December 19, 2007

WH Lawyers May Have Encouraged Destruction Of CIA Tapes

One day after a federal judge ignored the Justice Department's objections and ordered a hearing into the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes, the New York Times is reporting that at least four high-ranking White House lawyers may have had a role in the decision to destroy the video evidence.

Citing "current and former administration and intelligence officials," the Times names four White House officials -- former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff David Addington, former senior National Security Council lawyer John Bellinger and former White House counsel Harriet Miers -- who "took part in discussions with the Central Intelligence Agency between 2003 and 2005 about whether to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations of two operatives" from al-Qaida.

The Times' sources reportedly gave "conflicting accounts as to whether anyone at the White House expressed support for the idea that the tapes should be destroyed."

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Posted at 7:46 AM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, CIA, Harriet Miers, Michael Hayden, Michael Mukasey, Terrorism
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December 13, 2007

Senate Panel Holds Rove, Bolten In Contempt

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-7 today to hold former White House political adviser Karl Rove and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten in contempt of Congress for non-compliance with subpoenas in the investigation of the U.S. attorney firings scandal.

"This is not a step I have wanted to take," Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a statement. But, he went on: "White House stonewalling is unilateralism at its worst, and it thwarts accountability. Executive privilege should not be invoked to prevent investigations into wrongdoing, and abusing it should have remedies and consequences."

Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., crossed party lines to vote with the committee's 10 Democrats in favor of the citations, though Specter acknowledged that the vote was "highly likely to be a meaningless act."

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Posted at 7:10 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Karl Rove, Patrick Leahy, Senate
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ABA Journal Not Above Usual Magazine Stunts

It's a sort of truism in lawyering circles that if you become a household name, you're doing something very wrong. This week, the ABA Journal has several cases in point.

In an apparent bid to show that it can compete with general-interest rags in cover-shot gimmickry, the usually super-serious magazine of the American Bar Association has named former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as its 2007 Lawyer of the Year... and Gonzales' successor Michael Mukasey as 2008's Lawyer of the Year.

"The top legal story of 2007 was unquestionably the unraveling of support for the Bush administration's expansive view of presidential power during wartime, and with it, the slow-motion destruction" of Gonzales, ABA Journal's cover story reasons. "And now, all those problems have been dumped in the lap of the new AG.... How he'll deal with them -- in the middle of a presidential campaign, no less -- promises to make him the top legal newsmaker of 2008."

Certainly, Gonzales' collapse is one of the biggest stories of 2007. But Lawyer of the Year?

Continue reading "ABA Journal Not Above Usual Magazine Stunts"

Posted at 1:25 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Michael Mukasey, President Bush
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November 14, 2007

Bush Takes Swipe Over Gonzales Again As Mukasey Sworn In

President Bush could not resist expressing his anger at the unceremonious way in which longtime confidante Alberto Gonzales was disposed from his job -- even as the man who replaced him as U.S. attorney general, Michael Mukasey, was just feet away for his own formal swearing-in.

"Our new attorney general, Michael Mukasey, follows in the footsteps of a fine man and fine American, Al Gonzales," Bush said, as Mukasey and Chief Justice John Roberts stood by for the ceremony. "As White House counsel and attorney general in my administration, Al Gonzales worked tirelessly to make this country safer and to ensure all Americans receive equal justice in the eyes of the law," the president continued, thanking Gonzales and his family for their "service to our nation."

Few in Washington share Bush's high opinion of Gonzales, however, which is the reason why the former AG resigned in late August after months of bipartisan calls for his ouster. Bush has apparently not gotten over the slight to his longtime friend and to his own judgment. When he announced Mukasey's nomination in September, he also took time from praising his pick to indirectly chide critics over Gonzales.

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Posted at 11:38 AM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Michael Mukasey, President Bush, Senate
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November 06, 2007

Mukasey To Be Confirmed As AG By Next Week

Former federal Judge Michael Mukasey cleared a key hurdle today when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 to confirm him as the next attorney general. Mukasey is expected to easily survive a floor vote by next week, upon which he will be forced to dive into the formidable task of stabilizing the Justice Department.

Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Charles Schumer expressed doubts about Mukasey's stand on detainee treatment but decided to cast their votes for him anyway. Mukasey had refused to say definitively whether waterboarding qualified as illegal treatment of terrorism suspects.

A CNN/ORC survey (subscription) released today finds that a majority of a half-sample of Americans, 69 percent, believe waterboarding is a form of torture. But when a different half-sample was asked if the use of waterboarding, or simulated drowning, should be allowed in an "attempt to get information from suspected terrorists," 40 percent said yes, compared with the 29 percent who asserted that waterboarding was not torture.

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Posted at 11:53 AM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, Congress, Michael Mukasey, Senate
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November 05, 2007

House Judiciary Cmte. Files Miers/Bolten Contempt Report

The House Judiciary Committee has filed an 862-page report [PDF] recommending that lawmakers find former White House counsel Harriet Miers and current Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten in contempt for refusing to testify or provide documents in an investigation into the U.S. attorney firings of last year.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to bring a vote on the criminal contempt citation to the floor, though the timing of that has not been announced. If a simple majority of the House does find Miers and/or Bolten in contempt, the matter will be referred to D.C.'s U.S. attorney, Jeffrey Taylor. And herein lies yet another speed bump in congressional Democrats' quest to get to the bottom of those firings.

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Posted at 6:37 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Harriet Miers, House, Michael Mukasey, President Bush
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November 02, 2007

Mukasey Confirmation Appears Certain

UPDATED.

Following Chairman Patrick Leahy's announcement earlier today that he would vote against confirmation of Michael Mukasey, fellow Democrats Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein announced their intention to support the nominee for attorney general. With GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee expected to line up behind President Bush's pick to replace Alberto Gonzales, Mukasey is all but guaranteed clearance to the floor, where he is expected to win confirmation by a comfortable margin.

In making his announcement this afternoon, Leahy joined Edward Kennedy, Sheldon Whitehouse, Joseph Biden and Richard Durbin in vowing to oppose Mukasey unless he states clearly that waterboarding is torture.

"There may be interrogation techniques that require close examination and extensive briefings. Waterboarding is not among them. No American should need a classified briefing to determine whether waterboarding is torture," Leahy said from his home state of Vermont.

Feinstein's vote had been thrown into doubt by Leahy's decision. In a statement earlier this week, she said, "The Justice Department is in desperate need of effective leadership.... I believe that Judge Mukasey is the best we will get and voting him down would only perpetuate acting and recess appointments, allowing the administration to avoid the transparency that confirmation hearings provide and diminish effective oversight by Congress."

With Feinstein and Schumer now solidly on board, there is little doubt that Mukasey will be the next attorney general of the United States.

Continue reading "Mukasey Confirmation Appears Certain"

Posted at 5:45 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, Charles Schumer, Congress, Michael Mukasey, Patrick Leahy, President Bush, Senate
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November 01, 2007

Bush Seeks To Head Off Fight On AG Nominee

President Bush delivered yet another harsh reprimand of the 110th Congress today, this time with a warning against holding up the nomination of former federal Judge Michael Mukasey for attorney general.

"Judge Mukasey has been praised by Republicans and Democrats alike as a man of honesty, intellect, fairness and independence," Bush said in remarks before the Heritage Foundation. "Judge Mukasey provided nearly six hours of testimony, patiently answered more than 200 questions at his hearing and responded to nearly 500 questions less than a week after his hearing. Yet the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding up his nomination."

Earlier today, the president called reporters to the Oval Office to air his frustration over criticisms of Mukasey. The New York Times described the unusual meeting as "a strong signal that Mr. Bush thinks the nomination of Mr. Mukasey, once seen as a sure thing, is in trouble over his responses to questions about what constitutes illegal torture." That may be, but there's still no indication that the nomination is in any real trouble. What's more likely the case is the president wants the torture debate to end as quickly as possible.

