who had done political consulting work for Bond, said in the interview that he did not play any role in Graves's dismissal, including transmitting complaints.
The role of Bush in the dismissals gets occasional mention in the e-mails and other documents. The Justice Department inspector general's report said that Bush and Rove talked with Alberto R. Gonzales, then the attorney general, in October 2006 about voting fraud, including problems in New Mexico. And in an e-mail in mid-November 2006, as the firing plan accelerated, Gonzales's chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, asked lawyers at the White House, "Who will determine whether this requires the President's attention."
Rove, in the interview, said he wasn't certain about how Bush was informed. "I wouldn't know whether it ultimately went to him. Maybe Harriet talked to him about it. I'm sure they did walk in at the end and say, 'Mr. President, we want to make a change here.' . . . This is not at the top of my agenda. I don't wake up in the morning and say, 'What must I do today to advance the case of the U.S. attorneys?' I've got a few things on my plate."
source: Washington Post
Friday, July 31, 2009
Political adviser Karl Rove and other high-ranking figures in the Bush White House played a greater role than previously understood in the firing of federal prosecutors almost three years ago, according to e-mails obtained by The Washington Post, in a scandal that led to mass Justice Department resignations and an ongoing criminal probe.
The e-mails and new interviews with key participants reflect contacts among Rove, aides in the Bush political affairs office and White House lawyers about the dismissal of three of the nine U.S. attorneys fired in 2006: New Mexico's David C. Iglesias, the focus of ire from GOP lawmakers; Missouri's Todd Graves, who had clashed with one of Rove's former clients; and Arkansas's Bud Cummins, who was pushed out to make way for a Rove protégé.
The documents and interviews provide new information about efforts by political aides in the Bush White House, for example, to push a former colleague as a favored candidate for one of the U.S. attorney posts. They also reflect the intensity of efforts by lawmakers and party officials in New Mexico to unseat the top prosecutor there. Rove described himself as merely passing along complaints by senators and state party officials to White House lawyers.
The e-mails emerged as Rove finished his second day of closed-door-testimony Thursday about the firings to the House Judiciary Committee. For years, Rove and former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers had rejected efforts by lawmakers to obtain their testimony and their correspondence about the issue, citing executive privilege. The House sued, igniting a court fight that was resolved this year after discussions among lawyers for former president George W. Bush and President Obama.
Robert D. Luskin, Rove's attorney, said, "I certainly can confirm that Karl answered all of the committee's questions fully and truthfully. His answers should put to rest any suspicion that he acted improperly."
Rove and Miers, as well as other Bush administration figures, still could be called to testify at a public hearing on Capitol Hill. Transcripts of their behind-closed-doors accounts could be released by the House Judiciary panel as early as August under the terms of the court settlement.
At the same time, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nora R. Dannehy continues to investigate whether the firings of the prosecutors and the political firestorm that followed could form the basis of possible criminal charges such as making false statements or obstruction of justice. Rove and Miers each met with Dannehy this year.
In an interview with The Post and the New York Times this month, Rove described himself as a "conduit" of grievances from lawmakers and others about the performance of home-state prosecutors. The e-mails and interview were provided on the condition that they not be released until Rove's House testimony concluded. He said he did not recall several events because of his busy job and asserted that he had done nothing to influence criminal cases, an allegation by Democrats that has dogged him for years. Luskin, Rove's attorney, asserted that "there was never any point where Karl was trying to get a particular prosecution advanced or retarded."
"Yes, I was a recipient of complaints, and I passed them on to the counsel's office to be passed onto Justice," Rove said. The complaints about weak enforcement of voter fraud laws and public corruption "had the sound of authenticity to me. If what I'm told is accurate, it's really troublesome."
Rove added that he had "no recollection" of how he learned of the firing of Iglesias, who had been a rising star in New Mexico. A lengthy report released last year by the Justice Department inspector general said that Rove told then- Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) at a White House party in mid-November 2006 that "that decision has already been made, he's gone." But Justice Department lawyers did not send a dismissal list to the White House until hours after the party, the report said.
Complaints about Iglesias began at least a year before he was relieved of his job, according to documents reviewed by The Post. Then- Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), his chief of staff, Steve Bell, and GOP lawyers in the state lobbied aggressively to oust the prosecutor. But the activity accelerated in fall 2006.
Responding to questions about another little-understood event, Rove told reporters in the interview this month that he had not seen a letter that Justice Department officials prepared and sent to the Senate on Feb. 23, 2007. The letter stated that "the department is not aware of Karl Rove playing any role in the decision to appoint [protégé] Mr. Griffin" to a top job in Little Rock.
The Justice Department later retracted the statement, which the inspector general concluded was "misleading."
Rove said that he had "nothing" to do with the letter, that he did not draft it and did not approve its contents. "I'm not even sure I was still there at that point." Rove did not leave the White House for six more months, in late August 2007.
