Well, color me shocked. 'Turdblossom' testified to the House Judiciary Committee about the US Attorney firings, as noted in Jessalyn Radack's diary. This testimony was just recently made public, leading to previously undisclosed information about Rove's connections to the US Attorney firings.
Turns out this has local implications here in NJ. Chris Christie has been running for governor on his perfect track record of 130 successful prosecutions. Christie had been formerly known solely for his contentious single term as Morris County freeholder... oh, and being a Bush Pioneer, how about that?
Now, PolitickerNJ reports:
Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove says he spoke with then-U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie about his interest in running for Governor, according to testimony Rove gave to the House Judiciary Committee last month.
“I talked to him twice in the last couple of years, perhaps one time while I was at the White House and once or twice since I left the White House, but -- not regarding his duties as U.S. Attorney, but regarding his interest in running for Governor, and he asked me questions about who -- who were good people that knew about running for Governor that he could talk to,” Rove told the panel.
Rove said that Christie never discussed his duties as U.S. Attorney.
“He may have said, I am really enjoying the job and, you know, I have got a whole bunch of cases that I am prosecuting and, boy, maybe you have been reading about me. But no; about the sum and substance of it, no,” Rove said.
Rove said he “vaguely” recalls Christie looking into allegations against U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) before the 2006 election, but testified that he had no personal communications with Christie or anyone at the Department of Justice or the White House Counsel’s office about the Menendez investigation.
Asked if the timing of the investigation was favorable to Republicans in the election, Rove said “I suspect so.”
“I don’t know enough about New Jersey politics and how widely it was covered to make comment,” said Rove.
Sean Darcy, a spokesman for Gov. Jon Corzine’s campaign, says that “it’s pretty clear now that Christie was running a gubernatorial campaign out of the United States Attorney’s office with the Bush White House and Bush’s political brain, Karl Rove.
Darcy is calling on Christie to disclose when he started planning his campaign for Governor.
“When did the planning start for his gubernatorial campaign? Who was involved with the planning, including members of the United States Attorney’s office? How did all of this impact his investigations, including prosecutorial decisions?” Darcy asked.
What does this mean for the race? No more running from being a Bush Republican for Mr. Christie. He's got to face the music now, since all his running from his Bush ties can no longer be ignored by the media. All this talk about corruption being Christie's strong point? How about the perversion of the DOJ to political ends? Ring a bell, Mr. Christie?
Christie's campaign's "response":
“Mr. Rove's testimony confirms what we've known all along, that Chris' appointment as U.S. Attorney was based on his qualifications and his subsequent performance as U.S. Attorney was based on the facts of each case, not on politics," Comella said. "Furthermore, since even before the 2005 election there has been great speculation about whether Chris would ultimately run for some form of elected office.
Okay... yet, with what we know about the Bush Administration's DOJ, how much did this "speculation" lead to 'insider knowledge' from political sources? Let's keep an eye to see if this 'August surprise' leads to a meltdown, since Christie isn't known for his 'thick skin' when being asked hard questions...
I'm not much for the current events, generally, as I like posting about historical analogies to current events, but this seemed particularly pertinent to the race at hand.