Sunday, March 18, 2007

Why can't Alberto Gonzales be fired
for "performance related" issues?Baby Turdblossom watches his boss fuck it up

But Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said that he had seen no evidence that the fired prosecutors were dismissed “for any inappropriate reason.” Democrats, he said, “think Karl Rove is lurking behind every bush in Washington.”

Excerpts from Justice Department e-mails

"As a political matter, each of our U.S. Attorneys has been recommended by one or more political leaders in their home State. I suspect that when push comes to shove, home-State Senators likely would resist wholesale (or even piecemeal) replacement of U.S. Attorneys they recommended (see Senator Hatch and the Utah U.S. Attorney). That said, if Karl [Rove] thinks there would be political will to do it, then so do I."
KYLE SAMPSON
In a Jan. 9, 2005, e-mail to deputy White House counsel David Leitch, responding to an inquiry from Karl Rove

"To execute this plan properly we must all be on the same page and be steeled to withstand any political upheaval that might result. . . . If we start caving to complaining U.S. Attorneys or Senators then we shouldn't do it - it'll be more trouble than it is worth."
KYLE SAMPSON
In a Nov. 15, 2006, e-mail to White House Counsel Harriet Miers and Deputy Counsel William Kelley

Senator Charles Schumer said he thought it was “highly unlikely” that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will survive the flap over the firing of U.S. attorneys last year – maybe not even beyond the coming week.

The New York senator also revealed that D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned recently as Mr. Gonzales’s chief of staff after e-mails showed that he had helped orchestrate the firings, “really wants to come forward” to testify.

Sampson's attorney, Berenson, released a statement Friday defending his client, saying: "Kyle did not resign because he had misled anyone at the Justice Department or withheld information concerning the replacement of the U.S. Attorneys.

"He resigned because, as Chief of Staff, he felt he had let the Attorney General down in failing to appreciate the need for and organize a more effective response to the unfounded accusations that the replacements were improper."

"Kyle did not resign because he had misled anyone at the Justice Department or withheld information concerning the replacement of the U.S. Attorneys. He resigned because, as Chief of Staff, he felt he had let the Attorney General down in failing to appreciate the need for and organize a more effective political response to the unfounded accusations of impropriety in the replacement process.