Posted on 05/05/2007 8:02:12 PM PDT by CutePuppy
Rove Saw Coaching of Prosecutor Witness
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A senior Justice Department official who testified about performance shortcomings of several fired U.S. attorneys has told congressional investigators he was coached the day before at a White House meeting attended by political adviser Karl Rove.
The witness, Associate Deputy Attorney General William Moschella, said he was urged during the dinner hour meeting on March 5 to publicly specify reasons for the dismissals, according to a transcript of the investigators' April 24 interview with him.
Until the March 6 hearing before a House Judiciary subcommittee, Justice Department officials had said publicly only that some of the firings were based on performance, offering no specifics. At the hearing, Moschella laid out detailed criticism of each of five fired prosecutors' specific performance.
Moschella's boss, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, told investigators in an April 27 interview that he also was at the March 5 White House meeting and that Rove was there. McNulty recalled Moschella being told to be sure to lay out the justifications for the firings, according to the transcript of his interview by investigators.
Neither Moschella nor McNulty recalled in the interviews what Rove said at the meeting. Portions of the transcripts were made available to The Associated Press on Friday by a senior congressional aide on condition they not be quoted directly and that the aide not be further identified because the interviews weren't supposed to be made public.
The interviews were first reported by Newsweek on MSNBC's Web site.
Democrats, relying on thousands of e-mails exchanged among White House and Justice Department officials and testimony at other hearings, have insisted the firings were a political purge based on the prosecutors' perceived loyalty to President Bush and their disregard for or reluctance to advance Republicans' election agenda.
Bush, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other administration officials have all denied that, but several Republicans lawmakers, nonetheless, have called for Gonzales' resignation.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Friday she attended the March 5 meeting but would not comment on whether Rove was there.
''Describing it in terms of coordinating some sort of message was not the case,'' she said. ''It was encouraging them to make sure that all the information got out quickly so that the members of Congress could have what they needed so that we could move on from that story.''
The public tarring of the prosecutors that followed a day later incited sharp criticism from lawmakers of both parties for the damage it could do to job prospects of those fired.
Moschella's detailed description of the performance flaws was a striking departure from the administration's oft-stated refusal to discuss personnel issues. Six weeks earlier, Gonzales himself refused to reveal the reasons for the firings during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Jan. 18.
Questions about Rove's role in the firings have spun off into probes over whether he and other White House officials conducted official business on e-mail accounts intended for political work, and then deleted them in violation of federal law.
And Rove was "coaching" the witness to do what? ... The witness, Associate Deputy Attorney General William Moschella, said he was urged during the dinner hour meeting on March 5 to publicly specify reasons for the dismissals
Who cares another rovegate zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Lord help this Nation.
Plus clinton fired 93 and nobody cared
Ah, it’s that Evil Karl Rove again. The Illuminati, the Masons, and the Brotherhood all rolled into one.
Who was Killroy? Karl Rove, of course.
Where’s Waldo? Karl Rove has him in detention at Gitmo.
They've got him now. I really don't see how he's going to get out of this one. Will probably bring Bush down with him. The GOP will be tainted for years, and we may not see another Republican House, Senate, or President for a generation.
Is this hearing still going on? Wake me when it’s over.
Ping
And Clinton ignored al-queda while selling US missile guidance technology to China/N.Korea/Iran.
The media didn’t care about the Clintoon firings for obvious reasons. Personally, I cared, because I knew he was stacking DoJ with hacks there solely to cover his criminality.
This is ridiculous! Rove wasn’t doing the coaching .. he was just present ..?? What crime does that represent ..?? The dems have gone off the cliff.
And .. they have a snitch in their midst who is leaking this stuff .. WHO THE HECK IS IT AND WHEN IS THE DOOR GOING TO HIT HIM IN THE REAREND ..??
The fun (and at the same time very sad) part of this piece is that they are so desperate to generate some kind of “scandal” here that they are admitting unabashedly that
“Portions of the transcripts were made available to The Associated Press on Friday by a senior congressional aide on condition they not be quoted directly and that the aide not be further identified because the interviews weren’t supposed to be made public.”
They are admitting to breaking the laws that they so cherish, in order to try and convince us that there was something “political” and unseemly in lawful actions of White House personnel.
It’s a laugh riot, and you wanted to sleep right through that? :~>}
another socialist
ad hominem attack.
When this started as a scandal Bush should have said “Yep, I fired those 8 Prosecutors. And now I’m gonna fire 8 more, just because I can.”
How is this "coaching"? He was simply asked to specify the reasons for the dismissals. More WaPo heavy breathing, me thinks. Anyone up for filing a malpractice lawsuit against the MSM? Their witch hunts have gone beyond annoying at this point.
Plus clinton fired 93 and nobody cared
:::
MSM whitewashed, like everything that reprobate did.
The MSM is really getting tiring.
He was “coaching” an attorney to tell the truth about justifications for the firing - which is what Democrats supposedly wanted and insisted on having... yet “a senior congressional aide” without party affiliation (AP must be protecting a Republican) doesn’t want to “be further identified because the interviews weren’t supposed to be made public.”
And these people demand to be trusted with state and military secrets essential to our nation’s survival...
I would be screaming and demanding investigation by Justice Dept, but because they are the subject of the hearing and must recuse, I would demand appointment of Special Prosecutor to investigate members nd staffers of House and Senate Judicial Committees.
Excellent sarcastic post :)
I was just noticing that the early excitement generated by this hearing seems to have vanished, so now they have to, as you say, commit a crime to try to manufacture more headlines.
An anonymous source, a paraphrased and therefore inaccurate quote, nothing specific put forward to suggest that Rove did anything wrong, all just to get his name into a headline.
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