miner

While most of you were sleeping, a band of fearless, overly caffeinated patriots were pawing through the latest 3000 pages of internal documents from the Department of Justice.  Clever Josh Marshall and Paul Kiel enlisted the aid of their readers in going over the copious amounts of material in this latest document dump:

Thousands of Pages
By Paul Kiel – March 20, 2007, 12:51 AM

Josh and I were just discussing how in the world we are ever going to make our way through 3,000 pages when it hit us: we don't have to. Our readers can help.

So here's what we're going to do. This comment thread will be our HQ for sorting through tonight's document dump.

And oh, honey, it is a gold mine over there. There's already a motherlode of stuff piling up in the comments in Muckraker Land.  Muck, meet rakes.  Lots of rakes.  Lots and lots and lots of rakes.

For you see, here at 2:32am, commenter "tralfmadore rocks" brings us verifiable evidence of the conspiracy originating from the AG's office on election night, and well, just read for yourself:

Email from Sampson to Elston, 11/7/06 6:21 PM.
"Please review and provide comments ASAP. I'd like to get this to Harriet tonight, if possible."
The document pasted into the email is headed, "PLAN FOR REPLACING CERTAIN UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS"
"Step 1 U.S. Attorney calls: On or about November 8-10, Mike Battle contacts the following U.S. Attorneys:" Listed are Charlton, Lam, [two blanked out], Chiara, Bogden, [blanked out], McKay, Iglesias.
Game plan for what Battle tells them
"Step 2 Senator calls: On or about November 8-10 (very important that Senator calls and U.S. Attorney calls happen simultaneously), Bill Kelley or appropriate Associate Counsel contacts the following Senators:" Listed are Kl re Charlton, [three blacked out], Ensign re Bogden, [one blacked out], Domenici re Iglesias.
NOTE that that's NINE bullet points for USAs to be forced out, but SEVEN bullet points for Senator calls. Maybe some of the blacked-out ones were to be consulted re two pushed out USAs; or maybe some USAs from states with two Democratic senators were to be forced out, so their input wouldn't be sought.
Game plan for Kelley script, including "If pushed, this determination is based on a thorough review of the U.S. Attorney's performance." Ask for 3 names.
"Step 3 Evaluation and Selection of "Interim" Candidates" set for Nov-Dec., for DOJ "in consultation with the Office of the Counsel to the President".
"Step 4 Selection, Nomination, and Appointment of New US Attorneys".

Posted by: tralfmadore rocks
Date: March 20, 2007 02:32 AM

Now, if I'm not mistaken, this directly contradicts absolutely everything that Abu Gonzales has stated in sworn testimony.

But just in case you had any questions about the execution of the mission, another Sampson email exchange takes us all the way to the top:


3-19-2007 DOJ-Released Documents 1-10 page 14.

From: Sampson, Kyle
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 200612:08 PM
To: 'HarrieLMiers@who.eop.gov'; William_K._Kelley@who.eop.gov
Cc: McNulty, PaulJ
Subject: RE: USA replacement plan

Who will determine whether whether this requires the President's attention?  (emphasis mine)

—–Original Message—–
From: Harriet Miers@who.eop.gov [mailto:Harriet Miers@who.eop.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, November 15,' 2006 11:39 AM
To: Sampson, Kyle; William K. Kelley@who.eop.gov
Cc: McNulty, Paul J
Subject: RE: USA replacement plan

Not sure whether this will be determined to require the boss's attention. If it does, he just left last night so would not be able to accomplish that for some time. We will see. Thanks.

(Eugh.  How is it that even in this format, Harriet Miers's writing is awash in phantom smileys?)


—–Original Message—–
From: Kyle.Sampson@usdoj.gov [mailto:Kyle.Sampson@usdoj.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 11:02 AM
To: Kelley, William K.; Miers, Harriet
Cc: Paul.J.McNulty@usdoj.gov
Subject: USA replacement plan
Importance: High

Harriet/Bill, please see the attached. Please note (1) the plan, by its terms, would commence this week; (2) I have consulted with the DAG, but not yet informed others who would need to be brought into the loop, including Acting Associate AG Bill Mercer, EOUSA Director Mike Battle, and AGAC Chair Johnny Sutton (nor have I informed anyone in Karl's shop, another pre-execution necessity I would recommend); and (3) I am concerned that to execute this plan properly we must all be on the same page and be steeled to withstand any political upheaval that might result (see Step 3); if we start caving to complaining U.S. Attorneys or Senators then we shouldn't do it — it'll be more trouble than it is worth.

We'll stand by for a green light from you. Upon the green light, we'll (1) circulate the below plan to the list of folks in Step 3 (and ask that you circulate it to Karl's shop), (2) confirm that Kelley is making the Senator/Bush political lead calls, and (3) get Battle making the calls to the USAs. Let us know.

Posted by: JPV
Date: March 20, 2007 01:25 AM  (emphasis added)

But what's that reference there to "Karl's shop"?  What do you suppose is in the pies they sell there?  (Here's a hint: "Soylent Green!  Mmmmm, good people!")

And here, look, look, once the heat is on, Kyle rounds up all his little elves and asks everyone for their vital statistics for security passes to the White House, so they can all go get their talking points implanted on tiny computer chips behind their ears:


3-19-2007 DOJ-Released Documents 2-3 page 25.

From: Sampson, Kyle
Sent: Monday, March O5, 2007 2:49 PM
To: McNulty, Paul J; Moschella, William; Hertling, Richard; Scolinos, Tasia; Battle, Michael (USAEO)
Cc: Elston, Michael (ODAG); Roehrkasse, Brian; Goodling, Monica; Washington, Tracy T
Subject: RE:
Importance: High

Okay – two things:

1. We are set for 5pm at the White House. I need WAVES info from each of you: DOBs and SSNs.
2. Kelley says that among other things they'll want to cover (1) Administration's position on the legislation (Will's written testimony says that we oppose the bill, raising White House concerns); and (2) how we are going to respond substantively to each of the U.S. Attorney's allegations that they were dismissed for improper reasons.

Posted by: JPV
Date: March 20, 2007 02:35 AM

Isn't that sweet? 

And there's much, much more.  It's like an all-night Easter-egg hunt.  You owe it to yourself to head over there while your coffee kicks in. 

See US Attorney Margaret Chiara's extremely thorny response to her own firing!  Thrill to the intercepted emails between the fired attorneys as they strategize, fume, and swear out blood oaths of revenge!


1 10 Page 1

Cummins writing to his fellow fired attorneys about the message he recieved:

——————
…if they feel like any of us intend to continue to offer quotes to the press, or organize behind the scenes congressional pressure, then they would feel forced to somehow pull *their* gloves off and offer public criticisms to defend their actions more fully…. I was tempted to challenge him and say something movie-like such as "are you threatening ME???"…

Oh, yeah!  See, now this is getting downright scandalicious! 

It's like a Zen riddle.  If thousands and thousands of invisible rakes are all raking at once, do they make a sound?

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