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Bush aides' use of GOP e-mail probed By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer 17 minutes ago Congressional investigators are probing why aides to President Bush used Republican Party-sponsored e-mail accounts to help plan the administration's ouster of eight federal prosecutors. They are questioning whether the use of nongovernmental e-mail accounts was proof that the firings were political. They also want to know if White House officials are purposely conducting sensitive official presidential business via nongovernmental accounts to get around a law requiring preservation — and eventual disclosure — of presidential records. The investigators are seeking copies of any e-mails sent...

On October 3, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell talked to reporters after meeting with Laszlo Kovacs, the foreign minister of Hungary. The meeting went well, with nothing controversial to discuss. It went so well, in fact, that a reporter said to Powell, “Mr. Secretary, things are so smooth I thought I’d ask you about something else. The State Department is offering to help in the search for the person who leaked the CIA official’s name. Can you say something about that situation? How might the State Department help?” “We have been asked by the Justice Department, those who are...

JULY 6--Rush Limbaugh was traveling with four other men--including the producers of the hit show "24"--when he was detained over a mislabeled bottle of Viagra found in his luggage during a Customs search. A Department of Homeland security passenger manifest shows that Limbaugh and his four buddies flew from the Dominican Republic on a Gulfstream IV jet owned by Premiere Radio Networks, which syndicates his radio program. Limbaugh returned to Palm Beach, Florida on June 26 with Joel Surnow, "24"'s co-creator and executive producer and Howard Gordon, another of the Fox hit's executive producers (Hollywood agent Jeffrey Benson was also...

DNC Chair Howard Dean: "If Karl Rove had been indicted it would have been for perjury. That does not excuse his real sin which is leaking the name of an intelligence operative during the time of war. He doesn't belong in the White House. If the President valued America more than he valued his connection to Karl Rove then Karl Rove would have been fired a long time ago. So I think this is probably good news for the White House, but its not very good news for America."

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald said he will have to bring more information before a new grand jury in the CIA leak probe, adding that his work is not complete. In a new court filing, Fitzgerald said sensitive information from his investigation still needs to be protected, especially since proceedings will involve a different jury than the one that indicted former Lewis Libby, chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney. The panel hearing that part of the inquiry expired that day. Fitzgerald does not say that new charges definitely will be brought. Instead, the filing discusses what...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A Texas prosecutor subpoenaed records for the home telephone of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and the phone of his political campaign Thursday. Also subpoenaed by prosecutor Ronnie Earle were records for two numbers for DeLay's daughter, Danielle DeLay Ferro. DeLay is facing charges of money laundering and conspiracy in a Texas campaign finance case. The subpoenas list telephone numbers, but not whom they belong to. They ask for information about the calls and the numbers' subscribers, voice mail service, billing information, long distance calls made from or charged to the numbers and special features....

Maybe Ronnie Earle has the goods on Tom DeLay and maybe not. I'm perfectly content to let a jury consider the evidence and decide. But if a jury does convict DeLay, I'm proposing a new nickname for the man who was, until Wednesday, one of the most powerful figures in national politics. Forget "The Hammer." He will be "Scarface." As in Al Capone. The connection? Capone was a monumental tough guy who ran gambling, prostitution, protection, bootlegging and other rackets in Chicago — only to be brought down on lower level charges that he cheated on his income taxes. DeLay...

The DeLay prosecutor has let a film crew follow him through the whole case. For the last two years, as he pursued the investigation that led to Wednesday's indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Travis County, Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle has given a film crew "extraordinary access" to make a motion picture about his work on the case. The resulting film is called The Big Buy, made by Texas filmmakers Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck. "Raymond Chandler meets Willie Nelson on the corner of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in The Big Buy, a Texas noir political detective story...

Self-inflicted wound District attorney's poor judgment in speaking at a Democratic fund-raiser provides an unintended boost for DeLay's defenders. Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has spent the past year investigating corporate funds collected by political action committees connected to U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. So far, a grand jury has indicted three of the Sugar Land representative's associates for violating Texas election laws. Republicans have accused the veteran prosecutor, a Democrat, of conducting a partisan witch hunt. Earle's attendance and remarks attacking DeLay at a Democratic fund-raiser last week in Dallas damaged the credibility...

President Bush has proven to be one of the more adept and agile politicians of the modern era. Time and again, he and his political team have shown the ability to turn potential political vulnerabilities — think 9/11 — into weapons deftly applied to opponents. Democrats would do well to remember that as they gloat over two of the larger political stories out here — the fight over Social Security reform and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ethics controversies. Friday in Falls Church, Va., the president not only condemned opponents — presumably Democrats — for fighting his Social Security proposal,...

The state Supreme Court gave Rush Limbaugh an extra month Wednesday to argue prosecutors illegally seized his medical records as part of a probe into whether he sought multiple prescriptions for painkillers. Florida's high court extended Limbaugh's deadline for filing his written arguments from Dec. 20 to Jan. 20, but said that date is final. Limbaugh argues prosecutors violated his privacy when they seized his medical records. The state 4th District Court of Appeal ruled against Limbaugh, but last month it asked the Supreme Court to consider the case. The DCA wants the Supreme Court to decide whether patients should...

