House Subpoenas More Documents, Gonzales Names New Chief of Staff

By Jeralyn, Section Other Politics
Posted on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 03:33:04 PM EST
Tags: Alberto Gonzales (all tags)

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It's been a busy day in PurgeGate. The House, frustrated with Alberto Gonzales and the Justice Departments pussy-footing over document turnover, has issued a subpoena for more of them.

The department has released more than 3,000 pages of e-mail messages and other files. But, the senators wrote in a letter to Mr. Gonzales, “We are concerned that additional documents relevant to the committee’s investigations are missing or have been withheld.”

What's missing?

More...

Among the missing documents the senators mentioned was a chart cited in a Feb. 12, 2007, e-mail message from Monica Goodling, a former aide to Mr. Gonzales, to other department officials.

The senators suggested that other documents had been withheld, like biographies of each of the 93 prosecutors in briefing books provided for Mr. Gonzales in December in preparation for a meeting of United States attorneys. The meeting was held to start an initiative against child exploitation.

Also today, Alberto Gonzales named Connecticut U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor as his new chief of staff to replace Kyle Sampson. O'Connor will hold both positions for the next four to six months.

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House Subpoenas More Documents, Gonzales Names New Chief of Staff | 8 comments (8 topical)

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and, to make the day, the Senate Judiciary (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by scribe on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 03:42:04 PM EST

Democrats want the whole US v. Georgia Thompson case - all the documents from the case, and all the DoJ's communications with others (like the WH and maybe Rover) about the case. The CBS report (with the letter in it) is here.

I hear the flutter of wings, as all those birds come home to roost.

: oh man (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by nolo on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 04:12:33 PM EST

this is getting good.

RNC e-mails (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by magster on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 04:29:13 PM EST

I did not see any explicit inclusion of RNC e-mail server e-mails from justice employees. Am I missing something? Is the subpoena broad enough to cover these e-mails?

: two part answer (5.00 / 2) (#5)
by scribe on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 04:54:10 PM EST

I did not see any explicit inclusion of RNC e-mail server e-mails from justice employees. Am I missing something?

Yes. If you are subpoenaing the Attorney General (as proxy for his department and his subordinates), the RNC would not be the entity being subpoenaed. Thus, demanding RNC emails would be fruitless.

Is the subpoena broad enough to cover these e-mails?

Yes, at least in part. The subpoena would encompass the DoJ end of any email conversations with/through the RNC servers, at least insofar as it concerned US Attorneys. But, I suspect it would not necessarily encompass email conversations conducted between two (or more) people not using DoJ email addresses.
So, hypothetically, if Goodling and Samson (to put names on it) were having a discussion about firing, say, Fitz, but they did all the conversation between (hypothetical addresses) monica@gwb43.com and Kyle@gwb43.com, those emails might escape scrutiny (even if they were within the definition of records to be turned over) and production, unless (a) one or both of them came forward and said - "hey, I had this conversation but on/through unofficial email addresses" - or (b) someone else remembered it having gone on and then brought it up. Both are unlikely to happen, IMHO.

: The RNC hasn't been ... (none / 0) (#7)
by Sailor on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 05:30:23 PM EST

... resisting for months. Give it time. And pass the popcorn.

Mercer (none / 0) (#4)
by mjvpi on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 04:33:51 PM EST

the USA from Montana is now one of the "two posters". The way the Bush team works, loyalty trumps performance. Conrad Burns took more Abrahmof money than any other law maker. Maybe he was innocent. Maybe Mr. Mercer's promotion is for being a team player.

Another absentee USA (none / 0) (#6)
by TexDem on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 05:03:35 PM EST

Iglesias must be steaming.

ever body's got a theory (none / 0) (#8)
by orionATL on Tue Apr 10, 2007 at 08:16:55 PM EST

my little pet theory is:

that gonzales will go

when the bush admin has finished tidying up its doj-white house documentary and evidentiary "liabilities".

destruction of records, for example

giving jack abramhoff a "get out of jail sooner card" (happened today)

hiding the rnc computer records completely,

i.e., being damned sure they have been deleted in all forms.

after all this has been finished,

gonzales will resign.

then bush will accede to demands to bring in someone with more character and independence,

but by then the critical legal "data" will have vanished.