Is Waxman Protecting Tom Davis in His Politicization Investigation?

In this post I trace the tangled web in which Tom Davis is investigating Scott Bloch (head of the Office of Special Counsel) at the same time as Bloch may be investigating Tom Davis. The short logic goes like this:

  • Tom Davis is investigating Scott Bloch (and collecting all Bloch emails that refer to any legislator)
  • The WaPo story on Sunday looks like it was based primarily on leaks from OSC
  • It included details that extend back to the time Davis worked with Rove on these issues
  • This suggests Bloch may include Davis among his targets
  • But Waxman, when he sent out a fresh request for this information today, did not request documents that might incriminate Davis

The Leaks to WaPo Appear to Come from OSC

I said on Sunday that someone on the Government Reform Committee might be a source for the material in the WaPo’s story on Rove’s asset deployment teams. But today, Waxman cites that story as a preface to his request for more documents from the agencies that were part of the program.

On Sunday, The Washington Post reported that these politicalbriefings were part of a systematic and coordinated effort by WhiteHouse officials to leverage the resources of the federal government “toensure the maximum promotion of Bush’s reelection agenda and theRepublicans in Congress who supported him.” The Post reportedthat Karl Rove, the President’s political advisor, organized an “assetdeployment team” that enabled the White House “to coordinate the travelof Cabinet secretaries and senior agency officials, the announcement ofgrant money, and personnel and policy decisions” with the chief WhiteHouse liaison from each Cabinet agency. According to the Post, the meetings of the asset deployment team occurred sometimes as often as once a month.

In today’s letter, Waxman cites one letter that may be one of the ones cited in the WaPo. Here’s Waxman:

According to the documents, the White House invited 18 federal agencies, including yours, to asset deployment meetings in 2003.

And here’s the WaPo: