Karl Rove - Ralston - Abramoff
connection
Karl Rove Valerie Plame Intelligence Controversy
|
 Karl
Rove
KARL ROVE News:
20080914
 Sarah
Palin - Rove
-  Abramoff
-  E-Mail
-  Secrecy
-  Government
-  Archive
-  Politics
-  Legal
-  Investigation
-  Computer
-  Internet
-  Tech
-  Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Even
before VP nomination, Palin's e-mail use questioned."
... "Moments after [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate
and Alaska Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin's first speech as Republican [2008
Election Presidential Candidate] John McCain's running mate, she sat with
her kids backstage, thumbing one of the two BlackBerrys that are always
with her." ... "The tech-savvy governor has one of the devices (which allow
users to read and send e-mails) for state business and another for personal
matters, but those worlds intertwine." ... "Palin routinely uses a private
Yahoo e-mail account to conduct state business. Others in the governor's
office sometimes use personal e-mail accounts, too." ... "The practice
raises questions about backdoor secrecy in an administration that vowed
during the 2006 campaign to be "open and transparent."" ... "Even before
the McCain campaign plucked Palin from Alaska, a controversy was brewing
over e-mails in the governor's office. Was the administration trying to
get around the public records law through broad exemptions or private e-mail
accounts?" ... "The governor's Yahoo account is "the most nonsensical,
inane thing I've ever heard of," said Andree McLeod, who is appealing the
administration's decision to withhold e-mails." ... ""The governor sets
the tone and the tone that has been set by this governor is beyond the
pale," McLeod said. "Common sense tells you to use an official state e-mail
account for official state business."" ... "State lawyers say that the
governor's e-mails about public business should be treated like any other
public record, even if she's sent them through a private account such as
Yahoo." ... "Some of her aides also routinely use Yahoo, but even messages
sent from one private account to another should be public, if they concern
public business, said Dave Jones, an assistant attorney general." ... ""The
difficulty is finding out they exist," Jones said." ... "The [Republican
President] Bush administration has drawn heat over revelations that more
than 80 White House aides, including senior Bush adviser Karl Rove, used
private GOP e-mail servers for government business. The controversy surfaced
during congressional investigations into White House contacts with convicted
lobbyist Jack Abramoff and into the firings of U.S. attorneys." -By
Lisa Demer -ADN.com
via -McClatchyDC.com
20080908
Karl
Rove -  John
McCain - Palin
-  SC
-  Arizona
-  Colorado
- Legislative
-  History
- 2008
Election
"Eight
years after S.C., Karl Rove works with Sen. McCain’s camp."
... "Eight years after helping [Republican President] George Bush defeat
[Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain in a [2000 Election] bitter
primary, Karl Rove appears to be playing a significant role in helping
the Arizona Republican win the presidency." ... "Rove has downplayed his
contact with the McCain campaign, but the former adviser to President Bush
met with GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] delegates from Colorado last
Wednesday. Rove, who is now a Fox News analyst, told reporters after the
meeting that he has friends in the McCain organization who occasionally
seek his advice." ... "He said the campaign “carefully vetted” [2008 Election
Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah] Palin, claiming it was aware
of all the revelations that have come out since she was announced as the
running mate." ... "“They knew all of it. … They weren’t bothered by it,”
Rove said." ... "A GOP operative said Rove has had a consistent, “medium”-sized
role with the McCain campaign." ... "[During the 2000 election] Rove said
of the Arizona senator, “You cannot become a leader of the United States
and hope to achieve things by, basically, irritating everybody around you.
… And his legislative accomplishments are few and far between because he
cannot work well and bring people together.”" (1, 2)
-By Jackie Kucinich and Bob Cusack with contributions
by Sam Youngman -TheHill.com
20080903
Sarah
Palin - Karl
Rove -  Woman
- Politics
- 2008
Election
 Watch
- "Sarah
Palin Gender Card: We should not even be talking
about [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin because
it's sexist." [Jon Stewart on Republican's woman politics: Karl Rove, Bill
O'Reilly, Dick Morris, and Nancy Pfotenhauer]
-TheDailyShow.com
20080710
Karl
Rove -  Don
Siegelman - US
Attorney - Politics
- Investigation
-  Alabama
-  California
"Rove,
Defying Subpoena, Doesn't Appear at Hearing (Update2)."
... "Former [Republican President Bush] White House political director
Karl Rove, defying a subpoena, failed to appear before a [United States]
U.S. House panel investigating whether the Justice Department prosecuted
people for political reasons." ... "Rove's action today prompted the House
Judiciary subcommittee to rule that his reasons for skipping the appearance
weren't legally valid, a first step toward a possible contempt of Congress
vote." ... "The panel is trying to determine whether Rove influenced the
Justice Department's decision to bring a corruption case against former
Alabama [Democratic] Governor Don Siegelman, a Democrat. Rove has rejected
the claim and said he would speak with the committee only in private, not
under oath and without a transcript. He also proposed answering questions
in writing." ... "[California Democratic Representative Linda] Sanchez
noted that Rove's offer was limited to discussing the Siegelman case. The
panel also wants to question him about other topics, including the 2006
firing of nine U.S. attorneys, she said." ... "The Justice Department's
ethics office also is probing whether Siegelman was the victim of selective
prosecution. " -By Robert Schmidt
-Bloomberg
20080706
John
McCain -  Karl
Rove -  Money
-  Oil
-  Health
Care -  US
-  Iraq
-  Afghanistan
-  Military
-  Terrorism
- 2008
Election -  Massachusetts
"Kerry:
McCain's Judgment Is Dangerous." ... "[Massachusetts
Democratic Senator] Sen. John Kerry believes that the presumptive Republican
nominee for president is adhering to the [Republican President] Bush Administration
orthodoxy in ways that call into question his carefully-nurtured image
as a political maverick." ... ""John McCain has changed in profound and
fundamental ways that I find personally really surprising, and frankly
upsetting," the Democratic Senator from Massachusetts said on CBS' Face
The Nation." ... ""This is a different John McCain. This is not
the Senator John McCain; this is want-to-be president John McCain." ...
""And the result is that John McCain has flip-flopped on more issues than
I was even ever accused possibly of thinking about! I mean, this is extraordinary
what he's done: He's changed on taxes; he's now in favor of the Bush tax
cut. If you like the Bush economy, if you like the Bush tax cut and what
it's done to our economy, making wealthier people wealthier and the average
middle class struggle harder, then John McCain is going to give you a third
term of George Bush and Karl Rove." ... ""If you like what has happened
to oil prices, John McCain is going to continue that policy. If you like
what you see about health care, John McCain has no health care plan." ...
""I would have at least expected the John McCain that I knew back then
to realize what almost every person in the Pentagon has admitted. There
are very few who walk around and say, 'Going into Iraq was the right thing
to do, and we should have done it, or do it again if I have the chance.'
John McCain
does." ... ""I'm challenging Senator McCain's judgment,"
Kerry said, "that says, 'There's no violent history between Sunni and Shia.'
That's wrong. His judgment that says, 'This is going to increase the stability
of the Middle East.' It hasn't, it's made it less stable. The judgment
that says, quote, 'This will be the best thing for America and the world
in a long time. It's the worst thing that we've done in a long time.
And he's turned his [focus] away from Afghanistan and al Qaeda and made
America less safe. That's dangerous for our country.""
-FaceTheNation
-CBSNews
WATCH
Kerry list McCain's Flip-Flops
20080702
John
McCain - Karl
Rove -  Rick
Davis - Arizona
- 2004
Election - 2008
Election -  Media
- 
"McCain
camp puts Rove man in charge: New chief Steve Schmidt,
right, a veteran of the [Republican President] Bush campaign, will focus
on honing McCain's message. Republicans have complained the campaign lacked
clear themes." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and
Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign has gone through
its second shake-up in a year. Responding to Republican concern that his
candidacy was faltering, McCain put a veteran of President Bush's 2004
campaign in charge of day-to-day operations, and stepped away from a plan
to have the campaign run by 11 regional managers, McCain's aides said Wednesday."
... "The elevation of Steve Schmidt -- who worked closely with Karl Rove
-- at McCain's headquarters represented a sharp diminishment of the responsibilities
of Rick Davis, who has been McCain's campaign manager since the last shake-up
nearly a year ago." ... "The move is the latest sign of increasing influence
of veterans of Rove's shop in the McCain operation. Nicolle Wallace, who
was communications director for Bush in the 2004 campaign (and in his White
House) has joined the campaign as a senior adviser, and will travel with
McCain every other week. Greg Jenkins, another veteran of Rove's operation
who is a former Fox News [TV] producer and director of presidential advance
in the Bush White House, was hired by Schmidt last week after a series
of what McCain's advisers acknowledged were poorly executed campaign events."
(1, 2,
3)
-NYTimes -WashingtonPost
via -StarTribune
20080514
-
 Scott
Bloch
-  Lurita
Doan - Karl
Rove - Politics
- Government
- Hatch
Act - Investigation
- "Six
Degrees of Scott Bloch: A Scandal Scorecard." ...
"Several [Republican President] Bush administration officials have become
ensnared in an interlocking set of investigations into allegations of Hatch
Act violations, whistleblower misconduct and other prohibited personnel
practices. At the center of these investigations is Scott Bloch, head of
the U.S. [United States] Office of Special Counsel. Characters drawn into
the drama include former General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and top Bush adviser Karl Rove." [SEE:
"relationship
each actor had with Scott Bloch."] -By Ross
Gianfortune, Melanie Bender, and Robert Brodsky
-GovExec.com
20080507
-
Scott
J Bloch
- Karl
Rove - Criminal
- Government
-
 Workers
- Politics
- Hatch
Act - History
- Computer
- Data
- Censorship
- "FBI
Raids Special Counsel, Seizes Data." ... "Federal
agents raided the Office of Special Counsel, a government agency involved
in several high-profile and politically sensitive investigations. The agents
seized computer files and documents from its chief, Scott Bloch, and his
staff." ... "Mr. Bloch, who was appointed by [Republican] President Bush,
has been under investigation since 2005 by the Office of Personnel Management
for employee claims that he abused his agency's authority, retaliated against
its staff and dismissed whistleblower cases without adequate examination."
... "The Justice Department joined the case as the inquiry was widened
last year to include possible obstruction of justice, which is a criminal
offense. The Wall Street Journal reported [November] Nov. 28 that in the
midst of the inquiry Mr. Bloch used an agency credit card to hire a commercial
firm, Geeks on Call, to erase data from his computer and those of former
staff." ... "The Office of Special Counsel, created in the 1970s in the
wake of the Watergate scandal, probes sensitive personnel and whistleblower
claims by government workers. It also enforces the Hatch Act, which forbids
the use of federal resources for partisan political purposes." ... "Among
the office's recent inquiries was whether former [Republican President
Bush] White House political director Karl Rove and others improperly used
U.S. [United States] agencies to help elect Republicans." ... "Mr. Bloch's
investigation of the White House political operation began after a Rove
deputy gave a series of political presentations to government agencies
on Republican prospects in specific congressional races. Mr. Bloch's office
wanted to know whether such presentations violated the Hatch Act." -By
John R. Wilke -WSJ.com
20080424
-
Karl
Rove - Corporate
- Media
- Politics
- Network
- US
- Iraq
- Military
- "The
Self-Loathing Liberal Media." ... "I've been thinking
some more about [TIME-WARNER] CNN
hiring [former Republican President Bush's spokesperson] Tony Snow
as a commentator." ... "Coming in the wake of Newsweek's hiring of [Republican
political operative] Karl Rove, and the New York Times' hiring of Bill
Kristol, the mainstream media's embrace of these unabashed propagandists
has revealed a self-loathing streak a mile wide." ... "What is it with
these media outlets? Have they been so cowed by the Right's relentless
branding of them as "liberal" that they feel compelled to show that they
are not by sleeping with the enemy? And make no mistake, Rove, Kristol,
and Snow are the enemies -- of honesty, truth, facts, reality, and the
public's right to know. Anything." ... "Rove's commitment to deception
is legendary. His entire career was built on it. Kristol is neoconservatism's
crown prince. He was a prime mover in the push to invade Iraq, and his
claims about the war's progress (or, rather, lack thereof) have been discredited
again and again. His reward: a conservative slot on the Gray Lady's Op-Ed
page. The Times might as well have given a weekly column to Jayson Blair."
... "Now CNN, the self-anointed "Most Trusted Name in News," has thrown
its arms around Snow and handed him its international megaphone." ... "Are
the cable network's execs all suffering from amnesia? Do they not remember
the extremely distant relationship Snow had with the truth during his time
as Bush's mouthpiece?" ... "Misinformation accomplished." ... "The fanatical
right has put a modern media twist on Lenin: "Self-loathing liberals will
hand us the microphone with which we will bludgeon them."" -By
Arianna
Huffington -HuffingtonPost.com
20080423
-
 Barack
Obama -  Hillary
Rodham Clinton - Karl
Rove - Terrorism
- Politics
- Osama
bin Laden
- Television
- Ad
- Money
- History-  Pennsylvania
-  Illinois
-  New
York -  Iran
-  Israel
- US
- Military
- 2008
Election - "The
Low Road to Victory." ... "The Pennsylvania campaign,
which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner,
more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean,
vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it." ... "Voters
are getting tired of it; it is demeaning the political process; and it
does not work. It is past time for [2008 Election Democratic Presidential
Candidate and New York] Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that
the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm
to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election." ... "If nothing
else, self interest should push her in that direction. Mrs. Clinton did
not get the big win in Pennsylvania that she needed to challenge the calculus
of the Democratic race. It is true that [2008 Election Democratic Presidential
Candidate and Illinois] Senator Barack Obama outspent her 2-to-1. But Mrs.
Clinton and her advisers should mainly blame themselves, because, as the
political operatives say, they went heavily negative and ended up squandering
a good part of what was once a 20-point lead." ... "On the eve of this
crucial primary, Mrs. Clinton became the first Democratic candidate to
wave the bloody shirt of 9/11. A Clinton television ad — torn right from
Karl Rove’s playbook — evoked the 1929 stock market crash, Pearl Harbor,
the Cuban missile crisis, the cold war and the 9/11 attacks, complete with
video of Osama bin Laden. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the
kitchen,” the narrator intoned." ... "If that was supposed to bolster Mrs.
Clinton’s argument that she is the better prepared to be president in a
dangerous world, she sent the opposite message on Tuesday morning by declaring
in an interview on ABC News that if Iran attacked Israel while she were
president: “We would be able to totally obliterate them.”"
-NYTimes
20080329
-
Don
Siegelman - Karl
Rove
-
 Leura
Garrett Canary
- Alabama
- US
Attorney - Politics
- Investigation
- 2002
Election -  La
- Federal
- Prison
- "Freed
Ex-Governor of Alabama Talks of Abuse of Power."
... "Former [Democratic Governor] Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama, released
from prison Friday on bond in a bribery and corruption case, said he was
as convinced as ever that politics had played a leading role in his prosecution."
... "Speaking by telephone in his first post-prison interview, shortly
after he had left the federal penitentiary at Oakdale, La. [Louisiana],
Mr. Siegelman said there had been “abuse of power” in his case, and repeatedly
cited Karl Rove, the former [Republican President Bush] White House political
director." ... "“His fingerprints are smeared all over the case,” Mr. Siegelman
said, a day after a federal appeals court ordered him released on bond
and said there were legitimate questions about his case. He was sentenced
to serve seven years last June after a guilty verdict on bribery and corruption
charges a year earlier." ... "The investigation, trial and conviction of
Mr. Siegelman, a veteran politician, has become a flash point for broader
Democratic contentions that politics has influenced decisions by the Justice
Department under [Republican] President Bush, including the firings of
several United States attorneys, and other federal prosecutions besides
Mr. Siegelman’s." ... "In a sworn statement, a Republican lawyer and political
operative, Jill Simpson, told of hearing one of Mr. Rove’s allies here,
William Canary, discussing Mr. Siegelman during the 2002 governor’s race,
and saying “that he had already gotten it worked out with Karl and Karl
had spoken with the Department of Justice and the Department of Justice
was already pursuing Don Siegelman.” The United States attorney here, Leura
G. Canary, is married to Mr. Canary." -By Adam
Nossiter -NYTimes
20080227
-
Karl
Rove
- Political
- Government
- Computer
- E-Mails
-
 Communications
- Archives
- Laws
- Presidential
Records Act Law - Hatch
Act Law - History
- Data
- Censorship
- Investigation
- "GOP
Halts Effort to Retrieve White House E-Mails." ...