Tuesday, June 29, 6:03 p.m. By Bob Reynolds, Terror Scare in Luzerne County State and federal investigators surrounded a van not far from the nuclear power plant near Berwick Tuesday. It happened after a group of five men asked for directions to the plant, saying they wanted to go fishing. At a time the whole nation is on high alert, the terror scare hit close to home. Five men, four from Bangladesh and one from Pakistan were pulled over on Route 11 around 11:00 Tuesday morning. All the men live in New York City. Police wanted to know if they...

(CNSNews.com) - Efforts to discredit radio news commentator Rush Limbaugh escalated this week with a new radio ad campaign hammering Limbaugh for comments he made about the abuse of Iraqi inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison. Still unresolved, meanwhile, is the Palm Beach County, Fla., prosecutor's investigation of Limbaugh for possible "doctor shopping" in connection with Limbaugh's admitted former addiction to painkillers. The separate media and legal challenges to Limbaugh are part of a longstanding strategy employed by the political left, according to Mark Levin, director of the Landmark Legal Foundation and a supporter of Limbaugh. "There's no question they've...

Intrigue surrounds Ashcroft and former FBI Director Louis Freeh testimony at 9/11 hearings; to follow Condi, next week... Developing... NYT: Commission officials said that evidence gathered by the commission showed that Freeh had become so personally involved in managing a handful of criminal investigations and in other struggles with the Clinton White House that the potential for a domestic terrorist attack by al-Qaida got relatively little attention... Commission officials said their evidence showed that Ashcroft had taken little interest in counterterrorism before Sept. 11...

Zelikow Warned White House Counsel That Unless Rice Testified in Public, Photo Would '...Be All Over Washington in 24 Hours' NEW YORK, April 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Last Monday morning 9/11 commission executive director Philip Zelikow faxed a photograph to the White House counsel's office with a note saying that if the White House didn't allow national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify in public before the commission, the photograph would"...be all over Washington in 24 hours," Newsweek has learned. The photo, from a Nov. 22, 1945, New York Times story, showed presidential chief of staff Adm. William D. Leahy, appearing before...

PUNK'D: Ashton Kutcher victim suit headed to trial JANUARY 23--Plea negotiations between Rush Limbaugh and Florida prosecutors stalled last month when government officials insisted that the radio host cop to a felony, rejecting a defense suggestion that Limbaugh simply enter a pretrial diversion program and "continue to receive treatment for his addiction." In an exchange of letters (copies of which you'll find below), Roy Black, Limbaugh's attorney, and prosecutor James Martz offered starkly different versions of the punishment Limbaugh, 53, should receive were he to admit that he engaged in "doctor shopping" to score prescription painkillers and other drugs. In...

Palm Beach State Attorney’s Office Dances Atop Their SUV, Releases Confidential Correspondence Roy Black Comments on the State's Release of Confidential Correspondence Miami, FL – January 23, 2004 – Roy Black, attorney for Rush Limbaugh, issued the following statement today regarding confidential correspondence that was released to the media by Palm Beach State Attorney Barry Krischer. “My letter to Mr. Krischer regarding Mr. Limbaugh’s case asked that Mr. Limbaugh be afforded the treatment anyone else would receive. The State's response was preposterous, but consistent with their double standard in this case. The facts are: Mr. Limbaugh went to these doctors...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Prosecutors rejected a deal Rush Limbaugh's attorney suggested that would have seen the conservative radio commentator enter a drug intervention program rather than face charges for illegally obtaining prescription painkillers, records show. Instead, Palm Beach County prosecutors wanted Limbaugh to plead guilty to the third-degree felony of "doctor shopping" - visiting several doctors to receive duplicate prescriptions of a controlled narcotic. According to records of exchanges between prosecutors and Limbaugh's attorney, the prosecutors' offer included three years' probation, participation in a drug treatment program and random drug testing. Limbaugh has been under investigation for months,...

Making clear that he's anything but a fan of Rush Limbaugh, Waldo Proffitt, columnist and former editor of Florida's Sarasota Herald-Tribune, says that Rush is entitled to the same rights as any other American citizen. Proffitt added ominously that, in Limbaugh's case, it appears his rights are at risk. Writing in the Herald-Tribune this weekend, Proffitt noted that Palm Beach County prosecutors have seized the records of four of Limbaugh's doctors and appear to be moving in the direction of charging him with "doctor shopping" – going to different doctors to obtain multiple prescriptions for drugs. "Florida considers doctor-shopping a...

Florida prosecutors have accused number one talk radio host Rush Limbaugh of "doctor shopping" in their investigation into Limbaugh's misuse of prescription painkillers. But on Friday, the top talker's attorney Roy Black returned fire, saying that the Palm Beach state attorney's office is engaged in what amounts to allegation shopping. "[This investigation] started out [alleging] he's part of a drug ring, or drug trafficking," Black told NBC's "Today Show." "Then, supposedly, he does money laundering. Now they've gone all the way to say doctor shopping." "Every week it is something new," the celebrated lawyer told NBC interviewer Lester Holt. Black...