New Mexico Independent:
Here’s more from the transcript:
Schiff: If I could direct your attention back to document 58. We discussed the top e-mail from Mr. Jennings to you about our political team wants Bibb, but Domenici doesn’t like him for some reason. The e-mail that precedes that on the same page, you ask Mr. Jennings what is the situation here; and the e-mail preceding that is from Rod Adair to you. And who is Rod Adair?
Rove: State representative that represents Roswell, New Mexico.
Schiff: Have you had a chance to look at this?
Rove: I’m familiar with this one, yes.
Schiff: He makes the case to you that Chuck Peifer would be the wrong pick in this e-mail?
Rove: Yes.
Schiff: He is, in shorthand, a wuss, Mr. Adair says. What do you think he meant by that?
Rove: I believe he says a cowardly wuss, to be appropriate. I think he thinks he would not be a strong U.S. Attorney.
Schiff: He states in the e-mail: “If you’re looking for someone who will follow the law scrupulously, be fair, be honest and be of service to the Nation, all four, even Peifer, would be qualified; none more than Rogers, who better not get it. But if you’re looking for someone who will do all of above and withstand any criticism, stand up to the Ward Churchill, Michael Moore bullies of the world and not worry about criticism for doing his job — I assume this is supposed to be then — Peifer is definitely not the choice.” What did you understand that to mean?
Rove: I understood it to be the expression of a guy who has very strongly held opinions. You may remember what I do with this is, I tell Mr. Adair he ought to make his preferences known to Senator Domenici and the congressional delegation. He has a habit of making an end run around the people involved in the process, and I pointed him back to the people he ought to make his opinions known to.
Schiff: So did you have a conversation with him after getting this e-mail?
Rove: I can’t remember whether I — I think I’d do it through an e-mail, because I think I’m trying to avoid being drawn into a phone conversation with — my recollection is that there is an e-mail, I suspect we can find it for you — in which I say basically, You need to go talk to your Senator and your congressional delegation.
Schiff: Who is Ward Churchill?
Rove: Ward Churchill is a professor at the University of Colorado who was involved in a controversy involving 9/11 where he suggested that the victims of 9/11 got what they deserved. Michael Moore is a well-known documentary maker.
Schiff: And so was he expressing the view to you here that Mr. Peifer would be — would follow the law scrupulously, be fair, be honest, be of service to the Nation but wouldn’t be willing to take on basically the Michael Moores and the Ward Churchills of the world?
Rove: I think he would say withstand any criticism and stand up to the bullies of the world. So I think he is implying here that he would be a strong individual who would not wither in the face of left-wing criticism. I know you’re attaching great attention to this. I again repeat, I sent him to Senator Domenici and the Congressman, because while he is a State senator and I have known him for a number of years, he is a man with strong opinions, strongly expressed, and this was an end run, and I wanted him to go back in the process. I didn’t need a state Senator from Roswell, New Mexico opining about who the U.S. Attorney ought to be when this is going to be largely the province of the United States Senator who is going to give us a list of recommendations.
Schiff: He goes on to explain to you about the campaigns he has run for the GOP in the same e-mail, right?
Rove: Yes.
Schiff: And this is a way of demonstrating his bona fides about knowing what is good for the Republican Party?
Rove: No. I think it is just bragging on his recent election success. I have known him a number of years. I don’t think he needs to establish his bona fides with me. This is just passing on the success of the most recently — in the election that ended 2 months before.
Schiff: Was this lobbying by Mr. Adair and Mr. Weh in part the result of their feeling that Mr. Iglesias was not sufficiently partisan?
Rove: You would have to ask them what their motivations were. I doubt it, but you would have to ask them.
Schiff: Did Mr. Weh and Mr. Adair ever express to you that they wanted someone who would be more partisan in contrast to Mr. Iglesias?
Rove: Not that I recall. This is the not the only contact I had, I believe, with Mr. Adair and I do not recall any such implication in Mr. Weh’s conversation.
And then, later, this exchange:
Schiff: Did Mr. Weh and Mr. Adair ever express to you that they wanted someone who would be more partisan in contrast to Mr. Iglesias?
Rove: Not that I recall. This is the not the only contact I had, I believe, with Mr. Adair and I do not recall any such implication in Mr. Weh’s conversation.
Schiff: From the Michael Moores and the Ward Churchills?
Rove: From left wingers, yes.
Schiff: So let me go back to my original question, then. Mr. Weh passes on to your office of OPA a blog that says that Bibb would be a bigger thorn in the State (sic) of the side Ds. Mr. Adair passes on to you his feedback that Mr. Peifer would follow the law, be fair, be honest and be of service, but would be unwilling to stand up to the lefties. Was there any other information that you received that you recommended be passed on to people who would be in a position to influence the selection of U.S. Attorney with any other kind of criteria?
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