"After promising last year to search its computers for tens of thousands
of e-mails sent by [Republican President Bush] White House officials, the
Republican National Committee has informed a House committee that it no
longer plans to retrieve the communications by restoring computer backup
tapes, the panel's chairman said yesterday." ... "The move increases the
likelihood that an untold number of RNC [RNC=Republican National Committee=Republican
Party] e-mails dealing with official White House business during the first
term of the Bush administration -- including many sent or received by former
[Republican President Bush] presidential adviser Karl Rove -- will never
be recovered, said House Democrats and public records advocates." ... "Administration
officials have acknowledged that Rove and many other White House officials
routinely used RNC accounts for government business, despite rules [Laws:
the Presidential Records Act Law and the Hatch Act Law] requiring that
they conduct such business through official communications channels. The
RNC deleted all e-mails until 2004, when it exempted White House officials
from its e-mail purging policy." ... "About 80 White House aides used RNC
accounts for official government business, committee staff members said.
Rove, for example, sent or received 140,000 e-mails on RNC servers from
2002 to 2007, and more than half involved official ".gov" accounts, the
panel has said." ... "The RNC dispute is part of a broader debate over
whether the Bush administration has complied with long-standing statutory
requirements to preserve official White House records -- including those
reflecting potentially sensitive policy discussions -- for history and
in case of future legal demands." ... "The committee is investigating allegations
that vast stores of official Bush administration e-mails have also gone
missing from the White House, which scrapped a [former Democratic President]
Clinton-era archiving system and has struggled with data retention problems."
-By Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost
20080224
-
Don
Siegelman - Karl
Rove- Criminal
- US
Attorneys - Law
- Politics
- Secret
-
 Spying
-  Intelligence
- 2002
Election - 2006
Election - Prison
- "Did
Ex-Alabama Governor [Don Siegelman] Get A Raw Deal? 60
Minutes Reports On Bribery Conviction Of [former Alabama Democratic Governor]
Don Siegelman In A Case Criticized by Democrats And Republicans."
[WATCH:
"The Prosecution of Siegelman."
via 60
Minutes] ... "Is Don Siegelman in prison because he’s a criminal
or because he belonged to the wrong political party in Alabama? Siegelman
is the former governor of Alabama, and he was the most successful Democrat
in that Republican state. But while he was governor, the U.S. Justice Department
launched multiple investigations that went on year after year until, finally,
a jury convicted Siegelman of bribery." ... "Now, many Democrats and Republicans
have become suspicious of the Justice Department’s motivations. As correspondent
Scott Pelley reports, 52 former state attorneys-general have asked
Congress to investigate whether the prosecution of Siegelman was pursued
not because of a crime but because of politics." ... "“I haven't seen a
case with this many red flags on it that pointed towards a real injustice
being done,” says Grant Woods, the former Republican attorney general of
Arizona." ... "“I personally believe that what happened here is that they
targeted Don Siegelman because they could not beat him fair and square.
This was a Republican state and he was the one Democrat they could never
get rid of,” Woods says." ...
[DON
SIEGELMAN, former Alabama Governor]
TV: [WATCH:
"The Prosecution of Siegelman."
via 60
Minutes]
"Now
a Republican lawyer from Alabama, Jill Simpson, has come forward to claim
that the Siegelman prosecution was part of a five-year secret campaign
to ruin the governor. Simpson told 60 Minutes she did what’s
called “opposition research” for the Republican party. She says during
a meeting in 2001, Karl Rove, [Republican] President Bush’s senior political
advisor, asked her to try to catch Siegelman cheating on his wife." ...
"She says she spied on Siegelman for months but saw nothing. Even though
she was working as a Republican campaign operative, Simpson says she wanted
to talk to 60 Minutes because Siegelman’s prison sentence
bothers her conscience." ... "One of Rove’s close Alabama associates was
Republican consultant Bill Canary. Simpson says she was on a conference
call in 2002 when Canary told her she didn’t have to do more intelligence
work because, as Canary allegedly said, “My girls” can take care of Siegelman.
Simpson says she asked “Who are your girls?”" ... "“And he says, ‘Oh, my
wife, Leura. You know, she's the Middle District United States Attorney.’
And he said, ‘And then Alice Martin. She is the Northern District Attorney,
and I've helped with her campaign,’” Simpson says." ... "“Federal prosecutors?”
Pelley asks." ... "“Yes, Sir,” she says." ... "His [Bill Canary's] wife
Leura Canary and Alice Martin are top federal prosecutors in the state.
Both were appointed by [Republican] President Bush, and their offices investigated
Siegelman. Details of some of those investigations leaked to the press.
And Siegelman lost his 2002 re-election campaign narrowly to Republican
Bob Riley." ... "Two years later, as Siegelman geared up to run again,
the Justice Department took one of its Siegelman investigations to trial-an
indictment involving an alleged Medicaid scam." ... "“He’s indicted. He
goes to trial. That's a pretty big deal to have your former governor on
trial. Everybody's there. The government gives their opening argument.
The judge says, ‘I want to see you in chambers because this case, there's
no case here,’" Grant Woods says." ... "Woods says the judge threw the
case out, without a witness testifying. “The case is so lame that he throws
it out,” he says." ... "Vindicated, Siegelman focused on winning the 2006
election. And that’s when Jill Simpson says she heard the Justice Department
was going to try again. She says she heard it from a former classmate and
work associate Rob Riley, the son of the new Republican governor." ...
"“Rob said that they had gotten wind that Don was going to run again,”
she says." ... "“And Rob Riley said what about that?” Pelley asks." ...
"“They just couldn't have that happen,” Simpson says." ... "Asked how they
were going to prevent that from happening, she says, “Well, they had to
re-indict him, is what Rob said.”" ... "Simpson told this same story, under
oath, to Congressional investigators in a closed session. Rob Riley told
60
Minutes he never talked to Jill Simpson about this." ... "Four
months after Simpson says they spoke, Siegelman was indicted on new charges."
... "The prosecution was handled by the office of U.S. Attorney Leura Canary,
whose husband Bill Canary had run the campaign of Siegelman’s opponent,
[Republican Governor] Gov. Riley." (1, 2,
3,
4)
-By Scott Pelley -60
Minutes -CBSNews
20071130
-
Scott
J Bloch
- Karl
Rove
- Federal
- Investigators
- Computer
- Politics
- Employees
- Campaigns
- "U.S.
Special Counsel Says He Won't Provide Files." ...
"A U.S. official overseeing a probe of potential [Republican President
Bush] White House misconduct declared through a spokesman yesterday that
he will not give federal investigators copies of personal files that he
deleted from his office computer." ... "The decision by Special Counsel
Scott J. Bloch escalates the confrontation between the Bush appointee and
the White House, each of which is investigating the other." ... "Bloch's
office is tasked with upholding laws against whistle-blower retaliation
and partisan politicking in federal agencies. Earlier this year, Bloch
directed lawyers in his office to look into charges that former Bush adviser
Karl Rove inappropriately deployed government employees in Republican political
campaigns." ... "Attorneys representing the staff members in the complaints
against Bloch cited the latest dispute in calling for his resignation."
... ""At the time that he initiated this probe of Karl Rove, we thought
he was doing this to make himself bulletproof so the White House could
not take disciplinary action against him," said Debra Katz, an attorney
for the staff members. Bloch denied that charge and said the Rove investigation
is the responsibility of his office." -By Elizabeth
Williamson -WashingtonPost
20071129
-
Karl
Rove
-
 Joshua
Bolten
-  Sara
Taylor
-  Harriet
Miers
- J
Scott Jennings -  US
Attorneys - Politics-  VT
- "Leahy
Rejects Bush Privilege Claim." ... "A Senate chairman
said Thursday that [Republican] President Bush was not involved in the
firings of U.S. attorneys last winter, and he therefore ruled illegal the
president's executive privilege claims protecting his chief of staff, Josh
Bolten, and former adviser Karl Rove." ... "Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman [Vermont Democratic Senator] Patrick Leahy directed Bolten, Rove,
former White House political director Sara Taylor and her deputy, J. Scott
Jennings, to comply "immediately" with their subpoenas for documents and
information about the White House's role in the firings of U.S. attorneys."
... "The ruling is a formality that clears the way for Leahy's panel to
vote on whether to advance the citations to the full Senate." ... "House
leaders also have filed a contempt citation in their chamber against Bolten
and former [Republican President] White House Counsel Harriet Miers, but
no floor vote has been scheduled." -By Laurie Kellman
-AP via -SFGate.com
20071128
-
Noteworthy
- Scott
Bloch
- Karl
Rove
- Military
- Government
- Computer
- Intelligence
- Company
- Hacking
- 2006
Election - Politics
- Employee
- Justice
- Investigation
-
 Kan
- "Head
of Rove Inquiry in Hot Seat Himself: Bloch Used Private
Company, Geeks on Call, to Delete Files On His Office Computer." ... "The
head of the federal agency investigating [Republican President Bush's former
aide] Karl Rove's White House political operation is facing allegations
that he improperly deleted computer files during another probe, using a
private computer-help company, Geeks on Call." ... "TScott Bloch runs the
Office of Special Counsel, an agency charged with protecting government
whistleblowers and enforcing a ban on federal employees engaging in partisan
political activity. Mr. Bloch's agency is looking into whether Mr. Rove
and other White House officials used government agencies to help re-elect
Republicans in 2006." ... "TAt the same time, Mr. Bloch has himself been
under investigation since 2005. At the direction of the White House, the
federal Office of Personnel Management's inspector general is looking into
claims that Mr. Bloch improperly retaliated against employees and dismissed
whistleblower cases without adequate examination." ... "TRecently, investigators
learned that Mr. Bloch erased all the files on his office personal computer
late last year. They are now trying to determine whether the deletions
were improper or part of a cover-up, lawyers close to the case said." ...
"In an interview, the 49-year-old former labor-law litigator from Lawrence,
Kan., confirmed that he contacted Geeks on Call but said he was trying
to eradicate a virus that had seized control of his computer." ... "Mr.
Bloch believes the White House may have a conflict of interest in pressing
the inquiry into his conduct while his office investigates the White House
political operation." ... "Depending on circumstances, erasing files or
destroying evidence in a federal investigation can be considered obstruction
of justice." ... "Mr. Bloch had his computer's hard disk completely cleansed
using a "seven-level" wipe: a thorough scrubbing that conforms to Defense
Department data-security standards. The process makes it nearly impossible
for forensics experts to restore the data later. He also directed Geeks
on Call to erase laptop computers that had been used by his two top political
deputies, who had recently left the agency." -By John
R. Wilke -WSJ.com
20071120
-
 Dick
Cheney
- Karl
Rove
-  I
Lewis "Scooter" Libby - Intelligence
- Law
- Politics
-  Book
- "McClellan
blames Bush for CIA leak deceit: Former spokesman
says both president and vice president involved." ... "Former White House
press secretary Scott McClellan blames [Republican] President Bush and
[Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney for efforts to mislead the public
about the role of White House aides in leaking the identity of a CIA [Central
Intelligence Agency] operative." ... "In an excerpt from his forthcoming
book ["What Happened"], McClellan recount the 2003 news conference in which
he told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were
"not involved" in the leak involving operative Valerie Plame." ... ""There
was one problem. It was not true," McClellan writes, according to a brief
excerpt released Monday. "I had unknowingly passed along false information.
