Testimony puts Rove at center of Justice firings

[shooter32]

Testimony puts Rove at center of Justice firings

   OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 35 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The U.S. attorney in Albuquerque, N.M., didn't see enough evidence when asked to prosecute some voter fraud cases in his state.

In Washington, however, then-White House political adviser Karl Rove was getting a different message and acting on it.

Transcripts of closed-door congressional testimony indicate that Rove played a central role in the ouster of David Iglesias, who was one of nine federal prosecutors fired in a series of politically tinged dismissals in 2006.

Harriet Miers, then White House counsel, said in testimony June 15 to House Judiciary Committee investigators that Rove was "very agitated" over Iglesias "and wanted something done about it."

The committee released more than 5,400 pages of White House and Republican National Committee e-mails, along with transcripts of closed-door testimony by Miers and Rove. Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said the documents reveal that White House political officials were deeply involved in the firing of Iglesias and the other U.S. attorneys.

The documents show that staffers in Rove's office were actively seeking to have Iglesias removed after Republican figures in New Mexico complained that he was not pursuing voter fraud cases they wanted. In 2005, Rove aide Scott Jennings sent an e-mail to another Rove aide saying, "I would really like to move forward with getting rid of NM US ATTY."

Miers testified that Rove relayed to her complaints about Iglesias from political figures in New Mexico but added that she could not recall whether Rove told her specifically that the prosecutor should be fired.

"My best recollection is that he was very agitated about the U.S. attorney in New Mexico," Miers testified. "It was clear to me that he felt like he had a serious problem."

Rove's aides kept him apprised of complaints about Iglesias in other e-mails released Tuesday by the committee.

In a 2006 e-mail, Jennings told Rove that then-Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., wanted Iglesias fired. "You are aware of the issues, I believe," Jennings said in the e-mail to Rove.

Rove issued a statement Tuesday saying the documents "show politics played no role in the Bush administration's removal of U.S. attorneys, that I never sought to influence the conduct of any prosecution, and that I played no role in deciding which U.S. attorneys were retained and which were replaced."

He added, "Rather than relying on partisans selectively quoting testimony or excerpting e-mail messages, I urge anyone interested to review the documents in their entirety."

A subsequent Justice Department inquiry into the firing of Iglesias and other U.S. attorneys concluded that political considerations played a part in as many as four of the dismissals. A political uproar led to a series of damaging revelations about the Bush administration's political meddling with the Justice Department and the eventual resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Iglesias said in an interview Tuesday he was nauseated by the whole affair.

"It's exactly what I feared. Over two years ago, I said that all roads lead to Rove," Iglesias said. "I've said consistently that he was highly involved, and now the evidence is there."

Iglesias said there wasn't enough evidence to pursue the voter fraud cases that Republicans wanted.

Conyers said he provided a copy of the documents to acting U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy, who questioned Rove earlier this year to determine his precise role in the firings.

"After all the delay and despite all the obfuscation, lies and spin, this basic truth can no longer be denied: Karl Rove and his cohorts at the Bush White House were the driving force behind several of these firings, which were done for improper reasons," Conyers said.

Rove, who was interviewed by the committee on July 7 and again July 30, has told reporters in recent interviews that he acted simply as a conduit for other Republicans' complaints about the job performance of specific U.S. attorneys.

Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said the documents show no evidence of wrongdoing. "Democrats need to stop wasting taxpayers' time and money on political investigations that are nothing more than the politics of personal destruction," Smith said.

___

Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.

[Pathfinder]

Chumming the waters for an FQ attack?  

The attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President. Period. He can hire or fire at any time for any reason - including none. BJ klintoon fired every damn one of them and replaced them with his minions, and no one raised a word. W got rid of 9, and this issue still won't die!

Rove was an insider in the WH and one of Bush's closest advisors, so who is even remotely surprised at this alleged "revelation"? Huh? Seriously, who?

[shooter32]

Chumming the waters for an FQ attack? 

The attorneys erve at the pleasure of the President. Period. He can hire or fire at any time for any reason - including none. BJ klintoon fired every damn one of them and replaced them with his minions, and no one raised a word. W got rid of 9, and this issue still won't die!

Rove was an insider in the WH and one of Bush's closest advisors, so who is even remotely surprised at this alleged "revelation"? Huh? Seriously, who?

BINGO!!

[fightingquaker13]

Hate to dissapoint Path, but you only get half an attack. The Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president. It is customary for them all to resign after an election. As in the case of Clinton most if not all are accepted. Even after a President is re-elected the same protocol is in place. Firing, not an issue.

What IS an issue is if the decisions to prosecute or not were politisized. Prosecute our enemies, even if you dont think the evidence is there or lose your job. That is something that has nothing to do with ideology and every thing to do with abuse of power. I hope that you, like me would want see that investigated. I hope that like me, you wouldn't care which party gave the order. It tears at the integrity of the justice sytem.We haven't really seen it since Nixon and if it did happen it should be dealt with harshly. Not in a Washington show trial but by the FBI's OPR and then in federal court.
FQ13

[ericire12]

Go to Rove.com and read his testimony before congress on this:

http://www.rove.com/notes

Rove did nothing wrong. All he did was refer info about the the corrupt justice to the appropriate people so that they could make a decision on what needed to be done. He was required by law to refer the information that he knew. 

[Sponsor]

[fightingquaker13]

Go to Rove.com and read his testimony before congress on this:

http://www.rove.com/notes

Rove did nothing wrong. All he did was refer info about the the corrupt justice to the appropriate people so that they could make a decision on what needed to be done. He was required by law to refer the information that he knew. 

I tend to agree. I would like the OPR to look at it. I don't want to see a thousand hearings beating a dead horse. If laws were broken prosecute, if not move on. We've got better things to do than play revenge politice (even if it is tempting). People need to grow up and realize that there some more important issues out there.
FQ13

[tombogan03884]

 Going after Sandy Berger for stealing classified documents was a political witch hunt. But getting rid of a judge who will not prosecute Democrat (ACORN) voter fraud is a different matter.

[tt11758]

And then when we finish with this witch-hunt, why not start an investigation into the firing of the head of a PRIVATE U.S. company by the sitting POTUS.  At least the attorneys were federal employees who lost their jobs.  But if you'll recall, the U.S. government hadn't yet bought GM when the post turtle fired the head of that company.

At best it's arrogance, at worst, well..........I'm sure many on here have a better word for it than I can come up with.

[ericire12]

And then when we finish with this witch-hunt, why not start an investigation into the firing of the head of a PRIVATE U.S. company by the sitting POTUS.  At least the attorneys were federal employees who lost their jobs.  But if you'll recall, the U.S. government hadn't yet bought GM when the post turtle fired the head of that company.

At best it's arrogance, at worst, well..........I'm sure many on here have a better word for it than I can come up with.

Great point.

[Kid Shelleen]

A waste of time and of tax payer money.

This Congress and Administration are experts at wasting both.