Category Archives: Politics: US: GW Bush Scandals

If this latest Murray Waas story, NATIONAL JOURNAL: Secret Order By Gonzales Delegated Extraordinary Powers To Aides, has any truth, then the perversion of the course of justice at the DOJ was not just a quiet conspiracy but an open and notorious hijacking of the legal order.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales signed a highly confidential order in March 2006 delegating to two of his top aides — who have since resigned because of their central roles in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys — extraordinary authority over the hiring and firing of most non-civil-service employees of the Justice Department. A copy of the order and other Justice Department records related to the conception and implementation of the order were provided to National Journal.

In the order, Gonzales delegated to his then-chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, and his White House liaison “the authority, with the approval of the Attorney General, to take final action in matters pertaining to the appointment, employment, pay, separation, and general administration” of virtually all non-civil-service employees of the Justice Department, including all of the department's political appointees who do not require Senate confirmation. Monica Goodling became White House liaison in April 2006, the month after Gonzales signed the order.

The existence of the order suggests that a broad effort was under way by the White House to place politically and ideologically loyal appointees throughout the Justice Department, not just at the U.S.-attorney level. Department records show that the personnel authority was delegated to the two aides at about the same time they were working with the White House in planning the firings of a dozen U.S. attorneys, eight of whom were, in fact, later dismissed.

And, of course, this:

The senior administration official who had firsthand knowledge of the plan said that Gonzales and other Justice officials had a “clear obligation” to disclose the plan's existence to the House and Senate Judiciary committees — but the official said that, as far as he knew, they had not done so.

I ought to be inured, but both parts of this — the order, and the cover-up, are so raw that I actually find it hard to believe.

Although it sure ties up a lot of loose ends…

Read the whole thing. Weep. Then get even.

I know that GW Bush says all kinds of strange stuff, but is this the strangest (I don't mean most mendacious, that's different) remark of his current term in office?

Bush said sympathetic to Tillman family. President Bush hopes someone is held responsible for the U.S. military's mishandling of information about the death of former football star Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, the White House said Wednesday.

That sound you hear is brains leaking out all over America. See, the Tillman case involves many high-ranking people in the Army — Colonels and Generals and perhaps even high-ranking civilian officials — engaged in a knowing and willful conspiracy to cover up and then lie to the public about the circumstances of Pat Tillman's death. There is a chain of command here, and someone is a the top of it, either someone in a uniform or someone in a Pentagon. And either way, they report to one GW Bush.

So if this GW Bush who so vaguely and generally “hopes” that “someone” is held responsible also hopes that the “someone” held responsible is the person who is in fact responsible, all that GW Bush would have to do is pick up the phone and make one — one! — phone call to the current Secretary of Defense, asking for the appropriate head on a plate.

To read this statement from the White House is to be left with the belief that either

• GW Bush doesn't understand that he can give the Pentagon orders
• GW Bush thinks we don't understand he is the titular and (should he choose to exercise the role) actual head of government in this country as well as the Commander-in-Chief
• GW Bush hopes very much that someone is scapegoated for the ongoing Tillman PR disaster, but doesn't want to pick up the phone and order that the actual ringleader who ordered up this unnecessary and destructive piece of propaganda be unmasked because the truth (Rumsfeld? Cheney?) is too embarrassing.
• The words “someone” and “responsible” should not be used in the same paragraph as “GW Bush”.

We knew that Justice Dept. higher-ups, yes under Ashcroft too, were giving ridiculous preferences to right-wingers for the Honors Program (the entry-level way into great jobs at the Justice Dept.). That was pretty bad.

But I at least had no idea as to just how bad things were at DoJ until I read this account of the overt, systematic, and successful effort to blackball all Democrats from the top entry-level civil service jobs at DoJ. (Text of the whistle-blowing letter to Congress, via the Politico of all places.)

Talking Points Memo has an important point about the US Attorney firing scandal (“the Gonzales 8”): the White House has never denied that G.W. Bush participated in the decision.

And there's mounting evidence that he did.

Isn't it amazing that the press took a non-denial denial about Bush's direct involvement in the firing decision (“Anything’s possible … but I don’t think so.” — Tony Snow) and just let the matter drop? Shouldn't they be asking about this at every gaggle and press conference until they get a straight answer?

Lapdogs.

Heard an interesting snippet on NPR yesterday, and I found the transcriplt at NPR : Documents Show Justice Ranking U.S. Attorneys. Here's the key quote:

In a letter Thursday, White House Counsel Fred Fielding told Congress he won't budge from his original offer — to let Congress interview White House staffers privately, with no oath or transcript.

Sources tell NPR that Fielding actually wants to negotiate with Congress about how the interviews will take place. But Fielding has not been able to persuade President Bush to go along.

Assuming this is accurate, the most likely back story to this leak is that Fred Fielding is trying to save his reputation. And that means there's some really bad stuff lurking behind the stonewall. It also fits the public image of Bush as stonewaller-in-chief. (Shorter GW Bush: 'Congress, read my lips, no Iraq withdrawal. But come on by for a chat and I'll be happy to harangue you as long as you listen quietly.')

An alternate explanation for this story is that someone, perhaps Fielding perhaps someone else, is trying to put pressure on Gonzales or the White House to see reason. But I think that's less likely here. In previous administrations, leaks like this used to be salvos fired in internecine wars among the palace guard. That's been remarkably not the case in this administration due to a combination of exemplary message discipline and know-nothing disinterest in both reportage and reality. Then again, Fielding earned his chops in two of those earlier administrations…