The IG Loophole
Remember how Senator Whitehouse busted Alberto Gonzales for trying to bury the DOJ’s internal investigation of the USA firing into the Office of Professional Responsibility, which has no authority over potential illegalities and doesn’t issue public reports? Remember how Paul Clement, who has ostensibly been in charge of DOJ’s internal investigation since the time Gonzales recused himself, has at the same time been defending the White House’s ability to keep materials from Congress? Well, that’s not the only way AGAG has managed to avoid any incrimination on this matter. Here’s the second bombshell question Leahy asked AGAG:
Other Inspectors General can investigate misconduct throughout their agencies. Apparently, the Department of Justice Inspector General suffers under a limitation that restricts his ability to investigation misconduct by you, the Deputy Attorney General, and other senior Department lawyers. Will you agree to the removal of this limitation on the Department of Justice Inspector General so that the Inspector General may investigate misconduct by you, other senior Department of Justice officials, lawyers, and law enforcement agents?
In other words, all those assurances that DOJ was conducting an investigation into this issue? Well those assurances were utterly cynical and false. DOJ’s IG, apparently, can’t investigate AGAG and his clique!!! Yet we’re supposed to rest assured that DOJ can investigate this themselves???
Frankly, I don’t know why Leahy bothers. At this point, it’s time to call for a Special Counsel to take over the USA Purge investigation. Alternately, HJC can take it on, under the full weight of an impeachment investigation. But it’s well past clear that 1) Alberto Gonzales is actively obstructing any investigation into the USA Purge with his little games and 2) there is no way DOJ can conduct the investigation themselves.
Not to mention that there is pretty much far more than probable cause, really there probably exist clear and convincing evidence, that several felony level crimes have been committed by Gonzales and other members of DOJ leadership, including perjury, false statements, obstruction, records violations, FISA violations etc. etc.
The whole thing is a farce. What good is the subpoena power if the Bush/Cheney regime can just tear up the subpoenas? Refuse to appear? Refuse to give up documents? Refuse to carry out the law? Coin their own money if Congress won’t appropriate it?
There’s only one remedy for this kind of conduct, and we all know what it is.
From the WaPo website:
President Bush today named a longtime career prosecutor as the acting deputy attorney general, replacing one of several Justice Department officials who have left in the wake of the U.S. attorneys scandal.
Craig S. Morford, the interim U.S. attorney in Nashville, will replace Paul J. McNulty, who is leaving in the coming weeks. The post usually requires Senate confirmation, but the administration did not indicate whether Morford would be nominated for the job permanently. A 20-year Justice Department veteran, Morford oversaw an internal investigation into a bungled terrorism prosecution in Detroit.
He spent most of his tenure with the department in Cleveland, where he was the lead prosecutor in the case of former congressman James A. Traficant Jr., an Ohio Democrat who was convicted of bribery and racketeering in 2002.
And the dems have known this for how many years now? why haven’t they done anything? This is what is really low, that the impeachment and SC could have been on the job investigating these crimes.
But much like Fitzgerald, the shooter’s spies will know all anyway, and there will be no secrets. Do you think that shooter and dog are using wiretap information to blackmail any and everyone they need to use? nixon used it more on his enemies than he did foreign powers. We know they can’t answer any questions about this matter. They can’t allow an SC to begin turning over rocks. And congress, that can order such at any point, won’t.
that is what our country is now. it was sold
Crikey! Judy Miller on Hardball with Matthews. Doctors are going to need to restock their Botox supply, as it appears Judy has consumed it all….
If he’s interim USA in Nashville that means he hasn’t been confirmed. Was he an AGAG Patriot Hire? How long can he serve without being confirmed? Are they now just in the mode to run people in and out and skip confirmation?
Regarding Morford, here’s a quote from a DoJ press release last March (http://memphis.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel07/me030107.htm) following a successful conviction in TN:
In announcing the sentence United States Attorney Craig S. Morford said, â€Public corruption is a top priority for the Department of Justice and for this office, particularly when it involves public employees with access to sensitive functions such as issuing drivers’ licenses. This sentence also demonstrates the consequences of lying to federal agents and obstructing federal investigations.â€
I’m guessing he didn’t run that by Bush first.
Morford also did a stint here in MI. But yes, technically he was a PATRIOT hire in TN. They’ve always said he was moving on, incidentally–never tried to make him permanent there.
EW — He got an interim appointment to MI in 2004 from John Ashcroft. Was that ever made permanent? If so, how come he ended up being appointed on an interim basis again in TN? Just curious. I don’t know how these interim appointments are supposed to work (outside of the ridiculous PATRIOT ACT provisions). Would a â€permanent†USA have to go back to being interim just by moving into a different district?
I recall from the testimony of one of the former USA’s (the one in Missouri) that in general USA’s are supposed to be familiar with their districts (as he was with Kansas City). So is it common for USA’s to be appointed in one state and later moved to another?
â€The whole thing is a farce.†– Mimikatz
Hit the nail on the head!
