White House sought investigations of voter fraud allegations before elections( Friedrich declined )

[maddezmom]

Source: McClatchy

WASHINGTON - Only weeks before last year's pivotal midterm elections, the White House urged the Justice Department to pursue voter-fraud allegations against Democrats in three battleground states, a high-ranking Justice official has told congressional investigators.


In two instances in October 2006, President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove, or his deputies passed the allegations on to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' then-chief of staff, Kyle Sampson.


Sampson tapped Gonzales aide Matthew Friedrich, who'd just left his post as chief of staff of the criminal division. In the first case, Friedrich agreed to find out whether Justice officials knew of "rampant" voter fraud or "lax" enforcement in parts of New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and report back.


But Friedrich declined to pursue a related matter from Wisconsin, he told congressional investigators, because an inquiry so close to an election could inappropriately sway voting results. Friedrich decided not to pass the matter on to the criminal division for investigation, even though Sampson gave him a 30-page report prepared by Republican activists that made claims of voting fraud.

Late Thursday night, a Justice Department spokesman disputed McClatchy's characterization, saying that the White House asked for an inquiry, but never ordered an investigation to be opened.



~snip~



Read more: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17208198.htm

[annabanana]

1. Sampson gave him a 30-page report ...prepared by ROVE

but he didn't "order him" to open the investigation. . .

I'll bet he made it pretty damn clear what he expected him to do, though...

[maddezmom]

2. Senators Concerned That Politics Played A Role in Milwaukee...Biskupic

Senators Concerned That Politics Played A Role
In Case Brought By Milwaukee U.S. Attorney

WASHINGTON (Tuesday, April 10) -- Today, Senators Leahy, Schumer, Kohl, Feingold, Feinstein and Whitehouse sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales seeking documents relating to the Wisconsin prosecution of a member of the Democratic governor’s administration. In light of the ongoing probe into the U.S. Attorney firings, the Senators are concerned that politics may have played an inappropriate role in the case brought by Stephen Biskupic, the U.S. Attorney in Milwaukee.

Last week, the aide, Georgia Thompson, was released from prison and her conviction immediately overturned after a federal appeals court found insufficient evidence to sustain the charges.

Below is the text of the letter. A PDF version is also available.



April 10, 2007

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
United Stated Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Attorney General Gonzales:

As you know, the Senate Judiciary Committee is investigating the circumstances surrounding the replacement of a number of United States Attorneys last year. One of the central issues in our investigation is whether the Department of Justice or the White House has improperly encouraged United States Attorneys to pursue, or to refrain from pursuing, politically sensitive cases.

We are concerned whether or not politics may have played a role in a case brought by Stephen Biskupic, the United States Attorney based in Milwaukee, against Georgia Thompson, formerly an official in the administration of Wisconsin’s Democratic governor. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals was reportedly so troubled by the insufficiency of the evidence against Ms. Thompson that it made the unusual decision to issue an order reversing Ms. Thompson’s conviction and releasing her from custody immediately after oral arguments in her appeal.

Evidence obtained in the course of the Committee’s investigation indicates that voter fraud cases may have played a role in the consideration of Administration officials about whether to dismiss or retain United States Attorneys. Among the documents of former Chief of Staff to the Attorney General D. Kyle Sampson produced by the Department of Justice on March 19, 2007, is an approximately 30 page report concerning alleged voting improprieties in Wisconsin in 2004 (OAG 820-47). According to a press account, this report was prepared at the direction of the executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party to be delivered to Karl Rove. In addition, White House Counselor Dan Bartlett said on March 12, 2007, that the White House had received complaints that federal prosecutors were not vigorously pursuing complaints of voter fraud in Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Wisconsin. He said the president discussed these concerns with you last October. Mr. Sampson testified on March 29, 2007: “I do remember learning - I believe, from the attorney general - that he had received a complaint from Karl Rove about U.S. attorneys in three jurisdictions, including New Mexico. And the substance of the complaint was that those U.S. attorneys weren't pursuing voter fraud cases aggressively enough.” Subsequently, Mr. Sampson added David Iglesias, the United States Attorney from New Mexico, to the list of those to be dismissed.

Given the relevance of these matters to the ongoing investigation by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, we ask that you provide the following documents to the Committee:

All documents in the control, custody or possession of the Department of Justice regarding the case against Ms. Thompson or the United States Attorney’s handling of that case;
All communications between the Department of Justice and the White House regarding the case against Ms. Thompson or the United States Attorney’s handling of that case;
All communications between the Department of Justice and any other outside party, including political party officials, regarding the case against Ms. Thompson or the United States Attorney’s handling of that case;
All documents in the control, custody or possession of the Department of Justice regarding possible voter fraud or other election related cases in Wisconsin following the 2004 elections or the United States Attorney’s handling of those matters;
All communications between the Department of Justice and the White House regarding possible voter fraud or other election related cases in Wisconsin following the 2004 elections or the United States Attorney’s handling of those matters;
All communications between the Department of Justice and any other outside party, including political party officials, regarding possible voter fraud or other election related cases in Wisconsin following the 2004 elections or the United States Attorney’s handling of those matters; and
All documents relevant to whether the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin was considered for dismissal and replacement at any time since President Bush’s reelection, including any evaluations of his performance by D. Kyle Sampson or other Department of Justice officials.
We ask that you provide the requested documents as early as possible and no later than the close of business on Friday, April 13, 2007.

