FBI probes obstruction of justice claim by former St. HOPE official
Can Obama stop the FBI?
AMERICORPGATE
FBI probes obstruction of justice claim by former St. HOPE official
Can Obama stop the FBI?
Latest Update: Friday 4:55PM
AmeriCorps IG sends email responding to improper “quit or be fired” order from Special Counsel to Obama. CLICK HERE to read it on Orange Juice!
According to Congressional sources, “Walpin received a call from the White House Counsel’s office on Wednesday evening. Walpin was told that he had one hour to either resign or be fired. Senate sources say Walpin asked why he was being fired and, according to one source, “The answer that was given was that it’s just time to move on. The president would like to have someone else in that position.” Walpin declined to resign.”
The leftists still scream and howl about when George W fired US Attorneys who serve “at the pleasure of the President.” This is much worse. In fact, President Obama is trying to subvert the law! Part of the 30 Day Act was a requirement that the president give Congress 30 days’ notice before dismissing an IG and that reasons be given so as to ensure it is not done for political reasons. One of the co-sponsors of the Act was then-Sen. Barack Obama!! Get the state run media’s take here.
Get the Washington Examiners Full Story Here or Read the Excerpt from Byron York below…
There are a number of new developments since my post above was published. First, the White House is confirming that it decided to fire IG Walpin because of the Kevin Johnson/St. HOPE affair. In a letter sent Thursday night to Sen. Charles Grassley, White House counsel Gregory Craig cited a complaint lodged by the acting U.S. attorney in Sacramento, Lawrence Brown, accusing Walpin of misconduct in the St. Hope investigation. “The Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California, a career prosecutor who was appointed to his post during the Bush Administration, has referred Mr. Walpin’s conduct for review by the Integrity Committee of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE),” Craig wrote. “We are aware of the circumstances leading to that referral and of Mr. Walpin’s conduct throughout his tenure and can assure you that that the President’s decision was carefully considered.” This is the White House’s first public statement of its reason for firing Walpin.
In the referral which Craig mentioned, which was sent April 29, Lawrence Brown accused Walpin of conducting a biased investigation and seeking “to act as the investigator, advocate, judge, jury and town crier.” Brown was particularly angry that Walpin’s office had talked with the press at various times in the St. HOPE investigation. Brown asked AmeriCorps to investigate Walpin’s behavior. In a stinging response, Walpin wrote that several of Brown’s points were flat-out wrong.
More importantly, Walpin’s response sheds light on the process by which St. Hope will allegedly return to the government about half of the $850,000 grant it received from AmeriCorps. Walpin accused the U.S. attorney’s office of undermining Walpin’s attempt at “suspension and debarment” — that is, from taking action that prevents an organization that has engaged in misconduct from receiving any other federal money.
According to Walpin, the U.S. attorney’s office resisted efforts to get St. HOPE to repay the money. Even though AmeriCorps inspector general officials had found “six specific instances of diversion and misuse of [AmeriCorps] grant funds,” and even though Kevin Johnson never “submitted a single fact to dispute those findings,” the U.S. attorney, according to Walpin, insisted that the settlement agreement forbid suspension or debarment.
Further, according to Walpin, even with the settlement agreement as it now exists, there is little hope the government will ever get any of its money back. “As St. HOPE is insolvent, the absence of any obligation imposed on…[Kevin Johnson], and the absence of any guarantee or security to ensure payment, makes the settlement a farce,” Walpin wrote.
“Mr. Brown knows,” Walpin concluded, “that the settlement agreement was carefully drafted so that no obligation is imposed on Mr. Johnson to pay to [AmeriCorps] a single penny of the amount supposedly to be paid to [AmeriCorps] by St. HOPE.”
Walpin’s response has led congressional investigators to want to know more about Brown, the acting U.S. attorney. I referred to him earlier as a “Bush holdover.” That’s not entirely accurate. Brown is now the acting U.S. attorney, and he was in the office during the Bush years, but he is a career official, not a Bush appointee. In the days to come, congressional investigators will be weighing Brown’s claims versus Walpin’s. A lot is going on with the story, and it is happening very quickly.
My email responds to your telephone call to me while I was in a car driving on a highway, at about 5:20 p.m. I have now reached a destination and therefore can write you this email.
In your telephone call, you informed me that the President wishes me to resign my post as IG of CNCS [Corporation for National and Community Service, which includes AmeriCorps]. You told me that I could take no more than an hour to make a decision.
As you know, Congress intended the Inspector General of CNCS to have the utmost independence of judgment in his deliberations respecting the propriety of the agency’s conduct and the actions of its officers. That is why the relevant statute provides that the President may remove the IG only if he supplies the Congress with a statement of his reasons–which is quite a different matter than executive branch officials who serve at his pleasure and can therefore be removed for any reason and without notification to Congress.
I take this statutorily-mandated independence of my office very seriously, and, under the present circumstances, I simply cannot make a decision to respect or decline what you have said were the President’s wishes within an hour or indeed any such short time. As you are aware, I have just issued two reports highly critical of the actions of CNCS, which is presently under the direction of the President’s appointee and, I am advised, someone with a meaningful relationship with the President.
Chairman Solomont and I have had significant disagreements about the findings and conclusions contained in these reports. It would do a disservice to the independent scheme that Congress has mandated–and could potentially raise questions about my own integrity–if I were to render what would seem to many a very hasty response to your request.
I heard your statement that this request that you communicated on behalf of the President and the timing of our reports and disagreement with the CNCS Board and management are “coincidence,” as you put it on the phone, but I would suggest there is a high likelihood that others may see it otherwise.
I suspect that, when presented with the circumstances I have just discussed, the President will see the propriety of providing me additional time to reflect on his request. If however he believes that my departure is a matter of urgency, then he will have to take the appropriate steps toward ordering my removal, without my agreement.
Gerald Walpin