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MO Senator and White House Played Role in Firing of U.S. Attorney
New details provided by the IG report released yesterday, gives definition to former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves' termination and paints a clear case for a politicized firing orchestrated by the office of Missouri Sen. Kit Bond (R).
Graves was the last U.S. attorney to be counted among those fired through the work of Kyle Sampson, chief of staff to Alberto Gonzales and Michael Battle, director of the Executive Office of the United States Attorney. His case differed from the others in many ways -- he was fired in January 2006, almost 11 months earlier than the other removed attorneys, and the circumstances around his dismissal were unclear.
But according to the report, Graves' removal was a result of multiple calls and emails from Bonds' legal counsel Jack Bartling, to members of White House Counsel -- who "kicked over" the complaints to the Justice Department.
Bond's problems with Graves' began in late fall of 2004. Bond's office had been having problems with another Missouri Congressman -- Rep. Sam Graves (R), U.S. Attorney Graves' brother. Between October and December 2004, a staffer from Bond's office reportedly called former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves to ask for his help in convincing his brother to fire his chief of staff. When Graves refused to intervene, the staffer told him "they could no longer protect [his] job," and hung up, according to the report.
Shortly after, in February 2005, Bartling began placing calls to the White House Counsel's office about Graves, pushing for a replacement. By the fall of 2005, the complaints had been passed to the Justice Department. In December, Bartling reached out again to Michael Elston, chief of staff to the deputy attorney general, who had interviewed Bartling when he had been applying for a position in that department.
In a call shortly before Graves' firing, Bartling asked Elston to, "'keep his ear to the
ground' to ensure that the Senator's role in requesting White House action on
Graves was not being disseminated within the Department," and make sure that Bonds name was never linked to Graves' ouster, the report states.
A little over a month later, Battle called Graves on January 24, 2006 to ask Graves for his resignation, acting on instructions from White House Liason Monica Goodling and using a speech similar to the one he would use with the other fired U.S. attorneys less than 11 months later.
While the IG report states that its investigation was significantly hindered by a number of witnesses refusal to cooperate and/or recall events, including that of Sampson, Goodling, members of the White House Counsel staff and Sen. Bond, it clearly states that they found Graves' firing to be directly a result of Bond's requests.
Acting on the report's findings, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed an ethics complaint this afternoon against Bond, stating that Sen. Bond and his staff violated Senate rules prohibiting "improper conduct which may reflect upon the Senate."
Josh
Zachary
Thank Godzilla for CREW, but why do they have to take up what the Congress lets go by? I'm a Pat Leahy fan in many ways, but it's way past time that he used the power of the Congress to DO something to these malefactors. Bond's one of their own, and I'd sure rather see something punitive (and meaningful) happen to him than to pathetic little Larry Craig.
September 30, 2008 4:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
If we get a(healthy) majority this time, maybe we can proceed to at least put in safeguards so these crooks can't pull this stuff ever again.
September 30, 2008 5:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kit Bond is quite popular here, in MO. Sam Graves is my Congressman (not by my choice). He's a weasle, one of those fringe/extreme right people. Bond is more moderate. He was Gov of MO. Bond has been able to get quite a bit of money for the state of MO, hence, popularity.
This fighting within the Republican party is truly hurting us all. I'd like to see the Graves brothers and Mr Bond go by the wayside. I look forward to Nov 4, when I can make my contribution to voting out Sam Graves.
September 30, 2008 5:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
"If we get a(healthy) majority this time, maybe we can proceed to at least put in safeguards so these crooks can't pull this stuff ever again."
Politically, I'm bi-partisan, but I can't imagine Congress risking tying their own hands for the future.
It will take a Supreme Court case to settle the differences of separation of powers. And Congress has signaled to the Oval Office and to the American people, via its distant avoidance of a confrontation with Bush, that it isn't going to step up to the plate on the matter - thus leaving the door open for these kinds of things to happen again.
