DoJ Official to Cummins: Circumventing Senate Was "White House Plan"

[133724]

Alberto Gonzales and others at the Justice Department have been desperately claiming for months that they'd never intended to circumvent the Senate in the confirmation of U.S. attorneys.

Cummins writes of a conversation he had with Michael Elston, the chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, in late January, the day after Alberto Gonzales had testified to the Senate. Gonzales had said, among other things, that the Justice Department would seek a presidential nomination for the U.S. attorneys in every district. Cummins had called Elston to contest this idea, because "it appeared to that there was no intention to put Tim Griffin through a nomination." Elston disagreed...

Elston rejected that notion and assured me that every replacement would have to be confirmed by the Senate. I told him if that was the case, then he had better gag Tim Griffin because Griffin was telling many people, including me, that officials in Washington had assured him he could stay in as USA pursuant to an interim appointment whether he was ever nominated or not. Elston denied knowing anything about anyone’s intention to circumvent Senate confirmation in Griffin’s case. He said that might have been the White House’s plan, but they “never read DOJ into that plan” and DOJ would never go along with it. This indicated to me that my removal had been dictated entirely by the White House. He said Griffin would be confirmed or have to resign. I remember that part of the conversation well because I then said to Elston that it looked to me that if Tim Griffin couldn’t get confirmed and had to then resign, then I would have resigned for nothing, and to that, after a brief pause Elston replied, “yes, that’s right.”

Remember that emails show that Kyle Sampson didn't want Bud Cummins testifying to Congress because he worried that Cummins would testify that Griffin had been blabbing about the Patriot Act provision.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003133.php

[Richard Steele]

1. K&R

[G_Leo_Criley]

2. k & r

:kick:

glc

[gratuitous]

3. They sure are a forgetful bunch over at Justice, aren't they?

So difficult to keep all the balls in the air. Well, I'm sure that when Alberto goes before the House committee next week, he'll clear it all up.

[pberq]

4. Jesselyn Radack on DKos: Gonzales' Deal for Charlton & McKay's Silence

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/3/64138/68856?detail=f

Gonzales' Deal for Charlton & McKay's Silence: Obstruction of Justice, Perjury, Witness Tampering Hotlist
by Jesselyn Radack
Thu May 03, 2007 at 03:45:19 AM PDT

In newly-released statements, purged prosecutors Paul Charlton and John McKay say that Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty's chief-of-staff, Michael Elston, called them on January 17 and offered them an agreement of Gonzales' silence in exchange for their continuing not to discuss their removals publicly. The next day, Gonzales stonewalled the Senate Judiciary Committee and refused to give details about the firings. It certainly explains why he couldn't "remember" or "recall" 71 times. This is criminal. Obstruction of justice. Suborning perjury. Witness tampering.

. . .

So, to sum up, we have improper Congressional interference into ongoing federal criminal investigations, and an Attorney General--the nation's top law enforcement officer--who lied to Congress and engaged in witness intimidation in a Congeressional investigation. That is the very definition of witness-tampering--the act of obstructing justice by intimidating, influencing, or harassing a witness before or after the witness testified. This is a crime under several state and federal laws.

What else is it going to take before Gonzales resigns? He shouldn't even be afforded the dignity of resigning. He should be fired and frog-marched out of the Justice Department.

[MO_Dem]

5. Verrrry interesting.....

:kick: