You Know How I Said Your Situation Could Be Worse?

Today I am busy fighting for truth, justice and the American way, but last night I noticed something in last night's document dump that bears further investigation.

On Saturday December 16, 2007, there was a brief email exchange between Monica Goodling and Rachel Paulose discussing the trials of Tim Griffin.

Monica--Subject Re: My Friday Afternoon --

"You know how I said your situation could be worse? Welcome to Tim's world. (BTW this was an interim AG appointment, just like yours [redaction]Tim, mind you, is an Oxford grad with prosecution exp. Will send you his release."

Rachel--Subject Re: My Friday Afternoon --

"good governor. Thank you for the reminder to count my blessings. I on my way to kickboxing class. Are you in the office late afternoon?"

I know what you are thinking. This is just Monica letting off steam. It is office talk among gal pals, and nothing more. Think about it a little. Monica was sharing her thoughts with Rachel about the trials of Tim Griffin. Rachel might have something to tell congressional investigators. At the very least, the exchange would suggest a telephone call, or an examination of their emails.

At the very least I would like to know what was redacted. It is taken right out of the middle of the relevant part of the Goodling email. I don't think it was a brownie recipe. The redaction is without doubt obstruction.

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Document Release Implicates Sara Taylor

Think Progress is reporting that the Department of Justice has released new documents connecting former White House political chief (and top aid to Karl Rove) Sara Taylor and her deputy Scott Jennings to the U.S. Attorney scandal. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy has released the following statement.

These documents, which should have been released by the Department long ago, provide further evidence that White House officials like former Political Director Sara Taylor were deeply involved in the mass firings of well-performing prosecutors. The Department of Justice should not be reduced to a political arm of the White House. We need an end to the White House’s stonewalling of our investigations so we can learn the truth.

Here is a link to the released documents.

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Tim Griffin Out In Arkansas

I first became interested in blogging because I became really, really interested in Tim Griffin, the protege of Karl Rove and former boss of Monica Goodling, who was named US Attorney in Arkansas after Bud Cummins was asked to leave. I just couldn't understand why that happened. Anyway, it can be argued that the entire US Attorney scandal started with Tim Griffin.

The Arkansas Times reports that Griffin is out as US Attorney effective June 1,2007. According to the TPMMuckraker Griffin is talking with the Thompson campaign about a top job.

Last week Sara Taylor left the Administration. Griffin this week. Both tied to caging activities in the 2004 election. I wonder. Can Sara be far behind. And what about Karl Rove. Shouldn't he be looking for work about now?

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Don't You Love It When A Plan Comes Together

On December 19, 2006, Kyle Sampson sent an email to Monica Goodling entitled "Another Griffin Article" concerning the status of Tim Griffin as US Attorney in the Eastern District of Arkansas. Apparently the press was raising questions concerning Griffin's status as United States Attorney. Was he an interim appointment or was he an appointment under the then existing Patriot Act? Sampson really didn't want to answer the question directly. He thought it best to "gum this to death" by first asking the Arkansas senators to give Tim a chance. If after delaying as long as possible the senators said, "no never", Sampson's plan was to run out the clock, taking their good sweet time to advertise for, find and nominate a replacement. He also indicated that he didn't mind Griffin being referred to as "interim US Attorney" in talking points with the understanding that he was appointed by the AG and hasn't gone through the normal confirmation process. Of course, the normal time limits for dealing with interim appointments would not apply since Griffin really was permanent.

So Sampson hatched a plan. Griffin was appointed under the Patriot Act. He could stay as long as Bush remained in office. To keep the natives happy the DoJ would pretend he was just another temporary Attorney General appointment. It would work with the local yokel senators, but it wouldn't work too hard. It would run out the clock finding a replacement. All in "good faith," of course.

The plan was apparently repudiated on January 18, 2007, when Alberto Gonzales testified "Let me publicly sort of pre-empt perhaps a question you're going to ask me, and that is, I am fully committed, as the administration's fully committed, to ensure that, with respect to every United States attorney position in this country, we will have a providentially appointed, Senate confirmed United States attorney.... I think a United States attorney,... as the law enforcement leader, my representative in the community;... has greater imprimatur of authority, if in fact that person's been confirmed by the Senate." On May 10, 2007, Murray Waas of the National Journal reported

A senior Justice Department official said that the (above) statement was truthful because by then Gonzales had abandoned the idea of using the PATRIOT Act to permanently install Griffin, and he was speaking about future appointments.

The dogged emptywheel has been working the Tim Griffin angle hard. So far she has uncovered nothing to indicate that Tim Griffin won't be the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas through the end of President Bush's term. According to emptywheel, Griffin's normal term as an interim would have expired on April 20, 2007. He's still working as US Attorney, and nobody has any idea when that will end.

Both Goodling and Sampson may have left the Department of Justice, but apparently Sampson's plan lives on. The DoJ is gumming the Griffin problem. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together.

Hats way off to emptywheel.

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Bud Cummins Wonders

Do you remember Bud Cummins. He is the US Attorney in Arkansas who was asked to give up his job so Karl Rove's protege Tim Griffin could pad his resume. Of course, given his history Tim Griffin is probably unconfirmable as a US Attorney. Padding his resume takes him no where. Most of us have assumed that Griffin was sent to Arkansas to do a hatchet job on Hillary Clinton.

Bud Cummins wonders if his work investigating the Republican Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, son of the powerful Roy Blunt (R-MO), might have had something to do with his firing. Read the LA Times article and wonder too.

The problem with turning the DoJ into a nest of partisan hacks is that lots of people start wondering about the motivations behind particular prosecutions. Soon everybody wonders if all corruption charges are politically motivated. After these firings all Deputy US Attorneys and other professionals in the Department of Justice have to wonder if they are graded down for being straight shooters and if they are graded up for being "loyal Bushies."

Every US Attorney now knows one thing is for sure, the AG doesn't have his back unless he puts being a "loyal Bushie" ahead of everything else.

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Griffin Will Not Stand for Confirmation Process

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports that

Tim Griffin, whose December appointment as U. S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas sparked a national outcry about surreptitious changes made to a law affecting federal prosecutors, says he no longer wants the job permanently.

“I have made the decision not to let my name go forward to the Senate,” Griffin said Thursday evening.

Apparently Griffin blames “the partisanship that has been exhibited by Sen. [Mark ] Pryor [D-Ark. ] and other senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the recent hearing” for his decision to bow out. I am sure his participation in the "caging" scheme discussed in my previous post has nothing to do with his decision not to undergo Senate Confirmation.

Griffin said that he will remain in office as interim until a permanent replacment is found. Without the needed change in the Patriot Act there is no pressure on the administration to name a permanent replacement so that could give him a good long time to dig dirt on Hillary.

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