Continue reading "Bush Seeks To Head Off Fight On AG Nominee"

Posted at 3:45 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, Congress, Michael Mukasey, President Bush, Senate
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October 19, 2007

Mukasey, Torture And The Responsibility Question

Cultural critics blame the proliferation of sadistic and gruesome imagery on television and in movies on Americans' psychic discomfort with their role as players in the war on terror. The phenomenon has even birthed a new category of mainstream entertainment: torture porn.

Audiences mostly comprising males in the 18-to-34 demographic are eagerly forking over $10 a pop to view the fantastical and revolting "Saw" and "Hostel" franchises. More discomfiting are the realistic depictions of torture lately seen in the film "Syriana" and on the show "24." A Foreign Affairs magazine survey (subscription) released in April found a 54-percent majority of Americans were OK with the use of torture on terrorism suspects "sometimes." Jack Bauer doesn't electrocute or nearly drown every hog-tied potential terrorist that comes his way, but when he does, the writers of the show are sympathetic to it. Bauer doesn't "always" torture, he "sometimes" tortures, and the end result is he saves the world. The "24" audience, including a former Democratic president, is apparently OK with that.

Americans may think they know what the legal definition of torture is from these images, but they probably have no idea. As we've learned in recent weeks, the business of defining torture is a difficult one, whether for national security reasons or failure of imagination. Certainly, the Bush administration is in no hurry to turn the issue into a national debate. That's problematic for this country, and not for the reasons you might think.

Continue reading "Mukasey, Torture And The Responsibility Question"

Posted at 2:33 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, Campaigns, John Ashcroft, Michael Mukasey, Military, President Bush, Terrorism, WH 2008
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October 17, 2007

Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part II

[Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part I]

End note. Thanks to the schedule provided by the Judiciary Committee, we were under the impression that the witness round was today. It is tomorrow, and about that we have no complaints.

Patrick Leahy didn't yell at anyone today. That hasn't happened in a long time. He expressed hope this morning and in closing that Mukasey's confirmation will signal the beginning of a healing process at DOJ. The Democrats on this panel have been accused of partisan bloodlust in this saga, but you have to believe Leahy wants this chapter closed. It's been an exhausting nine months for the committee, and the tug of war with the White House is far from over. A new attorney general that has the confidence of Congress means one fewer battlefront.

C-SPAN3 is replaying the hearing throughout the day; watch it here.

4:32. Cardin, who is intimately familiar with Election Day shenanigans, doesn't give up. He asks about a Georgia voter ID law that was overturned two years ago after a federal judge likened it to the Jim Crow-era poll tax. Cardin is undoubtedly aware that the issue goes before the Supreme Court next year.

"I think if identification is made available and... every step is taken that allows everyone who is allowed to vote to" have access to the polls, "it seems to me that the comparison to the poll tax would be over the top," Mukasey responds.

But is it right when the "energy committed to weeding out the few" outweighs that used to ensure greater numbers to the polls, Cardin asks, conjuring Democrats' impression of the Republican Justice Department. "That shouldn't be what the Justice Department is doing, I hope you agree with that."

"I certainly do," Mukasey responds.

By the way, whatever party was responsible for the deceptive fliers and phone calls that threatened Cardin's Senate bid last year: Mukasey considers the tactics "flat-out fraud and pernicious fraud."

Continue reading "Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part II"

Posted at 5:00 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Michael Mukasey, President Bush, Senate
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Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part I

[Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part II]

12:20. Recess. So far, no big surprises, but plenty to reassure those who anguish over DOJ's loss of credibility under Gonzales. We'll resume with testimony from the witness panel -- fomer AG Dick Thornburgh among them -- later this afternoon in a new post.

12:11. "More recently, a statute called the USA Patriot Act has become the focus of a good deal of hysteria, some of it reflexive, much of it recreational," Mukasey wrote in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal in 2004.

Russ Feingold somewhat ridiculously asks if Mukasey believes that all critics of the Patriot Act engage in "recreational hysteria." He doesn't, of course, and acknowledges parts of it can be improved. Like most non-partisans on the act, Mukasey sees good and bad there. The point of the op-ed is best summarized in the second half of its title: "Before attacking the Patriot Act, try reading it."

