Entries by emptywheel

Senate Dems Corner Bush and Gonzales on Their Attempt to Game Appointments

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Oh, this is getting fun.

Remember how I pointed out that Steven Bradbury, the guy who wrote the opinion declaring Harriet immune from having to appear before Congress, was not acting with proper authority?

Well, Leahy, Durbin, Feingold, and Kennedy have raised the stakes on that issue.

We write seeking information about a memorandum issued on July 10, 2007, by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), concluding that former White House Counsel

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Propaganda Squared

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I’ve been referring to Brigadier Bergner as Baghdad Bergner since he first started giving press conferences. There was the press conference where he blamed Iran for the woes in Iraq, based on the interrogation of one Shiite. There’s this press conference where he blamed all the woes in Iraq on Al Qaeda in Iraq.

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The IG Loophole

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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

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The “PDAG” Who Approved Harriet’s Immunity Had No Authority to Do So

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There are two big tidbits in the questions Leahy sent to AGAG to “pre-refresh” his memory before he testifies next week. The first is a question that seems to suggest that the “Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General,” Steven Bradbury, who wrote the opinion judging Harriet immune from compelled Congressional testimony was acting as Acting AAG of the Office of Legal Counsel, in spite of the fact that his nomination to be

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Why Hide the Energy Task Force

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Once the CIA released its Crown Jewels, it was only a matter of time before the list of Cheney’s Energy Task Force meetings would be liberated.

A confidential list prepared by the Bush administration shows thatCheney and his aides had already held at least 40 meetings withinterest groups, most of them from energy-producing industries.

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AGAG Says “Good Job”–but about What?

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Al Kamen chronicles the latest joy-ridden interaction between Alberto Gonzales and Patrick Fitzgerald.

In the Justice Department’s Great Hall (the very room where giant, blue drapes covered the underdressed statuary during John Ashcroft’s tenure as attorney general), an array of prosecutors, securities regulators and FBI honchos gathered yesterday to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force.

Chicago U.S.

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The Resignation of CIFA’s Top Management

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I’m still reading the November 2005 affidavit on Cunningham’s bribery. It has a previously unknown level of detail on the CIFA-related pork Cunningham made possible. I think some of those details provide new insight into why the Director and Deputy Director of CIFA resigned (speaking of “trepidation”) in August 2006, when the Cunningham investigation was focusing closely on CIFA.

The affidavit provides details of the involvement of the top management of CIFA

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MZM’s Republican AND DEMOCRATIC Congressmen

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I’m working my way through this November 2005 affidavit relating to the Cunningham scandal (hat tip Kentucky Jelly). But this paragraph and footnote jumped out at me, especially in light of Democratic refusal to declassify the complete report on Cunningham’s House Intelligence Committee contracting.

On a page entitled “Election Impact on Congressional Mandates,” Wade listed a number of politicians, starting with Cunningham, all of whom won reelection in November 2002.

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Desperation at the DOJ

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The DOJ’s refusal to let John Tanner testify before the House Judiciary Committee reeks of desperation. After all, Brad Schlozman and Hans Von Spakovsky have already testified before Congress. Alberto Gonzales has testified repeatedly. What possible excuse can DOJ make not to allow Tanner to testify, ostensibly a career employee?

The absence of any good reason to refuse the request for his testimony suggests DOJ–and the Administration–is particularly worried about what he

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Useful Details about Armitage Might Be In There

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As predicted, Tom Maguire links to the two affidavits I made available yesterday without pointing out what those affidavits say: that in Fall 2004, Fitzgerald was still actively investigating Armitage and Novak and Rove and Libby on the Novak leak–because their stories all contradicted what the others were saying. Let me help you out, Tom, by quoting the entire passage on Armitage and the Novak column:

A brief discussion is in order

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