Rove coached Justice staff before key hearing

[133724]

May 3, 2007 - Deputy chief of staff Karl Rove participated in a hastily called meeting at the White House two months ago. The subject: The firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year. The purpose: to coach a top Justice Department official heading to Capitol Hill to testify on the prosecutorial purge on what he should say.

Now some investigators are saying that Rove’s attendance at the meeting shows that the president’s chief political advisor may have been involved in an attempt to mislead Congress—one more reason they are demanding to see his emails and force him to testify under oath.

<snip>

The problem, according to the Democratic aide, is that Rove and Kelley never told Moscella about the White House’s own role in pushing to have some U.S. attorneys fired in the first place. Moscella followed the coaching by Rove and others—and made no mention of White House involvement in the firings during his March 6, 2007 testimony to House Judiciary. “They let Moscella come up here without telling him the full story,” said the Democratic staffer.

Moscella at one point even appeared to specifically deny that Rove pushed to have one of his former aides, Timothy Griffin, installed at a top job at Justice. “I don’t know that he played any role,” Moscella said when asked by one committee member what Rove played in recommending Griffin to Justice. Since then, the Justice Department turned over to Congress a department email that showed Griffin was installed as U.S. attorney in Arkansas because it was viewed as “important” to Rove and then White House counsel Harriet Miers.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18479265/site/newsweek/?from=rss

[EST]

1. The plot is curdling.

As the details emerge, slowly enough that the story is quite intelligible to anyone but the most dedicated of the koolaid kids, the picture of republickers and the black cloud of corruption and cronyism that envelops our government from top to bottom thickens and threatens to explode.

I keep finding myself holding my breath.

[pberq]

2. K&R

[DeepBlueC]

3. If the Justice Department is so corrupted

who actually has the capacity to drain the swamp? It's not a surprise, but, still, it's a shock.

[gratuitous]

4. Seems that would be a good topic for questioning

And, since it isn't Rove talking directly to the President, there isn't any executive privilege that can be claimed. "Have a seat, Mr. Rove. And let me just caution you that if you choose to engage in the same dissembling behavior that we saw from the Attorney General, I hope you packed a big lunch, because we're going to be here for a long time."

[WillyT]

5. Methinks The Dam Is About To Burst !!! - K & R !!!

:kick:

[Norquist Nemesis]

6. Oh I hope so!!!!!

It just keeps adding up more everyday!

[Supersedeas]

7. didn't know that he played any role -- no see, no hear, no know -- Dept of What?