The Political Chase

Gonzales may be prosecuted

Anybody know of a tailor that specializes in orange jump suits?

SR.com: Gonzales could be prosecuted, McKay says

The U.S. Inspector General may recommend criminal prosecution of 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 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.

H/T: Josh Marshall

TPC Roundup - Bombs Literally and Figuratively

HEADLINES

• Bush Drawing Iran War Plans
• Bush to Nominate Ex-Judge Attorney General
• Greenspan Says Iraq War About Oil
• Crocker Blasts Refugee Process
• France Warns of War with Iran
• Gates Sees Extended Stay in Iraq
• Medicare Recipients May Be Denied Drugs

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WASHINGTON

• “Senior American intelligence and defence officials believe that President George W Bush and his inner circle are taking steps to place America on the path to war with Iran,” the Telegraph reports.  “Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, amid growing fears among serving officers that diplomatic efforts to slow Iran’s nuclear weapons programme are doomed to fail.” See TPC related post.
• “President Bush has decided to nominate Michael B. Mukasey, a former federal judge from New York…as his next attorney general,” the New York Times reports. If confirmed, “he would preside over a Justice Department that has been buffeted by Congressional inquiries into the firing of federal prosecutors and the resignation of the previous attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales.” See TPC related post.
• “Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, said in an interview that the removal of Saddam Hussein had been ‘essential’ to secure world oil supplies, a point he emphasized to the White House in private conversations before the 2003 invasion of Iraq,” the Washington Post reports. “Greenspan … made the striking comment in a new memoir out today that ‘the Iraq War is largely about oil.’” See TPC related post.
• “The Justice Department inappropriately put pressure on a former” Alaska state representative Victor Kohring “to consider pleading guilty in a corruption case, said his lawyer, who wants a federal judge to review the department’s actions,” the New York Times reports. “The case has reached into Washington, where a senator and a member of the House have come under scrutiny.”
• “Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell heads to Capitol Hill this week seeking to extend the government’s power to read e-mails, listen to telephone calls and carry out other surveillance within the USA in national security cases,” USA Today reports. “Democrats, including” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., “are criticizing McConnell’s proposals.”

IRAQ

• “Militants stepped up attacks across Iraq on Sunday, killing at least 30 people in a spate of bombings and shootings that followed a threat by al Qaeda to launch a new phase of violence,” Reuters reports. “Besides the attacks by militants, Iraqi police said security contractors were involved in an incident in which up to 10 people were shot dead in Baghdad’s western Mansour district.”
• “The U.S. ambassador to Iraq warned that it may take the U.S. government as long as two years to process and admit nearly 10,000 Iraqi refugees referred by the United Nations for resettlement to the United States, because of bureaucratic bottlenecks,” the Washington Post reports. “In a bluntly worded State Department cable titled ‘Iraqi Refugee Processing: Can We Speed It Up?’ Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker noted that the Department of Homeland Security had only a handful of officers in Jordan to vet the refugees.”
• “Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he would advise President Bush to veto a Senate proposal that would effectively force a major drawdown of American forces in Iraq,” the Washington Times reports.  “The proposal, sponsored by Sen. James H. Webb Jr., Virginia Democrat, that would require that troops be given equal time off to match tours of duty, was dismissed by Mr. Gates as ‘a backdoor way to try and force the president to accelerate the drawdown.’ ”
• “The U.S. military said Sunday that its forces had captured an Iraqi suspected in the killing of a tribal leader who had helped organize local forces against Al Qaeda-linked insurgents in Anbar province,” the LA Times reports. “The slaying of Abdul Sattar Rishawi on Thursday was part of a plot by militants to kill leaders of the Anbar Salvation Council, a coalition of tribes, military officials said.”

NATION

• “An obscure provision slipped into a $120 billion Iraq spending bill in May threatens to leave some poor and disabled Medicaid recipients without prescription drugs in October,” USA Today reports. “In a case of unintended consequences, Congress inserted a rule cracking down on Medicaid fraud that requires that all non-electronic prescriptions for Medicaid patients be written on tamper-resistant paper.”
• “In the first major antiwar demonstration in the nation’s capital since January, several thousand protesters marched from the White House to the Capitol on Saturday, carrying signs and chanting slogans demanding an end to the Iraq war and the impeachment of President Bush,” the Los Angeles Times reports.  “A smaller group conducted a counter-demonstration to support the president and the war, leading to some heated confrontations. But the event was mostly peaceful — until more than 100 protesters jumped barriers around the Capitol and were arrested on the building’s steps late in the day.”

WORLD

• “French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says the world should prepare for war over Iran’s nuclear programme,” the BBC reports. ” ‘We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war,’ Mr Kouchner said in an interview on French TV and radio.”
• “A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a local government compound in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing four policemen and four civilians and wounding seven, the district chief said,” Reuters reports.   “He said the attack took place in the Naadali district of Helmand province, which has seen some of the worst violence between the resurgent Taliban on one side and Afghan and foreign troops on the other.”
• “Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf plans to stand down as army chief by 15 November, an official from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) says,” BBC News reports. “Musharraf will resign from the powerful post after the presidential elections, said Mushahid Hussain Sayed, the PML’s secretary general.”

TPC Roundup - Troop Interruptus

HEADLINES

• Bush Orders Withdrawal in Speech Filled with “Misstatements”; War Critics Not Amused
• White House Issues Iraq Report
• Key Sunni Leader Assassinated in Anbar
• NJ Refuses to Obey Federal SCIHP Rules
• Russia Confirms New Prime Minister
• Giuliani Attacks Clinton over MoveOn Ad
• Stevens Alaska Scandal Deepens

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WASHINGTON

• “President Bush tried to turn a corner in the fractious debate over Iraq last night by ordering the first limited troop withdrawals since voters elected an antiwar Congress last year,” the Washington Post reports. “But the move did little to appease Democratic leaders, who dismissed it as a token gesture masking an open-ended commitment of U.S. troops.”
• When discussing the status of Iraq, President Bush frequently refers to the “facts on the ground,” however, the President had difficulty with facts in his speech last night. The Washington Post reports, “President Bush made a case for progress in Iraq by citing facts and statistics that at times contradicted recent government reports or his own words.
• “Congressional Democrats vowed Thursday to press for steeper troop reductions in Iraq than President Bush wants, but the top Senate Republican predicted they won’t have the votes to alter the White House proposal,” USA Today reports. “‘The president failed to provide either a plan to successfully end the war or a convincing rationale to continue it,’ said Sen. Jack Reed” of Rhode Island.
• “A new White House report on Iraq shows slim progress, moving just one more political and security goal into the satisfactory column: efforts to let former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party to rejoin the political process,” AP reports via the Las Vegas Sun. “The latest conclusions, to be released” today, “largely track a comparable poor assessment in July on 18 benchmarks.” TPM Muckracker highlights some of the contradictions.
• “Democrats, anti-war groups and liberal bloggers are pounding on House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) for saying U.S. military deaths in Iraq are ‘a small price’ to pay to stop al Qaeda from carrying out more terrorist attacks and stabilizing the Middle East,’” The Politico reports. “Boehner made the comments during a Wednesday interview by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.”
• John Kerry lashed out at House Minority Leader John Boehner in a post at the Huffington Post. “What a stunningly cavalier statement about the lives of the young men and women who serve our country.Whether you support or oppose the Bush escalation, no American should ever for even a moment think the cost of war is small.”
• “After nine months of noisy controversy over his troubled tenure, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales is leaving office quietly today with a low-key farewell address to Justice Department employees in Washington,” the Washington Post reports. “Gonzales, who has made only three public appearances since announcing his resignation on Aug. 27, is expected to dwell on his record in combating terrorism, child exploitation and other crimes rather than on the divisive issues that forced him from the job.”

