Posted on 03/12/2007 10:35:02 AM PDT by SmithL
House investigators on Sunday declared their intention to question Rove about any role he may have played in the firings.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Rove had relayed complaints from Republican officials and others to the Justice Department and the White House counsel's office. She said Rove, the chief White House political operative, specifically recalled passing along complaints about former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias and may have mentioned the grumblings about Iglesias to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Iglesias has said he believes he lost his job as the top federal prosecutor in New Mexico after rebuffing Republican pressure to speed up his investigation of a Democratic state official.
Perino said Rove might have mentioned the complaints about Iglesias "in passing" to Gonzales.
"He doesn't exactly recall, but he may have had a casual conversation with the A.G. to say he had passed those complaints to (then-White House counsel) Harriet Miers," Perino said, relaying Rove's hazy recollection.
Perino said such a conversation would be fairly routine at the White House.
"Lots of people at the White House gets lots of complaints about lots of different people on a multitude of subjects," she said. "The procedure is to listen and take the appropriate action to notify the relevant agency."
Perino said Rove told her he did not suggest any of the U.S. attorneys be forced to resign.
The new details about Rove's involvement emerged as the top Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee declared their interest in talking to him.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Rove still knows how to push all the DUmmie buttons.
"partisan political reasons"?
The charges in New Mexico were for incompetence. Senator Domenici is not very partisan IMO - wish he was more so.
He was receiving complaints about Iglesias' competence. These US attorneys better be careful lest the real truth comes out and their resumes take a real beating.
Since Rove was hired by the President and not 'elected' to an office or appointed through Congress, I think the Dems are going to have a tough time trying to bring Rove in for 'questioning'.
They can't stand that they haven't been able to find something to use to put such a brilliant Republican behind bars. It's their life's purpose and they're failing. Hehe.
Why does no one ever report that Clinton fired ALL of the U.S. attorneys when he first took office? This is all happening in an historical vacuum. The House Judiciary Committee never woke up when Clinton's "mass firings" occured. They weren't really mass firings, the tradition was that all U.S. attorneys resign when a new President takes office. Then he can put his own attorneys in place. The Bushies were dumb to not do what Clinton did. I would be interested to know whether Rove and Company were aware of how things had been done in the past, or made a deliberate decision to let themselves in for all this grief. It took the Bush people until June of 2006 to name a new U.S. attorney for Colorado, despite a vacancy. I think Harriet Miers was in charge of the process.
What is the big deal here? US Attorneys work for the President. They serve at his pleasure and can be dismissed at any time with no explanation required. Eight were let go. See ya!
These jobs are political appointments period.
In related news, the Democrat-controlled Congress voted to refuse to accept a petition for redress from the 585 US attorneys fired by Bill Clinton during his first week in office...
Rove is a hired advisor. He can take whatever part the president assigns to him in the decision making process. The federal attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president and he can fire them without giving cause, regardless of who appointed them or the politics involved. I wish in vain that the gop and the president had some nads and would shove this issue up the crat's ass; force them to show under the law why the president can't fire those who serve at his pleasure.
Oh, so now another investigation on tax dollars to further the democrat hold on power.
What about legislating the laws - which is the job of the congress.
We did not hire them as merely detectives trying to find something "on" the other side.
What about the work not being done by our "elite????" congress.
Ah, careful! Remember Scooter?!
"He doesn't exactly recall, but he may have had a casual conversation with the A.G. to say he had passed those complaints to (then-White House counsel) Harriet Miers," Perino said, relaying Rove's hazy recollection.
Much better. Be vague. When pressed, you don't recall.
OK now. Who do I bill for this valuable legal advice?
IF this is a correct report..(which I doubt)...
does this not sound like Libby redeux????
"Rove might have said something to Alberto Gonzalez, in passing".....
Wonderful....Sissy Chrissy will have another "I want to see Rove frog-marched out of the White House"...scandal to devote his whole show to....
ROFLMAO
Patrick Fitzgerald couldn't get rid of Rove for them so now they are trying something else. Same old tired story.
Rove, you are still a magnificent bastard.
Somebody had to say it.
I found this at the Hill @ Pundits Blogs
Rove, Domenici and Wilson (A.B. Stoddard)
@ 8:25 am
The story of seven U.S. attorneys being fired abruptly and together failed to register with Official Washington when it happened on Dec. 7. Minds were focused on critical power shifts taking place — in Congress, where Democrats took over after 12 years of GOP rule, and at the Pentagon, where Robert Gates got to pick up the pieces, and the war in Iraq, from former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
But the latest in what is now a huge story is an acknowledgment yesterday from the White House that President Bush’s top adviser — yes, that would be Karl Rove — has played a role. Apparently Rove has been directing complaints about U.S. attorneys to the Justice Department and several months ago assured a complainer, Allen Weh, that then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was “gone.” Weh is New Mexico’s GOP chairman, by the way, and he told McClathy newspapers over the weekend that his response to what Rove said at a holiday party was “something close to ‘Hallelujah.’”
New Mexico Republicans Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson were the first names implicated because they placed calls to Iglesias asking for information about indictments and he said he felt “sick” and pressured by their inquiries. Domenici has enjoyed a long career and the respect of his colleagues and has recently been mulling whether or not to retire or run again for reelection in 2008. For Wilson, heir apparent to Domenici’s seat, a veteran, Air Force Academy graduate, Rhodes scholar and Ph.D. who is married to an attorney, the question of why she risked any hint of impropriety with that phone call is a harder one to answer.
Who will be surprised that Rove put politics first and may have crossed the ethical line here? It’s all in a day’s work over there at the White House. But for Wilson and Domenici, who have constituents to answer to, it may be the end of their careers.
Archived under: Uncategorized
Post a Comment (0) Permalink TrackBack EMail This Post
Bingo! The MSM wants a do-over on Plame as a means to destroy Rove, Cheney, and Bush.
EVIL Has a name...it is
THE ROVE!
You are dead on, sleuthie. They want a do over to get Rove.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.