WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2007
Contempt Citations For Rove, Bolten
Senate Panel Slams Bush Aides For Failing To Cooperate In Prosecutor Firings Probe
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Photo
White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, left, and then-White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, right, listen to President Bush speak during a White House news conference, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
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Justice Department at center of controversy over firing of eight U.S. attorneys.
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End Of The Rove
President Bush's longtime friend and political mastermind Karl Rove resigns.
The 12-7 vote sent the citation against the two to the full Senate, but it was not certain to advance further.
Rove, the architect of President Bush's two campaigns for the White House, and Bolten, the president's chief of staff, have refused to comply with subpoenas demanding testimony and documents in the congressional probe.
Rove, who recently left government, and Bolten claim the information Congress demands is off-limits under executive privilege. Lawmakers in both the House and Senate dispute that.
Presidents from both parties have invoked executive privilege, arguing that close aides will not give them their best advice if they know they might have to appear before Congress under oath.
The Senate Judiciary Committee vote means that contempt citations against Bush administration officials await floor action in both chambers of Congress.
It is not clear they will advance any further.
Even if the citations receive floor votes, the issue likely would land in federal courts in a drawn-out constitutional showdown over what White House information should be made available for congressional oversight.
Any court proceedings would almost certainly survive the Bush administration, which ends in January 2009.
The White House denounced the citations, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller. Press Secretary Dana Perino said it shows Democrats are more interested in headlines than serious legislation since President Bush is claiming executive privilege over testimony by Rove and Bolten.
Perino said contempt citations are a futile and purely political act.
Lawmakers of both parties say Congress should not threaten to cite someone with contempt and not follow through.
"I vote for the contempt citations knowing that it's highly likely to be a meaningless act," Sen. Arlen Specter, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee. "In this context we have no alternative."
Specter and Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican, joined 10 Democrats to report the citation to the full Senate. All seven no votes came from Republicans.
The House's contempt citations name Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers, who also refused to testify. Leaders of that chamber had planned a floor vote since September and say it is still possible.
Congress is expected to adjourn next week until January.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 53 Comments"Anyone who thinks they can operate with no oversight whatsover, conduct themselves with complete disregard for the law or morality, and thumb their nose at the other branches of government as if they didn''''t even exist are, indeed, contemptuous individuals and deserve to be cited as such."
You just described CONGRESS perfectly.
So which is it??
Posted by SBB2211 at 03:55 PM : Dec 13, 2007
Did I now? You must have slept through the 2006 elections when a whole slew of congressmen were held accountable by the voters......
why does it bother you that congress wants to fulfill constitutional responsibility of oversight over bush administration??
Posted by jmcgilvray at 04:15 PM : Dec 13, 2007
And they''ve the passage redacted in their bibles that states "obey the laws of the land", obviously.....
"why does it bother you that congress wants to fulfill constitutional responsibility of oversight over bush administration??"
I never said that it bothered me. If you read it, I AM BOTHERED by Congress (Legislative branch) running roughshod over the Administrative and Judicial branches of our government. The three branches must have EQUAL power, but Congress is showing that it believes itself to be above the other two.
They demand oversight powers on everything, but where is the oversight of Congress? We have to wait until elections before we can do anything, because Congress WILL NOT police it''s own.
Posted by SBB2211 at 04:27 PM : Dec 13, 2007
Best laugh I''ve had all day. Thanks.
The Great Emperor views anything that the Whimp-ocrats in Congress do as of no consequence since he knows that when the Great Emperor talks tough, the Whimp-ocrats "whimper and cower" in terror. Because of their constant "caving" to the Emperor''s demands, the Great Emperor has no respect for men and women who have backbones of jelly and haven''t the "muscle or nerve" to back up their demands.
SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!
What is being done here is an attempt to make something out of nothing and get someone on record that can be perjured.
Posted by denn034 at 04:41 PM : Dec 13, 2007
As in refusing to testify was for political reasons? I''m betting it''s more along the lines of destroying tapes...not politics, but rather, obstruction of justice.
What a bunch of arseclowns! Rove should send the dems a stool sample. They deserve no less.
Posted by Infidel_Us at 04:51 PM : Dec 13, 2007
10 to 1 he won''t. They''d find other Repubs DNA......
I find your idea of Justice for All rather one-sided.
Cheney''s centralizing power in the non-existing fourth branch of our triune government is not something you find terribly upsetting, why is that?