IRAQ

• “A charismatic tribal leader who allied himself with the United States and rallied fractious Sunni groups against extremists who claim links to al-Qaeda was killed Thursday afternoon when a bomb exploded outside his house in Anbar province,” the Washington Post reports. “The efforts of Abdul Sattar Abu Risha became the centerpiece of the Bush administration’s campaign to prove its troop buildup in Iraq has been a success.”
• “An al-Qaida-linked insurgent group released a video Thursday showing the body of a U.S. pilot killed in Iraq last year, a photograph of his identification card and footage of his aircraft’s wreckage site, U.S. monitors said,” AP reports. “The video,” which “was first obtained by the IntelCenter monitoring group in suburban Washington,” shows “the ID card photograph of Air Force pilot Maj. Troy L. Gilbert, whose F-16CG crashed Nov. 27, 2006, some 20 miles northwest of Baghdad.”

NATION

• “Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine informed President Bush this week that New Jersey will not obey federal rules that would make it harder to enroll middle-income kids for a popular government-subsidized health insurance program,” the Washington Post reports. “His move escalated the growing confrontation between a number of states and the administration over the new rules imposed on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.”
• “A judge ordered a cash bond of $5 million for Norman Hsu, the shadowy Democratic fund-raiser, after Colorado authorities told the court here that Mr. Hsu might have been involved in another multimillion-dollar fraud investigation involving dozens of investors in Orange County, Calif.,” the New York Times reports. “The revelation that Mr. Hsu, a fugitive for 15 years in a California fraud case, might be implicated in another fraud investigation came after New York investors learned this week that $40 million they had invested with Mr. Hsu might be in jeopardy.”

INTERNATIONAL

• “Viktor Zubkov has been confirmed as Russia’s new prime minister and has pledged to wage a war on corruption,” BBC News reports. “The lower house of parliament voted 381 to 47 to approve his nomination, submitted by President Vladimir Putin in a surprise move on Wednesday.”
• “At least 15 soldiers from an elite commando unit were killed Thursday evening when a blast, apparently set off by a suicide bomber, tore through the dining hall of a military installation in northwestern Pakistan,” the New York Times reports. “At least 27 soldiers were wounded; six were in critical condition.”
• “NATO is ready to discuss bringing France back fully into the fold after signals from Paris it may reverse its decision 41 years ago to quit the alliance’s military structures,” Reuters reports. “President Nicolas Sarkozy set the tone with a keynote foreign-policy speech last month, insisting NATO was no rival to France’s ambition of a robust European Union defense capability.”

ELECTIONS 2008

• “Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani on Thursday accused Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton of participating in ”character assassination” for questioning Gen. David Petraeus about his assessment of progress in Iraq,” AP reports. “Campaigning in Georgia, Giuliani assailed Clinton for the second straight day and tried to link her to a newspaper ad from the liberal anti-war group MoveOn that was critical of Petraeus. The ad accused Petraeus of ‘cooking the books’ for the White House. ‘General Petraeus or General Betray Us?’ it asked, playing off his name.”
• Although a link cannot be provided, Giuliani placed an ad in the New York Times in response to MoveOn’s ad on Petraeus.

SCANDALS

• The scandal surrounding Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AL) and his son continues to heat up. “The former head of an oil field service company admitted Thursday in court that he bribed three Alaska legislators, including the son of a U.S. senator who is the target of a federal investigation,” the Washington Post reports. “Former VECO Corp. CEO Bill Allen, 70, testified Thursday in the federal corruption trial of former state House Speaker Pete Kott. Allen and a former company vice president, Rick Smith, have pleaded guilty to bribing lawmakers, and await sentencing.”

TPC Roundup - Pig in a Poke

Headlines:

• Bush will announce troop reductions by next summer
• Schumer against White House selecting Ted Olson for AG
• Speaker Pelosi says Bush’s troop plan is an insult
• U.S. officials in secret talks with Sadr army since early 2006
• Not looking good for Ted Stevens - implicated in FBI video
• Vitter’s prostitution woes mount
• Judge to hear Craig’s plea for withdrawal

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The Bush Administration: A Perpetual Cabal

Disagreement between Petraeus and Fallon on Iraq

Summed up in 25 words or less

The significance of Petraeus’s testimony tomorrow

Rhetoric and nothing else

Iraq

• President Bush will reportedly try to sell Americans yet another farce Thursday evening by announcing that “he understands American’s deep concerns and therefore plans to reduce the American troops presence in Iraq by as many as 30,000 by next summer.” First, it is not a guaranteed reduction in troops since Bush is insisting that conditions on the ground must warrant cuts and that events could change the plan. Second, the troops were already scheduled to come out based on tour limits; Bush will simply not replace those ending their tour of duty. Third, the military overall cannot maintain the current troop levels in Iraq and continue to provide adequate protection elsewhere. If the military does not get a mass infusion of trained soldiers by next summer, the military will break; therefore, Bush has no choice but to withdraw the troops and place them elsewhere.
• General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Croker “conceded Tuesday that the Bush administration’s overall strategy in Iraq would remain largely unchanged after the temporary increase in American forces is over next summer, and made clear their view that the United States would need a major troop presence in Iraq for years to come.” the New York Times reports.
• “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Bush appears poised to bring the country back to where it was before the election that put Democrats in control of Congress — with 130,000 troops in Iraq. ‘Please. It’s an insult to the intelligence of the American people that that is a new direction in Iraq,’” the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
• In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday, General David Petraeus said he “did not know” if victory in Iraq would make America safe.”
• “U.S. diplomats and military officers have been in talks with members of the armed movement loyal to Muqtada Sadr, a sharp reversal of policy and a grudging recognition that the radical Shiite cleric holds a dominant position in much of Baghdad and other parts of Iraq,” the LA Times reports. “The secret dialogue has been going on since at least early 2006, but appeared to yield a tangible result only in the last week — with relative calm in an area of west Baghdad that has been among the capital’s most dangerous sections.”

Replacing Alberto Gonzales

• The White House is closing in on a nominee to replace Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, with former Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson considered one of the leading candidates, administration and Congressional officials said Tuesday,” the New York Times reports.
• Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), a leading Democrat and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, commenting on the potential nominee said, “Clearly if you made a list of consensus nominees, Olson wouldn’t appear on that list. My hope is that the White House would seek some kind of candidate who would be broadly acceptable.”

Scandals

• “Analysts said the political future of U.S. Sen. David Vitter again was thrown into question Tuesday after a former New Orleans prostitute vouched in person that the senator was one of her former clients,” the Houston Chronicle reports. This is the second allegation made against Vitter, who previously admitted he was a client of the now infamous DC Madam.
• “During a secret meeting to discuss what prosecutors say was a dirty deal to keep Alaska oil taxes low, two oil contractors said they had a powerful ally coming to town who could help stress the industry’s importance: Sen. Ted Stevens,” USA Today reports. “The FBI played a videotape of the 2006 meeting Tuesday in a corruption trial against former Alaska House Speaker Pete Kott, who is accused of taking gifts and favors in exchange for supporting oil interests.”
• “Sen. Larry E. Craig’s request to withdraw his guilty plea in an airport sex sting will be heard Sept. 26, just four days before the Idaho Republican has said he will step down from his Senate seat,” AP reports. “A spokesman for Craig has said the senator is unlikely to try to finish his third term unless a court moves quickly to overturn his conviction.”

TPC Roundup

IRAQ

As noted here at TPC last night, General David Petraeus reported he wants to defer any decisions on major troop withdrawals for six months; may begin a limited withdrawal of 4,000 troops in mid-December; and, might have troop levels in Iraq down to 15 brigades by mid-July.

With respect to congressional hearings today, Ambassador Ryan Crocker’s testimony will likely be more significant than Petraeus’s highly anticipated report. Crocker will be weighing in on most of the political issues, which, in essence, are the keys to the kingdom.

