Posted on 05/22/2013 8:24:48 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Until a few weeks ago, only the most die-hard political geeks would have known the name Kathryn Ruemmler or her position as White House counsel. These days, she’s becoming more and more famous, and that might be by design. The Washington Post highlights her role in the IRS scandal, in which the top lawyer in the West Wing is purported to have played goalie with information in order to ensure plausible deniability:
Until this week, the story of how White House officials learned that the Internal Revenue Service was targeting conservative groups was fairly straightforward. White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler was notified in late April that a Treasury Department inspector general’s audit of the IRS was nearing completion. The president, officials said, didn’t find out about any of it until May 10, when it became public.
he implication was that Ruemmler was told in general terms about the report and that the information was kept within her office. But over the past few days, officials have offered a more detailed description of what really happened. Ruemmler was informed that political targeting had taken place and shared that information with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and some others on the senior staff. And there were subsequent discussions between White House and Treasury officials about the report.
But no one shared any of this information with the president. Why? White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters Monday that Ruemmler had recommended not doing so. “In these situations,” he said, “the counsel made the decision that this is not the kind of thing that you notify the president of, of an investigation that’s not complete, because it wouldn’t be appropriate to do so.”
Some lawyers agree with that position. But is that the way a White House should work? Most previous administrations had an unwritten rule: the doctrine of no surprises. The president should not be kept in the dark about impending problems, particularly ones that are potentially explosive politically.
At a minimum, according to some officials who served in past administrations, someone, presumably the chief of staff, would give the president a quiet heads-up about something as charged as political malfeasance at the IRS. Not because the president could or should do anything to interfere with the investigation, but as a warning to be prepared. And to be able to answer the question of what the president knew and when.
This isn’t the only context in which Ruemmler seems to be taking the blame for the President knowing nothing about what happens in his own administration — and even in his own White House. BuzzFeed’s sources are also tossing Ruemmler’s name around as a shield for Obama:
BuzzFeed has learned that key members of President Obama’s national security team, including deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes, pushed to release a comprehensive timeline of events documenting the attack that would also synthesize the views of the various government agencies into one report. The CIA also wanted the White House to put out such a timeline, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
Those plans were quashed, however, when the White House Counsel’s office, which is led by Kathryn Ruemmler, advised the officials to not release any information to the public out of fear it could be used against them in any subsequent investigations and other legal complications.
The White House told BuzzFeed any suggestion that Ruemmler shot down the release of the Benghazi timeline was “off base” — but an official said the White House would not comment “on leaks out of purported internal deliberations.”
BuzzFeed’s sources said the legal advice proved frustrating for a number of officials in the president’s orbit, who felt they would have better served to put to rest controversy that has lasted nine months.
“It was aggravating,” one administration official said. “It comes back to Kathryn Ruemmler, Kathyrn Ruemmler, Kathryn Ruemmler. I hate to say it, as it sounds like piling on, but it’s on her doorstep too.”
Who might be floating Ruemmler’s name for the under-bus treatment? More than one person has noted that the leak to BuzzFeed makes Ben Rhodes look a lot better as the champion of transparency.
On the other hand, perhaps this is legitimate. We only have a few posts before this month that mention Ruemmler, but almost all of them have to do with blocking transparency — on Operation Fast and Furious and on Solyndra, mainly:
All of a sudden on both IRS and Benghazi, we’ve gone from “the White House knew nothing” to “It comes back to Kathryn Ruemmler, Kathyrn Ruemmler, Kathryn Ruemmler.” I hate to say it, but I doubt it really stops there. The function of a chief counsel in any organization is to make sure that the top executives know about legal (and political) dangers before they blindside the bosses. Anyone who thinks that the chief counsels in both the IRS and the White House knew of wrongdoing and didn’t advise the top executive in each case knows little about the function and purpose of that position in the first place.
Kathryn Ruemmler = John Dean
Valeria Jarrett = Bob Haldeman
Eric Holder = John Mitchell
Jay Carney = Ron Ziegler
And the list goes on...
Going to need a bigger bus.
A better way to put is that the Obama balloon is losing hopium fast. Altitude is dropping and ballast to throw overboard is almost out. The passengers are now eyeing each other and estimating their weights.
Apply that logic to the IRANIANS building the bomb. Let’s not tell the president until they BLOW THE CRAP OUT OF ISRAEL.
THE FOREIGNERS REGIME is not to be believed in anything. It started out with ELIGIBILITY FRAUD and has been ONE SCANDAL AFTER ANOTHER with full COVER and SUPPORT of the socialist punks in the MSM. That is now being broken and you can see the results. The Regime is coming UNGLUED.
I see a pattern here with a potential end game. By making all the information appear to be channeled through the White House counsel, they are setting up a buffer against exposing Obama. She can invoke attorney client privilege as to what she said to Obama.
Could someone please ask the correct questions of these officials in positions of public trust:
1 - To the WH Counsel: As an attorney sworn to certain standards of conduct, what are your obligations under the law as an officer of the court in your role as chief counsel to the WH? Are you the personal attorney of the president? Or, are you the publicly paid keeper of the honor and sanctity of the office of the presidency? To what principles if any do you owe your professional allegiance? What does it mean to be a member of the bar, and what are the standards of conduct to which you must adhere? Did you fulfill those standards and your oath by apparently not informing your client of certain matters important to the office he holds? What other matters is it your practice to withhold from the holder of the office of the president?
2 - To anyone in the Benghazi affair: WHat were the US Ambassador and all of the others posted to that location doing? Why were they there and what mission were they carrying out?
For item #2 especially, we cannot allow the media and the WH to create a diversion of the talking points “process” vs. the substance of what was happening over there. Something covert or otherwise kept from view was happening. What was it? Could it be supplying arms to a reactionary group like Iran Contra perhaps? I don’t know but we should find out.
Who has Obama's ear? Jarrett, Axelrod, Ms. Obama...Ruemmler must pass through one if not all of these walls..........don't 'ya think?
The president knew about the harassment because he orchestrated it.
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.
![http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3376/3252380390_204f1fb143.jpg"](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3376/3252380390_204f1fb143.jpg"){kind=link}