WOW! Sen Whitehouse's Big, Big, Chart Comparing Clinton & Bush WH Contacts With DOJ

[kpete]

One of the finest moments comes when Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., busts out a big, big chart. Which happens after almost everyone has gone home. The chart compares the Clinton protocol for appropriate contacts between the White House and the DoJ on pending criminal cases with the Bush protocol. According to Whitehouse, the Clinton protocol authorized just four folks at the White House to chat with three folks at Justice. The chart had four boxes talking to three boxes. Out comes the Bush protocol, and now 417 different people at the White House have contacts about pending criminal cases with 30-some people at Justice. You can just see zillions of small boxes nattering back and forth. It seems that just about everyone in the White House, including the guys in the mailroom, had a vote on ongoing criminal matters.



more at:
http://www.slate.com/id/2164652/pagenum/all/#page_start

[malaise]

1. Senator Whitehouse was just

brilliant. What a pleasure it was to watch an intelligent man question a stupid corrupt crony.

[splat]

3. Whitehouse beat Lincoln Chafee -- here's the result!

[krkaufman]

57. Yes. Big bummer to ponder how much further we'd be ...

... if the people of Connecticut hadn't put Lovethewarman back in the Senate, and we had Ned Lamont there, instead.

[CrispyQ]

14. Yesterday I had more hope for my country than I have had in over six years. --nt

[texpatriot2004]

2. K & R nm

[Jim__]

4. The picture that's worth a thousand words.

It tells the whole story.

[babylonsister]

5. Nom! Thanks for finding that, kpete. Here's an article explaining

what Whitehouse actually produced.


Senator Whitehouse (D-RI) Unveils Flowchart of WH/Justice Department Communications Expansion

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_amanda_l_070419...

HEARINGS: Senator Whitehouse (D-RI) Unveils Flowchart of White House/Justice Department Communications Expansion

by Amanda Lang

In today's televised Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) presented a chart that illustrated the great extent that the Justice Department and White House communications have expanded under Gonzales's leadership. Under Bush/Gonzales over 400 persons within the White House and Department of Justice - as a matter of policy - can freely interact on official business. Unprecedented!! In the Clinton White House under AG Janet Reno, there were only six. How many of these 400 plus individuals had RNC email accounts? What guarantees were there that specific cases and evidence were not being discussed? What guarantees or checks/balances were in place to insure that political partisan influence was not in play? How many of these 400 plus individuals were involved in the US Attorney firings? Did one of them 'author' the list?

Whitehouse presented the perfect flowchart for Congress to begin the issuance of Senate subpoenas for White House and Department of Justice officials. His questioning and pictorial display of the chaotic management of the Justice Department under Gonzales was groundbreaking and the most revealing evidence yet of how politicized our legal system has become. It depicts exactly who in the White House and Justice Department were authorized to communicate with each other.

The only response or explanation Gonzales had to offer was that it indeed appeared problematic. No wonder the White House has accidently "erased" 5 million emails.

[WiseButAngrySara]

30. This is crucial! .... Thanks for posting.

Whitehouse presented the perfect flowchart for Congress to begin the issuance of Senate subpoenas for White House and Department of Justice officials.

[Joe Chi Minh]

54. Problematic? What a wordsmith is that Gonzo! Whose problem, though -

that's the question?

[Redstone]

79. The thing is, the word "problematic" doesn't actually mean "it's a problem."

But I guess nobody knows that anymore.

Redstone

[patrice]

6. K&R n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

7. That was a knock out punch!

And Gonzo knew it!

[quiet.american]

8. Thank you -- I missed seeing a clear image of the chart during the hearing. n/t

[rosesaylavee]

9. I thought the timing of presenting this info

was brilliant as well. Gonzo was tired and really had no defense to this. Whitehouse is a welcome addition to the Senate. I expect that great things will come from Rhode Island under his leadership.

Thanks for the chart - will try to get that over to the Research Forum if that's ok with you.

K and R

[progressoid]

10. Looks like smaller gov't to me!

Dipshit republicans.

[WiseButAngrySara]

33. ROFL! Everything they pretend to represent is the exact

opposite! See Nancy Greggs' post on 'R' if you haven't read it already. I'll find the link and edit in a minute.

Edited to add link...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3223693

[Sweet Freedom]

11. Would you please add this to the DU Debunker?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=284

Good stuff!

