I doubt we’ll be hearing much more from New Mexico GOP Chairman Allen Weh anytime soon, after he fingered Karl Rove in the sequence of events that led to the dismissal of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias. But Weh did have one more comment for New Mexico blogger Heath Haussamen, a bit of advice really: “The story is about an incompetent United States attorney, and thatâs where I think your focus needs to be.”
Because we all know how determined the Bush Administration is to weed incompetence from its ranks. Take, for example, the attorney general himself:
[S]everal Washington lawyers and GOP strategists with close ties to the White House said last week that lawmakers and conservative lawyers are nervous that Gonzales may not be up to the job.
“This attorney general doesn’t have anybody’s confidence,” said one GOP adviser to the White House, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so he could be candid. “It’s the worst of Bush — it’s intense loyalty for all the wrong reasons. There will be other things that come up, and we don’t have a guy in whom we can trust.”
Yet we are supposed to believe the claims that “performance-related problems” are behind the purge. Of all the possible cover stories for a political purge, could they have come up with a less plausible one?
McClatchy, McClatchy, McClatchy: the fuse is burning at a brisk rate …
The White House acknowledged on Sunday that presidential adviser Karl Rove served as a conduit for complaints about federal prosecutors as House investigators declared their intention to question him about any role he may have played in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Rove relayed complaints from Republican officials and others to the Justice Department and the White House counsel’s office. She said Rove, the chief White House political operative, specifically recalled passing along complaints about former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias and may have mentioned the grumblings about Iglesias to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Maybe I mentioned it? Maybe not. It’s all so fuzzy.
McClatchy has updated its latest scoop on the prosecutor purge, adding additional details about Rove’s explanation of his role:
[White House spokesperson Dana] Perino offered Rove’s account of his dealings with the Justice Department after talking with him by telephone. She said Rove routinely passed along complaints about various U.S. attorneys to the Justice Department and then-White House counsel Miers.
Among the complaints that Rove relayed were concerns among Republican Party officials in various jurisdictions that the Justice Department was not being aggressive in pursuing allegations of election fraud by Democrats. Such allegations by Republicans were a particular concern in New Mexico and Washington.
Rove acknowledged that he personally complained to Miers that “voter fraud cases were not being treated as a priority” by the Justice Department, Perino said. He also passed along complaints about Iglesias that he had heard going back as far as 2004.
Emphasis mine.
Newsweek: Former White House official says the Vice President’s office was “out of control,” but Scooter Libby is likely to be pardoned after 2008 election.
Will Tom Delay be a regular?
[Note: scroll down to the 3rd graph]
The White House may have given way. But Sen. Kyl (R-AZ) still seems set to block the revision of the USA Patriot act that allowed the president to appoint US Attorneys without senate confirmation.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calls for Karl Rove to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Cunningham briber Mitchell Wade continues to cooperate, may appear as a witness at Wilkes and Foggo trials.
This nest of cases growing out of the Cunningham scandal deserves close on-going attention. If former US Attorney Carol Lam was sacked to stymie her continuing probes into the CIA and on to Capitol Hill, we’ll see it not so much in these two cases but whether the investigation pursues other defendants in their orbit.