Senior Iraqi officials released statements yesterday that seem oddly coincidental. “Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told lawmakers…that Iraqi forces were not ready to take over security from the U.S. military across the country,” the Washington Post reports. “There have been tangible improvements in security in the recent period in Baghdad and the provinces but it is not enough.”

Additionally, according to the Post, “Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari…called on Iraq’s neighbors to stop interfering in Iraqi affairs and warned that ongoing violence threatens to spread across the region.”

“What will happen in Iraq will decide the future of this region, therefore everybody has a genuine interest in cooperating with the Iraqi government at this stage,” Zebari said. “The failure of Iraq is the failure of the region.”

And if you weren’t quite sure of the Bush administration’s intentions, this little nugget might help. The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports “the Pentagon is preparing to build its first base for U.S. forces near the Iraqi-Iranian border, in a major new effort to curb the flow of advanced Iranian weaponry to Shiite militants across Iraq.”

REPLACING ALBERTO GONZALES

According to Roll Call (sub. req.):

The White House appears to be focusing on former Solicitor General Ted Olson as the next attorney general, Senate Democrats are expected to delay President Bush’s nominee in the hopes of forcing the administration to produce thousands of pages of documents on a variety of issues, including the firing of nine U.S. attorneys last year. (Emphasis added.)

Sources in both parties said that even if Bush nominates an otherwise noncontroversial attorney general, they don’t expect a speedy confirmation. While Alberto Gonzales may no longer serve as the No. 1 target for Justice Department failures, the agency’s problems remain.

The Democrats may want to thoroughly check Olsen’s prior work. My recollection is that Olson wrote an opinion creating the Unitary Executive theory while serving as head of the Office of Legal Counsel during the Reagan administration. Vice President Dick Cheney based his recent claim that he is not part of the Executive Branch on Olson’s opinion. Just remember, that’s my recollection and I may have my facts mixed up, but if I am correct, that is a significant issue the Senate will need to address.

OSAMA BIN LADEN

This is a bit surprising considering the source. Frances Townsend, the White House’s chief homeland security adviser, said Osama bin Laden “is a ‘man on the run’ who has demonstrated in his latest videotape release that he is ‘virtually impotent’ and capable of nothing more than threats,” FOX News reports.

This morning MSNBC via the AP is reporting a “new Osama tape will present ‘Last Testament’ of 9/11 hijacker.” (no link available at this time)

Late Update: MSNBC is reporting the tape will be released in the next 24 to 72 hours.

SCANDALS

“Sen. Larry Craig will file court documents Monday asking to withdraw his guilty plea in a sex sting that seems likely to end his career, his attorney said,” the AP reports. However, according to “Attorney William Martin…such requests are rarely granted.”

Inspector General announces broad investigation of Gonzales

The Justice Department’s Inspector General (IG) informed Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is pursuing a broad investigation of outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Although the Inspector General, Glenn Fine, had already started an investigation of Gonzales in June, his letter today was in response to an August 16 request from Leahy to, in effect, expand the investigation.

Leahy released a statement today announcing the IG’s response and summarized his rather lengthy 8/16 request.

I look forward to the Inspector General?s findings on the unprecedented firings of nine United States Attorneys, the improper political hiring of career officials within the Justice Department, the misuse of National Security Letters, and the efforts to bypass the Department?s finding that a warrantless surveillance program was without legal basis. These actions have eroded the public?s trust and undermined morale within our justice system, from the top ranks to the cop on the beat.

Fine wrote (pdf) Leahy:

The OIG has ongoing investigations that relate to most of the subjects addressed by the Attorney General’s testimony that you identified. In particular, the OIG is conducting a review relating to the terrorist surveillance program, as well as a follow-up review of the use of national security letters. In addition, the OIG is conducting a joint investigation with the Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility into allegations regarding the removal of certain United States Attorneys and improper hiring practices.

