Ongoing Justice Probe

One can never tell, of course, but it sure looks like the U.S. attorney firing situation is coming closer to a climax. More and more Justice Department e-mails and documents are being dumped (or made available, as the White House might prefer we refer to the process), Congress has been wanting to hear from current or former White House advisors such as Karl Rove and Harriet Miers, and the Prez had a sudden and unexpected press conference. TPMmuckraker has a nice rundown of what the papers were saying on Tuesday morning about what might've been in that document dump.

At his press conference this afternoon, the Prez reaffirmed his support of Alberto Gonzales (although on one of the talking head shows this weekend, somebody I no longer remember pointed out that, at least up to that point, he wasn't sounding as firm in that support as he had in standing behind Rumsfeld). He also said that he had no problem in having Rove or Miers go up to Capitol Hill for a conversation. He didn't support anything more than a conversation, but what can you do? Earlier today, White House counsel Fred Fielding offered to let a handful of advisors participate as long as they weren't under oath and there would be no transcript. Here are Bush's exact words at the news conference:

It will be regrettable if [Democrats] choose to head down the partisan road of issuing subpoenas and demanding show trials when I have agreed to make key White House officials and documents available.

It's not any real secret as to which side of this fracas I find myself, but how lame is it to consider testifying under oath and keeping transcripts to be a "partisan road"? If I'm called to testify in court, can I simply avoid being sworn in by protesting the partisan agenda of the judge, prosecutor, or defense attorney? Not to belabor the point, but if they've got nothing to hide, why do they insist on hiding it anyway?

The Prez says he'll take it to the courts to keep his advisors from actually having to speak on the record, so I guess we'll get a chance to see how effective his attempts at packing the courts with loyal Bushies have been. The Justice Department reportedly charted the federal prosecutors and graded them based on loyalty. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to find a similar chart filled with judges. The House Judiciary Committee is due to vote on issuing subpoenas on Wednesday morning and forcing Rove and the others to appear. Perhaps we'll soon see whether the Prez is prepared to back up his bluff.