Once the press get's its narrative, it's almost impossible to change it. The narrative on the firing of eight US attorneys? Politics, of course. "And that's just wrong. Not a crime mind you. But wrong." Even many on the left are a bit speechless when asked what the crime is here. Bill Maher's eyes glazed over when promted.
Here's the freakin crime:
18 U.S.C. § 1512 c. which states:
(c) Whoever corruptly—
(1) alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or
(2) otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so,
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
It is simply incredible to me that months have passed over this scandal and the talking heads, the Democratic leadership, and many in the blogosphere have failed to clearly stake out this relatively simple case.
Kyle Sampson's email proves intent:
McClatchy:
In an e-mail dated May 11, 2006, Sampson urged the White House counsel's office to call him regarding "the real problem we have right now with Carol Lam," who then the U.S. attorney for southern California. Earlier that morning, the Los Angeles Times reported that Lam's corruption investigation of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., had expanded to include another California Republican, Rep Jerry Lewis.
Perhaps what is lost in all this confusion over who said what when and which prosecutors were bushies and which were not is just how significant Lam's investigation was. This paragraph from an August 2006 article in Vanity Fair will instruct:
Tens of thousands of pages of congressional documents going as far back as 1997 have been demanded by the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego. The C.I.A., Pentagon, I.R.S., and F.B.I. are conducting investigations, and at least three congressional committees are cooperating in hopelessly tardy fashion. "We are scrubbing" is how a staffer on the intelligence committee puts it. Washington is unraveling.
Remember, this was published in August of last year. It was almost certainly written many weeks earlier. Washington was unravelling. But the very next paragraph brings it home:
"What these revelations provide is a window into Babylon or the last stages of Rome," explains a source with knowledge of the multiple ongoing investigations. "Many felonies went undetected because in the Defense Department a lot goes on in secret, and these crimes grew in the shadow of both 9/11 and one-party rule—with little scrutiny. So what you're looking at is a world where money, secrecy, sex, and indulgence were all in play. Where everyone is guilty of something."
Carol Lam simply had to be stopped. The name of that article by the way is 'Washington Babylon'. I highly recommend everyone read it.
As Josh Marshall said, "By almost any measure this is a public corruption indictment of historic proportions." Indeed.
Remember, as a direct result of her investigation, the head of the CIA, Porter Goss resigned. His number three was indicted. It had been leaked that the investigation was now to include the Republican chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. There was even a Wall Street banker to complete the picture.
But if Washington's cesspool of corruption has a heart, it is the Committee on Appropriations and it's little stepchild the Subcommittee on Defense. That's where all that dirty defense money comes from. You know, phony contractors, war profiteers and Bush Pioneers.
Carol Lam's investigation threatened to shine a big bright light on the darkest, most most secretive corner of the federal government. The place where the so-called Military Industrial Complex and their armies of lobbyist go to drink from the cup that overfloweth - otherwise known as the US Treasury.
"the highest levels of government"
Then, last week, it was revealed that when Lam had "requested additional time to ensure and orderly transition in the office, especially regarding pending investigations and several significant cases that were set to begin trial in the next few months", it was rejected by the "highest levels of government."
From Lams statement:
"He [Michael Elston] insisted that I had to depart in a matter of weeks, not months, and that these instructions were "coming from the very highest levels of the government."
This is obstruction and it points right to the White House.
On a scale of 1 to 100, the Lam firing was 100 to the seven other's 3. In fact, it is highly reasonable to suspect that the other seven were merely fired to cover for ousting Lam.
Only in TV Land is Carol Lam just another fired prosecutor. And only in the cesspool of corruption that is the Washington establishment is this all just "politics".
Now, I think the politization of the justice department is a huge story. And so is, of course, voter fraud, false claims of voter fraud, and especially the use of the justice department as a political weapon as exposed by Donald C. Shields and John F. Cragan's studywhich was reported by Paul Krugman.
All of this is grounds for an independent prosecutor.
But make no mistake, Carol Lam was "the real problem" and her firing was a real crime.