And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved
in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief
of staff and the president himself."" ... "Bush's chief of staff at the
time was Andrew Card." -AP
via -MSNBC
20071020
-
 Alberto
Gonzales - Karl
Rove
-  Randy
"Duke" Cunningham
- Criminal
- US
Attorneys - Politics
- Government
- Law
- Hatch
Act -  Washington
- 2004
Election -  New
Mexico - San
Diego - California
- "Gonzales
could be prosecuted, McKay says." ... "The U.S. Inspector
General may recommend criminal prosecution of [Republican President Bush's]
departed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the conclusion of an investigation,
possibly as early as next month, the fired former U.S. attorney for Western
Washington told a Spokane audience Friday." ... "His refusal to open a
federal criminal investigation into voter fraud allegations in Gov. Chris
Gregoire’s razor-thin victory over Republican challenger Dino Rossi in
2004 [election] may be the reason he was fired, John McKay told the Federal
Bar Association." ... "Appointed by President Bush in October 2001 to the
top law enforcement job in western Washington, McKay said he believes he
and seven other U.S. attorneys were fired last December by Gonzales for
political reasons, perhaps with former White House chief of staff Karl
Rove pulling strings." ... "Gonzales “lied about” reasons for the firings
when questioned under oath in July by the Senate Judiciary Committee and
now has hired a lawyer and is refusing to answer questions from the Inspector
General, McKay said." ... "“There was a conspiracy to politicize the Justice
Department,’’ the former U.S. attorney said, “and they did not get away
with it.”" ... "[Former New Mexico U.S. Attorney David] Iglesias has filed
a Hatch Act complaint, alleging Rove and other White House officials may
have violated that federal law in his firing." ... "[Former San Diego,
California U.S. Attorney Carol] Lam has said she believes her firing was
tied her office’s aggressive investigation of Rep. [California Republican
Representative] Randy “Duke” Cunningham, a Republican congressman who later
pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion." -By
Bill Morlin -SpokesmanReview.com
20071010
-
Karl
Rove
- Alberto
Gonzales - Alabama
- US
Attorneys - Criminal
- Politics
- "Rove
Linked to Alabama Case." ... "A Republican lawyer
claims she was told that Karl Rove — while serving as [Republican] President
Bush's top political adviser — had intervened in the Justice Department's
prosecution of Alabama's most prominent Democrat. Longtime Alabama G.O.P.
activist Dana Jill Simpson first made the allegation in June, but has now
provided new details in a lengthy sworn statement to the House Judiciary
Committee. The Committee is expected to hold public hearings on the Alabama
case next week as part of its investigation of possible political interference
by the Bush Administration in the activities of the Department of Justice."
... "Simpson said in June that she heard a close associate of Rove say
that the White House political adviser "had spoken with the Department
of Justice" about "pursuing" Don Siegelman, a former Democratic governor
of Alabama, with help from two of Alabama's U.S. attorneys. Siegelman was
later indicted on 32 counts of corruption, convicted on seven of them,
and is currently serving an 88-month sentence in Federal prison." ... "If
Simpson's version of events is accurate, it would show direct political
involvement by the White House in federal prosecutions — a charge leveled
by Administration critics in connection with the U.S. attorney scandal
that led to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales." ...
"She [Simpson] recalls conversations in early 2005 with Rob Riley, Jr.,
son of Alabama's current Republican governor, over his father's coming
gubernatorial race, in which Siegelman appeared to be the top Democratic
challenger. The younger Riley, she says, told her that his father and Bill
Canary, the state's top Republican political operative and a longtime friend
of Rove, contacted Rove in late 2004, after which he intervened with the
Justice Department's Public Integrity section to push for criminal prosecution
of Siegelman." -By Adam Zagorin-TIME.com
20071004
-
 Jeff
Sessions
- Karl
Rove
- Ala
- US
Attorneys - Money
- Political
- Enforcement
- "Selective
Justice in Alabama?" ... "On may 8, 2002, Clayton
Lamar (Lanny) Young Jr., a lobbyist and landfill developer described by
acquaintances as a hard-drinking "good ole boy," was in an expansive mood.
In the downtown offices of the U.S. Attorney in Montgomery, Ala. [Alabama],
Young settled into his chair, personal lawyer at his side, and proceeded
to tell a group of seasoned prosecutors and investigators that he had paid
|
Jack
Abramoff Scandal - 