But internal White House correspondence dating to two years earlier suggests that job prospects for Timothy Griffin, who had worked for Rove in the administration, were a hot topic of conversation. In a Feb. 11, 2005, e-mail, Rove wrote to deputy Sara Taylor: "Give him options. Keep pushing for Justice and let him decide. I want him on the team."
Then-White House counsel Miers e-mailed Taylor a month later, writing, "Sara, Karl asked me to forward you a list of locations where we may consider replacing the USAs."
Rove suggested Little Rock, where Cummins was U.S. attorney, as a post for Griffin, reminding Miers in March 2005 that "that's where he's from." The next day, Sara Taylor forwarded communications about Griffin to then-Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who wrote, "let me know his reaction," according to the e-mails.
In the interview, Rove said he made no secret to anyone of his support for Griffin and cited published reports that Cummins was considering stepping down.
Graves, the U.S. attorney in Missouri, was removed after staff members of Sen. Christopher S. "Kit" Bond (R) repeatedly complained to the White House, according to interviews and the inspector general. Rove, who had done political consulting work for Bond, said in the interview that he did not play any role in Graves's dismissal, including transmitting complaints.
The role of Bush in the dismissals gets occasional mention in the e-mails and other documents. The Justice Department inspector general's report said that Bush and Rove talked with Alberto R. Gonzales, then the attorney general, in October 2006 about voting fraud, including problems in New Mexico. And in an e-mail in mid-November 2006, as the firing plan accelerated, Gonzales's chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, asked lawyers at the White House, "Who will determine whether this requires the President's attention."
Rove, in the interview, said he wasn't certain about how Bush was informed. "I wouldn't know whether it ultimately went to him. Maybe Harriet talked to him about it. I'm sure they did walk in at the end and say, 'Mr. President, we want to make a change here.' . . . This is not at the top of my agenda. I don't wake up in the morning and say, 'What must I do today to advance the case of the U.S. attorneys?' I've got a few things on my plate."
Rove Deeply Involved In U.S. Attorney Firings, According To Testimony And Emails
Could this be the first salvo in Bush/Cheney prosecutions?
Keep going Congressman John Conyers.
source: Miami Herald
By MARISA TAYLOR
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON -- Karl Rove and other top officials in George W. Bush's White House were deeply involved in pushing for the ouster of several U.S. attorneys, notably including one in New Mexico, according to testimony and e-mails that the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee released Tuesday.
Sworn testimony from former White House Counsel Harriet Miers revealed that Rove considered former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico a "serious problem" and "wanted something done about it" because of complaints about politically sensitive investigations that Iglesias had mounted. Miers said she couldn't recall whether Rove specifically demanded Iglesias' firing during a 2006 conversation, but Iglesias was fired later that year.
Miers' testimony and e-mails between White House officials contradict Rove's assertion that he was merely a passive "conduit" to the Justice Department for complaints from Republican operatives and wasn't himself an advocate for the administration's eventual ouster of nine U.S. attorneys.
In sworn closed-door testimony to the House Judiciary Committee in July, Rove continued to distance himself from the decision to push out certain prosecutors. He recalled a proposal to fire some or all of them in late 2004, but denied that he'd come up with a plan to have it done and rejected the suggestion that he had a direct role.
"My view was this is a decision that had to be made at the Justice Department," Rove said, according to a transcript of his sworn testimony.
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., issued a statement that said: "After all the delay and despite all the obfuscation, lies and spin, this basic truth can no longer be denied: Karl Rove and his cohorts at the Bush White House were the driving force behind several of these firings, which were done for improper reasons."
Iglesias, too, said Tuesday that the e-mails confirmed his suspicions that Rove was more directly involved in his December 2006 firing than he'd acknowledged.
"That was just spin," he said of Rove's claim that he'd merely passed along complaints from Republican operatives in New Mexico and had no active role. "The e-mails and testimony confirm my worst fears that the true basis for not only my removal but for several of my colleagues was improper political reasons."
In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, Rove again denied that he'd sought to influence any of the prosecutors' investigations.
"I played no role in deciding which U.S. attorneys were retained and which (were) replaced," his statement said.
Rove, who said the documents' release showed that allegations against him "have proved utterly groundless," urged the public to read the documents rather than rely on "partisans selectively quoting testimony or excerpting e-mail messages."
The committee's release of more than 700 pages of transcripts and 5,000 pages of White House and Republican National Committee e-mails on these subjects marks the end of the House investigation into the U.S. attorneys' firings.
The e-mails reveal more details about the political sources of the White House's dissatisfaction with Iglesias and other prosecutors.
In e-mails, Rove's then-aide Scott Jennings repeatedly pressed the issue with his boss and other White House officials. In a June 2005 e-mail, he told former Bush campaign operative Tim Griffin that he'd "really like to move forward with getting rid" of Iglesias because of the New Mexico prosecutor's handling of allegations about Democratic voter fraud. Griffin, who later replaced ousted Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins, was favored for the job by Rove and other White House officials.
