Rahm’s Not So Secret Plans

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Say, have you heard that Rahm wants to return to Congress in two years so he can eventually run for Speaker? Sure you have, because we’ve covered it here. But it’s sure interesting the way folks in Chicago treat it as a widely known fact, yet one you can’t speak about.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is interested in potentially returning to Chicago someday to reclaim the congressional seat he held until a month ago, a candidate running to replace him said Sunday.

When 11 Democrats at the first 5th Congressional District forum were asked whether they have had direct or indirect conversations with Emanuel about being a "place holder" for the seat, only state Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago) said he had.

"I spoke with Rahm maybe a week or two after he had accepted the job of chief of staff," Fritchey said. "At that time, he had commented to me that he may be interested in running one day again for the seat. I told him that should I be fortunate enough to run, and should I be fortunate enough to win the seat, I would look forward to campaigning against him."

The state lawmaker then appeared to sense he might have been a bit too open about the conversation he had with Emanuel, who represented the district from 2003 through 2009, before leaving to work for President Barack Obama.

"If I’m going to put words in anybody’s mouth, it’s not going to be Rahm’s," he said. "So, let me phrase it as exactly as I can for a conversation that took place three months ago. But that was a statement that he may be interested in running for the seat at some point down the road." [my emphasis]

Oops. I guess you’re not allowed to speak the truth about Rahm in Chicago, huh?

Add in the little difficulty that "a week or two after he had accepted" the COS job would put it in the November 13 to 20 timeframe–or precisely the time frame when Blago seemed to be preparing to send John Wyma out to talk to Rahm about just these plans and when Michael Sneed was reporting on it. But that was all before it was revealed that whatever conversations Rahm had with Blago were helpfully taped by the FBI, after which point it became important to cover up any of those conversations. 

No wonder Fritchey thought better of admitting Read more →

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Super Bowl 43 Trash Talk: The Red & The Black

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This is it baby, the big finale. All the marbles come down to these two: One Red. One Black. One will leave with the Lombardi Trophy in hand, the other with the regret of the world’s biggest runner-up percolating in their gut for the entire off season, maybe for the rest of their lives.

Parting is such sweet sorrow; nevertheless, with this game will come the end of another season of football trash talk here at Emptywheel. Yes, we occasionally whip out a trash talk without football (March Madness and the start of the F1 Circus are certainly possibilities), but it isn’t the same without the pigskin in the air.

What a season it has been, from the tantalizingly close to perfect season by the Pats that came just a few points short to Good Eli and the Gents in Super Bowl 42, the entire complexion of the 2009 season inexorably changed with the loss of Tom Brady in the first few minutes of this year. For eleven games Brett was Favre and all was magical; then it wasn’t. The San Diego team looked like the Clippers for the first twelve games, then they caught lightning and were Chargers on into the playoffs where they again went Norval. When it was all said and done, it was the Stillers and the Cardinals, yes the Arizona freaking Cardinals, left standing. And, thus, here we are.

Who are the Arizona Cardinals’ fans? I’m not quite sure, but I appear to live in the town that houses almost all of what few there are of them. Oh, and even here I have not noticed the whole town being painted red and buildings redecorated in team colors and insignias like it was purple for Barkley and the Suns in 1993 and the Diamondbacks in 2001. Da birdz de rojo get no respect I tell ya. And if all that were not bad enough, now That One is climbing on the dogpile,

Q. The Steelers or Cardinals, sir?

THE PRESIDENT: I have to say, you know, I wish the Cardinals the best. Kurt Warner is a great story and he’s closer to my age than anybody else on the field, but I am a long-time Steelers fan. Mr. Rooney, the owner, was just an extraordinary supporter during the course of the campaign. Franco Harris was campaigning for me in Pittsburgh. So Read more →

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Buh Bye Blago

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59-0 to oust the now former Governor.

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Rove: It's Still the Absolute Immunity Issue

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Sorry I’ve been a bit distracted (yes yes, I know I promised a post on those missing OLC opinions!!) But until I get undistracted, check out this video from Turdblossom.

Note how he describes the issue:

I’ve been directed again … not to respond to a subpoena, exerting privilege on behalf of a former President. 

[snip]

This issue of whether or not I should show up … 

He is still describing the issue as being whether or not he has to show up–and he’s avoiding the word "executive."

Fine. Good. That makes Roves’s position much more precarious than if he had a fresh new executive privilege claim. Dawn Johnsen, by herself, could cause Rove’s sorry Turdblossom to have to show up.

We shall see what the Obama Administration does.

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Why We Can't Have Federal Whistleblowers, Per Congress

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I’m watching the debate over amendment adding federal whistleblower protection to the stimulus package, on CSPAN.

And thus far, I’ve seen the following explanations for why we can’t have our billions of dollars in stimulus and TARP funds protected by Federal whistleblower protections.

Crazy Pete Hoekstra says we can’t have federal whistleblower protection because it would expose sources and methods.

Think about that. We can’t allow federal employees to come forward to report waste and fraud (and subsequently have their jobs protected) because doing so would expose sources and methods. 

Apparently, we’re stimulating the economy by employing a bunch of new spooks.

Then, another Congressman (sorry, didn’t get who it was) who argued that federal whistleblower protection would make it hard for TSA to ramp up screeners quickly.

Don’t worry, though, because the amendment just passed. So apparently those spooks who are getting hired under stimulus (!) better be careful…

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The Blagojevich Shakedown

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The IL Legislature has posted transcripts and tapes of the four conversations Fitz released to the Impeachment Committee. (Right now, the tape servers are overwhelmed, but the trasncripts give a glimpse of the sweet guys these are. Update: The Trib has working audio.)

Tape 1 Transcript 1

Tape 2 Transcript 2

Tape 3 Transcript 3

Tape 4 Transcript 4

They consist of four conversations: one on November 13, two from December 3 surrounding a visit Lon Monk paid to John Johnston at his track, and one from December 4. All conversations pertain to $100,000 that Monk, Blago, and his brother Rob seem to understand Johnston will pay, though they are concerned about the timing of the donation in relation to Blago’s signing a bill funneling a chunk of profits from casinos to track owners. 

The most damning part of this conversation actually comes from Monk, who relates telling Johnston,

And I said, "Look, there’s a concern that there’s gonna be some skittishness if your bill gets signed because of the timeliness of the commitment." He said, "Absolutely not. I mean do you want me to put some into the next quarter." I said. "No. That’s not my point. My point is this has all gotta be in now."

Suggesting that Lon was demanding Johnston’s contribution before Blago signed the bill (which he eventually did sign on December 15), because he otherwise might not get the money. 

This is all very thuggish. But particularly since Johnston replied, "I’ve always been there," it’s not at all clear that Blago wouldn’t have signed the bill without getting the money; indeed, it’s not clear whether he got his money or not. Even given the limited transcripts we saw in the complaint, this doesn’t appear to be the most damning of the conversations included in the complaint.

The other thing that’s interesting is the timing of this. The Monk visit to the track took place on December 3, just days before Fitzgerald arrested Blago (and just as Blago was apparently trying to orchestrate $1.5 million out of Jesse Jackson Jr.’s backers for the Senate seat). 

It’s not clear that Blago ever got any of his money that first weekend in December. But dang! He had a demand out for it from just about everyone in Illinois.

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Rove's "Renewed" Privilege Assertion: Is It Absolute Immunity or Executive Privilege?

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Thanks to MadDog for finding someone besides Gloria Borger discussing Bush’s recent letter reasserting his support for Rove to blow off Congress.

It’s unclear, from the reporting, whether the letter reasserts absolute immunity or asserts, for the first time, old-fashioned executive privilege regarding the information Conyers subpoenaed Rove to testify about. The WSJ speaks clearly in terms of "renewed assertion," suggesting Bush is making the same argument that he did earlier for Rove, that presidential aides can simply blow off Congressional subpoenas pertaining to their official duties. 

Robert Luskin, Mr. Rove’s attorney, said Mr. Rove recently received a renewed privilege assertion from President Bush, before the president left office. Mr. Luskin said he would consult with Mr. Obama’s White House counsel to determine the Obama administration’s stance.

But in an interview with the WaPo, Luskin clearly discusses executive privilege.

Robert D. Luskin, an attorney for Rove, said his client will "abide by a final decision from the courts." Luskin noted that Bush, in a letter to Rove, recently reasserted executive privilege.

"It’s generally agreed that former presidents retain executive privilege as to matters occurring during their term," Luskin said. "We’ll solicit the views of the new White House counsel and, if there is a disagreement, assume that the matter will be resolved among the courts, the president and the former president."

I wouldn’t make too much of that, though, because Luskin has very consistently tried to normalize the radical assertion of absolute immunity Rove relied on last year by talking in more general terms of privilege.

So thus far, we know Rove has a new piece of paper, but we don’t know what is on that paper.

And that could make all the difference between whether we get Rove testimony within hours of Holder taking over at DOJ, or whether Rove’s testimony gets litigated for some time going forward. Here’s why (for background read this post and this post). What follows is my NAL description–those of you with real credentials here, feel free to correct me where I screw this up.

