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GOP Lawyer Testifies about Rove Role in Siegelman Case
In an interview she gave under oath to House investigators, Republican lawyer Dana Jill Simpson expanded on her previous statement about Karl Rove's role in the prosecution of Gov. Don Siegelman (D-AL), implicating Rove in using the Justice Deparment to stymie Siegelman's campaigns in 2002 and again in 2005.
In the interview, first obtained by Time and released today by the committee, Simpson explains the context in which she knew what Alabama Republican operative William Canary meant on a campaign conference call in 2002 when he said "Karl" had gotten the Justice Department on Siegelman. Simpson told House investigators that the son of Gov. Bob Riley (R), Rob Riley, had told her about the conversations between Rove and Canary. From the transcript:
But I knew from conversations that I had had with Rob that Bill Canary was very connected to Karl Rove. Additionally, there was some talk -- and that's not in my affidavit -- about Karl had -- about Washington; that Karl had it taken care of in Washington.
Simpson also told investigators that three years later, during Bob Riley's 2005 campaign, Rob Riley told her that Rove had intervened again, this time going directly to the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice. The intervention came after the US Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama "messed up" a case against Siegelman to keep him from running, Simpson told investigators. According to the interview transcript, Simpson said Rove made sure all the bases were covered to properly prosecute Siegelman:
Q: Okay. And did Rob give you the name of the person at -- I'm just going to call it Public Integrity -- that he thought he understood Karl Rove had spoken to?[Simpson]: No, he said it was the head guy there and he said that that guy had agreed to allocate whatever resources, so evidently the guy had the power to allocate resources, you know.
Q: To the Siegelman prosecution?
[Simpson] Yes. And that he'd allocate all resources necessary.
Previously, Rob Riley has denied knowing Karl Rove, but Simpson offered the House panel an email with a hand-written note which reads "To Jill, I e-mailed this to Karl...Rob," from Riley that she argues shows he did in fact know Rove at the time. (You can see the email here.) Riley claims the Karl refers to a lawyer he knows, not Rove. Nonetheless Time quotes one of Riley's clients saying that he had mentioned "four or five times" that Rove could help with their business in Washington.
Comments (25)
Repack Rider wrote on October 10, 2007 4:04 PM:I diaried a parallel subject on the Orange Satan.
Karl Rove (and Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten) ignored subpoenas issued over two months ago by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Chairman Pat Leahy's Senate office phone number is 202-224-4242. If you have a couple of minutes to spare, give him a call and ask why the subpoenas haven't been enforced.
The confusion on the other end of the line is amusing, although not particularly instructive.
Orwell's Intuition wrote on October 10, 2007 4:24 PM:Rove should be called Rover. He's like a rabid mongrel on the throat of Lady Justice.
guldam wrote on October 10, 2007 4:27 PM:How is that these people can ignore subpoenas? If you or I ignore a subpoena, then we get arrested and thrown into jail.
guldam
Atlas Scruggs wrote on October 10, 2007 4:31 PM:Throw away the key.
Repack Rider wrote on October 10, 2007 4:45 PM:Guldam,
I gave you the phone number. Channel your anger directly at Senator Leahy.
cd wrote on October 10, 2007 5:11 PM:
DickTater wrote on October 10, 2007 5:11 PM:A most excellent blog about the ugliness in Alabama- Scott Horton's "No Comment"
http://harpers.org/subjects/NoComment
Guess we know now why AgAg and KarlRove left office when they did. Justice Department investigations were being undertaken that they could not kill in the crib.
Obviously, the damage control teams decided they were best if cut loose and lawyered up, rather than on the US payroll.
I don't mean to imply they get hung out to dry, but for some reason this is better for them and better for the Admin if they are targets of these investigations as Citizens rather than public servants.
I would say it will be interesting to see how it plays out, except we all know how it is going to play out. Justice will be averted, perverted, and mangled and allow them to wriggle off the hook and dash all of our expectations. The right wing will get to make more noise about partisan lefty witch-hunts, more noise than the CorporoMedia will give to the crimes they committed. Thus, when they get slapped on the wrists, most of america will have the rightwing message in their ears and the muddied waters will leave no clear, discernable narrative for the public to follow. So even if they do some jail time they will have more sympathy buzzing for them around the media, than the deserved outrage.
It has happened everytime since Watergate. Anyone willing to lay odds on a different outcome?
anon wrote on October 10, 2007 5:20 PM:...How is that these people can ignore subpoenas?...
I don't understand that either. Subpoenas are optional? (I know, I know, the only answer is snark but the question is serious.) What does Leahy have to lose by [trying to] enforce the subpeonas? I can't think of any reasons why the Dems wouldn't go ahead and try to enforce the law. I mean why bother with hearings and issuing subpoenas in the first place?
anon wrote on October 10, 2007 5:35 PM:...I would say it will be interesting to see how it plays out...
I figure that while they will gum this to death and try their best to get out of it, they aren't too scared of landing in court. The Alabama stuff is complicated and it involved a whole bunch of actors doing lots of seemingly little things wrong. I don't see any hunking smoking guns. Even if the prosecution of the case(s) is brilliant, they're going to end up against highly paid lawyers and in either an all GOP Alabama courtroom or in a mostly GOP Federal court. Add in that they've manipulated the system brilliantly so far, they've managed to make a lot of the paperwork/e-mails disappear, and it's pretty hard in the first place to prosecute these kinds of cases. I think they must think that their odds aren't bad.
It's going to take, say, the discovery of a hard drive containing most of the stuff they think they've made to disappear and/or several key players changing sides before Rove and Co. end up in orange jumpsuits.
I like Scott Horton's approach to covering the Alabama mess--though his asides into art history and poetry are a bit annoying. He's putting together a big picture involving Abramoff, gambling money, Riley's election, Rove, the attacks on defense attorneys, Mississippi politics, corrupt editors and journalist, etc. and not just focusing on the smaller stuff. It's important, in part, because the local newspapers are players and not just bad journalists and the existing narrative, which they've been able to get away with for years, is dead wrong. It's going to take a lot of work to sort out the AL mess, one or two prosecutions isn't going to do it.
Amy Agee wrote on October 10, 2007 6:22 PM:I agree with all your posts on this topic, but we must remember that these evil people play for keeps. There is a wonderful man (Gov. Siegelman) sitting in a federal prison right now, because they (Rove, Canary, Riley etc.) rigged the system. They had too much power and they used it to try to garner even more.
jvill wrote on October 10, 2007 7:32 PM:I watched the trial myself. I can tell you without reservation that the judge very much appeared to do everything he could to help the U.S. Attorney get a conviction.
I am asking everyone who reads this to call the House and Senate Judiciary Committees and DEMAND the supeonas be enforced, and the Siegelman case investigated. If we get those two things, MANY high level republicans will be in a heap of trouble.
We also need to remember that Oliver North lied to Congress, and he's considered a hero for doing it.
These people aren't being shamed into anything. It's their pride to lie to our representatives.
Don Quixote wrote on October 10, 2007 7:47 PM:The first order of business for DOJ in 2009 should be to prosecute Rove!
luneylegume wrote on October 10, 2007 7:54 PM:Obstruction of Justice works for the destruction of evidence .
Donald from Hawaii wrote on October 10, 2007 11:49 PM:jvill, I'm not sure that Ollie North lied to Congress. You may want to re-check that statement to ensure it's accurate.
My recollection was that North freely and unapologetically admitted his role in the Iran-Contra affair, and even went so far as to impugn the integrity and patriotism of Sen. Daniel Inouye, a Medal of Honor recipient and then-chairman of the committee investigating the scandal.
It was the first and only time I've ever seen our senator angry enough to rebuke someone in full view of other people (and on national TV, yet); he's quite the discreet gentleman otherwise. But Inouye most certainly tore North a new one that afternoon, in a remarkable piece of Senate oratory that the retired colonel and his rightie cohorts never fail to not acknowledge when discussing the matter today.
The senator and I don't see eye-to-eye on many things, but I was and still am very proud of him for firmly putting that self-righteous little turd in his place, if only for one day.
Linda wrote on October 11, 2007 12:27 AM:This is what happens when you load the JD with a whole herd of "Loyal Bushies." The JD no longer represents U.S. justice. It represents a political agenda.
Canary's statement that "Karl" had gotten the JD on Siegelman is esp chilling. That Rove could actually "get" the JD on someone politically is a testament to how close he got to allowing Bush to actually take over the country.
It ain't over yet. And I've lost all hope that Rove, Bush, and Cheney will ever pay for their crimes. They've gotten Congress so scared, they're useless. And not just scared of political repercussions, but scared that Congress will get nuked by the terrorists if they don't go along with every Bush demand.
hilary wrote on October 11, 2007 1:27 AM:what is the redacted name?
To Jill I e-mailed this to (redacted), Karl and Stewart(?) today
C. Marie wrote on October 11, 2007 1:49 AM:Our Democratic buddies, a.k.a. "The Fearfuls," are making a couple of huge mistakes if they don't act now:
shpilk wrote on October 11, 2007 2:44 AM:1) By outing this criminality, they can grab the supine media by the throats and force them to cover the sheer magnitude of the Rovian Crime Syndicate. Otherwise, these people will do whatever it takes to subvert another election and the Constitution. They have nothing to lose, and will stop at nothing to save their own hides. Kiss 2009 goodbye!
2)This thing is like a huge sweater with a long piece of yarn waiting to be pulled. Start unraveling the yarn, and the people who have been too afraid to come forward, will, out of a sense of relief, or sheer self preservation, start singing like The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
The depths of the crimes this administration and its cronies have committed are so vast and wide, that it would blow covers, use every department to instill fear, and perhaps even lie about aspects of 9/11. Think I am a conspiracy theorist? Robert Baer, former CIA guy, says he know questions what he thought he knew about it on "Countdown!" The very soul is going to be shaken by what we have allowed to happen here. Call and demand action!
What good does any of this testimony due, if justice is not served?
shpilk wrote on October 11, 2007 2:45 AM:What good does any of this testimony do, if justice is not served?
anon wrote on October 11, 2007 4:31 AM:...Think I am a conspiracy theorist?...
No, not exactly. I think some of the crimes that sent Siegelman to jail and kept, say, Sessions, Pryor, and Bonner out of jail are most likely a prosecutable conspiracy. And I think it's pretty clear that the efforts to cover up whatever happened in the Alabama DoJ offices over the last couple years is a conspiracy.
But we are talking about sketchy testimony from one GOP lawyer here. It's unclear what evidence of serious crimes might extist. Since most of the important paperwork has not been released and various players have either denied the accusations and/or refused supoenas, it's hard to tell if Simpson's account is accurate or even know who to charge with what. Unless she has more evidence, or other people come forward, the best that can happen with this is that it creates political pressure and/or jump starts an investigation.
pj in jesusland wrote on October 11, 2007 8:36 AM:The depth of the crimes committed by this Administration are so vast and wide they make it seem like crime in America is the norm, not the exception.
These graduates of the Tony Soprano School of Public Policy simultaneously lower public expectations of government officials while making law-abiding citizens sound like outsiders and whiners.
Scary to think people wield such corrupted power with near impunity. All cloaked in the Stars and Stripes, no less. Just amazing.
theWalrus wrote on October 11, 2007 9:21 AM:Karl "took care" of a lot of things. He was the bag man for the WH. I have to agree with others. It's more than depressing hearing about this, knowing that nothing will be done about it. Karl Rove in jail? Cheney behind bars for war crimes? Perle incarcerated for conspiracy?
All lovely fantasies. Time marches on, people forget.
bajajazz wrote on October 11, 2007 1:20 PM:When straight-shooters like Leahy sell out by sitting on their hands, it adds substance to the notion that the Anarchists had it right when they preached the "propaganda of the deed." It's obvious now that we cannot look to our elected representatives for a redress of grievances. General strike, anyone?
mo2 wrote on October 11, 2007 3:28 PM:hilary asked Stewart who -
"Simpson gave congressional lawyers an e-mail that Riley sent to "Karl" and Washington lobbyist Stewart Hall about seeking help in getting a Federal Emergency Management Agency payment for a client."
Taylor Hicks wrote on January 6, 2008 6:43 AM:http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1192005492139550.xml&coll=2&thispage=5
“BUSH HAS TURN THE WHITE HOUSE INTO A DEN OF THIEVES”
President Bush, Vice President Cheney and their executioner Lieutenant Karl Rove have disregarded the values so cherished by the Republican Party. Their ideology have been to channel millions of dollars to those party members who have pledged total absolute loyalty to the Bush administration. This includes creating/channeling campaign funds for their elections, making appointments of the undeserving and/or unqualified boot lickers to high Federal offices and awarding large military/government contracts to thousands of companies that are owned directly or indirectly by his supporters. Many of these contracting companies are sham organizations and/or have no accountability.
We in the “South Central States” have surely suffered the most from the presidency of Bush. It took us over a century to recovered from the scars of General Sherman’s army raping our women/children, burning our homes, crops, and industries. We are now facing another serious dilemma. High ranking Bush followers both state and federal are above the law. With election frauds, illegal campaign contributions (with money being laundered from large oil companies, Tobacco Companies, Gambling Casinos), political profiling and political prosecutions. Our prisons are at three times capacity. Only 59% of our children graduate high school on the average.