RNC Now Seeks Shelter Of Executive Privilege

[Hissyspit]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081407A.shtml

RNC Now Seeks Shelter of Executive Privilege
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report

Tuesday 14 August 2007

The Republican National Committee said it will not abide by a subpoena and turn over documents to a Congressional committee investigating the firings of at least eight US attorneys last year because the RNC is waiting to see if the White House will assert executive privilege over RNC documents at the center of the controversy, according to an outside law firm retained by the RNC.

The White House has asserted executive privilege to block senior administration officials from testifying before Congress about their involvement in the decision to fire the federal prosecutors. Moreover, the White House has cited executive privilege in declining to turn over specific documents to Congress that may shed further light on the circumstances behind the attorney firings. The US attorneys believe they were fired for partisan political reasons. In some instances, the US attorneys said they were pressured by Republican lawmakers and RNC operatives to file criminal charges against Democrats at the center of public corruption probes prior to last year's midterm election as well as individual cases of voter fraud, which the attorneys said was based on weak evidence, in order to cast a dark cloud over Democratic incumbents and swing election results toward Republican challengers.

Earlier this year, internal Justice Department documents related to behind-the-scenes discussions involving the US attorney firings revealed some Bush administration officials have primarily used email accounts maintained by the RNC to conduct official White House business in what appears to be a violation of the Presidential Records Act. The RNC is believed to have thousands of pages of documents from White House officials in its possession, dating back to 2005, that could answer lingering questions about the role the administration played in the decision to fire the US attorneys.

The latest salvo between the RNC and Congress over the documents under subpoena sets the stage for a legal showdown between the House and RNC Chairman Robert Duncan, who Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers threatened to hold in contempt if documents and internal RNC emails relating to the Congressional probe are not turned over to his committee. Neither Conyers nor a spokesman for the congressman returned calls for comment on Monday. Presumably, any further legal action would take place when Congress returns from its summer vacation next month.

In a letter sent on Friday to Conyers, Robert Kelner, an attorney at Covington & Burling in Washington, DC, said the White House counsel's office instructed the RNC not to "produce Category Two documents at this time."

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[SoonerPride]

1. I toured the White House once.

Next time I get stopped by the cops, I'll claim "executive privilege."

[Richard Steele]

4. And your claim will be every bit as valid as this one. nm

[MADem]

2. Now, that's a bridge too far. That's absurd. NT

[sybylla]

3. Executive priv to cover an illegal relationship that should have never happened

Okay, just when I thought they would have more brains than to pull something so stupid, they prove me wrong.

[aquart]

6. They have pictures of Roberts with a goat. Has to be.

[krispos42]

12. Ahhh... that explains this thread then...

Obviously, the names have been changed to protect the guilty

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[helderheid]

10. Incredible, ain't it?

[BlooInBloo]

5. lol! Yeeaaaahhh.... I'm gonna need another, completely independent source.

[sharp_stick]

7. Good, that should

get the entire mess tossed out by the courts. These idiots are just trying to run the clock out now. I can only imagine the electrical bill we have to pay for the legions of shredders these corrupt assholes must be operating 24 hours a day.

Just 3 years ago we had them yapping about a "permanent repuke majority" and some blowhards trying to convince us that it would be nice if shrub could run again for pResident (I always shut that down by saying he could run against Bill Clinton). Now they are running like the rats they are, leaving that sinking ship as fast as they can.

[Subdivisions]

8. Why are the "seeking" executive privilege? What are they hiding &

why do they hate America so much that they wouldn't want us to know that they are innocent of any wrongdoing?

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. No - Fucking - Way!

[shanti]

11. this is WAY beyond the pale!

precedent was set

[krispos42]

13. So... there's a form to fill out to apply for Executive Privilege?

Any guesses on the 'filing fee' that BushCo charges?

[Canuckistanian]

14. Hmm, I smell a Hatch Act investigation brewing

And it ain't a pretty smell.

[jgraz]

15. This is what taking impeachment off the table gets you

Once you actually tell the criminals that you have no intention of enforcing the law, they take you at your word and start to act with impunity.

[symbolman]

16. So

Yet another Fairy Tale by You Know Who..

How many more "business hours" until Rove is Indicted?

[Bitwit1234]

17. So just why would a committee have executive privlege

they are only supposed to be for the benefit of getting and funding republicans for election. What "advice" could they present to the president that would be private or for national security.

[spanone]

18. if this doesn't get our congressional leaders hot nothing will.

fuck you RNC

[The Stranger]

19. Reason Number 5,429,213 to impeach.

Nancy? Are you out there? Can you put it back on the table?

[malaise]

20. The RNC will lose this in court

Lock them up John Conyers.

[jgraz]

21. Of course they will

but they're hoping that they can drag all this out past January, 2009 in the hopes that President Hillary will follow in her hubby's footsteps and forgive and forget.

[Peace Patriot]

22. I think what's lurking behind all this is the theft of the 2004 election.

I don't think the instances we know about, of the reasons for the DoJ hirings/firings--a political lawsuit here and there--can account for the heat around these Rove/RNC emails. There may be a lot more to the use of political lawsuits--that occurred, or were planned. And of course the principle of a non-political DoJ is vital. I just sense something more in the Bushite reaction. Claiming "executive privilege" for the RNC is just....well, it's absurd. Claiming "executive privilege" for WH felonies was absurd enough (and contrary to existing law and precedent). But the RNC? That is way, way, WAY outa line.

So what could it be? Could be Bush involvement in the political DoJ hirings/firings. Protecting Junior. Or keeping his 'genius' pal out of jail, on the same matter. But you gotta wonder what ELSE Rove was doing with his RNC email accounts. And when you put some pieces together (the riggable e-voting systems, run by corporations with strong rightwing ties, fast-tracked into place during the 2002-2004 period, the many weird elections we've seen, with the 2004 being the weirdest of all), well, that would be the Big Banana.

They were never elected. They have had no legitimacy lo these three and a half years (not to mention the previous four). It was a COUP.

I'm a bit fuzzy on the dates of the emails. Jason, above, says they go back to 2005. And I recall something about a big erasure of the Rove/RNC emails for the dates prior to that (or was that Cheney?). Not sure of my facts here. But erased or not, a big dump of 2005-2006 emails might have trails leading back to 2004 and 2003.

One of the little bees in my bonnet is that Bush can claim (as Gonzo has) that he was "within the law" doing political hirings/firings at the DoJ. (They serve "at the pleasure of the president"--that line.) They only broke "guidelines," not laws. And I haven't seen anything that would breach this TECHNICAL defense--especially with a Congress that clearly does NOT want to impeach anybody.

So, why is the RNC in such a panic to protect these emails, that they seem to be kneecapping everybody up the line, including Bush, to get them hauled in under "executive privilege"? Is it just the political gossip they may contain? WHAT are they so afraid of?

And a concurrent question might be: Why isn't our 'Democratic' Congress just laughing in their faces about this "executive privilege" claim, and removing it forthwith? Why aren't the US Marshals or the Capitol Police at the door of the RNC right now? Are they going to PERMIT it? Are they going to let this "play out" in Bushbot courts?

Well, chances are--given their record--that is exactly what they are going to do. And you have to ask why, not just of the Pukes but also of the Democrats.

And the answer to THAT may be--and I am speculating that it is--that what is hidden in those emails is the theft of the 2004 presidential election, and if the 2004 presidential election can be stolen with the rigged machines, so can most other elections, including those of Congress. The illegitimacy of the entire government would be exposed. Further, the collusion of the Democratic Party leadership in the installation of these extremely insecure and insider riggable voting systems would be highlighted. Where were THEY when electronic access was installed that Karl Rove could exploit?

WE may laugh at an RNC claim of "executive privilege" as ludicrous in the extreme. We, the People. But our Democratic Party leadership is neither laughing, nor doing anything about it--so far. And if they let it stand, then I think we have one more clue as to the most radioactive and damning content of the RNC emails.

[Peace Patriot]

23. More comment at duplicate thread...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[rateyes]

24. Since when is the RNC part of the Executive Branch of

government. Privilege...even if it's between an attorney and a client breaks down when the info is shared with a 3rd party. Once it hit RNC e-mail accounts, ANY claim to privilege is bogus.

HOLD HIM IN INHERENT CONTEMPT, and PUT HIS ASS IN THE CELL BELOW THE CHAMBER UNTIL HE COMPLIES WITH THE SUBPOENA.

[ThomWV]

25. Just the existence of the files on non-Government computers is evidence of a crime

Do they not realize that the existence of the documents is of itself evidence of the crime of evading the records act and there can be no privilege to cover up a crime? This is the case even before one looks for evidence of further lawlessness in the attorney firings or whatever else is hiding on those E-Mails.

Send the Marshals over there now - let the RNC try to take the US Congress to court to get them back.

[roamer65]

26. The Rethug party is dead.

[druidity33]

27. category 2= highly incriminating

i wonder if category 1 is mildly incriminating (ie. a lighter crime), or it's like a countdown and category 1= incontrovertable proof of wrongdoing, y'know, like Defcon 1 on the scale...

Honestly though, what does Category Two document mean?

[Az_lefty]

28. looks like everyone is trying to hide behind smirky's skirt...

I hope that the day we get a real President they'll have the backbone to hold these criminal bastards accountable. None of this "well, it's in the past and we need to move forward" bullshit.

[progressoid]

29. Grrrrrr

[rndmprsn]

30. i made a freudian slip when i saw the title of this...

thread, i called the RNC the "religious national committee"

woops, but not far from the truth.

[suffragette]

31. "waiting to see if the White House will assert executive privilege over RNC documents"

waiting to see?

What next? We aren't going to comply with a subpoena because we sorta think that we might have heard that somebody thought we might be covered by executive privilege?

Contemptuous behavior on RNC's part and I hope Conyers holds them in contempt.