The Hill:Hundreds of e-mails, transcripts and notes released by a House panel on Tuesday show that former White House political adviser Karl Rove was directly involved in the firing of New Mexico’s U.S. attorney.
The House Judiciary Committee released 6,000 pages in documents, which were obtained through an exhaustive, two-year investigation into firings of federal prosecutors during President George W. Bush's administration.
Rove and Bush counsel Harriet Miers denied they ordered the firing of David Iglesias and at least eight other U.S. attorneys for political reasons. That controversy led to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s resignation.
"After all the delay and despite all the obfuscation, lies, and spin," Judiciary Chairman Conyers said in a release, "this basic truth can no longer be denied: Karl Rove and his cohorts at the Bush White House were the driving force behind several of these firings, which were done for improper reasons."
Iglesias wouldn't tow the line and hunt down widespread Democratic voter fraud -- which didn't exist -- so Rove and crew had him fired. The politicization of law enforcement is an extremely disturbing idea. And it could turn out to be real bad news for Rove and company.
"A former Justice Department official said Rove, Miers, former Sen. Pete Domenici (D-N.M.) [sic; Domenici is a Republican] and ex-Rep. Heather Wilson (N.M.) could face criminal charges for their role in the firings of Iglesias and eight other U.S. attorneys in 2006," the paper reports.
"There’s real potential here at a minimum to be investigated for obstruction of justice… they attempted to influence the due administration of justice," said Gerry Hebert, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center and a Justice Department veteran.
Still, the ruling principle in Washington these days seems to be that the Bushies must get away with everything. So this might go the same way everything else has -- nowhere.
This is a nation of laws, not men. In theory, anyway. In practice, not so much.