Maybe there needs to be a â€Get a Spine†campaign to help Sen. Leahy and Rep. Conyers. Otherwise it is just a farce – kabuki at its best!
phred
No, he was never made permanent here in MI. He may have been here bc of the botched terror prosecution here.
Thanks EW, I knew that was what took him to MI, so I guess once he finished his report on that he left again.
Here’s something I found in the Nashville paper…
Veteran of high-profile cases brought in as interim US Attorney
By NashvillePost.com People Dept.
10-02-2006 12:26 PM —
The Justice Department today named Craig S. Morford to serve as Middle Tennessee’s U.S. Attorney on an interim basis. He replaces Jim Vines, who left his position at the end of September.
Note the date is October 2, 2006. What happened to Vines? Was he forced out too?
Skip that question, I just found an article on Vines (from May 2005, http://www.businesstn.com/pub/…..722-1.html) that he wasn’t very good at his job. Apparently there were lots of complaints about his leadership. And the article notes that since Bill Frist was planning on a Presidential run, he may not have wanted any scandal around the USA he had nominated. So perhaps Vines was nudged out, but not for the same reasons as the others.
Vines is actually one of the USAs who COULD have been ousted–he went into private practice.
aaah, good times. Whatever happened to that Bill Frist for President campaign?
er… (crickets)
methinks these items are a wee bit overpriced.
â€You’re not getting your oversight.â€
For more on cover-ups, corruption and other whistleblower stuff, visit:
http://whistleblowersupporter.typepad.com or http://360.yahoo.com/flyover_27. These stories will curl your hair!
A Seattle Whistleblower Needs Your Help!
Help Needed for a Seattle Whistleblower!
One of the whistleblowers, I wrote about in my posts needs a good criminal attorney in the Seattle area. His website is http://www.thelastinspector.com
The large Aerospace Giant that he has made allegations against (parts, safety inspection fraud etc.) has decided to play hard ball ostensibly to shut him up and to frighten the rest of their employees so they won’t talk, not even to federal investigators. So they are making a very big example out of the whistleblower. If any more people who know things start talking it seems, they may have a lot to lose. So it appears they are aggressively going on the offensive. The company may have a lot to lose, considering the terms of the settlement and conditions I have been told they must meet, after the $615 million dollar fine they paid over two other cases not too long ago. (See previous postings on my blog(s) regarding this.)
I was contacted by this whistleblower today to update me about his situation. The whistleblower was arraigned today, and charged on 16 counts of computer trespass. His plea was innocent. It would appear that King County Prosecutor’s office may be quite cozy with the very large Aerospace Company that the whistleblower reported for violations of safety standards and requirements. He has spoken to several attorneys but they all want a lot of money up front. (The one who approached him after the arraignment today told him he wanted $100,000 up front before he would even talk to him about the case.
This whistleblower has a wife and several children and has been unemployed and unable to get past the damage done to him by his company to get employment in his area of skill and expertise. Things are really difficult for his family. It would be a real travesty, if his old employer were able to derail justice for him in this matter as well as in the alleged activities involving safety of airplanes due to parts irregularities, failure to conduct inspections with integrity and some other issues. If they can do this, it does not bode well for any of us.
If you are an attorney or can recommend an attorney, please let me know [email protected]. I will email or phone the references to him immediately.
Remember if you have any knowledge of wrongdoing in a defense contractor or the federal government you can make a report to several organizations to ask for help. I have listed several of these in earlier posts on my blogs. POGO (Project On Government Oversight) even has an anonymous report form, where you can contribute tips or specific information anonymously. Please consider doing this if you are aware of wrongdoing, fraud, or? Your name will not be used. Your tips or reports may very well help someone else as well as you, if you make this effort. You can go to http://www.pogo.org and then go to Report Fraud or Wrongdoing. There is an area to click to report anonymously. If you are willing to stand up, then there is another form to fill out so they can have you work with them to right the wrong.
Thank all of you for your help and support of this whistleblower!
House has greater scope of action, since it can pass things (like contempt actions) by majority vote without threat of filibuster.
As much as I love watching SJC Dems in action (and I believe they know more about the USAs, vote suppression and maybe even Scooter than they have shown to this point), unless they get invited in by the House to help out in the questioning, they are in a weaker position because of the vote situation in the Senate.
Leahy’s letter looked like the first draft of the Gonzo articles of impeachment–you can load up a copy of that letter in Word, change the heading to Articles of Impeachment, and with not a lot of editing be ready in the House to vote for the trial.
By September, the Senate may even have the votes to remove Gonzo (as the Reps look for a way to find distance from Bush).
Increasingly, this administration and the investigations have the â€coiled spring†feel that I recall from Watergate. I think the house of cards is one smoking gun away from coming down.
Harriet, come and relieve your weary conscience……
OT
Conyers Threatens Contempt Proceedings against RNC Chair
By Paul Kiel – July 17, 2007, 6:41 PM
[..]
On Friday, the House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena to the Republican National Committee for the emails of White House staffers who used the RNC addresses — the Justice Department emails show that Karl Rove and his aides often used the email addresses to communicate about the U.S. attorneys. The RNC has deferred to the White House on this, and the White House has in turn refused to turn over the emails, citing executive privilege.
[..]
If you’re keeping track at home, that means the committee is now contemplating citing three separate figures with contempt: Harriet Miers, White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, and RNC Chairman Robert Duncan. And that’s not counting the Senate Judiciary Committee’s possible citation of Karl Rove’s former aide, Sara Taylor. Phew.
LINK
The way I see it is we’ve got a number of problems which are compounding:
1. This Executive Branch/Administration has been very busy appointing people to positions, who may or may not be knowledgable and qualified for their jobs.
2. People are being appointed, and sometimes hired for their willingness to conform to the political viewpoint and policies of the executive branch, not their willingness to uphold the oaths most federal employees have to take to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
3. Many federal Oversight, investigative, or criminal investigation agencies have been forced to back off prosecuting wrongdoers through pressure on the field personnel doing the investigations, and just putting up a brick wall and not letting cases proceed through channels to go to resolution.
4. The mess in the Attorney General’s office has really helped to create this, as those people are the ones that ultimately have to try the wrongdoers, once the case is prepared. Voila…log jam, and no movement.
5. Fed. employees trying to report wrong doing as they are supposed to in their reports of investigations are being crucified.
6. In many cases, training for federal employees has been cut or minimized, or dummied down. It is easier to manipulate and control people from the â€top†if they don’t know anything, like the rules, regulations, and laws. You can dazzle them with partisan policy (sometimes just plain in violation of the law) and convince them that is what they need to follow and they’ll do it because they don’t know any better.
7. So the whole system is being made impotent, and little is getting done, except the destruction of the federal workforce, as senior people, people who got training are being set up, forced to retire, forced out if they won’t compromise themselves etc.
It is a mess. Please see my information on the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) flap at http://260.yahoo.com/flyover_27
or http://whistleblowersupporter.typepad.com
oldtree:
â€Do you think that shooter and dog are using wiretap information to blackmail any and everyone they need to use?â€
I’m with you. I have NEVER thought otherwise. It’s too difficult to get THAT many crooks together in one place and every single one keeps his mouth shut! Every major (civil??) crime that I know of, somebody talks eventually. Honor among thieves is an oxymoron. Even if they are all crooks, most of them have wives and kids to replace some of their missing conscience. AND OVER 6 YEARS? Either this is an nexus in history, over a hundred cooperating crooks in Congress, or there is only one other plausible explanation. Someone has the negatives.
JohnJ:
I will travel part of the way with you about â€someone has the negatives.â€
I think that the primary issue with the likes of Sara Taylor or Monica Goodling or Kyle Sampson or Harriet Miers is that they are Kool Aid Drinkers, First Class, who formed an allegiance to BushCo that is primary, and separate and apart from, any allegiance to society at large.
It is the classic indoctrination process of cults, the Army, or any other organization that wants to put people into its own mold: Strip away old identity and allegiance, have an indoctrination process, and then supply a new identity through the cult.
On the right, abetted by the Limbaugh â€ditto-heads†and other jabberers who fertilize the ground for the wingnuts to till, there is the authoriarian personality described by John Dean in Conservatives Without Conscience, for whom the trip to Reichland is psychologically comfortable.
But the initiation process to the new cult–the Bushies–requires the initiation rite, say, strip away voting rights from some black folks, or violate the Hatch Act, or lie to Congress, or plan the appointment of a political hack opposition researcher as a USA in Arkansas, with the expectation that subpoena power and the ability to bring charges will screw up a political opponent royally.
At that point, Monica, and Sara, and Abu, and Kyle, all have nowhere to go, because they did those crimes and they turned away from constitutional society to support Bush. All they have left is being loyal Bushies.
It’s my gut feeling, like Chertoff, that Leahy is laying all the criminal activities for the time when the Bush crime family is out office. In 2009, Democrats will investigate when indictments, convictions and no pardons will be possible. Or maybe it’s not a gut feeling, but wishful thinking because otherwise I’d cry myself to sleep.
Forward from selise at FDL—
c-span alert!
at 9:30, representative reyes, chairman of the house intelligence committee will be on c-span washington journal call-in show.
will anyone call in to ask about the “Democratic refusal to declassify the complete report on Cunningham’s House Intelligence Committee contracting?â€
it really should be emptywheel…
I know this will sound like a broken record, but Cheney does have the negatives. On all of them. How else would impeachment be off the table. Pelosi goes to see the chimperor after the last election and he is sitting there with the dossier and a big smirk. It might be over generalizing but most of these political types are dirty. Cheney knows the dirt on all of them. Can you say NSA, NSLs, etc. They own a lot of congress ( particularly the Rs ), the courts, and the media. Roves permanent majority scheme starts looking a lot like the PRI in mexico. ( 70 plus years of rule before Vincente Fox )
What if BillE is right? This is quite troubling.