Karl Rove: 'Closing in on Rove'
[Mr. Rove is the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush.]
For more than two years, House Judiciary Committee Democrats and the New York Times editorial board have argued that I personally arranged for Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman to be prosecuted in 2004 for corruption and ordered the removal of eight U.S. attorneys in 2006 for failing to investigate Democrats. The Washington Post editorial board also echoed this last charge.
The Times and the Post have published a combined 18 editorials on these issues, which were also catnip to House Judiciary Committee Democrats. Politico's Ryan Grimm reported last year overhearing the Committee's chairman, John Conyers of Michigan, tell two others, "We're closing in on Rove. Someone's got to kick his ass."
To get to the bottom of these issues, the Obama administration brokered a deal with former President George W. Bush's lawyers and the House Judiciary Committee to provide the committee with the information it wanted while protecting executive privilege. This resulted in me sitting down for a 12-hour, two-day interview last month. More than 500 pages of material, including interview transcripts (available at Rove.com), were released last week, tidbits of which made the front pages.
Judiciary Democrats had California Rep. Adam Schiff doggedly ask me about four-year-old phone logs, emails, meetings and conversations. What did the committee discover?
Judging from the evidence released, it uncovered facts that show that my role in the U.S. attorneys issue was minimal and entirely proper. I did not conceive of the idea of removing certain U.S. attorneys, did not select those to be removed, and did not see the lists of U.S. attorneys Justice was considering to replace. I had no idea who was on the final list until Justice sent it to the White House in November 2006. No fair-minded person can review the thousands of pages of documents and testimony and conclude that I drove the process.
Instead, the committee seems to have found only evidence that discredits the idea that I orchestrated the firings to protect Republicans or punish Democrats. The committee found nothing to indicate that I ordered U.S. attorneys in Arizona, California or Wisconsin to be removed to sabotage investigations of Republicans, as some Judiciary Democrats have alleged.
I told the committee—just as the White House acknowledged publicly in March 2007—that I had told the White House Counsel of complaints about David Iglesias, the U.S. attorney for New Mexico. Those complaints included the allegation that he failed to do anything about voter fraud in the 2004 election, even though that fraud appeared to be so egregious that the Bernalillo County clerk (a Democrat) and sheriff (a Republican) as well as the Albuquerque Journal all called for a federal investigation.
I also told the White House Counsel about complaints that Mr. Iglesias bungled a high-profile corruption case by interfering with career prosecutors, and that he shelved an indictment involving corruption in the construction of the Bernalillo County Courthouse for months. The accusation was that he refused to file the indictments until after the 2006 election out of fear that he might offend Democrats he would need if he ran for office himself...
Read entire article at The Wall Street Journal
For more than two years, House Judiciary Committee Democrats and the New York Times editorial board have argued that I personally arranged for Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman to be prosecuted in 2004 for corruption and ordered the removal of eight U.S. attorneys in 2006 for failing to investigate Democrats. The Washington Post editorial board also echoed this last charge.
The Times and the Post have published a combined 18 editorials on these issues, which were also catnip to House Judiciary Committee Democrats. Politico's Ryan Grimm reported last year overhearing the Committee's chairman, John Conyers of Michigan, tell two others, "We're closing in on Rove. Someone's got to kick his ass."
To get to the bottom of these issues, the Obama administration brokered a deal with former President George W. Bush's lawyers and the House Judiciary Committee to provide the committee with the information it wanted while protecting executive privilege. This resulted in me sitting down for a 12-hour, two-day interview last month. More than 500 pages of material, including interview transcripts (available at Rove.com), were released last week, tidbits of which made the front pages.
Judiciary Democrats had California Rep. Adam Schiff doggedly ask me about four-year-old phone logs, emails, meetings and conversations. What did the committee discover?
Judging from the evidence released, it uncovered facts that show that my role in the U.S. attorneys issue was minimal and entirely proper. I did not conceive of the idea of removing certain U.S. attorneys, did not select those to be removed, and did not see the lists of U.S. attorneys Justice was considering to replace. I had no idea who was on the final list until Justice sent it to the White House in November 2006. No fair-minded person can review the thousands of pages of documents and testimony and conclude that I drove the process.
Instead, the committee seems to have found only evidence that discredits the idea that I orchestrated the firings to protect Republicans or punish Democrats. The committee found nothing to indicate that I ordered U.S. attorneys in Arizona, California or Wisconsin to be removed to sabotage investigations of Republicans, as some Judiciary Democrats have alleged.
I told the committee—just as the White House acknowledged publicly in March 2007—that I had told the White House Counsel of complaints about David Iglesias, the U.S. attorney for New Mexico. Those complaints included the allegation that he failed to do anything about voter fraud in the 2004 election, even though that fraud appeared to be so egregious that the Bernalillo County clerk (a Democrat) and sheriff (a Republican) as well as the Albuquerque Journal all called for a federal investigation.
I also told the White House Counsel about complaints that Mr. Iglesias bungled a high-profile corruption case by interfering with career prosecutors, and that he shelved an indictment involving corruption in the construction of the Bernalillo County Courthouse for months. The accusation was that he refused to file the indictments until after the 2006 election out of fear that he might offend Democrats he would need if he ran for office himself...