Sincerely,

Patrick Leahy Charles E. Schumer
Chairman United States Senator

Russell D. Feingold Herb Kohl
United States Senator United States Senator

Dianne Feinstein Sheldon Whitehouse
United States Senator United States Senator

http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200704/041007a.html

[L. Coyote]

3. K&R. ALSO, was Justice for Sale?? Keep both eyes open in all the Smoke

Watch the unseen hand at the magic show. Voter fraud is the one they want us to be watching.

What of the sleeze and corruption?
Does money play a big role in the decisions?
OR, has the world changed thanks to all these moral politicos?

[maddezmom]

4. gotta love McKay, comments re: Gonzo testimony

Gonzales: 'Great deal of concern' over McKay, voter fraud

GENE JOHNSON
The Associated Press

SEATTLE - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales acknowledged Thursday there was a "great deal of concern" in some quarters about former U.S. Attorney John McKay's handling of election fraud allegations during the 2004 election in Washington state. But he said he doesn't know if that's why McKay was placed on a list of U.S. attorneys to be fired in March 2005.

Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee in the nation's capital, Gonzales also said he didn't know if McKay might have been fired because he pushed for appropriate resources to investigate the slaying of Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Wales.

Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' former chief of staff and the person who compiled the list of prosecutors to be fired, raised the possibility in a closed-door interview with congressional investigators last month that McKay made the list for pushing too hard on the Wales investigation, from which his office is recused. McKay has called that suggestion "mind-numbing." Wales was shot to death as he worked in his basement the night of Oct. 11, 2001.

"If that was a reason why he was included as part of the recommended group, that's something you'd have to ask others involved in this process," Gonzales said in response to questioning from Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C. "I'm not aware the department, however, is using that as a reason or excuse."

Gonzales said he learned about concerns related to the Wales case "very, very recently."

"Yeah, he wasn't aware of it until Kyle Sampson made it up," McKay said after learning of the attorney general's comments.

more:http://www.theolympian.com/101/story/103243.html

[maddezmom]

5. DoJ criminal attorney matthew w. friedrich's sworn statement directly implicates karl rove in david

DoJ criminal attorney matthew w. friedrich's sworn statement directly implicates karl rove in david iglesias' firing!


or, fun with evidentiary transcripts. . .


as the house judiciary committee hearing
wound-down this afternoon, chairman john
conyer's office released a three-page, re-
dacted transcript of criminal division
department of justice attorney matthew w.
friedrich's sworn statements. . . they were
mentioned by the chairman, to mr. gonzales,
rather pointedly this morning (video coming
very soon on that), and i think, these are the
first under-oath, written bits-o'-evidence from
any attorney -- inside the gonzales depart-
ment of justice, mind you -- which directly
assert that karl rove was behind the firing
of david iglesias in new mexico. iglesias
was fired, in large part, for being slow to
bring a politically-expedient, but largely
meritless, "voter fraud" case to
ding a democratic candidate, very near
the november 2006 mid-term elections. . .
thus provoking the ire of sen. pete
domenici, and allegedly,
now -- one mister karl rove.

this direct connection between iglesias'
resistance to bringing a bogus case, and
karl rove's desire to fire him on that
basis, is what's "new". note, friedrich,
a DoJ attorney, is now saying this is true,
under penalty of perjury, and disbarment. . .

let's take a look (page one, above),
at page two, now, shall we?
@ 11:18 p.m. -- mcclatchy's is now carrying its take
on these tid-bits, over its wire-service, btw.]



note that the answer to the monica goodling
question (immediately above) is "no", below:


http://indictdickcheney.blogspot.com/2007/05/doj-criminal-attorney-matthew-w.html

[L. Coyote]

6. The missing question yesterday, "Did Karl Rove add his name to the list?"

If the President did not, and the VP did not, and noone at DoJ did .....

It was as if a giant elephant balloon was hovering in the room with Karl's name on it ......

[L. Coyote]

7. K&R #5

[bobthedrummer]

8. David Iglesias: "All roads lead to Rove"

http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/28275

[bobthedrummer]

9. Criminals? The criminal division still has Alice S. Fisher in it.

"Alice S. Fisher is still hanging in the Gonzales DoJ Criminal Division"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3294810#3294851

WH Criminals? There's a collaborative thread started on them.

"A DU criminal investigation thread: Bush's White House Staff"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1020760