Although the pressure on Gonzales has been increasing for months, after reading Leahy’s August 16 letter (pdf) to Fine it is easy to see the rapid acceleration of the final milestones that lead to Gonzales’ resignation.

The day before the August 3 deadline for Gonzales to provide clarification and additional information to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter said, “I think we need to finish this investigation and find a way to end the tenure of Attorney General Gonzales.” It looks like Leahy’s letter to Fine was “the way.”

It would be hard to argue that Leahy’s 8/16 letter to Fine was anything but damaging to Gonzales, his lieutenants, and possibly the White House. It is carefully worded to allow full discovery wherever it may lead.

Furthermore, while reading through Leahy’s letter you quickly realize you need an abacus to keep track of all the crimes Gonzales et al. likely committed. I would be very surprised if Leahy’s detailed investigation request was not the tipping point for Gonzales to tell George Boy goodbye.

No Recess Appointment

According to a Roll Call August 13 article, there will be no recess appointment to replace Alberto Gonzales.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has quietly shelved plans to hold the Senate in pro forma session this month after the White House agreed to refrain from making any executive appointments during the Senators’ August break.

Sources in both parties said the two parties reached an understanding whereby Reid agreed to move a series of outstanding White House nominations — 42 in total — before the Senate left town on Aug. 3. The Bush administration, meanwhile, agreed to refrain from making any surprise recess appointments over the break.

Ridiculously naive

Roger Simon at Politico:

Once famous for his loyalty to subordinates, Bush is now showing himself very capable of jettisoning the ones who create too much controversy.

A legacy that should never be permitted again

Alberto Gonzales finally succumbed to the overwhelming pressure of his self-inflicted wounds. How ironic and despicable. The highest law enforcement officer in the country was embroiled in corruption, incompetence, scandal, and improperly placed allegiances - all of his own making.

Dan Balz stated it perfectly.

It may be too late to wonder how much of this could have been avoided, but it is clear when it started. It may be too late to wonder how much of this could have been avoided but it is clear when it started. Gonzales was promoted from White House counsel to attorney general at a moment of maximum hubris at the White House, in the weeks after Bush’s reelection victory. At the peak of his powers, Bush put the Justice Department in the hands of someone who proved to be unprepared and ill-suited for the job.

Gonzales may be on his way out, but the hubris in the White House remains. With the pristine Marine One providing an ironic, if not eery background, the equally incompetent and tainted president declared Gonzales — the “man of integrity, decency, and principle” — was the victim of “months of unfair treatment.”

With all the chutzpah one could possibly muster up, the Decider had the unmitigated gall to claim Gonzales was “impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons.” I’m sure Valerie and Joseph Wilson and the eight U.S. attorneys Gonzales and the White House fired for “performance reasons” whole-heartedly agreed.

Gonzales may have resigned today, but the consequences of his actions will be around for years to come. In the short-term, he must face Congress, but for years to come, jurors will be skeptical of every case a U.S. attorney attempts to prosecute. When every victim — civilian or soldier — of the Bush administration’s detainee policies and torture struggles through the nightmares of a ruined life or worse, Alberto Gonzales’ role in dismissing Habeas Corpus and declaring the Geneva Conventions “quaint” will give them no comfort.

At minimum, Mr. Gonzales should be prohibited from ever practicing law anywhere or working as a public official at any level in the future. A disgraceful man deserves to be disgraced.

Replacing Alberto Gonzales

Looking for an executive position? The Justice Department has plenty of vacancies. In fact, the top echelon at the DOJ is vacant — the Deputy Attorney General and the Associate Attorney General positions are all acting positions. Obviously the void at the top is why President Bush decided to name Solicitor General Paul Clement to serve as Acting Attorney General.

Based on past and present reactions, Senate Democrats will ensure the confirmation process of any Bush nominee will be rigorous — no more of the so called “Texas Mafia.” With only 18 months left in his reign, and a proven record of thumbing his nose at Congress, I would not be surprised to see George Bush quickly make a recess appointment. And quick it would have to be since Congress is scheduled to return in just eight days.

Bush has a tremendous amount at stake now that his Gatekeeper is gone. With all the Congressional investigations underway and the looming Constitutional crisis related to Executive Privilege, the Bush administration’s house of cards could come tumbling down if there is not an attorney general in place that pledges allegiance to George Bush, instead of the flag.

Bush: Gonzales received ‘unfair treatement.’

President Bush praised Alberto Gonzales today and blamed Democrats saying Alberto Gonzales received “unfair treatment.”

This morning, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that he will leave the Department of Justice, after two and a half years of service to the department. Al Gonzales is a man of integrity, decency and principle. And I have reluctantly accepted his resignation, with great appreciation for the service that he has provided for our country.

As Attorney General and before that, as White House counsel, Al Gonzales has played a role in shaping our policies in the war on terror, and has worked tirelessly to make this country safer. The Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act and other important laws bear his imprint. Under his leadership, the Justice Department has made a priority of protecting children from Internet predators, and made enforcement of civil rights laws a top priority. He aggressively and successfully pursued public corruption and effectively combated gang violence.

As Attorney General he played an important role in helping to confirm two fine jurists in Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. He did an outstanding job as White House Counsel, identifying and recommending the best nominees to fill critically important federal court vacancies.

Alberto Gonzales’s tenure as Attorney General and White House Counsel is only part of a long history of distinguished public service that began as a young man when, after high school, he enlisted in the United States Air Force. When I became governor of Texas in 1995, I recruited him from one of Texas’s most prestigious law firms to be my general counsel. He went on to become Texas’s 100th secretary of state and to serve on our state’s supreme court. In the long course of our work together this trusted advisor became a close friend.

These various positions have required sacrifice from Al, his wife Becky, their sons Jared, Graham and Gabriel, and I thank them for their service to the country.

After months of unfair treatment that has created a harmful distraction at the Justice Department, Judge Gonzales decided to resign his position, and I accept his decision. It’s sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons.

I’ve asked Solicitor General Paul Clement to serve as Acting Attorney General upon Alberto Gonzales’s departure and until a nominee has been confirmed by the Senate. He’s agreed to do so. Paul is one of the finest lawyers in America. As Solicitor General, Paul has developed a reputation for excellence and fairness, and earned the respect and confidence of the entire Justice Department.

Thank you.

Available formats: Windows Media (.wmv), Flash Video (.flv)

Psst! Gonzales May Be Leaving

It’s not time to bring out the party hats yet, but there is always hope. U.S. News is reporting rumors that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may be on the way out.

The buzz among top Bushies is that beleaguered Attorney General Alberto Gonzales finally plans to depart and will be replaced by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Why Chertoff? Officials say he’s got fans on Capitol Hill, is untouched by the Justice prosecutor scandal, and has more experience than Gonzales did, having served as a federal judge and assistant attorney general.

It’s hard to believe George Bush’s gatekeeper will actually leave, and furthermore, I don’t envision Chertoff sailing through Senate confirmation. Many considered Chertoff to be equally responsible for the Katrina fiasco as Michael “Brownie” Brown and George Bush were. And, there’s also that “gut feeling” warning he issued about terrorist attacks this summer.

Mueller Releases Notes on Hospital Visit to Congress

As promised in his 7/26 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, FBI Director Robert Mueller has provided the committee his notes (pdf) of the infamous confrontation between Alberto Gonzales and then Acting Attorney General James Comey in John Ashcroft’s hospital.

Mueller’s view that the meeting was “out of the ordinary” prompted his notation of the incident.

Does anybody find it extraordinary that the White House is not obstructing Director Mueller’s full cooperation with Congress, when they have literally blocked everybody else? Mueller has yet, to my knowledge, asserted any White House declaration of executive privilege?

