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Gonzo's Lawyer Quits Civil Case. Another Sign That Prosecutor Is Circling?
It's looking more and more like prosecutor Nora Dannehy's investigation into the US Attorney firings has Alberto Gonzales in its crosshairs.
Earlier this week we reported that Dannehy had contacted the ex-AG in connection with the probe.
Now, we've been tipped to legal filings showing that Gonzales' lawyer, George Terwilliger Jr. of White & Case, is no longer representing Gonzo in a separate case, a civil suit alleging that law students were denied DOJ jobs thanks to illegal politicization at the department under Gonzales.
The filing, dated November 25, reads:
Please enter the withdrawal of George J. Terwilliger III as counsel in this case for Defendant Alberto R. Gonzales, pursuant to Local Civil Rule 83.6(b).
Beneath that, Gonzales has signed his name, giving his consent to the withdrawal.
The previous day, in a separate filing, Gonzales had officially introduced a new team of attorneys as replacements, it would appear, for Terwilliger.
Please enter the appearance of Vincent H. Cohen, Jr., Peter Taylor, Lisa Fishberg and the law firm of Schertler & Onorato, LLP, on behalf of Defendant Alberto R. Gonzales.
What does this have to do with the Dannehy investigation?
It would appear that the most obvious reason for Terwilliger to withdraw from the civil suit is to be able to devote additional time to Dannehy's more serious investigation into criminal wrong-doing.
That's certainly the opinion of the veteran Washington lawyer bringing the civil suit in question. Dan Metcalfe, a former DOJ official and now the executive director of the Collaboration on Government Secrecy at American University Washington College of Law, who brought the suit on behalf of the law students, told TPMmuckraker*: "I think it's quite fair to say that the most plausible explanation for what happened is that [Terwilliger] learned he was going to be otherwise occupied on Gonzales' behalf."
That would jibe with the news earlier this week that Dannehy has issued subpoenas through a grand jury -- it would be common practice at this point for targets in the investigation to receive letters from the prosecutor informing them that they are under investigation. And of course it would be in sync with our report that Dannehy appears to have contacted Gonzales or his lawyer in connection with the probe.
A call to Terwilliger was directed instead to Bob Bork Jr., a spokesman for Gonzales, who told TPMmuckraker: "I have no comment about anything to do with Mr. Gonzales' representation." Asked whether he could comment more broadly on the investigation, Bork repeated: "I have no comment about anything to do with Mr. Gonzales' representation."
Late Update: There's additional evidence that Terwilliger is feeling jumpy about the twin cases, and is anxious to draw a distinction between the civil suit and the possible criminal investigation. Within hours of a story being posted by the legal publication AM Law Daily incorrectly stating that DOJ was paying Gonzales' lawyers for their work on the Dannehy investigation, Terwilliger had posted the following comment on the site:
Please correct your story as it is plainly in error to report that the Justice Department is paying Judge Gonzales' legal fees in connection with the Inspector General inquiries. Those fees are a private responsibility. DOJ is reportedly paying fees at governement [sic] rates to another law firm in connection with a civil law suit in which Judge Gonzales has been sued in his individual capacity in connection with events in which he was involved, if at all, in his offical [sic] capacity.
The site quickly posted a correction.
* This sentence has been corrected from an earlier version.
Josh
Zachary
The headline doesn't really give us much insight into an important aspect of this investigation:
Circling as a vulture, or a shark?
It really does matter.
December 5, 2008 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
vulture/shark--metaphors are so concise. Just want to applaud that.
December 6, 2008 1:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Judge Gonzales?????
When did this happen, and where?
December 8, 2008 7:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
He was a TX Supreme Court justice, and many of the Republicans in Congress regularly referred to him this way both in his testimony and in discussions of him.
December 31, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
:-)
It's also an experiential difference for the subject.
I've been circled by both in their natural habitat, and I can assure you - there is a dramatic difference in how it feels to be at the center of that circle.
December 8, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's always been obvious that the road to bringing down the Administration was through Gonzales.
Even at this late date, the way to get at Rove et al. is via Gonzo.
December 5, 2008 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Which is why he's on my short list for getting a pardon.
December 5, 2008 7:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe not. Once a person is pardoned, they are unable to assert fifth amendment rights relative to the crime for which they are pardoned. If Gonzales is pardoned by Bush, he'll have no choice but to testify as to what he knows.
You think Fred Fielding will allow that opportunity to present itself for those who would examine Mr. Gonzales? He'll advise Bush to leave anyone related to his crimes hanging in the wind, so they will be just as motivated to cover their own asses as he is to cover his.
December 6, 2008 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
You forget the fact that Gonzales just doesn't have a memory.
