Just reaffirms my belief that Bush, his father, and many connected to them, are
criminals.
--- On Mon, 2/2/09, Kris Millegan <ramille...@aol.com> wrote:
From: Kris Millegan <ramille...@aol.com>
Subject: [cia-drugs] Fwd: Bush Asserts "Executive Privilege <and Immunity to
Prosecution> IN PERPETUITY"!!
To: "Cia-drugs Cia-drugs" <Cia-drugs@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Monday, February 2, 2009, 8:58 PM
Begin forwarded message:
From: dasg...@aol. comDate: February 2, 2009 12:48:35 PM PSTTo: ramille...@aol.
comCc: ema...@aol.com, j...@aol.com, jim6...@cwnet. com, l...@legitgov.. org,
lar...@rawstory. comSubject: Bush Asserts "Executive Privilege <and Immunity to
Prosecution> IN PERPETUITY"! !
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Rove was instructed by then White House
counsel Fred Fielding to exert executive privilege [even when George W. Bush
was no longer President] if subpoenaed. A Long-Lived Privilege? Bush lawyer
directs Rove not to talk to Congress [EVER] By Michael Isikoff Jan 29, 2009
http://www.newsweek .com/id/182240Just four days before he left office,
President Bush instructed former White House aide Karl Rove to refuse to
cooperate with future congressional inquiries into alleged misconduct during
his administration.On Jan. 16, 2009, then White House Counsel Fred Fielding
sent a letter (.pdf) to Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin. The message: should his
client receive any future subpoenas, Rove "should not appear before Congress"
or turn over any documents relating to his time in the White House. The letter
told Rove that President Bush was continuing to assert executive privilege over
any testimony by Rove—even after he
leaves office.A nearly identical letter (.pdf) was also sent by Fielding the
day before to a lawyer for former White House counsel Harriet Miers,
instructing her not to appear for a scheduled deposition with the House
Judiciary Committee. That letter reasserted the White House position that Miers
has "absolute immunity" from testifying before Congress about anything she did
while she worked at the White House — a far-reaching claim that is being
vigorously disputed by lawyers for the House of Representatives in court. The
letters set the stage for what is likely to be a highly contentious legal and
political battle over an unresolved issue: whether a former president can
assert "executive privilege" —and therefore prevent his aides from testifying
before Congress— even after his term has expired."To my knowledge, these
[letters] are unprecedented, " said Peter Shane, an Ohio State University law
professor who specializes in executive-privilege
issues. "I'm aware of no sitting president that has tried to give an insurance
policy to a former employee in regard to post-administration testimony.." Shane
likened the letter to Rove as an attempt to give his former aide a 'get-out-of-
contempt- free card'."The issue arose this week after House Judiciary Committee
Chairman John Conyers announced that he had subpoenaed Rove to be deposed under
oath next Monday to answer questions about his alleged role in the firing of
U.S. attorneys and the prosecution of the former Democratic governor of
Alabama, Don Siegelman. Conyers, whose panel extensively investigated both
matters last year, signaled that he has no intention of dropping them now just
because Bush has left office. "After two years of stonewalling, it's time for
him [Rove] to talk," Conyers said in a press release.But it is unclear whether
Rove—or Miers, who was found in contempt of Congress last year when she refused
to honor an earlier
subpoena—is close to doing so. Luskin said he did not solicit the letter from
Fielding, but maintains that its contents give his client little choice in the
matter.Fielding's letter cited the aggressive position of the Bush Justice
Department on executive-privilege issues. That doctrine essentially held that
White House aides not only did not have to answer specific questions before
Congress about their presidential duties, they didn't even have to show up in
response to subpoenas because they had "absolute immunity.""We anticipate that
one or more committees of the United States Congress might again seek to compel
Mr. Rove's appearance, testimony or documents on the subject of the U.S.
attorneys matter," Fielding wrote. "Please advise Mr. Rove ... that the
President continues to direct him not to provide information (whether in the
form of testimony or documents) to the Congress in this matter …" Reached
Wednesday afternoon, Fielding declined
to comment. But a former presidential aide, who asked not to be identified
talking about sensitive matters, said that the letter to Rove was "basically
the same" as the one sent to Miers (and a third letter sent to former White
House chief of staff Josh Bolten). "If the president was going to assert
privilege," this source said, he had to do it before he left office on Jan.
20.Luskin said that he forwarded a copy of Fielding's letter, as well as the
subpoena he got from Conyers, to Obama's White House counsel, Greg Craig, and
essentially asked for the new president's position on these matters..So far, he
said, Craig hasn't responded; Luskin also says he has asked the House Judiciary
Committee to postpone its deposition of Rove until he hears back. The committee
has agreed to put off the deposition—but only for a few weeks.The issue is
likely to come to a head soon. The Justice Department is due to state its
position on executive privilege to the U.S.
Court of Appeals in a few weeks in response to the House's attempt to enforce
its previous subpoenas for Miers and Bolten, who were subpoenaed to turn over
documents relating the U.S. attorneys firings. Both refused to comply, or even
show up — relying on the Bush Justice Department's sweeping position on
"absolute immunity" from testifying before Congress.Few legal observers expect
the Obama Justice Department to endorse that position, but it remains an open
question how the new administration will define the scope of presidential
privilege. Bush's attempt to assert privilege even after he leaves office
throws a new wrinkle into the dispute."We're in uncharted territory," Luskin
said to NEWSWEEK when asked whether a former president can still assert
executive privilege after he leaves office. He added that Rove has no personal
objection to testifying and will cooperate with an ongoing Justice Department
inquiry into the U.S. attorneys
firing—although Luskin says he has not yet been contacted. (Rove is an
occasional contributor to Newsweek).A White House aide said Wednesday afternoon
that Craig's office was still reviewing the issue
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