[Enrique]

12. it's confusing to have a senator named Whitehouse

just saying. :-)

[Oilwellian]

20. Maybe we can change it to...

"Whitehorse"....that was THE most stunning moment in yesterday's hearings. My jaw dropped to the floor when he introduced that chart.

[bdamomma]

58. maybe he knew gonzo was more visual, because I doubt

he reads anything, if he does he would probably not recollect it!!!!!! I don't recall that......I have search my memory, and so many more.......

[will_in_chicago]

69. Considering the quality

I think that considering the quality of Gonzales' responses, we should ask if he has read anything that relates to his office.

Maybe we should send him the song lyrics for Peter Gabriel's "I Don't Remember," which Mike Malloy used as a bumper last night. We could perhaps convince Congress to play it the next time he appears to testify.

[newyawker99]

23. Hi Enrique!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[NewYorkerfromMass]

55. Well then we must waste no time

in electing him President!

[bdamomma]

61. Welcome to DU Enrique

:hi:

[DemReadingDU]

13. Leahy - "the most astounding thing" he's seen in 32 years

Great article!

[bdamomma]

63. yea, Leahy was quite impressed.

[peacetalksforall]

15. I didn't get to see the hearing yet - is Whitehouse on the Judiciary

Committee? I presume? Lawyer or not?

[peacetalksforall]

16. I just love this - what is 4-3 versus 417-32?

Has the right wing stopped pillorying Reno? Sounds as though they are too preoccupied to pallory President Clinton as much, either.

[bouwob1]

18. even though

The bush whitehouse has over 400 people to do the work that the clinton whitehouse had 8 people.

Remember pre 9/11/01 how bush was never seen? He was always to busy mowing his lawn in crawford so he needed all of these people to do his work for him.

[MurrayDelph]

21. Not just an attorney

a former US Attorney, so he knows how it's supposed to be done.

[LiberalFighter]

17. The numbers:

BUSH ADMINISTRATION
Office of President & VP - 403
Office of White House Counsel - 14
Total from White House - 417

Office of Attorney General - 13
Office of Deputy Attorney General - 29
Total from DOJ - 42

Grand Total - 459

CLINTON ADMINISTRATION
White House - 4
DOJ - 3

Grand Total - 7


Bush 6,557 PERCENT more than Clinton

[peacetalksforall]

19. OK, Bouwob and Lib Fighter - should we consider two things?

1. If determined that a number of these employees are from right wing religious schools, we can assume that part of the pay-off for votes was to get these passionate people inside the WH and Justice. So it would be interesting to get the backgrounds and schools these employees attended, their age, their experience. (Plenty of comments have been made on DU about having a disproportionate number of grads from Robertson and Falwell - Jones, too at the Justice Dept - in charge.)

2. Would the hign numbers mean that they knew they were going to attack on every level of revision, reversals, ommission, destruction of what they considere evil and on what they promised the corporations and foundatsions? Do the high numbers reflect shock and awe, but instead of the citizens lining up to wave flags, the citizens have been played for fools. It was to be thier awe and self back-slapping if pulled off.

Which group of the Replican Party screams against BIG GOVERNMENT?

These are bombshell statistics. An absolutely remarkable weapon to use.

[LiberalFighter]

29. I do have a database of over 7000 individuals

Reasons they are in the database:
Bush 41 & 43 Administration
Reagan Administration
Members of religious ideological organizations
Members of ideological think tanks
Members of Republican National Lawyers Assn
Members of Federalist Society
Employees of RNC
Bush campaign workers and volunteers during 2000 and 2004

I try to get everything I can about them. Past employment, education, political, government, religious organizations. That includes the administration they served under, dept, division, position, period served, etc. The places they received their degree, type of degree, and year graduated. And when available a photo is included in the database.

[peacetalksforall]

41. The vast right wing.

vast righ twing - members of the Federalist Society would hit the talk shows to assist in the character assassinations of the Clintons.

Can you do a hit list on DOJ?

[LiberalFighter]

48. I have a separate database of current and past USA's

I'm sure I have DOJ in the database. I will have to make sure it is current.

Here is record for Gonzo from the database.