December 8, 2008 7:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
A call to Terwilliger was directed instead to Bob Bork Jr., a spokesman for Gonzales,
Gah! Bob Bork JUNIOR? Truly this is the seventh sign.
December 5, 2008 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
My thoughts exactly. But just as George 43 is not Jr., could Bob, Jr. be other than the spawn of Robert? Is the use of the diminutive a purposeful distinction, or a reflection of his more shallow representation of his progenitor?
Are his legal theories also a genetic offshoot of an offbeat daddy?
December 5, 2008 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Keep on this. This is going to be a great show. Who are his attorneys going to be? Who is going to foot the legal bills? How can you claim you forgot what you said when it is on tape?
I really never thought the civil suits that are being filed against members of w's administration would get anywhere. The prosecutors in the criminal matter are going to be very interested in any affidavits filed or depositions taken in these civil prosecutions.
Maybe some of you other guys are right and others are going to get caught up in this litigation like Rove.
December 5, 2008 2:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
is gonzo still signing his name with the upside down cross of peter?
December 5, 2008 2:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
check this posting out on Gonzo's funky Opus Dei style signature.
he substitutes the upside down cross of St. Peter for Alberto and the dots are representative of the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
ironic that st. peter's symbol now graces our torture and surveillance memos.
http://david-sullivan.blogspot.com/2007/08/gonzo-humble-like-st-peter.html
December 5, 2008 2:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Criminal wrongdoing? Oh, pardon me.
December 5, 2008 3:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mary Beth Buchanan won't resign. Nobody knows where Rachel Paulose is currently employed. Paulose was burrowing into Elisabeth Cook's Office of Legal Policy at DOJ. Buchanan, Cook, Goodling and Paulose are cut from the same cloth.
Today we learn that a lobbyist-turned-informer has ratted out Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and on the same day due to a new whistleblower, the Siegelman conviction might be overturned. Are the whistleblower and the lobbyist-turned-informer one-in-the-same?
Is something about to happen that joins the political prosecutions of Democrats with the illegal hiring practices at DOJ?
December 5, 2008 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
What is Gonzo doing now? According to the V&E web site, he didn't go back there.
December 5, 2008 7:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Bush gives pardons to the DOJ staff for whatever, does that mean we will never got to the bottom of all the illegal and unethical behavior it is assumed or that there is evidence they did?
Gonzales is a personal friend (I think). Certainly he won't leave him unpardoned since he was certainly following the orders of Bush and/or his minions.
If Buchanan won't resign, then what? I guess P.E. Obama will have to write the request as a formal document citing the cultural precedence in a new administration whereby, all appointees resign and the new president gets to appoint whomever he chooses. This should help him escape the firing theme I guess she hopes to invoke.
December 6, 2008 11:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
RING THE BELLS!!!
I have hope that justice will be done. We cannot expect to have our constitution taken seriously if we don't prosecute people for pissing on it.
December 6, 2008 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gonzales will ultimately be found guilty of lying to congress and of illegal politicization of hiring and firing practices at the DOJ. What is most important to me is whether or not he will go down alone or if he'll implicate Rove, Libby, Bolton, Miers, Cheney and or Bush to avoid perjury charges and or to moderate his prison sentence. Gonzales is complicit in the worst abuses of law and office the government of the United States has ever experienced. I can't imagine he will go down without squealing like a stuck pig. Can anyone imagine him conveniently forgetting and blatantly lying to a grand jury like he did to congress without being charged with perjury? It is my sincere belief that the unspoken objective of an Obama DOJ will be to get as many Bush administration officials as possible to testify before grand juries and see how many of them are willing to lie in a LEGAL arena as opposed to a POLITICAL one. The fear of legitimately being held accountable for false sworn testimony might just motivate many of them to actually come home to Jesus.
December 6, 2008 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seems there are not huge funds lined up for his double-talking, spin effective, nonsense / confusion generating team.
Maybe he really cannot remember anything at all as he keeps saying.
That may be why he has a hard time getting a job, no memory.
He may keep repeating "don't recall" until there is a legal issue about lost memory.
The completed research on lost memory could take years.
Add some secrecy requirements and the "stress of the job", etc and you have ......... nothing.
Besides that: he quit the ag job after all the bad things people were saying about him. Hasn't he suffered enough?
Don't ever give these guys a crack to slip through.They know where all the cracks are.Don't give them any.
This ball will only get thrown one time, better swing for the fenses and hit it hard.
December 6, 2008 9:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
They only have to find one snitch.
Gonzo definitely seems like the type.
December 7, 2008 10:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Judge Gonzales????? When did this happen, and where?"
1999; Texas; Associate Justice, Texas Supreme Court; nominated by then Governor George W. Bush.
December 31, 2008 10:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Can a person be pardoned before being convicted of anything?
December 31, 2008 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink