Rove Link to U.S. Attorney Firing Detailed

(AP)  Former White House political adviser Karl Rove played a central role in the ouster of a U.S. attorney in New Mexico, one of nine prosecutors fired in a scandal in 2006 over political interference with the Justice Department, according to transcripts of closed-door testimony released Tuesday.

Harriet Miers, then White House counsel, said in testimony June 15 to House Judiciary Committee investigators that Rove was "very agitated" over U.S. Attorney David Iglesias "and wanted something done about it."

The committee released more than 5,400 pages of White House and Republican National Committee e-mails, along with transcripts of closed-door testimony by Miers and Rove. Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said the documents reveal that White House political officials were deeply involved in their firing of Iglesias and the other U.S. attorneys.

The documents show that staffers in Rove's office were actively seeking to have Iglesias removed after Republican figures in New Mexico complained that he was not pursuing voter fraud cases they wanted. In 2005, Rove aide Scott Jennings sent an e-mail to another Rove aide saying, "I would really like to move forward with getting rid of NM US ATTY."

Miers testified that Rove relayed to her complaints about Iglesias from political figures in New Mexico but added that she could not recall whether Rove told her specifically that the prosecutor should be fired.

"My best recollection is that he was very agitated about the U.S. attorney in New Mexico," Miers testified. "It was clear to me that he felt like he had a serious problem and that he wanted something done about it."

Rove's aides kept him apprised of complaints about Iglesias in other e-mails released Tuesday by the committee.

In a 2006 e-mail, Jennings told Rove that then Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., wanted Iglesias fired. "You are aware of the issues, I believe," Jennings said in the e-mail to Rove.

Rove issued a statement Tuesday saying the documents "show politics played no role in the Bush administration's removal of U.S. attorneys, that I never sought to influence the conduct of any prosecution, and that I played no role in deciding which U.S. attorneys were retained and which were replaced."

He added, "Rather than relying on partisans selectively quoting testimony or excerpting e-mail messages, I urge anyone interested to review the documents in their entirety."

A subsequent Justice Department inquiry into the firing of Iglesias and other U.S. attorneys concluded that political considerations played a part in as many as four of the dismissals. A political uproar led to a series of damaging revelations about the Bush administration's political meddling with the Justice Department and the eventual resignation of then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Iglesias said in an interview Tuesday he was nauseated by the whole affair.

"It's exactly what I feared. Over two years ago, I said that all roads lead to Rove," Iglesias said. "I've said consistently that he was highly involved, and now the evidence is there."

Iglesias said there wasn't enough evidence to pursue the voter fraud cases that Republicans wanted.

Conyers said he provided a copy of the documents to acting U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy, who questioned Rove earlier this year to determine his precise role in politically tinged firings.

"After all the delay and despite all the obfuscation, lies, and spin, this basic truth can no longer be denied: Karl Rove and his cohorts at the Bush White House were the driving force behind several of these firings, which were done for improper reasons," Conyers said.

Rove, who was interviewed by the committee on July 7 and again July 30, has told reporters in recent interviews that he simply as a conduit for other Republicans' complaints about the job performance of specific U.S. attorneys.

Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said the documents show no evidence of wrongdoing. "Democrats need to stop wasting taxpayers' time and money on political investigations that are nothing more than the politics of personal destruction," Smith said.

[harpoot]

I'm shocked!! Absolutely shocked. LMAO At least the Republigoons add a touch of levity as the facts come out.

[AK-47_Justice]

platteman
"Karl Rove is a patriot..."

"George W. Bush, who right now looks really smart..."
********************************


How absolutely delusional, but something we can all expect from a rabid rightwad drinking gallons of the GOP Kool-aid, and wanting America to have the worst leaders only for highly-partisan reasons.

Fact is, rove politicized our country more than ever after stealing the 2000 election through staffer thugs stopped the recount per FL law, and after lying numerous times under oath, should be in prison instead of spewing more foxnewsus propagandus.

[hungry1968-16]

The fat scummbbag has to be thrilled that this news is on the back page with all of the other events happening in America.

[prometheus21]

And now that it is known without any question whatsoever that Karl Rove was engaged in felonious activity and then LIED and/or CONCEALED that fact -- commiting additional U.S. felonies, including refusing a summons by the U.S. Congress -- the Obama administration will further VIOLATE U.S. law by engaging in prosecutorial discretion to not prosecute these crimes.

Because they happened in the past. The Obama administration apparently has authorization by the U.S. Constitution to only consider the future as it happens, or cherry-pick in violation of due process and equal protection what should be prosecuted.

I have scoured the U.S. Constitution and have not yet identified this authorization.

This administration NEEDS TO GO. If you can't even be bothered with carrying out the prosecutorial functions with respect of our own U.S. Constituion, what the hell are you doing in the executive branch of government, yet alone our White House?

[omnibus66]

Karl Rove, GW Bush, D Cheney, all despicable slime, a black mark on the history of this country. What is unfortunate is that there is no current criminal investigation of this cancer which nearly destroyed our nation.

Witness the mindless Fake News Network devotees who are currently attempting to shut down civilized discussion of the proposed health care legislation. Why were not these Repubi-Robots outraged at the undermining of the Constitution by the Patriot Act? Why did they not riot when George Bush started a needless war based on deception and lies? Why were they not marching to protest spying on citizens by warrentless wiretaps?

None of these attacks on the Constitution and our civil liberties stirred these automatons, but the fictitious "death panels", coupled with lies, lies, and more lies from the likes of Glen Beck, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O'Riley have motivated them to swarm to town hall meetings, some toting guns, with the sole intent of chaos and disruption.

Grand Old Party? What's so grand about it?

[platteman]

Karl Rove is a patriot and I am glad if he really did have any part in the firings, the dolts were gotten rid of. They serve at the pleasure of the president. If they they don't please the president, then they go. What is different from George W. Bush, who right now looks really smart, compaired to Obambi and his chicago thugs and what they are doing. When you have clear intimidation of voters and they drop the procution because they are Black Panthers. The thugs in the white house now are no different from Nixion and his thugs. So it is just now we got a black thug instead of a white thug.

[TJphoto]

When you put Party above everything else, everything below it dies. I too beleive in "Less Government - Lower Taxes - & Family Values" but this is just a catch phrase for a sound bite from a political party that seems to have a vested interest in dividing us as a Nation.

[r9119111]

jahpdq:

Karl Rove should be one of the most feared people ever in American politics. His approach has been similar to Josef Goebbels of the "Third Reich".

[nextgenman09]

Rove, like Cheney, is just another freak.

[thebob-bob]

Of course Rove ordered him fired for not indicting Democrats to help Republicans during the election. We've known this for years. Bush's sanctimonious claims of executive privileged were a transparent attempt to cover up the political activities of the Bush Crime family members Meiers, Gonzales and Rove. They led their evangelical brigade of Regence law school graduates on a cleansing mission through the Federal government in an attempt to solidify the power of Right wing Christians. This, in concert with the funding of Blackwater's private evangelical army, essentially constitutes a coup d'etat and needs to be exposed and the perpe-traitors brought to justice.