[LiberalFighter]

66. The White House has their own list

White House DOJ

[liam_laddie]

42. Fantastic work! BRAVO!

Hope you have a couple back-up copies on hard drives not connected to the internet tubes. And in a
couple different secure locations. The Patriot Act could rear its very ugly head...

[LiberalFighter]

46. They wouldn't know what to do with it.

It's a combination of about 8 different databases that doesn't mean squat unless interfaced.

[jilln]

53. that may be the single most astounding thing I've ever read on DU.

That is just amazing.

Now how do we get these people on the no-fly list?

[LiberalFighter]

56. When we gain control of the White House possibly?

[peacetalksforall]

59. Vastrightwingpedia Vastpedia

They've got us in their db, why can't we (their db data objects) have them?

I once started one (non-automated) when I first realized the manipulations that was going on with so-called news people and guest experts, plus affiliations. But, had no time.

[PADemD]

80. Is all of that information available on the Internet?

[Kber]

28. Nailing Gonzales' ass to the wall on national television...

Priceless.

For everything else there's Congressman Whitehouse.

[jilln]

52. You should send that comment to Whitehouse.

Seriously. I bet he'd get a kick out of it.

[TahitiNut]

49. That's a gross underestimate of the collusion, imho.

In order to assess the degree of collaboration between the White House and the DOJ, EVERY person-to-person diad must be counted. If limited to ONLY those formally authorized to collaborate/conspire, assuming every authorized person in the White House talks to every authorized person in the DOJ, that's 417 x 42 = 17,514 (not 417 + 42 = 459). 17,514 authorized collaborations. When compared to a mere 12 person-to-person diads in the Clinton/Gore administration, we get some better appreciation of the ENORMOUS degree of collusion in using the DOJ as a political Gestapo.

[Skidmore]

22. He should have made that chart look like a giant thumb pressing down

on the scales of Justice. People might get the point of this hearing that way.

[The Count]

24. everyone in the White House, including the guys in the mailroom, had a vote on ongoing criminal mat

That pretty much epitomizes what's wrong with these people. Also adds tons of irony to
Scotty's stock stonewalling : "I can't answer because there's an ongoing criminal investigation"

[annabanana]

25. THANK YOU!

I was loooking for that...

[caligirl]

26. Man, your good KPete. I missed the moment. Stunning. send to KO.

[Snotcicles]

27. It sure demonstrates what is meant by, Stacking the Justice System nt

[cyberpj]

31. Now let's just hope they all had RNC email accounts. KKKarl couldn't have deleted em all. nt

[WiseButAngrySara]

32. Bless you once again kpete! And, as usual, k(pete)nr! ....n/t

[Jack Rabbit]

34. Does anyone have the video yet?

I want to see it.

[WiseButAngrySara]

36. WaPo has the transcripts out already. Don't know about

the video yet.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/19/AR2007041902035_pf.html
(first link didn't work...try this one.)

[WiseButAngrySara]

39. I can't yet find the video and You Tube doesn't have it, but

this link to YouTube on alberto gonzass should be updated soon with coverage.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=alberto+gonzales++&search=Search

[canichelouis]

75. Thinkprogress has a video clip

http://thinkprogress.org/

[Marie26]

35. That's great!

Sen. Whitehouse has done an excellent job throughout these hearings.

[bdamomma]

60. Reed and Whitehouse are the dynamic duo from RI, as little

as it is Rhode Islanders do things in a big way!!! I am so proud to have both of them as my Senators.:applause:

here's a bio on Senator Whitehouse

http://whitehouse.senate.gov/biography.cfm

[Duer 157099]

37. Thanks for the graphic -- I couldn't capture it yesterday

but I posted a rough transcript of that portion, here (it has more detail about who constitute the numbers):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=707553&mesg_id=707553

Also, right after showing this chart, Whitehouse brought up the point about Harriet Meiers allegedly having said to John McKay that he had done a poor job investigating/prosecuting an election fraud case. Whitehouse was grilling Fredo about how Meiers would know sufficient details to be able to make that considered judgement.

Now, to be fair, even in Clinton's WH, the Counsel to the WH is on the very short list of people who can legitimately obtain this info. It might have been better to finger a Rove connection during this point, imho.

[Grandrose]

38. Thank you Senator Whitehouse

I am really impressed with this Senator, hope R.I. keep him around for a long time.
Hearing is one thing, but the impact of seeing that chart is amazing! :wow: :kick:

[EVDebs]

40. all that email, on Ptech software

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptech

"Ptech's roster of clients included several governmental agencies, including the United States Armed Forces, NATO, Congress, the Department of Energy, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Customs, the FAA, the IRS, the Secret Service, and the White House. Despite the company's connections to terrorism, as of May 2004 they were still contracted by several federal agencies, including the White House.

Ptech had a security clearance to work on sensitive military projects dating to 1997.<4>"

They're still "there" if you get my drift.

[Fovea]

43. Wow. That is a lot of computers to sequester.

and a lot of hard drives to scan...

[opihimoimoi]

44. Whitehouse did a heckofajob...for real.....nailed Gonsy to the wall

[goclark]

47. Hope Whitehouse can prepare graphics for the Impeachment

:applause:

[Old and In the Way]

45. A picture says a thousand words.

I hope this dispels any notion that Republicans can run an smaller, efficient bureaucracy. No wonder things are all f**k'd up.

[Az_lefty]

50. How many obstruction of justice cases are going to come out of this?

I hope Sen Whitehouse is considering this.

[loudsue]

82. THAT is the main question! ARE they going to try these as obstruction cases?

They, of course, damn well SHOULD, because that is what is going on here. ESPECIALLY in the cases of Lam in California, and whats-his-name in New Mexico.

We haven't as yet seen ANY charges levied against this VERY criminal enterprise called the "bush administration", and I just keep waiting for the charges to be filed.

Gonzo has basically thumbed his nose at these congressional hearings, and has said he won't step down. Can't he be IMPEACHED?? He's already lied his ass off to Congress, which in itself is a crime.

:kick::kick::kick:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

51. That's some chart

It's a shame that more people won't pay attention to this.

[IWantAChange]

62. Chimpy has to keep him in place or else Rove may have to talk?

[Kurovski]

64. Nice. K&R. (nt)

[Up2Late]

65. Wow!

One picture speaks volumes!

[underpants]

67. Plenty of cover for Rove to run the Justice political operations

DING to Sen.Whitehouse and his staff

[Hamlette]

68. my new hero, Senator Whitehouse k&r n/t

[Gman]

70. Clinton's Penis may look pretty good to Republics about now

[whistle]

71. Political meddling in the DOJ and the justice system

[Strelnikov_]

72. but but but but but if Clinton wasn't so busy selling cocaine to illegal alien Chinese

middle east terrorists between blowjobs he would have had the time to politicize the DOJ too.

[live love laugh]

73. I just hope somebody is cataloguing this stuff. It should be archived

for history's sake.

[ms liberty]

74. wow. just wow. I feel almost overwhelmed by the graphic... K&R n/t

[AikidoSoul]

76. Very cool graphic. K & R

[senseandsensibility]

77. I was listening to this on the radio

and didn't know what they were referring to. Thanks for the graphic.

[Laurab]

78. Thank you! I missed Whitehouse - Cspan kept playing

only the first part. I'm going to the website to watch all that I didn't see now.

K&R - this has to be seen to be believed.

[Divine Discontent]

81. I did it

I actually sent this to my republican Aunt! I rarely comment on bushies to her, b/c she always backs them up with a, "well you have to look at it from their perspective" or some blanket statement giving into their shenanigans... I also sent it to all the other repubs on my email list --- do the same, it felt great! this makes the white house look so clearly scandalous it's pathetic!


www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable <<-- check it out, top '08 stuff

[Hamlette]

83. great snip from John Dean's article on how Sen Whitehouse got the numbers:

In a premise to a question for Gonzales, Senator Whitehouse said he had found correspondence in the files of the Senate Judiciary Committee from the days when Orrin Hatch was chairman relating to an investigation of the relationship between the Clinton White House and the Justice Department (under Attorney General Janet Reno). Hatch was concerned about the independence of the Department of Justice, so he wanted to know who in the White House could speak with whom in the Justice Department.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20070420.html

So, Hatch, the only guy to defend Gonzo unequivocally was all pissed off at the Clinton admin and wanted to make sure the Clinton WH didn't have too much contact with Reno's DOJ and asked who in Clinton's WH could talk to DOJ and vice versa.

But, he no longer thinks its a problem.

The hypocracy of these guys takes your breath away.