12:02. "I'm going to assure you there isn't going to be any stonewalling," Mukasey says when Charles Grassley asks about the load of documents and testimony his panel has been denied by the administration. "I'm certainly going to review the clearance process simply to make sure that it is a clearance process and not just a black hole."

Continue reading "Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part I"

Posted at 12:22 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Michael Mukasey, President Bush, Senate
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October 11, 2007

Representing Alberto Gonzales

Formerly the highest-ranking law enforcement official in the nation, Alberto Gonzales knows the value of a good lawyer, and it appears he's putting that knowledge to use. AP reports that the former attorney general has hired George Terwilliger, a former Justice Department official who now serves as one of Washington's toughest white-collar crime defense attorneys, to represent him in the ongoing investigations into Gonzales' conduct at DOJ.

In an ironic twist, Terwilliger was reportedly on the White House's short list of possible replacements for Gonzales when he exited the department last month.

In an interview with AP, Terwilliger warned that Gonzales' decision to hire him should not be read as an admission of guilt. "Investigations are conducted to find the facts," he said. "And the facts will show that Judge Gonzales acted honorably in all circumstances while holding positions of great responsibility and importance to maintaining the safety of the country."

Posted at 7:56 AM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration
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October 05, 2007

Bush: 'This Government Does Not Torture People'

UPDATED.

The White House today signaled that it will not accede to Congress' demands for transparency on two secret memos on terrorism detainees, insisting it does not engage in torture and that key members had already learned all they needed to know.

"They have been briefed to appropriate members of Congress on the Intelligence Committee. But they are classified for a reason and they are secret," press secretary Dana Perino said during the daily briefing. "One of the reasons they are secret is because they need to be. They need to be cloaked in the classified system so that we can keep that information private so that we're not signaling to our enemies exactly what our techniques are."

Earlier, President Bush gave his first public response to revelations that CIA officers may be using tactics that might qualify as torture in a program secretly endorsed by the Justice Department.

"This government does not torture people. We stick to U.S. law and our international obligations," Bush said in a brief statement to the press this morning.

Continue reading "Bush: 'This Government Does Not Torture People'"

Posted at 5:20 PM
Posted to: Al-Qaida, Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, Detainees, Guantanamo Bay, Michael Mukasey, Military, President Bush, Terrorism
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October 04, 2007

CIA Interrogations To Take Center Stage In Mukasey Hearings

UPDATED.

Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are incensed at the revelations in this morning's New York Times report outlining secret legal opinions the Bush administration has used to justify harsh interrogations techniques for terrorism suspects.

"It would be bad enough if this administration had disgraced itself and this country by engaging in cruel and degrading treatment of detainees. It is worse still that it enlisted the Justice Department in the effort to justify and cover up its activities," said Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, speaking on the floor of the Senate today.

Kennedy is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which yesterday announced that confirmation hearings for attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey would begin as early as two weeks from now. Chairman Patrick Leahy appeared to be signaling that he would not hold up Mukasey's hearings despite an ongoing confrontation with the White House over the NSA surveillance program and U.S. attorney firings scandal. While the revelations about DOJ possibly signing off on torture will probably not affect the hearing timeline, they will almost certainly have a huge impact on Mukasey's confirmation.

A congressional source with close knowledge of the committee said that "a lot of people are really, really angry" about the secret opinions. According to the Times report, the White House took backdoor measures to keep CIA interrogation techniques like "head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures" in play by way of secret DOJ memos asserting their legality -- even as it publicly bowed to demands by Congress and the Supreme Court to outlaw them.

Continue reading "CIA Interrogations To Take Center Stage In Mukasey Hearings"

Posted at 6:15 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, CIA, Congress, Constitution, Detainees, House, Michael Mukasey, Patrick Leahy, President Bush, Senate
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September 17, 2007

Bush Nominates Mukasey For Attorney General, Still Sore Over Gonzales

UPDATED.

