A TIME TO STAND
No longer can it be said that Alberto Gonzales is a weaselly little man who cannot speak in complete sentences. As fhe following news story, for which the New York Times will likely be prosecuted, indicates, he is a man of deep principle:
WASHINGTON, May 26 — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, and senior officials and career prosecutors at the Justice Department told associates this week that they were prepared to quit if the White House directed them to relinquish evidence seized in a bitterly disputed search of a House member's office, government officials said Friday.
Mr. Gonzales was joined in raising the possibility of resignation by the deputy attorney general, Paul J. McNulty, the officials said. Mr. Gonzales and Mr. McNulty told associates that they had an obligation to protect evidence in a criminal case and would be unwilling to carry out any White House order to return the material to Congress.
The potential showdown was averted Thursday when President Bush ordered the evidence to be sealed for 45 days to give Congress and the Justice Department a chance to work out a deal.
The evidence was seized by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents last Saturday night in a search of the office of Representative William J. Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana. The search set off an uproar of protest by House leaders in both parties, who said the intrusion by an executive branch agency into a Congressional office violated the Constitution's separation of powers doctrine. They demanded that the Justice Department return the evidence.
The possibility of resignations underscored the gravity of the crisis that gripped the Justice Department as the administration grappled with how to balance the pressure from its own party on Capitol Hill against the principle that a criminal investigation, especially one involving a member of Congress, should be kept well clear of political considerations.
It is not clear precisely what message Mr. Gonzales delivered to Mr. Bush when they met Thursday morning at the White House, or whether he informed the president of the resignation talk. But hours later, the White House announced that the evidence would be sealed for 45 days in the custody of the solicitor general, the Justice Department official who represents the government before the Supreme Court. That arrangement ended the talk of resignations.
F.B.I. officials would not comment Friday on Mr. Mueller's thinking or on whether his views had been communicated to the president.
The White House said Mr. Bush devised the 45-day plan as a way to cool tempers in Congress and the Justice Department. "The president saw both sides becoming more entrenched," said Dan Bartlett, Mr. Bush's counselor. "Emotions were running high; that's why the president felt he had to weigh in."
Tensions were especially high because officials at the Justice Department and the F.B.I. viewed the Congressional protest, led by Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and House Republicans, as largely a proxy fight for battles likely to come over criminal investigations into other Republicans in Congress.
Separate investigations into the activities of the lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Randy Cunningham, the former congressman from California, have placed several other Republicans under scrutiny; in the Cunningham case, federal authorities have informally asked to interview nine former staff members of the House Appropriations and Intelligence Committees.
By Friday, the strong words and tense behind-the-scenes meetings of the previous few days had been replaced, in public at least, by conciliatory terms and images of accommodation. Mr. Gonzales traveled to Capitol Hill and met with Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, as Republican leaders explored a formal procedure to cover any future searches.
"We've been working hard already, and we'll continue to do so pursuant to the president's order," Mr. Gonzales told reporters on his way to the meeting.
After the meeting, Mr. Frist said, "I want to know as leader exactly what would happen if there was a similar sort of case."
Senior lawmakers in the House and Senate said their intent was not to prohibit searches of Congressional offices if there was a legitimate reason. But they said the Jefferson case powerfully illustrated how Congress and the administration had no set guidelines for how such a search should be done, what notice was required and how law enforcement and House authorities would interact.
But within the Justice Department and the F.B.I., some officials complained that the 45-day cooling-off arrangement was a politically motivated intrusion into the investigative process. Others said the deal was preferable to what some called the potential "cataclysm" of possible resignations if the department had been ordered to give up the material, as one official briefed on the negotiations described it. This official and others at the department and the F.B.I. were granted anonymity to discuss a continuing criminal case.