All this time, the Bush, Cheney, and *** Blossom brand of justice is using the new litter-box methodology of covering all evidences of their suspect activities under a cardboard National Secrets coversheet? Why would they have to hide anything if they had nothing to hide, after all, it is the GOP idol, Ronald Reagan who advocated "transparent government" but that died at the door of Cheney''s Energy Meetings back in 2000, and we haven''t seen open government since.
What Congress is doing is scrambling to keep up with the endless outpouring of scandals and less-than-ethical goings-on of the Bush administration for the past 7 years. They aren''t going to get to the bottom of a quarter of the mess our national capital is in, thanks to the the Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Trio. What once was a Ho'' House is now blood red from war and murder and cronyism and stacking the scales of justice until they tip to benefit one group of people over another.
One nation under God with Liberty and Justice For All.
What would be better served by your arguement was if you actually read what the issue really is. For years, you empty talkers say the same thing over and over about firing the AG''s. No one with a brain told you you were wrong, because you aren''t. But there you stop. And it is NOT the issue.
The issue is the firing of folks who wouldn''t take pressure from Congressional legislators to do something unethical. Congressional legislators are NOT legally allowed to call AG''s and put pressure on them regarding ANY investigations. These people were fired for not either taking such calls or not taking the "advice" of those who called regarding investigations the AG''s are always doing.
The issue was that AG''s were fired, some of them REPUBLICAN AGs, for choosing ethics over party loyalty.
So your stance on this issue isn''t defending the ones who wanted to be ethical, your stance as written is in defense of the ones who were breaking the rules.
Posted by AaaBee at 05:21 PM : Dec 13, 2007
Except for commies, socialists, libs, muslims, illegal aliens, flamming ***, and actors. :)
Posted by AaaBee at 06:14 PM : Dec 13, 2007
Oh really? And where does your information come from that you KNOW they were fired for being ''ethical''? That''s the best line of dog squeeze I''ve heard all week!!!
Let me go get the link......
Federal prosecutors serve at the pleasure of the president, after all.
It''s appropriate that they follow the general political priorities of the chief executive who appointed them, say legal experts.
Congressional investigations have focused on whether the Department of Justice and the White House were using the U.S. Attorney positions for political advantage. Allegations are that some of the attorneys were targeted for dismissal to impede investigations of Republican politicians or that some were targeted for their failure to initiate investigations that would damage Democratic politicians or hamper Democratic-leaning voters. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy
The controversy over the firings heightened last month after Iglesias [one of the fired AGs) told McClatchy Newspapers that two members of Congress called him in mid-October to pressure him to complete a corruption investigation of several Democrats before the November elections. parenthasis mine. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031007Z.shtml
John McKay, the former US attorney in Seattle, has himself said indications are he was fired because of his refusal to bring voter fraud cases after the 2004 Washington gubernatorial election, which the Democratic candidate won narrowly.
David Iglesias, former US attorney in Albuquerque, N.M., similarly has said he received phone calls from congressional Republicans rebuking him for not pursuing Democrats more aggressively in election-year investigations.
"The dismissed US attorneys have testified under oath and said in public that they believe political influence was applied. They have given chapter and verse and specific examples," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, at a Thursday hearing. "If they are right, that mixing of partisan political goals into federal law enforcement is highly improper." Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0330/p01s02-usju.html
At least one of the firings appears to have impeded a federal investigation into prominent Republicans: that of Carol Lam (CA). That is illegal -- obstruction of justice is a felony. http://uspolitics.about.com/od/electionissues/i/attorney_firing_2.htm
Want more? There are tons of links to this.
here.
Justice Department official Monica Goodling testified that Rove''s friend Tim Griffith, one of the appointees, was involved in vote caging.
Some of the Rove e-mails that supposedly "disappeared"
were accidentally sent to an anti-bus website with a domain name similar to the RNC site. In those e-mails(which you can view at gregpalast.com) reveal the full nature of this 2004 vote stealing operation.
They were sending voter reg confirmation records to the Jacksonville-area homes of African-America service personnel deployed to Iraq.
These letters were marked "Do not forward" so they wouldn''t be delivered to the soldiers in Iraq. When they came back they removed these voters from the rolls. That means that when these soldiers voted absentee they didn''t know that their votes were being invalidated.
That''s how these gangsters support the troops. They make Hgo Chavez look like Thomas Jefferson.
