FLASHBACK>>September-October 2003>>Gonzales' Involvement w Plame>>>>

Here is some more information on Gonzales' involvement in the Plame scandal. You will need to click on the original thread links to access the story links. It is important that you do because the responses in the threads provide additional information. It is a flashback to the time the WH was notified of the Investigation by Asscroft.


thanks, www.democrats.com

__Who Warned Gonzales of the FBI Investigation, Allowing Him to Give White House Aides a 'Heads Up'?

"First rule of scandal is that the cover-up is worse than the crime. With that in mind, we ought to be looking to see if any effort was made to prevent the CIA from requesting a Justice Dept. investigation . And we ought to find out who warned the White House Counsel that something was up, so that Alberto Gonzalez could warn the WH staff in his now famous e-mail... A similar 'Heads-Up Gate' cost Roger Altman his job during the Whitewater scandal. 'Testifying before the Senate banking committee in February 1994, then-deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman...conceded he had given top White House officials, including then-White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum, a 'heads-up' on nine RTC criminal referrals that in one instance targeted Clinton's 1985 gubernatorial campaign, and named the Clintons as witnesses in others' (From CNN's History of Whitewater). Six months later, Altman was back before the Senate Banking Committee. Three weeks after that, he resigned in disgrace."
http://wyethwire.blogspot.com /

Original Thread From October 2, 2003

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=457474


From Josh Marshall>

The Gonzales letter, released early Tuesday ...

The following notice was sent to all
White House employees:

PLEASE READ: Important Message
From Counsel's Office

We were informed last evening by
the Department of Justice that it has
opened an investigation into possible
unauthorized disclosures concerning
the identity of an undercover CIA
employee.

-----------------------------------

The Department advised us that it
will be sending a letter today
instructing us to preserve all materials
that might be relevant to its
investigation. Its letter will provide
more specific instructions on the
materials in which it is interested, and
we will communicate those
instructions directly to you. In the
meantime, you must preserve all
materials that might in any way be
related to the Department's
investigation. Any questions
concerning this request should be
directed to Associate Counsels Ted
Ullyot or Raul Yanes in the Counsel
to the President's office. The
President has directed full
cooperation with this investigation.

Alberto R. Gonzales

Counsel to the President

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

Original Thread from September 30, 2003

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=438400


Josh Marshall has posted text of NEW White House letter
The Second Gonzales letter, released late Tuesday ...

The following notice was sent to all White House employees:

IMPORTANT FOLLOW-UP MESSAGE FROM COUNSEL'S OFFICE

Pursuant to a request from the Department of Justice, I am instructing you to preserve and maintain the following:

"or the time period February 1, 2002 to the present, all documents, including without limitation all electronic records, telephone records of any kind (including but not limited to any records that memorialize telephone calls having been made), correspondence, computer records, storage devices, notes, memoranda, and diary and calendar entries, that relate in any way to:

1. Former U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, his trip to Niger in February 2002, and/or his wife's purported relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency;

2. Contacts with any member or representative of the news media about Joseph C. Wilson, his trip to Niger in February 2002, and/or his wife's purported relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency; and

3. Contacts with reporters Knut Royce, Timothy M. Phelps, or Robert D. Novak, or any individual(s) acting directly or indirectly, on behalf of these reporters."

You must preserve all documents relating, in any way, directly or indirectly, to these subjects, even if there would be a question whether the document would be a presidential or federal record or even if its destruction might otherwise be permitted.

Knut Royce and Timothy Phelps or Newsday have done some of the best reporting of anyone in town on the whole issue of Iraq, politicized intelligence and the Joe Wilson matter. They've clearly got some awfully good and pretty generous sources. What are their names doing in this memo?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com




Original Thread from September 30, 2003
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=442185

White House is "investigating" itself
Edited on Wed Oct-08-03 10:47 AM by Woodstock

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/10/08/e... /

"As the 5 p.m. deadline passed, staff members scrambled to turn over relevant documents to White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, who is the White House's liaison to the Justice Department during the investigation. Justice Department officials have given the White House specific deadlines to produce documents related to the investigation, though they would not make the dates public. McClellan said the deadlines are in the next couple of weeks.

McClellan said Gonzales's office set its own deadline for 5 p.m. yesterday so that it could go through the piles of information to see what information is relevant and should be turned over.

Gonzales's office will also have the opportunity to examine what information, if any, should not be turned over because the administration believes it is protected by executive privilege. The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which provides legal opinions on questions with constitutional dimensions, would review any White House claims."

So they are essentially investigating themselves.



Original Thread from October 8, 2003

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=496705



WTF: WH releasing thousands of docs on Wilson & Plame! Right.
We don't need no stinking Special Counsel! They age providing Ashcroft with everything they can. The pResident wants to get to the bottom of this, although it's very possible the leakers will never be found. And Ashcroft just may excuse himself. Sure.

Thanks. For. Nothing.

BTW, hear the one about Prescott Bush? Well, we at DU have a long time ago. Now its time for the media to get on it.

Time to get that CIA Wurlitzer going again.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/17/politics/17LEAK.html?...

Ashcroft Says His Investigators Have Made Gains in Leak Case
By ERIC LICHTBLAU

Published: October 17, 2003


ASHINGTON, Oct. 16 — Under pressure over his handling of the investigation into the disclosure of an undercover C.I.A. officer's identity, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Thursday that investigators had made good progress but that he had not ruled out removing himself from the case.

Mr. Ashcroft also left open the possibility of appointing a special counsel to take over the case and of approving subpoenas to reporters in order to find the source of the leak. "I have not foreclosed any options in this matter," he said.

With the investigation now ending its third week, Mr. Ashcroft said: "I believe that we have been making progress that's valuable in this matter. And we will devote every energy that's available, and every resource that's available at the highest level of intensity."

snip

The White House counsel, Alberto R. Gonzales, in a letter dated Wednesday to two Democratic senators, Charles E. Schumer of New York and Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, said the administration had worked to ensure the integrity of the investigation.

Mr. Gonzales said White House officials "have already forwarded on a rolling basis thousands of pages of documents" to the Justice Department in response to investigators' request for relevant records on Mr. Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame.



Original Thread October 18, 2003


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=552277

who gave him permission to wait 12 hours before he notified the White House.

Schieffer got him to admit it on FTN this morning.

I'd say this puts Gonzalez in some legal jeopardy. He didn't inform just anyone, he informed the White House Chief of Staff. That's obstruction of justice.