April 20, 2007

White House - DOJ Communications: Who Talks to Whom?

Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., calls this "the most astounding thing" he's seen in 32 years.

And what would that be? Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) pulled out a chart at yesterday's Judiciary Committee hearing comparing the manner in which communications ran between the White House and the Department of Justice during the Clinton years with how such communications run in the current administration. As Dahlia Lithwick puts it:

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.

Something like the chart in question is recreated at the end of that story.

Posted by armand at April 20, 2007 09:18 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Politics


Comments

That is literally stunning. How can anyone argue that DOJ is unpoliticized, given the sheer number of connections. Why is Gonzalez still around? How can he not resign?

Posted by: baltar at April 20, 2007 10:14 AM | PERMALINK

Though will getting rid of Gonzalez fix the politicization of the DOJ? I have my doubts. Though I guess we'll see who replaces him (presuming he goes).

Posted by: Armand at April 20, 2007 10:57 AM | PERMALINK

Baltar: he doesn't resign because the president hasn't made him resign. The president (or at least Rove) seems to like things this way. So the question becomes, what is Congress gonna do about it?

Posted by: jacflash at April 20, 2007 11:23 AM | PERMALINK
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