EMAIL Shows Griffin DIRECTLY E-mailing Rove About Attorney-Gate

Email Raises More Questions about Rove's Role in U.S. Attorney Appointment
By Paul Kiel - May 25, 2007, 5:17 PM

It's been apparent from very early in the U.S. attorney scandal that Tim Griffin, the former aide to Karl Rove who was appointed the U.S. attorney for Little Rock, was different from the others.

Emails show that White House and Justice Department officials worked together for months to install Griffin, dating back to last summer. Rove's aides in the White House Office of Political Affairs were intimately involved. Up until now, however, there had been no evidence of direct communication between Rove and Griffin about the appointment. But an email contained in documents released earlier this week shows Griffin directly emailing Rove and his deputies in the White House Office of Political Affairs



http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/griffin-rove/

The email, dated February 16, 2007, shows Griffin forwarding a copy of a local news article about his announcement that he would not seek Senate confirmation. Griffin wrote Rove, three of his deputies, and Christopher Oprison of the White House counsel's office that he was "glad" that he "did this" ("this" presumably being his announcement not to seek the nomination), and explaining why he'd taken a "swipe" at Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR).

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003295.php

Is he still the US Attorney in Arkansas? Was he grandfathered in under the Patriot Act? Or must he be confirmed in order to stay in that job?

Gonzales Allows Karl Rove-Protege To Remain As U.S. Attorney, Even Though His Term Has Expired
17 May 2007 // http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/28414
Source: Amanda // ThinkProgress.org



On Jan. 18, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee, under oath, that he never intended to take advantage of a Patriot Act provision that allows the President to appoint “interim” U.S. attorneys for an indefinite period of time, without Senate confirmation:

I am fully committed, as the administration’s fully committed, to ensure that, with respect to every United States attorney position in this country, we will have a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed United States attorney.

Similarly, on Dec. 15, 2006, Gonzales personally assured Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) that Karl Rove-protege Tim Griffin would face Senate confirmation.

Before the Patriot Act was changed in 2005, the Attorney General could appoint interim U.S. attorneys to serve for a maximum of 120 days. After that time period, they needed to receive Senate confirmation or the federal district court in the vacant office’s district would name a replacement.

As emptywheel notes at Firedoglake, Griffin’s 120 days were up on April 20. Griffin has announced that he had “made the decision not to let my name go forward to the Senate.” Yet the Bush administration has not named a replacement candidate. ............

UPDATE: The Arkansas Blog notes that Griffin was appointed under the Patriot Act, and therefore is legally allowed to serve indefinitely. Yet nevertheless, Gonzales still promised senators that he never intended to take advantage of the provision.

=========================
BACKGROUND: http://www.citizensforethics.org/search/node/Tim+Griffin

he was grandfathered in, and a challenge to his status has been rejected by the court. The loophole was closed by Congress, but he slithered in. http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/are/usa.html

http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/2007/05/does_lr_have_a_us_attorney.aspx

"UPDATE: Though this theory is entertaining, Sen. Mark Pryor's office says that the Justice Department has represented consistently that Griffin was being appointed under provisions of the Patriot Act and thus is a full U.S. attorney and not an "interim" serving under a time limit. Gonzales did represent (dishonestly by all appearances) that it was his intention to seek Senate confirmation for Griffin. The matter has been settled in court, by Judge G. Thomas Eisele's rejection of a challenge of Griffin's appointment by defense lawyer John Wesley Hall. Eisele explicitly held that Griffin held the position under the Patriot Act provision that allow unlimited appointments"

Interestingly enough, this particular Judge wrote an opinion about Ken Starr having a conflict of interest in the Clinton investigation. At least three of the other judges didn't agree with him, and three others had to recuse themselves.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07EFD81E3FF93AA2575BC0A961958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fOrganizations%2fP%2fPepperdine%20University

Judge Urges Investigation Of Whitewater Prosecutor

By NEIL A. LEWIS
Published: August 19, 1997

A senior Federal trial judge in Little Rock, Ark., has written in a confidential opinion that he believes that Kenneth W. Starr, the Whitewater prosecutor, may have a conflict of interest in investigating President and Mrs. Clinton.

The judge, G. Thomas Eisele of Federal District Court, wrote his opinion in response to an ethics complaint brought against Mr. Starr. In the opinion, Judge Eisele said he believed that the court should assign a lawyer to investigate Mr. Starr's plan to take an academic position at Pepperdine University that is partially subsidized by an avid opponent of Mr. Clinton.

(snip)

In a proceeding that was initially sealed from public view, Judge Eisele wrote that Mr. Starr had created an appearance of a conflict because the public affairs school at Pepperdine was subsidized by Richard Mellon Scaife, a conservative philanthropist and enemy of Mr. Clinton.

(snip)

Judge Wilson's opinion noted that three of the judges who sit in Little Rock disagreed with Judge Eisele and concluded that no investigation of Mr. Starr was necessary. Three others, including Judge Wilson, recused themselves because they knew the Clintons and the seventh, Judge James M. Moody, because he married Mr. Foster's widow.

That's one that just sticks in my craw- supposedly,
some repub AIDE snuck that into the bill without
actually telling anyone....and not only is he not
charged with a crime, the Congress behaves as though
that provision is actually a valid US law.

That's just too messed up to even get my head around.
This country is BROKEN.

Was Mr. Griffin already in the process of "caging" voters from the rolls in Arkansas?

Good Lord, these people totally]/b] disgust me

That sentence jumped out at me as well.

Errrr... typo. GOLD. Pure GOLD. :crazy:

to do otherwise?

The NY Times examines the departure of the U.S. Attorney investigating Rep. Jerry Lewis
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/28207

Submitted by crew on 4 May 2007 - 1:57pm.

Today in the New York Times, Adam Cohen looks at the departure of U.S. Attorney Debra Wong Yang last year. Ms. Yang was not fired. She left of her own volition. But, she was being watched by White House Counsel Harriet Miers. And, she was investigating one of the most powerful members of Congress, Jerry Lewis:

 
   Ms. Yang was investigating Jerry Lewis, who was chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. 
   Ms. Lam and most of the other purged prosecutors were fired on Dec. 7. Ms. Yang, in a fortuitously timed 
   exit, resigned in mid-October.

   ... Ms. Miers wanted to know whether Ms. Yang could be made to resign. Mr. Sampson reportedly recalled that 
   Ms. Miers was focused on just two United States attorneys: Ms. Yang and Bud Cummins, the Arkansas prosecutor 
   who was later fired to make room for Tim Griffin, a Republican political operative and Karl Rove protégé.

   It is hard to see what put Ms. Yang on the White House list other than her investigation of Mr. Lewis, which 
   threatened to pull in well-connected lobbyists, military contractors and Republican contributors. ...

So, who --a senior Justice Department official-- was behind the threat to Cummins? Was this illegal?
Apparently, this USA firing was a focus of a cover-up. Why this one?

==================================
Why Were These U.S. Attorneys Fired?
Source: Adam Zagorin // TIME
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/26125

...............
Another fired U.S. attorney, H. E. "Bud" Cummins of Arkansas, testified that he had e-mailed fellow ousted prosecutors last month, warning them of a threatening message conveyed by a senior Justice Department official. Cummins' e-mail, which was released publicly, quoted the Justice official as warning that if fired U.S. attorneys continued to talk to the media or volunteered to testify before Congress, the department "would feel forced to somehow pull their gloves off" and fight back. The DOJ denied the allegation. ........

The firings might never have happened if not for a little-noticed clause slipped into the Patriot Act last year. That provision, promoted by the White House, permits the President to appoint "interim" U.S. attorneys without Senate confirmation for an indefinite period. The White House successfully pushed the measure because it regarded the previous law (which allowed unconfirmed U.S. attorneys to serve for only 120 days) as an undue limit on the prerogatives of the President. Living within those limits, however, might have been easier for Bush to endure than the controversy the firings have now embroiled him in.

===================================

Bush should know better than to tick off the most powerful attorneys in the country, even if they are all GOPers. :rofl:

Enough...

One of many under reported stories in the naked beltway.

It appears the new strategy of this regime now is to shut down the DOJ...rather than face investigations and confirmations.

I'd love to see him under oath and answering questions.

Embedded in the web of the Culture of Corruption, for sure.

The Griffin caging was a Florida project. Who was the Governor?

Every single thing that this sycophant does must be highlighted, put on the internet, written about in LTTE and all the other ways we have to expose criminal behavior. He is already a felon; let's catch him at it this time or let's stop him from stealing 08. We must do this right this time. Organize and command! Tell us how we can help; I'll be there.

Why is it so important for a political operative to take over the Arkansas USA office? What is being covered up? might be a valid question.

=================
Behind the Clinton cocaine smear
Conservative billionaire funded secret investigation of Clinton's alleged drug connections.
BY MURRAY WAAS
http://www.salon.com/news/1998/03/26news.html

Conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife secretly paid ... to investigate allegations that President Clinton, while governor of Arkansas, ordered local law enforcement authorities to protect the activities of a cocaine smuggling ring ... part of a broader, three-year, $2.4 million anti-Clinton campaign funded by Scaife from June 1993 to December 1997, known as the "Arkansas Project."

...Arkansas Project ... disbursements to Armistead and two law firms are detailed....

Armistead supplied information about his Clinton drug investigation to the House Banking Committee ... Federal investigators have found no evidence .... effort by Armistead was so secretive that funds that were paid by Scaife to Armistead were first funneled through two tax-exempt foundations, and then through two law firms...

... a cocaine smuggling ring operating out of the small airport of Mena, Ark., about 120 miles southwest of Little Rock.....

Allegations ... were made on talk radio shows and in videos produced and distributed by the Rev. Jerry Falwell and Citizens for Honest Government ... covertly paid individuals identified in the group's accounting records as "expert witnesses" who were later quoted in the American Spectator and the Wall Street Journal.

House Speaker New Gingrich encouraged .... House Banking Committee Chairman Jim Leach, R-Iowa, to launch an investigation ....

... Armistead said that he had been retained by a law firm that represented the Republican National Committee

... two of Scaife's tax-exempt foundations transferred as much as $600,000 a year ... then transferred almost all of the funds to Stephen S. Boynton, ..... then transferred funds to another law firm, which then paid Armistead to conduct his investigation

Seriously, share these threads and the truth in them with those that you care about.

"Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Sandbagged Novation LLC Prosecution" strted 4-16-2007 by IChing
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2809066

"The Motherlode-Down a dark hole in the US Attorney purge scandal" started 4-26-2007 by George Oilwellian
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x758013

"A DU collaborative investigation: Thelma Colbert, Shannon Ross and other deaths at DoJ" I started this thread 5-8-2007
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x847120

And we keep hearing that Rove may be subpoened. Yet he's nowhere near testifying about it. Why?

in this criminal administration.

it sounds more and more like the NWO was about to become a reality. Talk about a big coup. Right under all our noses too, makes me kinda throw up in my mouth a little just thinking about it. :(

kpete May-30-07 06:31 PM - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1007865

Its Official - DOJ Notifies Arkansas Delegation - ROVE's Protege - GRIFFIN Is Outta there!
The U.S. Justice Department has notified Arkansas's congressional delegation that Interim Eastern District U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin is resigning effective Friday, June 1. ............

:hi:

you did see this one, right?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x847120