Marcy Wheeler is an independent journalist writing about national security and civil liberties. She writes as emptywheel at her eponymous blog, publishes at outlets including Vice, Motherboard, the Nation, the Atlantic, Al Jazeera, and appears frequently on television and radio. She is the author of Anatomy of Deceit, a primer on the CIA leak investigation, and liveblogged the Scooter Libby trial.
Marcy has a PhD from the University of Michigan, where she researched the “feuilleton,” a short conversational newspaper form that has proven important in times of heightened censorship. Before and after her time in academics, Marcy provided documentation consulting for corporations in the auto, tech, and energy industries. She lives with her spouse in Grand Rapids, MI.
Now why do you think the DOJ is having such a tough time answering a very simple question: whether or not they did–as Fred Fielding has claimed–tell the White House that Karl Rove’s alleged actions in the Siegelman prosecution were part of his “official duties” while at the White House?
Surprise surprise. Rove was too chicken to give testimony under oath to show up before HJC today. That’s not surprising. What I find surprising (well, not really) are the thin excuses that Republicans are coming up with to excuse Turdblossom from obeying a subpoena.
First, according to the statement Sanchez put out, Fred Fielding did intervene to give a last minute reprieve to Karl–though still without invoking executive privilege.
First, the claims have
Back during Michael Mukasey’s confirmation hearings, Sheldon Whitehouse got Michael Mukasey to commit that, when a President changes an executive order, he appropriately should actually change the executive order–so schmoes like you and I can know what the President is actually doing.
2. Do you believe that the President may act contrary to a valid executive order?
Michael Mukasey pretty much hung Patrick Fitzgerald out to dry today–suggesting that Fitzgerald’s investigation of the Plame leak was an example of the problems with a Special Counsel. That has pretty astonishing implications for his view of whether the Vice President ought to be held responsible for his actions or not.
As of now, someone–either at the White House or in DOJ–has declined to support executive privilege to prevent Rove’s testimony before the House judiciary tomorrow. And, in a hearing before the Senate, the AG suggested there were other avenues to investigate Rove’s role in the Siegelman prosecution besides OPR.
Is it possible Mukasey supports an HJC inquiry into the issue? Hard to believe, given the other stuff Mukasey said today, but someone ought to at least ask.