All roads lead to Karl Rove. Hot off the press:
House Judiciary Committee website:
| August 11, 2009 | Contact: Jonathan Godfrey |
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) today released over 700 pages of on-the-record interview transcripts of Karl Rove and Harriet Miers on the
The released materials reveal that White House officials were deeply involved in the
Key new facts revealed in the materials released today include:
- 2005 White House "Decision" to fire David Iglesias – It has previously been known that New Mexico Republicans pressed for Iglesias to be removed because they did not like his decisions on vote fraud cases. New White House documents show that Rove and his office were involved in this effort no later than May 2005 (months earlier than previously known) - for example, in May and June 2005, Rove aide Scott Jennings sent e-mails to Tim Griffin (also in Rove’s office) asking "what else I can do to move this process forward" and stressing that "I would really like to move forward with getting rid of NM
- Iglesias criticized by Rove aide for not "doing his job on" Democratic Congressional Candidate Patricia Madrid – An October 2006 e-mail chain begun by Representative Heather Wilson criticized David Iglesias for not bringing politically useful public corruption prosecutions in the run up to the 2006 elections. Scott Jennings forwarded
- An "agitated" Rove pressed Harriet Miers to do something about Iglesias just weeks before Iglesias was placed on the removal list – Karl Rove phoned Harriet Miers during a visit to New Mexico in September 2006 – according to Miers’ testimony, Rove was "agitated" and told her that Iglesias was "a serious problem and he wanted something done about it."3
- Senator Domenici personally asked Bush’s Chief of Staff Josh Bolten to have Iglesias replaced – In October 2006, Senator Domenici stepped up his campaign to have Iglesias replaced. According to White House phone logs and emails, as well as Rove’s own testimony, Domenici spoke with President Bush’s Chief of Staff Josh Bolten about Iglesias on October 5, 2006, and during October 2006, Domenici or his staff spoke with Karl Rove at least four times.4
- Todd Graves removed in Rove–approved deal with Republican Senator –
- Miers obtained favorable statement on Rick Renzi in violation of DOJ policy – When rumors of the FBI investigation of Rep. Rick Renzi surfaced in October, 2006, one of Rove’s subordinates contacted Harriet Miers, who called Deputy Attorney General McNulty seeking a possible statement that would have "vindicated" Renzi. Even though this was contrary to standard DOJ policy, such a statement was issued several days later.6
"I have provided a copy of the materials released today to special U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy to assist in her effort to determine whether federal criminal charges are appropriate and to pursue any such charges," said Conyers. "In the meantime, the committee has honored its pledge to get on-the-record statements from Karl Rove and Harriet Miers, as well as the relevant White House documents, and is pleased to make this unprecedented collection of Bush administration materials directly available to the American people by posting it online.
"I am especially grateful to the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and the House Democratic leadership for their strong and unwavering support of this investigation, including the citations for contempt of Congress issued by the House in 2008. I also thank all members who voted in support of those citations and authorized the historic litigation that was instrumental in bringing us to this point. Today’s release marks a powerful victory for the rule of law, and should be celebrated by all who cherish our constitutional system of separation of powers and open, transparent government."
An electronic copy of the materials released can be found on the Committee’s Web site at linked here. The release is pursuant to an agreement reached in March 2009 between the committee and the former Bush administration, with the assistance of the Obama administration, to resolve the committee’s lawsuit and the contempt citations issued by the Judiciary Committee and the full House of Representatives with respect to the refusal of the Bush administration to produce subpoenaed White House documents or permit the testimony of former White House officials Karl Rove and Harriet Miers on the U.S. attorney firings.
1 May 2,2005, e-mail from Scott Jennings to Tim Griffin (HJC 00173); June 9,2005, e-mail from Harriet Miers to Leslie Fahrenkopf (HJC 00177); June 28, 2005, e-mail from Scott Jennings to Tim Griffin (HJC 00180).
2 October 15, 2006, e-mail chain including Heather Wilson, Steve Bell, Scott Jennings, Karl Rove and others (HJC 00340-41).
3 Miers Interview Transcript at 40-48.
4 Josh Bolten phone log (HJC 00489); October 10, 2006, e-mail from Scott Jennings to Karl Rove (HJC 00334); Karl Rove phone log (HJC 00490); Rove Interview Transcript 123–24.
5 December 21, 2005, e-mail from Richard Klingler to Harriet Miers (HJC 00194-A).
6 October 24, 2006, e-mail from Harriet Miers to Scott Jennings (HJC 00344-45).
Rove, Miers recalled, was "very agitated" about Iglesias, who was later ousted in the Bush Administration's purge of US Attorneys. Rove was getting "barraged" with complains by "political people that were active in
Miers affirms in the interview (read the excerpt here) that Rove raised the issue of voter fraud prosecutions. But she says she can't recall whether Rove suggested the Iglesais should be removed from office.
Miers says she relayed Rove's complaints about Iglesias to Paul McNulty at the DOJ, who was then serving as deputy attorney general.
House investigators say the call occurred in September 2006. Iglesias was fired in Decemeber of that year.
Here's a taste of Miers interview transcript:
Q Can you give us your best estimate of when it would have taken place?
A I can tell you what I believe I recall about it. And
that helps from a timing standpoint somewhat. Or at least might.
But my recollection was I took a call from Karl while he was on
the road. And I thought, my recollection is that he was in
Mexico
gave me to Paul McNulty. So it would have to be after Jim Comey
left and Paul McNulty came on as deputy attorney general. So that
gives us some timing.
Q And were you in your office at the time of the telephone
conversation?
A I believe I was. I'm not totally certain of that
because I took calls from Karl on my cell phone, of course. But
my recollection is that that call came into my office, but I can't
be certain of it.
Q But it was a call that Mr. Rove originated, you didn't
call him?
A Well, unless I called him back. But, yeah, he
instigated the call.
Q And tell us the best you can about what you recall what
Mr. Rove had to say when he called?
A My best recollection is that he was very agitated about
the U.S. Attorney in
gentleman's name at that time.
Q And what did he tell you about the U.S. Attorney in
Mexico
A That he was getting barraged by a lot of complaints
about the U.S. Attorney and his not doing his job.
Q And who were the complaints coming from?
A People that he was in contact with, which I assumed, of
course, and he may have said, were political people that were
active in
Q These are Republican Party activists?
A They were the people that he would have been interfacing
with as political leadership of the State, is my assumption.
Q And who would that have been?
A I have no idea.
Q Would they have been Republican Party activists?
A All I can tell you is that Karl was reporting multiple
people complaining about Mr. Iglesias.
Q And did he identify any of the people who were
complaining to him about Mr. Iglesias?
A I don't recall that.
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