The best way for the Republican party to regain trust from the American people would be to separate themselves from un-American activities like this.
I won''t be holding my breath waiting for that to happen.
I''ve always had nothing but contempt for the fat little piglet Rove and simpering apologist Bolton and I never needed a citation for it. Both of them are such complete and utter as*sholes that there really isn''t much left that anyone could do to their reputations as complete and total di*ckheads. However the thing is that they don''t care. Neither of them has any self-respect, pride or honor left. They know the entire world sees them as as*slickers and corrupt people of the lowest degree and they don''t care. Still I do wonder how their families hold their heads up in public? I mean think of Rove for instance. He''s actually married! That means there''s actually a real woman in the world who has such low self-esteem that she allows that pig to crawl on top of her, grunting and snorting, in the middle of the night to use her. Now that''s sick! Poor women. Or maybe she''s a "real doll" that he bought online?
Actually, sad to say, but I think a lot of people really did expect that. And I think having to shed that naivete has all but demoralized our country, especially in light of how they''ve ruined everything this country stands for. Not to mention all the lives lost from all their lies.
If anyone expects Bushit and Cheney not to pull out every dirty trick in that bag of theirs to stop issues like this from being voted through is nuts.
It''s all a mute point - nothing will happen and the democrats are just republican wipping boys.
Please do not wish him a natural death, no matter how painful, until after he is brought to justice for treason.
Only a crew of scumbags like these could turn that into worldwide disdain for our nation.
What an absolute disgrace. When presented with the choice of taking the high road or the low road, they take the low road every time.
Wow!!!I thought I was the only one who had noticed this resemblence. I have actually laid out pictures of those three azzholes and the resemblence is remarkable. Must be a defective gene pool out there somewhere.
According to one of the officials close to the investigation, the FBI is looking into several issues of possible fraud and abuse and has interviewed a number of former and current employees %u2014 some two or three times. A grand jury has been impaneled, and has issued subpoenas for documents.
The official said that in addition to the allegations involving Bowen accessing employee e-mails, the FBI is also looking into whether Bowen and his deputy, Ginger Cruz, may have inappropriately used taxpayer funds to pay their legal expenses associated with an administrative investigation that began in 2006.
In addition, the FBI probe may also review whether Bowen misled investigators about the cost of an expensive book project about the special inspector general''s activities in Iraq, which is being put together by his office.
FBI probes Iraq IG on misconduct claims
By LARA JAKES JORDAN and LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writers1 hour, 37 minutes ago
The FBI is investigating the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, Justice Department officials said, following allegations of misconduct from former employees.
The investigation of Stuart Bowen involves possible electronic tampering, including alleged efforts by the inspector general to go through e-mails of employees in his office, said two officials close to the inquiry Thursday. It is being handled by the FBI''s Washington field office, according to law enforcement officials, who like the first officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
(cont)
Posted by trillion1
Maybe then Chairman Mao Leahy can appoint some judges. There are 42 vacant judicial seats across the country. But that doesn''t concern Leaky Leahy. In the interest of justice this guy''s a putz.
Posted by simonsez40
Nothing like Leaky Leahy, Harry Reid and Nancy Pewlosi. All George Soros''s puppets. That''s why the Congress can''t get anything done, they''re infected with Bush Derangement Syndrome. Oh, BTW did you know that Bush''s approval rating is now 37%, while Congress approval is still 11% and declining?
Posted by mudrose
They won''t get anything done because sleazy Bush is going to VETO and Threaten any bill that might actually be presented that mirrors what most Americans want........you do ONLY WATCH FOX NEWS HUH?
Ann Coulter fan no doubt...........I''ll stick with Lou Dobbs!
In an interview with The Washington Post on November 11, 2003,[21] Soros said that removing President George W. Bush from office was the "central focus of my life" and "a matter of life and death." He said he would sacrifice his entire fortune to defeat President Bush, "if someone guaranteed it", and many continue to state this as Soros''s position even after Soros clarified the humorous nature of the statement in a Q&A session at the end of his March 3, 2004 address to California''s Commonwealth Club.
Soros gave $3 million to the Center for American Progress, committed $5 million to MoveOn, while he and his friend Peter Lewis each gave America Coming Together $10 million. (All were groups that worked to support Democrats in the 2004 election.) On September 28, 2004 he dedicated more money to the campaign and kicked off his own multi-state tour with a speech: Why We Must Not Re-elect President Bush[22] delivered at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
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