The Ten Week Gap, Rovegate, the CIA and the DOJ

paineinthearse

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Tue Jul-26-05 03:40 PM
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The Ten Week Gap, Rovegate, the CIA and the DOJ

Edited on Sat Jul-30-05 09:29 AM by Skinner

First, it was an attack on Joe Wilson.
Then, they attacked his wife.
Then, they attacked the press for covering the story.
Now, it appears the Republican attack machine has set its sights on the prosecutor.

Rep. John Conyers, D-MI,
Ranking Member, House Judiciary Committee

www.johnconyers.com

Blogged by JC on 07.26.05 @ 02:21 PM ET

The Ten Week Gap, Rovegate, the CIA and the DOJ

I just blogged on the Huffington Post about the details of a ten week gap in the Rovegate investigation the Central Intelligence Agency advised me about in January of 2003.

update: I see Raw Story has more.

Rep. Conyers' post at Huffington - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/john-conyers/what-about-the-ten-week-g_4723.html

07.26.2005 Rep. John Conyers

What About the Ten Week Gap?

Going back a couple of years, I wrote two letters on September 29, 2003 about Treasongate. The first was a public letter (pdf) -- to the Department of Justice asking for a Special Prosecutor (I think I was the first Member of Congress to ask, but I have no illusions that my letter forced their hand).

The second (pdf) was not a public letter. It was to Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet. I was troubled by reports that the DOJ was, to put it mildly, being less than responsive to the CIA concerns about the leak. The response I received (pdf), reported way back then by Josh Marshall of Talkingpointsmemo on a Friday night (it is amazing how I always get the most valuable responses to my letters on Friday nights), added some stunning detail to the Justice Department's footdragging. Mr. Marshall reminds us about the story today.

The letter indicates that the Central Intelligence Agency was repeatedly stonewalled by the DOJ and, in fact, couldn’t even get their letters answered or calls returned. Here are some details:

more

And Raw Story comes through, again...

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Judiciary_Democrats_seek__investigation_into_12hour_0726.html

Judiciary Democrats seek investigation into why probe took so long; Sixty-seven days?
RAW STORY

Michigan Democrat John Conyers and nine Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee issued a letter to the U.S. Inspector General calling for an investigation into a 12-hour delay between the Justice Department learning of the outing of a CIA agent and telling the White House to preserve documents, RAW STORY has learned.

Perhaps more significantly, however, Judiciary Democrats point to the 67 day gap between the time the CIA called the Justice Department to investigate the CIA outing and the time that the Justice Department directed the FBI to investigate the matter.

"It appears the now infamous 12 hour delay the Justice Department granted the White House before issuing an order to preserve documents was not an isolated instance," Conyers remarked. "I received information from the Central Intelligence Agency indicating a pattern of foot dragging by the Justice Department before it would commence a criminal investigation, or even respond to CIA requests."

"While the Republican Congress prepares to launch hearings, which appear to be fishing expeditions designed to discredit the Special Counsel investigating this matter, it defies reason that it would not investigate the DOJ's obviously partisan administration of justice," he added.

Rep. Conyers' & other HJC members'new letter to the U.S. Inspector General:

July 26, 2005

Dear Inspector General Fine:

We write to request that you immediately commence an investigation of the Department of Justice's handling of the investigation of the leak of the identity of a covert CIA operative's identity by high-ranking Administration officials. Press reports and other information obtained by House Judiciary Committee Democrats appear to demonstrate that on at least two separate occasions, DOJ personnel acted to permit delays in the investigation, which may have resulted in the loss or destruction of critical evidence.

First, over this past weekend we learned that then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales received what appears to be a "heads-up" about the commencement of the investigation from Justice Department officials in the evening of September 29. Through White House staff, he asked DOJ personnel if it was permissible to wait an additional 12 hours to notify the White House staff of the investigation and presumably direct the staff to preserve all relevant documents and records relating to the inquiry. According to Mr. Gonzales, "Department of Justice lawyers" gave their assent to this delay:

I specifically had our lawyers go back to the Department of Justice lawyers and ask them, "Do you want us to notify the staff now, immediately or would it be okay to notify the staff early in the morning?" And we were advised, go ahead and notify the staff early in the morning, that would be okay.

Notwithstanding this request, Mr. Gonzales informed the White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card about the investigation. It is not yet known who the White House Chief of Staff advised about the investigation prior to the Counsel's official notification twelve hours later.

more.

This man is amazing!!!!! :yourock:

edited formatting

The Ten Week Gap, Rovegate, the CIA and the DOJ

First, it was an attack on Joe Wilson. Then, they attacked his wife. Then, they attacked the press for covering the story. Now, it appears the Republican attack machine has set its sights on the prosecutor.

First, it was an attack on Joe Wilson.
Then, they attacked his wife.
Then, they attacked the press for covering the story.
Now, it appears the Republican attack machine has set its sights on the prosecutor.