You can bet, for example, that the so called "Patriot Acts" will remain and security will get tighter and tighter - on the American people.
We are fast approaching an iron curtain of our own.
September 30, 2008 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now, there's a surprise. Kit Bond is a scumbucket. Who'd a thunk it?
September 30, 2008 6:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
True enough that Bond is fairly popular in MO as a former governor and a prolific procurer of pork for the state. While he is not on the extreme right among Republican Senators, he is an extreme partisan.
It was his staff that effective killed a Clinton era program that funded tenant organizing for Section 8 tenants. Through redundant and unfounded audits his staff effectively bled housing & tenant rights groups dry across the counrty. Missouri's own Housing Comes First dissolved as a result of these actions. This also happend in more than 20 other states across the country.
If any other Missouri Voters are interested, I would love to join an effort to defeat him in 2010. There are enough rumors of sleaze going around that one has to believe that his hubris can be his downfall. Let's help this along.
September 30, 2008 6:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mr. Bond is a horror of a senator, and was the most miserable governor Missouri ever had (up until our latest, Mr. Blunt). Few remember how he tried to force down the throats of Missourians the damming of the Meramec river...but I do. Good riddance to him should he be finally indicted for something. If not, I am counting down the days until his term is up (supposedly he will not seek another term).
September 30, 2008 7:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
This Justice Department scandal proves that Republicans today are immoral idiots.
And check out this.
"I've never met him before, but I've been hearing about his Senate speeches since I was in, like, second grade."
No, that's not someone criticizing Senator McCain. Amazingly, it's Senator McCain's clueless running mate criticizing Senator Biden. Check out the whole ridiculous exchange: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Palin_explains_comment_about_Bidens_age_0930.html
What in the world is Palin thinking?? This proves that Palin, shall we say, lacks more than a little seasoning. No way is she ready to lead us as President of the United States.
This proves Palin's dumb comment about Russia wasn't a coincidence. As a reminder, Palin was asked by Couric how Palin could say Alaska's proximity to the Russian Far East, which is even more remote than Siberia by the way, could possibly by itself give Palin significant foreign policy experience. Instead of backing off her idiotic statement, Palin responded, well Russia's really close and we have trade missions. We later found out no such trade missions even exist - it was another lie like her lie that she killed the bridge to nowhere that she keeps repeating well after it's been debunked.
Here's what Biden has to do at the debate. Back off. Don't shoot the fish in the barrel. Treat her just like Couric. When your opponent is on self-destruct the last thing you want to do is get in the way.
I don't blame Palin for this. I blame McCain. He never should have picked her. He didn't vet her to see whether she would be so out of her league. It's his fault. He was reckless. He shot from the hip and he lost. Maybe Palin will improve over time - but that will take a several years, not three months.
September 30, 2008 9:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Should Senator Bond decide that he needs another term, then I look forward to voting for an opponent. I think Bond is an embarrassment to MO. It's time for him to go.
October 1, 2008 7:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
What I want to know, or at least hear the question asked, is:
What did the 93 (or so) US Attorneys who KEPT their jobs have to do to demonstrate their partisan bona fides was satisfactorily reliable?
October 1, 2008 11:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
I like the above comment by "tokin librul".
I can tell you what the punk scum did and did not do.
They HID BEHIND A PUNK EXCUSE CALLED 'NATIONAL SECURITY' TO SOMEHOW...ignore all the charges in my 47 page US DOJ OIG--FBI OPR COMPLAINT...and ten page letter to US SEN CHARLES GRASSLEY whose finance aid was attacked with a baseball bat, by Rumsfield's secret right wing Blackwater goon squad.
Go see the movie ENEMY OF THE STATE. Very good movie. Gene Hackman, Will Smith fighting secret mercenary gestapo led by NSA. A very accurate portrait of how THE FBI STANDS DOWN AND LOOKS THE OTHER WAY LIKE THE GUTLESS PUNK EICHMAN BOYS...they truely are.
October 1, 2008 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink