RED ALERT: Gonzales tells Schieffer he tipped off Andy Card re Plame probe

[johnfunk]

Background: read today's Times OpEd by Frank Rich. Lambert at Corrente points out the pivotal issue -- 12 hours between then-W House Counsel Alberto Gonzales learning that the DoJ was investigating the Plame leak at 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2003 and Gonz's "official" notification the next morning.

This morning, Gonz admitted to Bob Schieffer that he alerted Andy Card THE NIGHT OF THE 29th!

I hear another frog march in the distance! Remember, the cover-up is usually worse than the crime!

[jean]

1. my oh my - I can't believe Gonz does anything but support bushco -

perhaps he/they have decided the latest rovian path to take and it involves going through Andy Card.

[AnnInLa]

57. They then had 2 weeks to cover up/destroy evidence

Bush aides will review leak notes
White House's decision to give first look to its lawyers riles Democrats

10:12 PM CDT on Monday, October 6, 2003

By DAVID JACKSON / The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON White House lawyers will review phone logs and other records supplied by presidential aides before turning the documents over to the Justice Department officials conducting the investigation into who leaked a CIA undercover operative's identity, officials said Monday.

The disclosure inspired new Democratic calls for an independent inquiry.

"To allow the White House counsel to review records before the prosecutors would see them is just about unheard of in the way cases are always prosecuted," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., speaking on NBC's Today show. "And the possibility of mischief, or worse than mischief, is very, very large."

Administration officials said the White House counsel's office may need up to two weeks to organize documents that some 2,000 employees are required to submit by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The documents must also be reviewed for national security or executive privilege concerns and to ensure the filings are responsive to Justice Department requests for information, White House aides said. The department is investigating whether Bush administration officials exposed a CIA operative's identity to reporters and a columnist, Robert Novak.

Bush: 'Criminal action'

President Bush underscored his concern about the leak Monday, telling reporters: "We're talking about a criminal action."

The president said information would be submitted to the Justice Department "on a timely basis," calling the investigation "a very serious matter, and our administration takes it seriously."

"I'd like to know who leaked," Mr. Bush added. "And if anybody has got any information, inside our government or outside our government, who leaked, they ought to take it to the Justice Department so we can find out the leaker."

http://markarkleiman.blogspot.com/2003_10_01_markarkleiman_archive.html#106549861215286539

[AuntiBush]

80. And the "Shredding" Procedures Began...

Just thinkin' aloud, ya know.

[MasonJar]

2. Bush was in on it too. He had Powell bring the top secret memo

on Air Force One. Noone else had the power to tell Powell what to do. Our pResident is not only an idiot; he is also a traitor.

[Imagevision]

32. They were all in on it - who could you exclude? think about it!

[FreedomAngel82]

77. I think so too

I think so too. Remember they do everything for him and are loyalist. If not they're fired and he promotes people (or gives them medals) if they do his bidding. I think Bush has this whole "dumb" act as just that. An act. He's really the mastermind (him, Cheney and Rove) and not that stupid. He does that to fool us. Hopefully Fitzgerald can prove it was Bush all along.

[newscott]

3. Holy sh*t!

[KC21304]

4. I heard that too. UNBELIEVABLE !

When Schieffer asked if that wasn't strange that he went 12 hours without ordering the WH not to destroy anything he said he asked the Justice Dept and they said he could wait until morning and besides it was late and the WH didn't know about the investigation.

Then Schieffer asked Gonzales if he told anyone before the next morning and he admitted he told Andy Card the night before. How stupid do they think we are ? At least Gonzales didn't lie to Schieffer.

[DoYouEverWonder]

30. Pull the electric bill for the WH

and the phone records too. I bet they were burning the Midnight Oil that night. I wonder if they woke W up to tell him the news? This would have been more important then a tsunami in their self centered little world.

[Generator]

49. You know how to cover all the bases! LOL

They are so pathetic. So now an excuse is "8:30 PM is too late to do anything." What are they, FIVE? Excuses and lies. I just bet their parents (we know this is true with Chimpboy) never ever called them on their crap.

[Imagevision]

35. Gonzales must have testified to Fitz on this one already so he can

label it "old news" - Like Kerry said; "we're dealing with a bunch of crooked..."

[jean]

64. 'uh, I just told Andy Card...and it was late...' Can you IMAGINE the

machine they must have called into action during those 12 hours???

All the while, no doubt, bush went to bed early and slept through the night.

but seriously - they must have done a mountain of work destroying everything over those 12 hours.

[sellitman]

5. Wow!

Kicked and nominated!

[sundancekid]

6. Abu Albert is going down too. Just look at his face, he knows he's cooked

no more chance for another BOGUS SCOTUS or BOGUS POTUS -- it won't matter a twit that his climb to power has been on the back of keeping smirk's "bodies" in texas hidden from scrutiny ... btw, he NEVER used the "albertO" moniker in his public life in texas ...

"let them all eat cake" at the respective guillotines, I say.

[johnfunk]

50. He looked even worse on CNN Lame Edition

Dodged questi0on from Blitzer, "ongoing investigation blah blah..."

They're treading flopsweat in the west wing this morning...

[kestrel91316]

69. Guillotines. Now there's something I could go for.............

[Lannes]

7. Wonder what Fitzgerald is doing with this info?

How wide will the net be?

[Tinksrival]

24. Is Fitz a hero

The drum beat for war with Iran has been silenced. As long Fitz is persuing these assholes they can't exactly sell their next war. Hopefully it's big enough to rewrite *ush destiny and save us all. Godspeed Fitzgerald!

[senseandsensibility]

27. Very good point

Sure, we want everyone involved punished and the truth to come to light, but if this scandal also keeps them from selling another invasion, that's even better. Welcome to DU!:hi:

[bunny planet]

29. unless they engineer another attack to use as an excuse for another war.

Do they dare risk 'wagging the dog' now? I hope not.

[kestrel91316]

70. Another scary thought .................

they engineer another big attack in the US so they can declare martial law, shoot to death all protestors, and shut down the courts and the Plame treason investigation.

I put nothing whatsoever past these demons masquerading as human beings.


edited to correct spelling

[Beam Me Up]

44. Ditto everything senseandsensibility just said.

Excellent point. Welcome to DU!

[cosmik debris]

54. What an inspiring and uplifting thought for Sunday morning

Even if Fitzgerald doesn't get a single conviction he may have saved hundreds of thousands of innocent lives! I feel better now!

[Talismom]

55. I hope you're right Tinksrival, but I'm afraid this might be just the

excuse they need to stage another "diversion", another terrorist crisis so they can get all the patriotic boys and girls signing up to march off to another war and help sweep the crimes under the rug for a while longer. My tinfoil hat is now superglued to my head!

:tinfoilhat:

[PearliePoo2]

8. it's early and I

haven't had sufficient coffee, so help me out here. What does this imply? That Andy Card could get the shredder going overtime into the night and give a "heads up" to everyone?

[KC21304]

10. After asking the Justice Dept. if he should

give orders not to destroy anything, and being told he could wait until morning because it was late and THE WHITE HOUSE DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THE INVESTIGATION, why would he then LET THE WHITE HOUSE KNOW ABOUT THE INVESTIGATION ?????.

[tjdee]

25. And then STILL not order them not to destroy anything?

That's also an interesting wrinkle.

Did he honestly think Andy Card would say, "Oh, okay." and go to sleep? 8:30pm is not that late!

I also think the Justice Department is implicated here, if only because it's BUSH'S Justice Department and I don't trust most of them either. Why was it okay for Gonzales not to put an order out that night--and in fact, the Justice Dept. didn't know about an investigation until that late?

[bunny planet]

31. Yes can you imagine them giving a Democratic WH the equivalent of a

12 hour 'heads-up.'? It would never happen, the JD would have been at the door at 8:30 pm putting any and all paperwork into files and metal boxes and marching it off to a safe in preparation for the trial.

[Pallas180]

60. No I dont think Justice implicated cause at that point Ashcroft suddenly

recused himself, and then resigned at the first opportunity. The only one smart enough not to get himself involved in obstruction of justice.

Wonder if Fitz has interviewed him?

[SmokingJacket]

9. Hmm... is Gonz pissed he didn't get the SC nomination?

That Rich article is a knock-out. Frank Rich is really tearing up the Op Ed page these days.

[sunnystarr]

11. I sure wish Fitzgerald read DU.... (nt)

[johnfunk]

12. Maybe he does

... or maybe a grand juror or two does...

[uncle ray]

48. i think he's about 20 steps ahead of us

and we're just the little kids desperately running trying to keep up wiht him.

[kentuck]

13. I heard that !

I was just making sure someone posted the story. Sounds like a new twist. Who did Card tell? Has Card talked with the SP ? Man! They are not oing to be happy with Gonzales...

[kentuck]

14. and nominated..

as usual, you all will be ahead of the MSM on this aspect of the story.

[Lannes]

15. Gonzales's version

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000990611


Atty. Gen. Gonzales Responds to Frank Rich's '12-Hour Gap' Charges

By E&P Staff

Published: July 24, 2005 11:20 AM ET

NEW YORK Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, responding to a strong charge in a column by Frank Rich in The New York Times’ today, said there was nothing improper about waiting 12 hours to “preserve all materials” after being informed by the Justice Department in 2003 that it was launching an investigation into the disclosure of Valerie Plame’s status as a CIA agent.

Gonzales told Bob Schieffer on the CBS show “Face the Nation” that he had been given permission by the Justice Department to hold off overnight if he saw fit, which he did.

He also explained that he had not launched his own probe into the matter because “in this kind of case you want to wait to see if there is a criminal investigation.” He said he feared his own queries into the Plame leak “would hinder a criminal investigation.”

[Lannes]

16. Ashcroft gave him permission?

[goforit]

18. no....I believe Tenet gave him permission.

[Lannes]

19. The article says the justice department gave him permission

Had Ashcroft recused himself at that point? Guess Ill have to find a timeline of events.

[Cocoa]

43. Ashcroft was overseeing the investigation at that point

and this 12 hour gap was one of the motivators for Ashcroft recusing himself later, and for the appointment of the special prosecutor.

[Lannes]

46. Very interesting

Thanks for the info!

[Zorbuddha]

63. So, Ashcroft can burn in this pyre?

Is that a possibility?

[sellitman]

17. We need his phone records for that time frame.

[bunny planet]

33. Wonder if Fitz already has them.

[oioioi]

39. Check this out...

Texting And US Politics: Karl Rove's Blackberry

Through it all, Rove wore his war room on his belt -- the postcard-size BlackBerry communicator that holds his unmatchable Rolodex as well as his e-mail system, through which he squirted orders and suggestions to campaign workers and lobbyists using only a few words. "It's like haiku, "says a political operative who has been on the receiving end. During meetings -- even ones with the President -- Rove would constantly spin the BlackBerry's dial and punch out text on its tiny keyboard. "Sometimes we're in a meeting talking to each other and BlackBerrying each other at the same time, "says a colleague.

http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2003/01/03/texting_and_us_.html

Blackberry messages are handled via an email server which archives the messages. Perhaps Fitzgerald already has this stuff, which is why the birds are starting to sing.

[cosmik debris]

20. So this will require a new spin

The investigation includes the Prez. The VP, the AG and several staffers. It can't be allowed to decapitate our country in a time of war so. . . out goes Fitzgerald. Cover up complete.

[Burried News]

51. Maybe - Maybe not?

Seems to me there are alot of Cats on the trail.

[kestrel91316]

72. Over 70,000 cats right here, hot on his trail!

[realFedUp]

21. Andy's the clean-up man

a dirty and busy job in this administration, but someone has to do it.

[journalist3072]

22. Wow! I nominate this as..

The Kick Ass thread of the day! This is huge! It doesn't take that long to shred documents or get rid of evidence. The Bush crime team is going down!

What is done in dark will always come to light!

[Lannes]

23. Here is a timeline.......

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

[bunny planet]

26. They've all started playing the Plame Blame Game now. It's only a matter

of time, they all have no character or ethics to begin with, so ratting each other out eventually is a given.
:popcorn:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

28. The "pivotal issue" is that the WMD war rationale was based on lies.

That is why the Wilson/Plame family was being "punished" for going "off the reservation" with the NYT Op/Ed piece re: Niger.

Iraq War. Lies.

This simple equation should be repeated as THE talking point by Democrats to offset the "confusion factor" of all the various elements of the case the Repubs are trying to "focus" on.

[Toucano]

34. Help me out here.

Is the White House counsel prohibited from talking to the Chief of Staff?

I'm missing the point of this. Little help?

[Toucano]

36. Nevermind. I got it now.

Just needed a little more reading! LOL

[tjdee]

37. Basically, a)Gonzales lied to Justice, and b)He gave Card 12 hours to shre

d.

Gonzales asked if he could tell the WH the next morning, and Justice said okay. So he then calls up Andy Card and told him *that night*.

He did not order Andy to preserve all documents, etc. (that we have heard so far).

He didn't *officially* tell them until the next morning.

So I guess he thinks he told Andy Card, and Andy Card said "gee, thanks, I'm just gonna go home now and have some ice cream"??

Andy Card (and whoever else Andy Card told) had all night long to purge themselves of sensitive information.

[Toucano]

38. Thanks.

:loveya:

[tjdee]

40. Why would Gonzales do that on national television??

You really have to wonder.

He's likely pissed he was passed up for the SC, but this admission has basically opened up an entirely new can of worms.

The Attorney General has just informed on the White House. Even if they did nothing wrong (bwaahahahaha) the AG just cause more problems for them.

Weird.

[napi21]

42. He told it because there's other evidence that he did it.

The ONLY reason he would have answered that quesiton as he did is because somebody or somthing lease has already indicated that's what he did. I could be someone's testimony (Andy Card's?) or some email or memo somewhere.

Gonzales knows better than to LIE on TV!

[Pallas180]

61. Gonzales just protected himself & his legal career. He told Card

he had been advised. He told Card Ashcroft of Justice said it could wait til morning to advise all in the WH.

Gonz did NOT tell Andy Card to destroy papers.

Gonz, so far, has not done anything criminal (as far as we know)

[Peace Patriot]

65. "Gonz, so far, has not done anything criminal..." I'm not sure about

that. Say you're a D.A., and a D.A. in an adjacent county is planning to arrest the head of a criminal gang for murder, but has one piece of additional evidence he needs (say, the murderer's cell phone, or fingerprints, or gun) for a slamdunk case, and is hoping to catch him by surprise and get that evidence in the course of the arrest. You, a D.A., get wind of this planned arrest, you happen to know the gang head's lawyer and you call him and say, "Hey, your guy's going to get arrested tomorrow. Just thought you'd like to know."

Not an exact parallel. But some points of similarity. It's not like just another gang lawyer calling up his bud, the gang head's lawyer, having got wind of the planned arrest. A WHITE HOUSE lawyer has a bit more responsibility than that, to uphold the law. Obstruction of justice. Conspiracy. Something. Especially if they DID shred docs. Gonzales thinks he's unchargeable because he wasn't given an order to tell them to preserve evidence. And he consequently didn't tell them to preserve evidence. That's cutting it a bit thin. I think some prosecutors would go after him for conspiracy. But Fitzgerald maybe decided not to, and Gonzales knows he's off the hook (chargeable but off the hook) because he cooperated (?).

