New DoJ documents do not answer Dems' questions

[babylonsister]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/21258


New DoJ documents do not answer Dems' questions
Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2007-04-14 10:59. Congress

By Elana Schor, The Hill

The Department of Justice (DoJ) on Friday released thousands of pages of new documents to Democratic lawmakers and aides investigating the planned ouster of eight U.S. attorneys, raising the stakes for next Tuesday’s Senate appearance by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and adding new names to the mix.

The document release comes a day after the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a new round of subpoenas for documents and testimony from DoJ and White House officials. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the subcommittee chairman spearheading the prosecutor firings probe, told reporters that the documents hardly resolve Democrats’ lingering questions.

“Adding these documents to the others, we’ve received 6,000 pages of documents,” Schumer said. “There is still no clear reason why these U.S. attorneys were fired.” Portions of the documents are still heavily redacted, Schumer noted, at times obscuring information Democrats have requested specifically.

Among the redacted items at issue are the names of three U.S. attorneys initially singled out for firing by Sampson but eventually dropped from the purge plan. On Jan. 9, 2006, Sampson sent then-White House counsel Harriet Miers and her deputy a list of seven suggested targets for removal: four attorneys who are tied to the scandal and three who are redacted from all released documents.

Yet another e-mail released Friday may shed light on two of those unknown prosecutors. On April 14, 2006, Sampson told associate White House counsel Dabney Friedrich, “I would note that two others on my original list already have left office.”

The names below are redacted, but a search of public records and media reports shows only two U.S. attorneys who left office between January and April 2006. Missouri’s Todd Graves left office March 10, 2006, facing criticism from the state Democrats after his family members accepted more than $3 million in no-bid contracts from Gov. Matt Blunt (R). Minnesota’s Tom Heffelfinger resigned Feb. 15, 2006, and was replaced two days later by Rachel Paulose.

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[MADem]

1. Ho, hum...shocked, shocked....that's a typically lame way to buy time--send the

wrong shit over, let them go through it all, and then feign confusion "Oh, I THOUGHT you wanted 'X' not 'Y!'"

What baaaaastids.

[wtmusic]

2. How the hell do they have the right to redact anything?

Is there national security at stake here? :shrug: :grr:

[Double T]

3. National security and laws don't matter to these criminals..........

it is all about saving their own pathetic asses.