*******************************************************************************
This is the anti-Saturday Night Massacre. In that dreadful affair, Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox ordered Richard Nixon to turn over materials pertinent to the Watergate investigation. Nixon, instead of complying, ordered his Attorney General Elliott Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson refused to fire Cox and resigned. Nixon then ordered the Deputy Attorney General, William Ruckleshaus, to fire Cox. Ruckleshaus, too, refused, and resigned. Nixon then turned to Robert Bork, the Solicitor General - the man who argues cases in front of the Supreme Court on behalf of the United States - and ordered Bork to fire Cox. Bork cheerfully complied. The firing was susequently ruled illegal. (Bork was Borked WAY before 1987).
Richardson and Ruckleshaus, when push came to shove, resigned instead of aiding and abetting the rape of the Constitution. We now live in different times. Gonzales and that walking rat's nest hairdo Robert Mueller, would rather resign than be forced to clean up the leavings they have left on the Constitution from their rape thereof. What is most astonishing about these brave worthies' stand is that their casual arrogance and sense of entitlement - which one could sense as Gonzales talked about the search being necessary because Jefferson was too much of a "nuisance" (he wouldn't comply with a subpoena!) - belies the fact that, in the 219 years that this Republic has been in existence, the Executive Branch has not once - not ONCE - searched the premises of a member of commerce or seized evidence therefrom. The "but he wouldn't comply with a subpoena" rationale is not only a technical joke (there were other ways one could have attempted to obtain the information short of a raid), but merely illustrates the truism Justice Holmes uttered in 1905: "A page of history is worth a volume of logic." And here, the logic doesn't amount to a volume. It amounts to a mealymouthed, mumbly, greaseball, sleazebag girly stuffed shit Attorney General basically saying that because he couldn't get his cookie, he was going to steal someone's lunchbox.
I know - the Bush supporters are not worked up about this issue -after all, they don't know anything about what separation of powers REALLY means, and after all, it was only a black Democrat's office that was raided. But the supporters should be scared. Anyone who is a Republican should be (anyone who is not is presumed to think, at least somewhat, and therefore already is), because Bush, at his whim, can and does decide that he all of a sudden does not like certain members of Congress. Watch out, GOPers. That battering ram isn't just for the perps on COPS anymore, it's for you and your bent-over pages! Especially those of you - seemingly all of you - who all of a sudden have found out - quite vociferously that you NEVER MET JACK ABRAMOFF AND HAVE NO IDEA WHO HE IS!
And to the thinkers out there (Republicans, please go away) who think that this is a problem, but not a particularly big one, try looking at it from a role-reversal point of view. If the Executive can constitutionally search - without a warrant - the premises of a Congressman, and seize - without a warrant - evidence obtained on those premises - in plain sight or otherwise, then, of course, the Capitol Police, representing the Legislative Branch, can surely conduct a like search and seizure of a member of the Executive Branch, including the President. Any judge's premises can be searched and items therefrom can be seized, and a judge himself can search premises of Executive or Legislative Branch memers and seize items on the premises, or order which items can be seized (such an action directly conflicts with the ruling in Lo-Ji v. New York, but hey, who cares when you're just haggling over the price?)
Bush also, two days ago, delegated authority to Honduran death squad and National Intelligence czar John Negroponte the power to exempt any corporation Negroponte wants from having to comply with standard reporting requirements. The law specifies that a PRESIDENT can exempt corporations from reporting requirements in time of war, but does not allow for delegation. And wouldn't delegation cut against the whole "unitary executive" theory? No matter. Investors - even rich ones - base their decisions upon what corporations report. Now Bush has pissed off yet another element of his base - investors. But remember, 9/11 changed the way we view the world, and oceans no longer protect us, so reporting requirements are no longer needed, it has been decided - on the very same DAY, no less, that Kenny-Boy Lay and Jeffrey Shillinh were convicted for, among other thing, manipulating reports.
Freedom is on the march. We need to be fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here. And, of course, Mexicans take all the jobs the rest of us don't want. That's why we raided the office of Congressman Jefferson and gave Ambassador Negroponte this power. That, and because of activist judges, the sanctity of marriage, and because no one anticipated the breach of the levees. And finally, because I'm the decider, and because suiciders are responsible for most U.S. Armed Forces deaths in Iraq.
WASHINGTON, May 26 — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, and senior officials and career prosecutors at the Justice Department told associates this week that they were prepared to quit if the White House directed them to relinquish evidence seized in a bitterly disputed search of a House member's office, government officials said Friday.
Mr. Gonzales was joined in raising the possibility of resignation by the deputy attorney general, Paul J. McNulty, the officials said. Mr. Gonzales and Mr. McNulty told associates that they had an obligation to protect evidence in a criminal case and would be unwilling to carry out any White House order to return the material to Congress.
The potential showdown was averted Thursday when President Bush ordered the evidence to be sealed for 45 days to give Congress and the Justice Department a chance to work out a deal.
The evidence was seized by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents last Saturday night in a search of the office of Representative William J. Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana. The search set off an uproar of protest by House leaders in both parties, who said the intrusion by an executive branch agency into a Congressional office violated the Constitution's separation of powers doctrine. They demanded that the Justice Department return the evidence.
The possibility of resignations underscored the gravity of the crisis that gripped the Justice Department as the administration grappled with how to balance the pressure from its own party on Capitol Hill against the principle that a criminal investigation, especially one involving a member of Congress, should be kept well clear of political considerations.
It is not clear precisely what message Mr. Gonzales delivered to Mr. Bush when they met Thursday morning at the White House, or whether he informed the president of the resignation talk. But hours later, the White House announced that the evidence would be sealed for 45 days in the custody of the solicitor general, the Justice Department official who represents the government before the Supreme Court. That arrangement ended the talk of resignations.
F.B.I. officials would not comment Friday on Mr. Mueller's thinking or on whether his views had been communicated to the president.
The White House said Mr. Bush devised the 45-day plan as a way to cool tempers in Congress and the Justice Department. "The president saw both sides becoming more entrenched," said Dan Bartlett, Mr. Bush's counselor. "Emotions were running high; that's why the president felt he had to weigh in."
Tensions were especially high because officials at the Justice Department and the F.B.I. viewed the Congressional protest, led by Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and House Republicans, as largely a proxy fight for battles likely to come over criminal investigations into other Republicans in Congress.
Separate investigations into the activities of the lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Randy Cunningham, the former congressman from California, have placed several other Republicans under scrutiny; in the Cunningham case, federal authorities have informally asked to interview nine former staff members of the House Appropriations and Intelligence Committees.
By Friday, the strong words and tense behind-the-scenes meetings of the previous few days had been replaced, in public at least, by conciliatory terms and images of accommodation. Mr. Gonzales traveled to Capitol Hill and met with Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, as Republican leaders explored a formal procedure to cover any future searches.
"We've been working hard already, and we'll continue to do so pursuant to the president's order," Mr. Gonzales told reporters on his way to the meeting.
After the meeting, Mr. Frist said, "I want to know as leader exactly what would happen if there was a similar sort of case."
Senior lawmakers in the House and Senate said their intent was not to prohibit searches of Congressional offices if there was a legitimate reason. But they said the Jefferson case powerfully illustrated how Congress and the administration had no set guidelines for how such a search should be done, what notice was required and how law enforcement and House authorities would interact.
But within the Justice Department and the F.B.I., some officials complained that the 45-day cooling-off arrangement was a politically motivated intrusion into the investigative process. Others said the deal was preferable to what some called the potential "cataclysm" of possible resignations if the department had been ordered to give up the material, as one official briefed on the negotiations described it. This official and others at the department and the F.B.I. were granted anonymity to discuss a continuing criminal case.
*******************************************************************************
This is the anti-Saturday Night Massacre. In that dreadful affair, Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox ordered Richard Nixon to turn over materials pertinent to the Watergate investigation. Nixon, instead of complying, ordered his Attorney General Elliott Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson refused to fire Cox and resigned. Nixon then ordered the Deputy Attorney General, William Ruckleshaus, to fire Cox. Ruckleshaus, too, refused, and resigned. Nixon then turned to Robert Bork, the Solicitor General - the man who argues cases in front of the Supreme Court on behalf of the United States - and ordered Bork to fire Cox. Bork cheerfully complied. The firing was susequently ruled illegal. (Bork was Borked WAY before 1987).
Richardson and Ruckleshaus, when push came to shove, resigned instead of aiding and abetting the rape of the Constitution. We now live in different times. Gonzales and that walking rat's nest hairdo Robert Mueller, would rather resign than be forced to clean up the leavings they have left on the Constitution from their rape thereof. What is most astonishing about these brave worthies' stand is that their casual arrogance and sense of entitlement - which one could sense as Gonzales talked about the search being necessary because Jefferson was too much of a "nuisance" (he wouldn't comply with a subpoena!) - belies the fact that, in the 219 years that this Republic has been in existence, the Executive Branch has not once - not ONCE - searched the premises of a member of commerce or seized evidence therefrom. The "but he wouldn't comply with a subpoena" rationale is not only a technical joke (there were other ways one could have attempted to obtain the information short of a raid), but merely illustrates the truism Justice Holmes uttered in 1905: "A page of history is worth a volume of logic." And here, the logic doesn't amount to a volume. It amounts to a mealymouthed, mumbly, greaseball, sleazebag girly stuffed shit Attorney General basically saying that because he couldn't get his cookie, he was going to steal someone's lunchbox.
I know - the Bush supporters are not worked up about this issue -after all, they don't know anything about what separation of powers REALLY means, and after all, it was only a black Democrat's office that was raided. But the supporters should be scared. Anyone who is a Republican should be (anyone who is not is presumed to think, at least somewhat, and therefore already is), because Bush, at his whim, can and does decide that he all of a sudden does not like certain members of Congress. Watch out, GOPers. That battering ram isn't just for the perps on COPS anymore, it's for you and your bent-over pages! Especially those of you - seemingly all of you - who all of a sudden have found out - quite vociferously that you NEVER MET JACK ABRAMOFF AND HAVE NO IDEA WHO HE IS!
And to the thinkers out there (Republicans, please go away) who think that this is a problem, but not a particularly big one, try looking at it from a role-reversal point of view. If the Executive can constitutionally search - without a warrant - the premises of a Congressman, and seize - without a warrant - evidence obtained on those premises - in plain sight or otherwise, then, of course, the Capitol Police, representing the Legislative Branch, can surely conduct a like search and seizure of a member of the Executive Branch, including the President. Any judge's premises can be searched and items therefrom can be seized, and a judge himself can search premises of Executive or Legislative Branch memers and seize items on the premises, or order which items can be seized (such an action directly conflicts with the ruling in Lo-Ji v. New York, but hey, who cares when you're just haggling over the price?)
Bush also, two days ago, delegated authority to Honduran death squad and National Intelligence czar John Negroponte the power to exempt any corporation Negroponte wants from having to comply with standard reporting requirements. The law specifies that a PRESIDENT can exempt corporations from reporting requirements in time of war, but does not allow for delegation. And wouldn't delegation cut against the whole "unitary executive" theory? No matter. Investors - even rich ones - base their decisions upon what corporations report. Now Bush has pissed off yet another element of his base - investors. But remember, 9/11 changed the way we view the world, and oceans no longer protect us, so reporting requirements are no longer needed, it has been decided - on the very same DAY, no less, that Kenny-Boy Lay and Jeffrey Shillinh were convicted for, among other thing, manipulating reports.
Freedom is on the march. We need to be fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here. And, of course, Mexicans take all the jobs the rest of us don't want. That's why we raided the office of Congressman Jefferson and gave Ambassador Negroponte this power. That, and because of activist judges, the sanctity of marriage, and because no one anticipated the breach of the levees. And finally, because I'm the decider, and because suiciders are responsible for most U.S. Armed Forces deaths in Iraq.
posted by EnterCenter at 9:48 PM
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