Executive privilege is a constitutionally recognized privilege for the President to shield certain topics from the scrutiny of the other branches, the idea being that Courts or Congress should not be able to snoop into the Executive’s doings in matters that they have no constitutionally recognized business snooping in. Read more →

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Three Data Points on Blagojevich

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While some of us were busy in DC meeting Roland Burris this week, there were three data points of note in the Blagojevich scandal.

Genson Gone

First and foremost, Blago defense attorney Edward Genson quit his criminal trial.

Powerhouse lawyer Edward Genson, who most recently helped singer R. Kelly beat a child-pornography rap, said he will be "formally off" Blagojevich’s criminal case "when the next court hearing comes along.

"I wish him luck, and I hope he wins," Genson said. 

Now this is different from Genson’s earlier refusal to defend Blago in his impeachment trial. In that action, Genson was joined by co-counsels Sam Adam Sr. and Jr. This decision, however, appears to stem from disagreements with the Adams.

Genson, sources said, had been frustrated over a lack of communication with other attorneys for Blagojevich. That dissension boiled over Thursday when lawyer Sam Adam Sr. and his son Sam Adam Jr. said they planned to file a lawsuit to block the governor’s upcoming Senate impeachment trial. Genson had said there was no chance a lawsuit would be filed.

The Genson announcement is interesting for a couple of other reasons. Recall that Sam Adam Jr. was the one who brokered the Burris appointment–even after Genson had announced that Blago would not appoint anyone for the seat. When asked by the legislative committee whether having one’s defense attorney negotiate the appointment of a senate seat described in the criminal complaint tainted that appointment, Genson insisted that Sam Adam Jr. was not a part of the defense team.

And here we are, just a few weeks later, and Adam is a part of the team and Genson is not.

But the split here may represent larger disagreements about the proper course for Blago. If Genson fought unsuccessfully to prevent Blago from appointing anyone, and if he is now implicitly accepting the legal basis for the impeachment (or at least the inadvisability of challenging its legality), it is possible his defense strategy more closely resembled what a sane person’s would be: for Blago resign without appointing to the seat before an impeachment and get the best deal from Fitz you can. And, as a reminder, Blago’s team (or at least his team prior to Genson quitting) readily agreed to a 90 day delay of Blago’s indictment. Not that his new, Genson-less team could change their mind or would. Read more →

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Working Thread on WH EMails "Compliance"

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Much of this is Greek to me–and it’ll take a while to upload it all–but I’m sure MadDog and WO can make some sense out of what the Bush Administration says is proof they’re complying with requirements to save their emails. Here’s the document explaining what this inventory is.

Copy Set Inventory

Damaged Tapes

EDM

Geneva 1

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Obama Drafts Order To Close Gitmo; Suspends Habeas Cases In DC Circuit

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First off, President Obama has already drafted the order to close Gitmo, as he had promised. The AOL News is reporting:

The Obama administration is circulating a draft executive order that calls for closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay within a year.

The draft order also would declare a halt to all trials currently under way at the facility, where roughly 800 detainees in the war on terror are held.
…
Word of the draft order comes on the same day that a judge granted Obama’s request to suspend the war crimes trial of a young Canadian in what may be the beginning of the end for the Bush administration’s system of trying alleged terrorists.
The judge, Army Col. Patrick Parrish, issued a written order for the 120-day continuance, without even holding a hearing on the question. Another judge was expected to rule later Wednesday on a similar motion to suspend the trial of five men charged in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Secondly, as I explained in the last post, President Obama has moved to suspend tribunal proceedings at Gitmo, and the military panels have started entering the orders. As further evidence of the determination to immediately address, and bring a new sense of enlightened justice to, the detainees in Guantanamo, the Administration has imposed analogous continuance motions in pending Habeas cases in United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Specifically via a motion in Bostan v. Bush et. al, (DC Dist. 05-CV-00883), and a similar motion filed in Mohammon v. Bush et. al (DC Dist. 05-CV-02386), the Administration has moved to continue two hearings scheduled for this afternoon in respective Habeas Corpus cases.

The gist of the motions in both cases can be gleaned from the operative language in the Bostan case motion:

1. The Court previously scheduled a hearing on petitioners’ motions for expedited
judgment on the record for Wednesday, January 21, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. See, e.g., Bostan v.
Obama, No. 05-cv-0883, Order (Jan. 12, 2009, dkt. no. 109). The argument will involve issues
such as the appropriate nature and scope of the Executive’s detention authority during wartime.

2. Earlier today, Barack Obama assumed the office of the President of the United
States.

3. The Government is now assessing how it will proceed in the above-captioned
Guantanamo Bay detainee habeas corpus cases. Time is needed to make that assessment and
determination. Accordingly, the Government Read more →

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