Back to the Eighteen Minute Gap

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I’m still obsessing about Paul Clement’s opinion on whether Bush can assert executive privilege over documents relating to the US Attorney purge. Here’s a little tidbit I find interesting.

Clement is discussing the third chunk of things Congress requested.

The final category of documents and testimony concerns communications between the
Department of Justice and the White House concerning proposals to dismiss and replace U.S. Attorneys and possible responses to congressional and media inquiries about the U.S. Attorney resignations. These communications are deliberative and clearly fall within the scope of executive privilege.4

And here’s what that footnote says:

4 To the extent they exist, White House communications approving the Department’s actions by or on behalf of the President would receive particularly strong protection under executive privilege.

Does that make anyone think of the 18-day gap?

And While We’re at It, Let’s Take Away Their Security Clearance

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Mimikatz already posted Rahm’s first response to Cheney’s wicked theories that he is a branch of government unto himself. And mcjoan has posted his second response.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel issued the followingstatement regarding his amendment to cut funding for the Office of  theVice President from the bill that funds the executive branch. Thelegislation – the Financial Services and General GovernmentAppropriations bill — will be considered on the floor of the House ofRepresentatives next week.

"The Vice President has a choice to make. If he believes his legalcase, his office has no business being funded as part of the executivebranch. However, if he demands executive branch funding he cannotignore executive branch rules. At the very least, the Vice Presidentshould be consistent. This amendment will ensure that the VicePresident’s funding is consistent with his legal arguments. I haveworked closely with my colleagues on this amendment and will continueto pursue this measure in the coming days."

But I’d like to call attention to the recommendation Bill Leonard made last year when wrestling with these creeps.

Furthermore, if OVP is not to be considered an entity within the executive branch, I am concerned that this could possibly impede access to classified information by Read more →

Heffelfinger, NAIS, and the USA Purge

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At a hearing before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs this week, Thomas Heffelfinger got asked some questions about how the USA Purge related to his work–and that of Chiara, Charlton, Iglesias, McKay, and Bogden before they were fired. In his testimony, Heffelfinger noted that those USAs on NAIS who were fired were not just on the subcommittee, they were leaders on it. Of the meetings NAIS had, four of five were hosted by the fired USAs (Chiara was the only fired USA who did not host a meeting). Heffelfinger went on:

All of those five people were zealous advocates in their own districts for improving public safety in Indian Country and improving Indian Country’s role in our broader Homeland Security infrastructure. As to the specific reasons why individuals got put on that list I think you will have to ask Kyle Sampson [laughs] but it is not a mere coincidence that five of eight were leaders amongst Native American prosecutors.

You’d think that, after Heffelfinger made such a statement before Congress, someone would act on it. We may not have long to wait. From a local story on Heffelfinger’s testimony:

Heffelfinger was slated to attend a meeting at the Justice Departmenton Thursday Read more →

Cardona’s Appointment Extended Using PATRIOT

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Go Read Digby and Jane

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New Emails: Taylor, Griffin Gone, and McNulty Testifying Again

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Just a super quick comment about the new emails released today. These are all, AFAIK from a quick scan, emails listed on the list of documents not turned over. This trend has actually been true for a while–that DOJ has dribbled out documents that they said, no way, no how, they weren’t going to release. And then they release them.

What does that say about their standards for releasing documents?

And, as in the past, the release of these are tied to recent or impending events. We got a big dump of documents just before Monica Goodling testified, presumably, because she might discuss or release them herself.

So we might call this batch the Taylor, Griffin, McNulty batch. Many are emails where Taylor exhibits herself to be a big jerk among a clique of jerks. There is more detail on the Griffin nomination (it appears it came from DOJ, not Miers, as I thought, but I’ll return to this tomorrow). And there are a few comments where members of the clique attack McNulty for saying something that put DOJ in a tough spot. The release of these, then, seem to be tied to Taylor and Griffin’s recent departures and McNulty’s upcoming testimony.

And Read more →

A Few Interesting Details on Comey’s Answers

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Harriet

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Heffelfinger, Native Americans, and Voting Rights

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I haven’t read all the coverage on Goodling’s confirmation of the reason behind Thomas Heffelfinger’s appearance on the firing list. But I’ve read a lot, and I’m really amazed by the coverage of the interchange. Goodling’s response to Ellison’s question about the reasons for Heffelfinger’s appearance on the list, Goodling said:

GOODLING:There were some concerns that he spent an extraordinary amountof time as the leader of the Native American Subcommittee of the AGACand put — clearly, people thought that that was important work, but Ithink there was some concern…

Goodling doesn’t specify what the problem with Heffelfinger’s NAIS involvement might be, so it could be any of several issues, including:

  • Resource issues
  • Gaming issues
  • Abramoff issues
  • Sovereignty issues
  • Cobell lawsuit
  • Voting rights
  • Violent crime

Yet all the reporting I’ve seen has portrayed this as a matter of Heffelfinger’s work against violent crime in the Native American community. To be fair, it is partly Heffelfinger’s fault:

When I hear some bureaucrat in Washington say I was working too hard to fight violent crime in Indian Country, I’m outraged

Still, did no one hear Ellison’s follow-up?

Monica’s Loyalties

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