Daily Kos

Rove Caught in His Lies about Clinton and U.S. Attorney Firings

by standingup

Thu Mar 15, 2007 at 03:36:41 PM PDT

Did Karl not see the memo?

White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove said Thursday the removal of eight U.S. attorneys was based entirely on policy and personnel matters and was no different than dismissals in the Clinton administration.

He questioned why the Bush administration's action is drawing "super-heated rhetoric" while the dismissals during President Clinton's terms did not.

He continues to dismiss the relevance of the purge U.S. Attorneys using the tiresome and false excuse of 'the Clinton administration did it too,' despite that Clinton did not remove U.S. Attorneys during his second term in office.  Is the Executive Office of the President plagued with the same problem Gonzales recently suggested was a problem with DOJ--information wasn't adequately shared?


The January 1, 2006 memo contradicts this claim that Karl repeated again today about the Clinton Administration. (Link - pg. 16 PDF)

January 1, 2006


MEMORANDUM FOR THE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT


FROM:        Kyle Sampson


SUBJECT:    U.S. Attorney Appointments

You have asked whether President Bush should remove and replace U.S. Attorneys whose four-year tearms have expired.  I recommend that the Department of Justice and the Office of the Counsel to the President work together to seek the replacement of a limited number of U.S. Attorneys.

United States Attorneys are appointed to a four-year term of office and, thereafter, may holdover until a successor is appointed.  The U.S. Code provides:

(a) The President shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a United States attorney for each judicial district.

(b) Each United States attorney shall be appointed for a term of four years: On the expiration of his term, a United Sttes attorney shall continue to perform the duties of his office until his successor is appointed and qualifies.

(c) Each United States attorney is subject to removal by the President.

28 U.S.C. 541. During the Reagan and Clinton Administrations, Presidents Reagan and Clinton did not seek to remove and replace U.S. Attorneys they had appointed whose four-year terms had expired, but instead permitted such U.S. Attorneys to serve indefinitely under the holdover provision.  

There likely are several explanations for this:  In some instances, Presidents Reagan and clinton may have been pleased with the work of the U.S. Attorneys, who after all, they had appointed.  In other instances; Presidents Reagan and Clinton may simply have been unwilling to commit the resources necessary to remove the U.S. Attorneys, find suitable replacements (i.e. receive the "advice" of the home-state Senators), complete background investigations and secure Senate confirmations.

There are practical obstacles to removing and replacing U.S. Attorneys.  Fires, wholesale removal of U.S. Attorneys would cause significant disruption to the work of the Department of Justice.  Second, individual U.S. Attorneys often may be opposed to the President's determinations to remove the U.S. Attorney.  Third, a suitable replacement must be found in consultation iwth the home-state Senator, the difficulty of which would vary from state to state.  Fourth, a background investigation must be completed on the replacement -- as task often complicated if the outgouing U.S. Attorney remains if office.  Fifth, after nomination, the Senate must confirm the replacement.

...

The Counsel to the President at the time the memo was written was Harriet Miers. But now we know Karl, "the architect," came up with the plan to fire the 93 U.S. Attorneys in 2005, a year before Harriet Miers became the Counsel to the President. In a report from ABC with new unreleased e-mails.

New unreleased e-mails from top administration officials show that the idea of firing all 93 U.S. attorneys was raised by White House adviser Karl Rove in early January 2005, indicating Rove was more involved in the plan than the White House previously acknowledged.
...

The e-mails directly contradict White House assertions that the notion originated with recently departed White House counsel Harriet Miers, and was her idea alone.
...

According to the e-mails, Rove raised the issue with then-deputy White House Counsel David Leitch, prompting Leitch to e-mail Kyle Sampson, then a lawyer for the Justice Department. Sampson moved over to the Justice Department after working with Gonzales at the White House.
...

Sampson responded to Leitch that he had discussed the idea with Gonzales two weeks earlier, and that they were considering several different options.

I think it's fair to say Karl knew the Clinton and Reagan Adminstrations did not do the same with U.S. Attorneys in their second terms.  

Lies, lies and more lies.....is it the crime or the cover-up that is going to bring these guys to their knees.  Is that why Bush hired Fred Fielding, the attorney who "broke the news to President Nixon's top lawyer about the Watergate break-in?"

Update [2007-3-15 19:45:22 by standingup]:  TPM has a copy of the email between David Leitch and Kyle Sampson on January 9, 2005.  

Tags: U.S. Attorneys, Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales (all tags) :: Previous Tag Versions

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