E-mails On Attorneys’ Firings Could Impact Privilege Case

by S-Q @ 6:00 PM MDT

The Hill

By Susan Crabtree

March 22, 2007

As the White House prepares for a constitutional showdown over subpoenas of top administration aides to testify about the firings of U.S. attorneys, the viability of President Bush’s executive privilege argument may come down to the time-worn question: How much did the president know, and when did he know it? Democratic sources say that investigators in Congress have taken note of a brief e-mail exchange, released by the administration Monday night, which touches on this topic. But the exchange raises more questions than it answers. In an e-mail dated Nov. 15, 2006, Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, asked then-White House Counsel Harriet Miers and her deputy, William Kelley, whether he had the green light to go forward with the firing plan. Miers responded that she was “not sure whether this will be determined to require the boss’s attention.” Her e-mail ended with the words: “We will see. Thanks.” Sampson, who resigned last week, responded with a critical question: “Who will determine whether whether [sic] this requires the President’s attention?”

Bush in Colombia to discuss insurgency, trade

US President George W. Bush was in war-torn Colombia Sunday, on the third leg of a five-nation Latin American tour meant to build bridges, which has been marked by violent protests.

As Bush arrived in Bogota aboard Air Force One, about 100 protesters in the city center hurled rocks at police, who responded by firing teargas.

A massive security presence was deployed along the route to the presidential palace, where Bush was to hold talks with conservative President Alvaro Uribe.

Bush has said he was conducting "quiet and effective diplomacy" in Latin America, where several leftist leaders opposed to his policies have been elected or re-elected in recent years.

But more street protests were planned in Bogota, following similar demonstrations that marked Bush's stops in Sao Paulo and Montevideo.

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The Failed Attorney General

During the hearing on his nomination as attorney general, Alberto Gonzales said he understood the difference between the job he held — President Bush’s in-house lawyer — and the job he wanted, which was to represent all Americans as their chief law enforcement officer and a key defender of the Constitution. Two years later, it is obvious Mr. Gonzales does not have a clue about the difference.

He has never stopped being consigliere to Mr. Bush’s imperial presidency. If anyone, outside Mr. Bush’s rapidly shrinking circle of enablers, still had doubts about that, the events of last week should have erased them.

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McCain: Bush Pursuit of Iraq a 'Train Wreck'

McCain Slams Bush Administration on Iraq and Global Warming, Criticizes Both Cheney and Rumsfeld

Feb. 22, 2007 — Proving that presidential infighting isn't just for Democrats, Republican front-runner Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., took several sharply worded shots at the Bush administration this week, distancing himself from an unpopular president and an unpopular war while wooing the right Republicans who put the president in power and once before denied McCain the White House.

McCain's latest anti-Bush tirade came during a joint appearance Wednesday in California with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican.

The two leaders met to discuss energy and the environment, but the subject turned to Iraq.

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Democrats vow to seek limits on Iraq war

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats pledged renewed efforts Sunday to curtail the Iraq war, suggesting they will seek to limit a 2002 measure authorizing President Bush's use of force against Saddam Hussein.

The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the proposal had little chance of succeeding. "I think the president would veto it and the veto would be upheld," said Sen. Richard Lugar (news, bio, voting record) of Indiana.

A day after Republicans foiled a Democratic bid to repudiate Bush's deployment of 21,500 additional combat troops to Iraq, Senate Democrats declined to embrace measures — being advanced in the House — that would attach conditions to additional funding for troops.

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11 more Republicans get behind Iraq rebuke

The lawmakers take to the House floor to show support, reflecting the rising anxiety within the GOP over the war.

WASHINGTON — In a striking display of dissension, a group of Republican lawmakers broke ranks with the White House on Wednesday and embraced a resolution opposing more U.S. troops in Iraq — airing their criticism even as President Bush publicly defended his plan.

Bush questioned the message that expected House approval of the nonbinding resolution would send, saying at a news conference: "People are watching what happens here in America. The enemy listens to what's happening. The Iraqi people listen to the words…. They're wondering about our commitment to this cause."

Undaunted, 11 GOP lawmakers, including normally staunch Bush allies who represent districts he carried in his presidential campaigns, took to the House floor to express their support for a Democratic-sponsored resolution renouncing Bush's decision to add 21,500 troops to the roughly 135,000 already in Iraq.

The Republicans complained that the U.S. military finds itself in the middle of a civil war, that the Iraqis haven't done enough to make their country safe and that a "surge" in diplomacy — not troops — is needed.

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