(Did he testify to the grand jury?)

(The reason for his disclosing this to the news media now may be to take the sting out it, re: his career. Not let it come out later, in trial docs. Make himself seem to be forthcoming.)

[leftchick]

41. at 8:00 PM!!!

LOTS of time to shred! Wow, the rats are jumping ship!

[Coexist]

45. He was on with Leslie Blitzer - pointedly NOT answering the ?

surprise, surprise.

[emulatorloo]

47. kicking for Obstruction Of Justice n/t

[kentuck]

52. This is getting to complicated for even the White House to follow...

They rely on confusion and obfuscation, but this is more than even they can digest. And their lies are starting to contradict each other.

[Pithy Cherub]

53. Rememeber Meese? Shouldn't AG Gonzales resign

because he CHOSE to represent the White House's/*'s interest in this and not the American people's? It calls (again)his judgment into account - now on a criminal matter. LOL! - it may be the only thing Asscraft did right - recuse himself! :yoiks:

[Nothing Without Hope]

56. This 12-hour gap was in the papers back when it happened. Then it

disappeared and the Poodle Press carried on as usual. Interesting to see it resurrected now. It's only ONE of the many, many horrible things that Gonzales is known to have done, yet he was still approved by a comfortable majority - including many "good" Democratic senators - to be the top lawyer in the country.

I'm wondering if the blivet** will step in with a Presidential pardon at some point to prevent prosecution that comes too close to him. His father did. Read this excellent BuzzFlash article to hear more on this:
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/05/07/con05249.html

[burrowowl]

68. Can't pardon

before conviction! That would really be weird!

[cosmik debris]

71. Ford pardoned Nixon

Before there was even an indictment.

[burrowowl]

73. For being impeached

and for so-called 'damage' to the Nation.
Interesting though.

[cosmik debris]

75. It is a precedent

for preemptive blanket pardons. I expect to see it used again soon.

[Nothing Without Hope]

78. I expect it too, if they can't find some other way to limit/shut down

Fitzgerald's continuing investigation. There are multimple HUGE scandals dovetailing around the Plame leak - see this thread -
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4169890
and Bush and Cheney do NOT want them surfacing.

[ClayZ]

58. Find out who is buying luggage!

[Pallas180]

59. This's going to be another 'ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN" thank God!

Stephen Hadley of Cheney's group has been mentioned also. Thank God.
If Fitz keeps his guts and his life, we may be able to get rid of the whole Cabal

[Pallas180]

62. 12 hours = 18 missing minutes ??? maybe.

[LibraLiz1973]

66. Thanks for posting this

It was a fantastic article- well worth the few minutes it takes to read.

[bvar22]

67. List of Senators voting to CONFIRM Gonzales

Democratic Senators who voted FOR Alberto "Torqmada" Gonzales Feb 3, 05:

Mary Landrieu, La. ......Proud member of the DLC

Mark Pryor, AR ....... ..Proud member of the DLC

Bill Nelson, FL ............Proud member of the DLC

Ben Nelson, NE ........... Proud member of the DLC

Joe Lieberman, Israel..... Proud member of the DLC

Herb Kohl, WI ...............Proud member of the DLC

Max Baucus, MT ............ Proud member of the DLC AWOL Did not vote

Kent Conrad, ND ...........Proud member of the DLC AWOL Did not vote

Ken Salazar, CO Not officially associated with the DLC (wink)


All other Democratic Senators voted AGAINST Gonzales


Gee, You guys see a pattern yet?

[Imagevision]

74. Anyone remember when Ollie North went nutz with the shredder

during Iran-Contra affair???!!!

[FreedomAngel82]

76. Oh wow

So they knew Rove was guilty!

[warrens]

79. So should I invest in hemp or nylon?

One way or another, there are going to be a lot of ropes sold soon. Wish they would use barbed wire, but we can't get all our wishes.