I sense Mueller may have taken a “stick in your eye” position with the White House. In other words, if the White House attempts to constrain him and compromise his ethics, Mueller might provide more information than just specific answers to specific questions from Congress.

An excerpt:

Wednesday, 3/10/04:

@1920: Called by DAG while at restaurant with wife and daughter. He is at AG’s hospital with Goldmsith and Philbin. Tells me Card and J. Gonzales are on the way to the hospital to see the AG, but that AG is in no condition to see them, much less make decision to authorize continuation of the program. Asks me to come to AG’s hospital to witness condition of AG.

@1940: At hospital. Card and J. Gonzales have come and gone. Comey tells me that they saw the AG and were told by the AG that he was in no condition to decide issues, and that Comey was the Acting AG. All matters were to be taken to him, but that he supported the Acting AG’s position. The AG then reviewed for them the legal concerns relating to the program. The AG also told them that he was barred from obtaining the advice he needed on the program by the strict compartmentalization rules of the WH. Comey asked me to meet briefly with the AG to see his condition. He also asked that I inform the detail that no visitors, other than family, were to be allowed to see the AG without my consent. (I so informed the detail.)

@20:10: Saw AG. Janet Ashcroft in the room. AG in chair; is feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed.

Patriot Act Shifts Death Penalty Responsibilities to Gonzales

The Executive Branch, and more specifically the U.S. Attorney General, will soon gain additional responsibilities for determining the appropriateness and validity of death penalty sentences imposed by states, and consequently short-circuiting the existing appeal process that currently resides in the purview of the federal courts as provided for in the U.S. Constitution. That’s right, instead of being booted out of the Bush administration for proven incompetence and probable criminal activities, Alberto Gonzales will gain more power that is arguably unconstitutional.

During the Patriot Act reauthorization process last year, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA) slipped new “language in the Patriot Act…that let the attorney general, rather than judges, decide whether states were ensuring death row inmates had adequate legal representation,” the L.A. Times reports.

The rules implement a little-noticed provision in last year’s reauthorization of the Patriot Act that gives the attorney general the power to decide whether individual states are providing adequate counsel for defendants in death penalty cases. The authority has been held by federal judges.

Under the rules now being prepared, if a state requested it and Gonzales agreed, prosecutors could use “fast track” procedures that could shave years off the time that a death row inmate has to appeal to the federal courts after conviction in a state court.

[...] Frustrated with the pace of changes — and believing that judges were part of the problem — death penalty advocates Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Gold River) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) led a successful effort to include language in the Patriot Act last year that let the attorney general, rather than judges, decide whether states were ensuring death row inmates had adequate legal representation.

It’s bad enough that Alberto Gonzales will be tasked with this responsibility, but that notwithstanding, why has the Justice Department been given responsibilities that are clearly defined as being held by the Judicial Branch?

Did anybody in Congress read the Patriot Act (1.0 or 2.0) before voting on it?

This action and countless others clearly demonstrates how George Bush and Dick Cheney have implemented an authoritarian rule over the country. The dismantling of the Constitution and the Republic by the Bush administration is what I focused on in my previously mentioned mini-sabbatical, and will be discussing in the coming days.

Arguably, this country is facing more than a potential constitutional crisis. This is not hyperbole or hubris - the country’s ability to function as a republic is seriously at risk. While the Bush administration is doing more than their fair share of damage, Congress, the media, and We the People are all complicit. We cannot possibly boil the ocean all at once, but we can focus on this particular issue for now at least.

According to the Times, the Justice Department is “seeking public comment on the [new] rules until Sept. 23.” Unfortunately, they did not provide additional information on how or where to participate in the public discourse. Does anybody already have the scoop on submitting public comments?

Snow to Specter: We’ll get back with you

There is no news on the letter Sen. Arlene Specter (R-PA) requested from the White House by no later than Noon today. MSNBC reported Specter said he had not received the letter and would not comment further. In today’s White House press briefing, Tony Snow said the letter would be issued from the Justice Department, and that’s it.

And so we wait.