In a 2005 e-mail, Rove urged another White House official to "keep pushing" for Griffin. "I want him on the team," Rove wrote.
The e-mails also confirmed that former Missouri U.S. Attorney Todd Graves was forced to leave because staffers for U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., wanted him out, not because of professional misconduct. Bond issued a statement Tuesday denying involvement in Graves' firing.
In another 2005 e-mail, then-White House lawyer Richard Klingler said "Karl is fine" with the plan to remove Graves in a deal struck with Bond, which Bond previously has denied making.
The Justice Department's inspector general and Office of Professional Responsibility later found Graves' removal to be "inappropriate."
U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy, a special prosecutor, continues to investigate whether any former administration officials involved in the firings violated the law. The House Judiciary Committee forwarded the material collected during its more than two-year investigation to Dannehy "to assist in her effort to determine whether federal criminal charges are appropriate and to pursue any such charges," Conyers' statement said.
Could this be the first salvo in Bush/Cheney prosecutions?
Keep going Congressman John Conyers.
source: Miami Herald
By MARISA TAYLOR
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON -- Karl Rove and other top officials in George W. Bush's White House were deeply involved in pushing for the ouster of several U.S. attorneys, notably including one in New Mexico, according to testimony and e-mails that the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee released Tuesday.
Sworn testimony from former White House Counsel Harriet Miers revealed that Rove considered former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico a "serious problem" and "wanted something done about it" because of complaints about politically sensitive investigations that Iglesias had mounted. Miers said she couldn't recall whether Rove specifically demanded Iglesias' firing during a 2006 conversation, but Iglesias was fired later that year.
Miers' testimony and e-mails between White House officials contradict Rove's assertion that he was merely a passive "conduit" to the Justice Department for complaints from Republican operatives and wasn't himself an advocate for the administration's eventual ouster of nine U.S. attorneys.
In sworn closed-door testimony to the House Judiciary Committee in July, Rove continued to distance himself from the decision to push out certain prosecutors. He recalled a proposal to fire some or all of them in late 2004, but denied that he'd come up with a plan to have it done and rejected the suggestion that he had a direct role.
"My view was this is a decision that had to be made at the Justice Department," Rove said, according to a transcript of his sworn testimony.
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., issued a statement that said: "After all the delay and despite all the obfuscation, lies and spin, this basic truth can no longer be denied: Karl Rove and his cohorts at the Bush White House were the driving force behind several of these firings, which were done for improper reasons."
Iglesias, too, said Tuesday that the e-mails confirmed his suspicions that Rove was more directly involved in his December 2006 firing than he'd acknowledged.
"That was just spin," he said of Rove's claim that he'd merely passed along complaints from Republican operatives in New Mexico and had no active role. "The e-mails and testimony confirm my worst fears that the true basis for not only my removal but for several of my colleagues was improper political reasons."
In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, Rove again denied that he'd sought to influence any of the prosecutors' investigations.
"I played no role in deciding which U.S. attorneys were retained and which (were) replaced," his statement said.
Rove, who said the documents' release showed that allegations against him "have proved utterly groundless," urged the public to read the documents rather than rely on "partisans selectively quoting testimony or excerpting e-mail messages."
The committee's release of more than 700 pages of transcripts and 5,000 pages of White House and Republican National Committee e-mails on these subjects marks the end of the House investigation into the U.S. attorneys' firings.
The e-mails reveal more details about the political sources of the White House's dissatisfaction with Iglesias and other prosecutors.
In e-mails, Rove's then-aide Scott Jennings repeatedly pressed the issue with his boss and other White House officials. In a June 2005 e-mail, he told former Bush campaign operative Tim Griffin that he'd "really like to move forward with getting rid" of Iglesias because of the New Mexico prosecutor's handling of allegations about Democratic voter fraud. Griffin, who later replaced ousted Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins, was favored for the job by Rove and other White House officials.
In a 2005 e-mail, Rove urged another White House official to "keep pushing" for Griffin. "I want him on the team," Rove wrote.
The e-mails also confirmed that former Missouri U.S. Attorney Todd Graves was forced to leave because staffers for U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., wanted him out, not because of professional misconduct. Bond issued a statement Tuesday denying involvement in Graves' firing.
In another 2005 e-mail, then-White House lawyer Richard Klingler said "Karl is fine" with the plan to remove Graves in a deal struck with Bond, which Bond previously has denied making.
The Justice Department's inspector general and Office of Professional Responsibility later found Graves' removal to be "inappropriate."
U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy, a special prosecutor, continues to investigate whether any former administration officials involved in the firings violated the law. The House Judiciary Committee forwarded the material collected during its more than two-year investigation to Dannehy "to assist in her effort to determine whether federal criminal charges are appropriate and to pursue any such charges," Conyers' statement said.
Similar threads
