Karl Rove announces resignation
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Mon Aug 13, 2007 at 10:08:05 AM EST
This is not a joke. Karl Rove has announced that he will resign at the end of August.
What does this mean for the ongoing battle over executive privilege and congressional subpoena power? Remember, Rove has defied a subpoena from the Senate Judiciary Committee, setting up a legal showdown that has yet to really get underway. Likely, it won't make much of a difference. The White House has claimed executive privilege for Harriet Miers and Sara Taylor, both of whom had already left the administration when they were served with the congressional order.
UPDATE: Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has issued the following statement:
“Earlier this month, Karl Rove failed to comply with the Judiciary Committee's subpoena to testify about the mass firings of United States Attorneys. Despite evidence that he played a central role in these firings, just as he did in the Libby case involving the outing of an undercover CIA agent and improper political briefings at over 20 government agencies, Mr. Rove acted as if he was above the law. That is wrong. Now that he is leaving the White House while under subpoena, I continue to ask what Mr. Rove and others at the White House are so desperate to hide. Mr. Rove’s apparent attempts to manipulate elections and push out prosecutors citing bogus claims of voter fraud shows corruption of federal law enforcement for partisan political purposes, and the Senate Judiciary Committee will continue its investigation into this serious issue.
“The list of senior White House and Justice Department officials who have resigned during the course of these congressional investigations continues to grow, and today, Mr. Rove added his name to that list. There is a cloud over this White House, and a gathering storm. A similar cloud envelops Mr. Rove, even as he leaves the White House.”
Gonzales changes story on DoJ-White House briefings
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Tue Aug 07, 2007 at 11:36:43 AM EST
Somewhat lost in all the last-minute pre-recess wrangling in the House and Senate this weekend was a letter Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sent to Congress "clarifying" his July 24 testimony.
In his testimony on that date, Gonzales told Senators that he was not aware of any instances in which senior Justice Department officials had participated in White House political briefings of the sort that have already been deemed illegal.
It appears, unsurprisingly, that Mr. Gonzales was mistaken.
BREAKING: Karl Rove subpoenaed
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Thu Jul 26, 2007 at 01:02:55 PM EST
Far from backing down in the face of White House opposition, Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT) just announced on the floor of the Senate that he has issued subpoenas for Karl Rove and another White House aide, J. Scott Jennings.
"For over four months, I have exhausted every avenue seeking the voluntary cooperation of Karl Rove and J. Scott Jennings, but to no avail," the Vermont lawmaker said. "They and the White House have stonewalled every request. Indeed, the White House is choosing to withhold documents and is instructing witnesses who are former officials to refuse to answer questions and provide relevant information and documents."
UPDATE: Read the subpoenas and Leahy's statement here.
"It's Subpoena Time"
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Fri Jun 08, 2007 at 01:46:21 PM EST
Given the "parade" of DoJ officials who have come before Congress and delivered weak testimony claiming to know nothing about how the US Attorney, the next step for congressional investigators is obvious, the New York Times says:
It is time for Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to deliver subpoenas that have been approved for Karl Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers and their top aides, and to make them testify in public and under oath.
Especially after this week's laughable testimony from former Missouri US attorney Bradley Schlozman, it's become clear that answers are not going to be had from Department of Justice officials who appear to be suffering from a worrisome memory loss epidemic.
Susan Ralston is willing to talk
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Wed May 23, 2007 at 12:23:16 PM EST
As we mentioned last week, former Karl Rove assistant and Jack Abramoff aide Susan Ralston is angling for immunity from the House Committee on Overight and Government Reform. It now appears that she is definitely willing to testify, and indeed does have information of interest...but first she wants that immunity.
During a May 10 deposition with Ralston, her attorney, Bradford Berenson, told investigators for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that she "has material, useful information" about contacts between Abramoff and his associates and White House officials, according to a memo sent to committee members Tuesday by the committee's chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California.
Berenson also said Ralston has useful information about the use of outside Republican National Committee e-mail accounts by White House staffers, which is also the subject of a congressional probe, according to the memo.
However, Ralston will only be "comfortable going forward" if she is given a grant of immunity, Berenson told investigators, according to the memo.
Ralston was Abramoff's executive assistant until 2001, when she went to work for Rove on Abramoff's recommendation. More than half of the contacts between Team Abramoff and the White House were made through her. I can't wait to hear what she has to say.
Learn this name: Susan Ralston
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Thu May 17, 2007 at 02:29:47 PM EST
Go ahead and get familiar with the name Susan Ralston - Robert Novak seems to believe she may soon cause some problems for Karl Rove.
You see, Susan Ralston used to be an assistant to Jack Abramoff, and in 2001 he recommended her for the position of executive assistant to Karl Rove. She got the job and became Rove's gatekeeper - a very sensitive position, to be sure. And now she's requesting immunity before Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-CA) Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
For Waxman, she is a link between the disgraced, imprisoned Abramoff and Rove, a principal political target of the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Novak implies she may be seeking immunity for her own protection, and that she very well may not have the incriminating information Waxman is seeking. He may be right...but the situation definitely bears watching.
"A Scandal That Keeps Growing"
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Mon May 07, 2007 at 12:32:39 PM EST
Yesterday's New York Times ran an editorial summarizing what's come to light about the firing of eight US Attorneys in recent weeks. They lay out the conclusions that are becoming more and more difficult to ignore:
At best, the firing of eight United States attorneys, most of them highly respected, is an example of such profound incompetence that it should cost Mr. Gonzales his job. At worst, it was a political purge followed by a cover-up. In either case, the scandal is only getting bigger and more disturbing.
New reports of possible malfeasance keep coming fast and furious. They all seem to make it more likely than ever that the firings were part of an attempt to turn the Justice Department into a partisan political operation. There is, to start, the very strong appearance that United States attorneys were fired because they were investigating powerful Republicans or refused to bring baseless charges against Democrats.
Such as Carol Lam, who put Duke Cunningham (R-CA) behind bars...or Paul Charlton, who was investigating Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ). Given last week's revelations from former dupty attorney general James Comey (2003-2005) that most of the prosecutors performed well - or even exceptionally - and from some of the fired attorneys that they were pressured, or even threatened, by Michael Elston, an aide to the deputy attorney general, the NYT challenges our representatives to do what's right and pursue the whole truth.
It is long past time for President Bush to fire Mr. Gonzales. But Congress, especially the Republicans who have dared confront the White House on this issue, should not be satisfied with that. There are strong indications that the purge was ordered out of the White House, involving at the very least the former counsel, Harriet Miers, and Karl Rove.
It is the duty of Congress to compel them and other officials to finally tell the truth to the American people.
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