Bush lawyer directs Rove not to talk

[katty]

more: http://www.newsweek.com/id/182240

Just 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 Fieldingsent a letter 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 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.

[wtbymark]

1. Jail - period! n/t

[fascisthunter]

2. too late

[spartan61]

3. If the bush admin is so innocent, as they claim,

why are they going to such lengths to keep everything so secretive?

[Captain Hilts]

5. What do they have to hide?????

[santamargarita]

11. Everything they did for eight years

~

[Captain Hilts]

12. It was a rhetorical question laced with irony. nt

[texastoast]

4. Why? What could they possibly be hiding?

Bunch of pussies.

[aquart]

6. Bunch of mobsters engaged in an ongoing criminal conspiracy.

[annabanana]

7. yup

They continue to hide from the law. I can't imagine how these post-administration claims of exec. priv. could have ANY legal underpinnings.

[stillcool]

8. Or what?

[struggle4progress]

9. Looks like Fieldingsent is involved in a conspiracy to obstruct justice

[Left Coast2020]

14. And if thats what he told them, he could lose his law license.

Its called "DISBARMENT"!!! And any attorney that gives that kind of advice could be disbared.

[salguine]

10. This pussyfooting around with this asshole needs to stop, like fucking yesterday. Kick in

his fucking door at five in the morning, drag his fat ass out of bed, throw it in the back of a squad car, and chain his ass to a chair in front of the House Judiciary Committee, still in his fucking jammies. If he doesn't talk, waterboard his fat ass.

[Left Coast2020]

16. They will. They just want to make him squirm and freak out a little.

[benld74]

13. Executive Privilege is another name for a Bushco Smokescreen

[classysassy]

15. The mob

still trying to exert power after they are out of office,and for awhile out of jail.