As expected, President Bush formally announced his nomination of retired federal judge Michael Mukasey to take the helm at the Department of Justice -- but not without an indirect jab at his critics over the resignation of the previous attorney general, Alberto Gonzales.

Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn this morning, Bush said, "When [Mukasey] takes his place at the Justice Department, he will succeed another fine judge." Recalling Gonzales' resume as a Texas Supreme Court judge, White House counsel and AG, Bush continued, "This honorable and decent man has served with distinction."

If that was a message to Gonzales' many critics in the Beltway, the president then narrowed his remarks to critics on Capitol Hill. "The attorney general takes on an important responsibility for the country. It is vital that the position be confirmed quickly. I urge the Senate to confirm Judge Mukasey promptly," he said.

Continue reading "Bush Nominates Mukasey For Attorney General, Still Sore Over Gonzales"

Posted at 12:48 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Arlen Specter, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, President Bush, Senate, Terrorism
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September 14, 2007

Gonzales Makes Quiet Exit

Democrats (and some Republicans) have been calling for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' departure from the Justice Department for the last nine months. Today, they finally got their wish. Gonzales appeared before his colleagues one last time this afternoon before taking leave of an agency which he has been accused of steering seriously off-course.

Many in Washington were convinced that Gonzales would attempt to serve out his term, despite the repeated calls for his head. However, the AG surprised political insiders and those at his department with a resignation announcement in late August. According to the Washington Post, those close to Gonzales say that it seems as though a weight has been lifted from his shoulders since he decided to step down.

Continue reading "Gonzales Makes Quiet Exit"

Posted at 3:55 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration
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September 12, 2007

Gonzales May Be Out, But Has The Battle Just Begun?

UPDATED.

Remember Alberto Gonzales?

The attorney general hasn't left office yet, but ever since he handed in his resignation to President Bush, the furor over his handling of the attorney-firings scandal and a National Security Agency surveillance program has largely subsided, thanks to more recent news from Larry Craig and David Petraeus.

That doesn't mean congressional Democrats are going to drop their beefs with the Justice Department. On the contrary, Roll Call reported (subscription) earlier this week that "even if Bush nominates an otherwise noncontroversial attorney general," sources from both sides of the aisle "don't expect a speedy confirmation." The Democratic leadership is expected to press the administration for more information regarding ongoing DOJ investigations before considering Bush's nominee.

Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rejected out of hand one of the White House's rumored top choices to replace Gonzales, former Solicitor General Ted Olson. "I intend to do everything I can to prevent him from being confirmed as the next attorney general," Reid said in a statement. "Clearly if you made a list of consensus nominees, Olson wouldn’t appear on that list," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told the New York Times yesterday.

Continue reading "Gonzales May Be Out, But Has The Battle Just Begun?"

Posted at 5:33 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Charles Schumer, Congress, President Bush, Senate
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September 07, 2007

Will White House Appeal Judge's Patriot Act Ruling?

Andrew Cohen of the Washington Post's Bench Conference blog thinks so. But a DOJ appeal may actually not be worth it.

U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero's ruling [PDF] yesterday strikes a provision in the revised 2005 Patriot Act that allows the government to compel data and records from businesses. The FBI was permitted to forbid those businesses -- Internet service providers, phone companies, etc. -- to object to, or talk about in any way, orders to surrender records. (Judicial review was permitted, but Marrero concludes that the bar for reversal was set unreasonably high.)

That meant those companies had no way of alerting customers that their records were being seized by the feds, nor could they resist handing the records over in the name of protecting customers' privacy. ISPs in particular have vocally objected to this provision; the one that brought the lawsuit is listed as "John Doe."

Marrero found that the gag order violated the businesses' First Amendment rights. That's a fairly easy legislative fix. Congress agrees with DOJ that in some cases, particularly those related to terrorism investigations, it may be necessary to demand records from vendors and order them to keep quiet about it. But lawmakers could rewrite the provision and expand judicial review over this process, placing additional burden on the FBI to show a compelling reason why a gag order is necessary. It's hard to think of a good reason why DOJ would object to that.

Continue reading "Will White House Appeal Judge's Patriot Act Ruling?"

Posted at 11:59 AM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, Constitution, Robert Mueller, Terrorism
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August 30, 2007

DOJ Inspector General Investigating Gonzales Testimony

The resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, effective Sept. 17, does not mean he will be able to wash his hands of the intense scrutiny he has faced in office.

Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine affirmed today in a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy that his office was investigating the possibility that Gonzales may have perjured himself multiple times in recent testimony before Leahy's committee and others.

Continue reading "DOJ Inspector General Investigating Gonzales Testimony"

Posted at 3:20 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Patrick Leahy, Senate
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August 29, 2007

Daydreaming About Gonzales' Successor

The obits on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales are borderline gleeful, and for that reason it will be a good day indeed when Washington no longer has Al Gonzales to kick around anymore. There's little disagreement on how good Gonzales was at his job (not very) or whether he stayed on the job too long (he did). Now Washington insiders are playing their second-favorite sport: the speculation-a-thon.

Will President Bush really move DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff over to DOJ? Will there be an ugly nomination battle? And what will become of Gonzales, the man known affectionately (and not so affectionately) as Gonzo?

Continue reading "Daydreaming About Gonzales' Successor"

Posted at 9:46 AM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Harriet Miers, President Bush
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August 28, 2007

Paging John Ashcroft

Now that Alberto Gonzales is on his way out of the DOJ, will John Ashcroft finally come out and talk about that dramatic night in his hospital room?

A few pundits are joking that Gonzales' poor performance as attorney general succeeded in making Ashcroft look good. The former AG was the regular butt of jokes because of his old-fashioned brand of patriotism and religious devoutness, which is pretty unfair. We've said it before and we'll say it again: a few people out there might owe Mr. Ashcroft an apology.

Continue reading "Paging John Ashcroft"

Posted at 1:01 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, John Ashcroft
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August 27, 2007

Alberto Gonzales Resigns; Chertoff Floated As Replacement

UPDATED.

Describing his career trajectory as "a remarkable journey," U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced he was finally stepping down after months of bipartisan calls for his resignation.

"Yesterday, I met with President Bush and informed him of my decision to conclude my government services as attorney general of the United States effective September 17," Gonzales said at a 10:30 a.m. EDT press conference. "It has been one of my greatest privileges to lead the Department of Justice."

The timing of Gonzales' announcement, late in the summer while Congress and the president are away, succeeded in taking the Beltway by surprise. Together, Gonzales and Bush had formed a two-man chorus of defiance, insisting the AG would not resign in the face of what they termed a political witch hunt. Neither Gonzales nor Bush publicly wavered on the matter, despite a mountain of damning testimony -- much of it the AG's own -- portraying him as an out-of-touch, ineffectual leader of the nation's criminal justice system.

Continue reading "Alberto Gonzales Resigns; Chertoff Floated As Replacement"

Posted at 5:10 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Paul Clement, President Bush
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August 16, 2007

Ashcroft Was 'In No Condition' For Gonzales, Card Visit

Newly released notes from FBI Director Robert Mueller indicate two White House aides ignored the health concerns of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft as they tried to pressure the AG to sign off on President Bush's secret, possibly unconstitutional domestic spying program.

In the notes [PDF], obtained by the House Judiciary Committee and released today, Mueller seems to have been angered by then-White House Chief of Staff Andy Card and former counsel Alberto Gonzales, who insisted on seeing Ashcroft in his hospital room while the AG was recovering from gall bladder surgery and acute pancreatitis. Mueller says he was tipped off to the visit by then-Deputy AG James Comey, who assumed acting AG powers during his boss' illness.

Having reached Mueller while he was dining with his wife and daughter, Comey said that Ashcroft was "in no condition to see them, much less make decision [sic] to authorize continuation of the program." As is consistent with their sworn testimony, Comey requested Mueller's presence at the hospital to "witness" Ashcroft's condition.

Continue reading "Ashcroft Was 'In No Condition' For Gonzales, Card Visit"

Posted at 6:41 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Constitution, Dick Cheney, Homeland Security, James Comey, John Ashcroft, President Bush, Robert Mueller
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August 14, 2007

Final Verdict On Rove May Never Come

The passage of time has a way of bringing legends back down to earth. But when you're as inscrutable, provocative and, yes, mythic a figure as Karl Rove, the process by which history judges will probably meet no end.

Since Sunday's surprise announcement that he would resign, the man who essentially got George W. Bush to the White House has been besieged by postmortems that seek to take him down a peg. The purported evidence most frequently on offer is that Rove was unable to secure for Republicans control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections.

Opines the Washington Post: Rove "should be judged on his own terms: as the would-be architect of a long-lasting Republican majority.... The GOP's wipeout in 2006 would suggest that Mr. Rove did not achieve this goal, notwithstanding his brave parting words about Republican victory in 2008."

Fair enough. But there's one very important point here that isn't lost on longtime Rove observers: He's always worked for Bush, not the other way around. The confluence of events that led to the midterm defeat -- deafness on the Iraq war, a base discontented after scandal and betrayal -- originated from the Oval Office and Capitol Hill, not the mind of one political consultant, as well-placed and influential as he was.

Continue reading "Final Verdict On Rove May Never Come"

Posted at 1:01 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Campaigns, Congress, Iraq, Karl Rove, Middle East, President Bush, WH 2008
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August 09, 2007

Bush Stays Course On Iraq, Taxes & Torture

President Bush today addressed a varied list of topics -- ranging from the nation's bridges to corporate tax cuts to Iran -- ahead of a retreat to his family's compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.

The deeply unpopular leader kicked off the news conference, broadcast by all the networks along with cable, with one of the few bright spots of his administration: education. His initiatives in this arena have managed to receive bipartisan support, including the America Competes Act, which he will sign today. The bill boosts and expands science, technology, engineering and math education, as well as research and development.

"The American economy is the envy of the world and we need to keep it that way," Bush said in his opening remarks. "The bill I will sign today will help ensure we do remain the most competitive and innovative nation in the world."

As Bush was speaking, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was slip-siding after three days of record gains. French bank BNP Paribas announced this morning that it froze three funds because of concerns about the U.S. subprime lending market, reviving American investors' panic about volatility there.

Protesting that he was not an economist, Bush refused to detail what he thought should be done about the subprime lending problem, but did seem to draw the line at a federal bailout. He also said that because many of the defaulting homeowners "didn't understand what they were signing up for," it would be a "proper role for government to enhance education initiatives," and again pointed to the America Competes Act.

Continue reading "Bush Stays Course On Iraq, Taxes & Torture"

Posted at 1:48 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, CIA, Campaigns, Congress, Detainees, Europe, France, Iran, Iraq, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Middle East, Military, President Bush, Taxes, Terrorism, WH 2008
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August 02, 2007

Competing Compromises On Surveillance Program

Yesterday's snippy exchange between Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., over Gonzales' testimony last week about a controversial surveillance program obscured what could be a more positive development in the ongoing spat between lawmakers and the Bush administration: Compromise may be on the way.

But with Democratic and Republican leaders each offering their own competing plans to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, whose idea of compromise will prevail?

Continue reading "Competing Compromises On Surveillance Program"

Posted at 9:57 AM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Congress
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July 31, 2007

House Dems Push Gonzales Impeachment; Specter Unhappy With WH Response

UPDATED.

Democratic Rep. Jay Inslee today laid out a case for forcibly removing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales from office, after filing a resolution [PDF] that would kick off preliminary impeachment proceedings.

"Americans of all stripes believe that we deserve an attorney general who will not allow the politicization of the judicial system," said the former prosecutor, flanked by other former officers of the law turned legislators. The attorney general should "respect the laws of privacy" and "be forthright with the American people and U.S. Congress," Inslee added.

If the resolution receives a simple majority, the House Judiciary Committee will conduct an investigation into whether Gonzales has committed any impeachable offenses, such as perjury.</