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"The Phone Calls Would Have Been Flying"
Yesterday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) revealed that U.S. Attorney Carol Lam had notified the Justice Department on May 10, 2006, that she intended to execute search warrants on CIA executive director Dusty Foggo. The next day, Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff Kyle Sampson wrote in an email that "the real problem we have right now" is with Lam, adding that they should have a replacement ready by November.
U.S. News gives a little more context for Sampson's urgency:
In politically sensitive cases, the U.S. attorney's office notifies senior Justice Department leadership of developments in the case by sending what's known as an urgent report.In this case, the U.S. attorney in San Diego sent an urgent report to Gonzales and Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty at 10:16 a.m. on May 10, notifying them of the imminent search....
"The phone calls would have been flying," says a former Justice official who has worked closely with the CIA. "The CIA would be jumping up and down and putting pressure to stop it or slow it down."
Many intelligence sources say the concern would not have been over Foggo personally–because he was generally "despised"–but that the CIA would have had an institutional interest in keeping itself out of any scandal.
"There would have been a two-pronged attack," says the former Justice official, "to protect the agency and to get rid of Lam." Even though Foggo had quit the agency, he still had many friends there who viewed themselves as being at risk.
"It's second nature to the CIA," says the former official. "Somebody's causing trouble. Get rid of them."
Comments (40)
C92 wrote on March 19, 2007 2:02 PM:Remember that during the initial few months of the Plame Leak and Rove's supposed complicity, Attorney General John Ashcroft received regular briefings on DOJ's investigation and the developments of the case.
Who says Ashcroft didn't then pass that information on to the White House?
EH wrote on March 19, 2007 2:16 PM:Odd that the CIA is meddling in domestic affairs at all.
Love the Glenn Beck ad to the right, here, BTW.
Mike Conwell wrote on March 19, 2007 2:24 PM:"There would have been a two-pronged attack," says the former Justice official, "to protect the agency and to get rid of Lam." Even though Foggo had quit the agency, he still had many friends there who viewed themselves as being at risk.
"It's second nature to the CIA," says the former official. "Somebody's causing trouble. Get rid of them."
And that, my friends, is Obstruction of Justice
Ryan C. wrote on March 19, 2007 2:29 PM:Richard Nixon would be proud.
ScottW wrote on March 19, 2007 2:31 PM:So let's see Gonzo's phone records for May 10th. Was Rove called, who called the CIA ??
That should clear up any 'timing coincidences' they are going to invariably make.
Mrs Panstreppon wrote on March 19, 2007 2:31 PM:I've wondered all along why Brent Wilkes refused to cooperate in the Cunningham investigation. Maybe Wilkes was told to deny, deny, deny and that Lam would be gone at some point.
Which USA office is questioning Mitchell Wade and how long is that investigation going to drag on? Two former directors and one former senior member of the Defense Intelligence Agency are ensnared in the Wade-MZM investigation. I don't imagine the Defense Department is too happy about that situation.
Ditto for the Jack Abramoff investigation.
Tom Delay and Curt Weldon are walking around like they don't have a care in the world. Why?
Johann wrote on March 19, 2007 2:33 PM:Since the NSA intercepts all phone calls in the USA, couldn't a record of these phone calls be obtained by subpoena?
pinson wrote on March 19, 2007 2:47 PM:Think Progress is pointing back to the first contract MZM ever got: $144,000 from the office of the vice president for "furniture and computers":
From the LA Times:
"Although MZM had no experience with government contracts, the General Services Administration in May 2002 placed the company on a list of approved information technology service providers, a key step for the company to get business from federal agencies.
The first contract, worth $140,000, came from the White House — to provide office furniture and computers for Vice President Dick Cheney.
Two weeks later, on Aug. 30, 2002, Wade purchased a yacht, later christened "Duke-Stir," for $140,000, according to court documents. Cunningham used the yacht, docked at the Capital Yacht Club, as his home in Washington — and the scene of parties for lobbyists and others."
Did Cheney know that Duke was completely corrupt and played ball with Duke's friends at MZM in order to keep this important committee chairman on board for the coming push for war? This is out of the scope of the Plame investigation, but I wonder if Scooter would like to enlighten prosecutors on this point before his sentence comes down. Could be his last chance before the whole corrupt GOP edifice comes crashing to the ground and his hopes for a pardon go down with the ship.
Dwight wrote on March 19, 2007 2:48 PM:http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/pressclip.php?view=1119
Interesting how the U.S. News essentially buys the bait and switch of the Administration, moving the blame for concern over Lam's investigation from the White House and political appointees at Justice, to the CIA.
Redshift wrote on March 19, 2007 3:07 PM:Ah, an anonymous "former Justice Department official who has worked closely with the CIA." It sure would be interesting to know if an anonymous "former CIA official" would say the same thing.
And it's not even an official who claims to know what happened, just what "would have happened."
Hmmm.
Anonymous wrote on March 19, 2007 3:53 PM:Who says Ashcroft didn't then pass that information on...
Given the way the administration operates, I'd guess that the information was laundered through an assistant. If you put Ashcroft on the stand--even assuming he was telling the truth--you might get zilch. However, putting Ashcroft's Sampson (I can't remember Ashcroft's chief of staff) on the stand might be interesting, esp. if you have access to his non-DOJ e-mail and phone records. Samson's role seems pretty clear--to launder communication between WH political operatives and the DOJ and to insulate Gonzales. It seems very likely that Ashcroft was similarly insulated.
Jim wrote on March 20, 2007 5:45 AM:The man who campaigned as the Great Uniter, and declared himself the Great Decider, will burn in history as the Great Divider with all of the catastrophic consequences that are escalating every hour, of every day.
How pathetic that as the sun begins to set on his failed Presidency, he blames the people of our Nation, saying we have some psychological trauma rather than learning the lessons of his enormous mistakes. He will never understand that a grateful nation would rise with relief, if he only had the wisdom to learn and change, and a grateful world will rise with relief, when his days in
office are done.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history for using 9-11 to create fear throughout the land, rather than bravery, courage and valor.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history for using 9-11 to launch partisan and dishonest attacks on genuine American war heroes because they happen to be members of the other political party.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history for using 9-11 as a reason to become the only President in our history to become a world-wide advocate for torture and detention practices that every leader, of every democratic nation, everywhere in the world, has publicly or privately pleaded with
him to abandon.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history for showing contempt for the advice of our military commanders by allowing the man he compares to Hitler, to escape from Tora Bora, to pursue an obsessive war in Iraq, that many of those same commanders warned him about, while he publicly claimed he always follows their advice.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history for treating the Chief of Staff of the Army with ridicule and contempt, when General Shinseki so honorably tried to warn him.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history, for putting his hand on the Bible and pledging to preserve, protect and defend our Constitution while using 9-11 to claim the unilateral power to break it.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history by accepting the sacred duty to faithfully execute the laws of the land, while using 9-11 to create fears to claim the unilateral powers to violate them.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history for dishonoring a spirit that had Democrats and Republicans singing God Bless America at the doors of our Capitol, to personally promote a politics so venomous, vile and vindictive that he fills the air with talk of treason and enemies lists compiled by hate filled supporters.
Even when one of his media partisans slanders the Army that landed at Normandy and the Marines who took Iwo Jima with preposterous falsehoods that they committed war crimes, the self-styled war president lacks the moral integrity to speak out, for fear of offending what he proudly regards as his base.
Even when the trailer park trash of American politics slanders and demeans some widows of 9-11, this partisan who promised to bring honor and integrity to Washington lacks the moral stature to speak out, even against that.
George W. Bush will be morally impeached by the court of history for trying to frighten our people into war with Iraq, with tall tales of Saddam Hussein working with Osama Bin Laden to create mushroom clouds of nuclear extermination that would kill the people of New York.
George W. Bush will be impeached by the court of history for using 9-11 to fan the flames of fear so violently, that at one point, the Capital City of the land of the free and the home of the brave was turned into a panicked hutch of rabbits running to the stores for duct tape, gas masks, bottled water, and bullet proof vests while the Vice-President of the United States fled to hiding spots at undisclosed locations.
How ironic, how pathetic, and how fitting that as America prepares to honor the heroes of 9-11 the Senate Intelligence Committee issues a report detailing fraudulent exploitation of false intelligence, one of America's national networks exploits 9-11 with a docu-fraud of falsehoods, while our "wartime" President exploits 9-11 one more time, with one more taxpayer financed tour of fear, desperately trying to win one more national election.
Five years ago some of the finest Americans who God ever put on this earth gave their lives for their brothers and sisters, for their neighbors and families, for the country that they and we love so much, so deeply and so passionately.
No one ever took a poll to determine whether these American heroes were Democrats or Republicans, because it does not matter.
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