Entries by emptywheel

Why the Libby Lobby Story about Armitage Is False

Let’s pretend, for a second that all the other reasons why the cries of “runaway prosecutor” from the Libby Lobby don’t exist. Set aside the fact that the FBI and then Fitzgerald were investigating all leaks of Valerie Wilson’s identity, not just those to Robert Novak. Set aside the fact that the 1X2X6 story (as well as the clear evidence of at least three leaks by October 12, 2003) didn’t have

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Executive Privilege, RNC Style

The NYT reports that Sara Taylor will come before the SJC today and testify about some things.

Sara Taylor, the former White House political director, has agreed toanswer some questions as a “willing and cooperative private citizen,”during testimony about the United States attorney firings last yearwhen she appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee later today.

But, as a former presidential adviser, she will also honor thepresident’s invocation of executive privilege to keep quiet

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No More $$ to Shred our Constitution

Now that I’m in DC, I’m thinking maybe I’ll just stay here until the impeachment. Because things are getting fun. As in, no more taxpayer dollars to help Cheney shred our Constitution.

Senate Democrats movedTuesday to cut off funding for Vice President Dick Cheney’s office in acontinuing battle over whether he must comply with national securitydisclosure rules.

A Senateappropriations panel chaired by Sen.

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“I Don’t Know Enough About It”

So says Pete Domenici, when asked by Andrea Mitchell whether he would testify before Congress if asked. ThinkProgress points out that a conversation between Rove and Domenici closely preceded David Iglesias’ firing. But I’ll go further, and raise this report.

In the spring of 2006, Domenici told Gonzales he wanted Iglesias out.

Gonzales refused.

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Why Lefty Bloggers Should Always Get to Fly First Class

As I’ve explained before, I used to consult for a big automotive company, working primarily in Asia (the job got moved to Asia earlier this year). I flew several times a year to Asia. So for the past several years, I’ve been an “Elite Level” flyer for Northwest. Which means I get bumped up to First Class pretty consistently.

Back in February, during my first trip home from the Libby trial, I

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IOB and Gonzales’s Latest Perjury

I’ve got just a few minutes before I’ve got to pack up for DC. But I wanted to point out a curious detail about the WaPo’s story on NSLs: the centrality of PFIAB in it. The story, of course, reveals that Gonzales received reports of violations of National Security Letter procedures, and then went into Congress and said there had been no problems with the program.

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Conyers Hearing on Libby Commutation

HJC has announced the list of witnesses for Wednesday’s hearing on Libby’s get-out-of-jail-free. They are:Joe Wilson: You guys know him, I think. I suspect he’ll talk about how Bush and Cheney are involved in this case.Roger Adams, US DOJ Pardon Attorney. He’ll end up talking about the normal process for commutation.

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Novak’s July 7 Meeting

Credit where it’s due. Tom Maguire hits all the right notes about this Novak book excerpt, save one. He notes that Novak’s story has a way of changing with the seasons.

Interesting. This old post has the Novak version before he was willing to name Armitage; here is Novak (post-“Hubris”) rebutting Armitage’s version.

There are subtle shifts in the story – now we are told that “Hementioned her first name, Valerie”,

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Just Scraps of Snark Remaining

Fitzgerald’s filing in response to Judge Walton’s request for clarification on Libby’s magical disappearing prison sentence has the feel of bitter duty. Much of it is an attempt to stave off any attempt by Libby’s lawyers to disappear even the supervised release.

As discussed more fully below, it is the government’s position that the supervised release term remains operative, and that, by effect of the commutation, the supervised release term began on

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Fred and Paul Forget the Constitution–Time to Remind Them

I’m supposed to be doing something else entirely. But I’m going to raise a point that I’ve raised already–because it sure seems like Democrats are sleeping through the Constitution.

Paul Clement, in his explanation of why BushCo could invoke executive privilege in the USA scandal, claimed
that the President has “nondelegable Presidential power” “to nominate orto remove U.S.

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