Ashcroft should not be held harmless in Plame probe

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

Ashcroft was trying to narrowly tailor any conflict-of-interest question regarding his involvement in the Plame probe to financial matters. At a certain point, however, even such a twisted, narrow view of ethical behavior was no longer palatable. His delay in shutting himself off as an information receiver is appalling.


this is what John Dean reported six months ago, regarding Deputy AG Comey's comments on the recent Ashcroft recusal. Notice the specific language about financial matters that Comey uses with respect to conflict-of-interest:

<http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20040106.html>

Not wanting to hype the situation, all Comey said was that Ashcroft withdrew because, in an "abundance of caution," he "believed that his recusal was appropriate based on the totality of the circumstances and the facts and evidence developed at this stage of the investigation." He added later in the press conference that the "recusal is not one of actual conflict of interest that arises normally when someone has a financial interest or something. The issue that he was concerned about was one of appearance."


now Murray Waas informs us that Ashcroft was receiving regular briefings about the investigation before handing it over to Fitzgerald ...

<http://www.prospect.org/web/printfriendly-view.ww?id=8073>

The briefings raise questions about the appropriateness of Ashcroft's involvement in the investigation, especially given his longstanding ties to Rove. Senior federal law-enforcement officials have expressed serious concerns among themselves that Ashcroft spent months overseeing the probe and receiving regular briefings regarding a criminal investigation in which the stakes were so high for the Attorney General's personal friends, political allies, and political party. One told me, "Attorneys General and U.S. Attorneys in the past traditionally recused for far less than this."

One senior federal law-enforcement official said that there appeared to be no restrictions regarding the extent of information provided Ashcroft: "Whatever the FBI knew, the Attorney General was able to know within days if he wanted to."

Rove's interview with the FBI was highly significant, sources said, in that although Rove adamantly denied having leaked the name of CIA officer Valerie Plame, he admitted to having disseminated the information -- after it appeared in the news media -- to journalists, political activists, and other administration officials in an attempt to discredit Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. At the time, Wilson was raising questions about the veracity of intelligence information used by President Bush in making the case to go to war with Iraq. Rove, through an assistant, declined to comment for this story.

[enough]

1. Here is the DU thread on the Murray Waas article in American Prospect

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=673550