Henry Waxman is at it again today. His committee has just voted out subpoenas for RNC emails and to compel Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice’s testimony on the Niger forgeries. He’s chip-chip-chipping away. And he’s not letting sleeping dogs lie. The Republicans were howling that Condi Rice has already answered questions about the Niger forgeries. Waxman was blunt. She claimed to have no memory of being told by George Tenet that the Niger docs were no good, but Waxman doesn’t believe her. They didn’t vote, as scheduled, on whether to subpoena former chief of staff Andy Card to talk about the lack of an internal White House investigation into the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson’s employment. But, that might be because Card decided to come in voluntarily (I don’t know).
Meanwhile, John Conyers’ committee voted to grant former Justice Department employee, Monica Goodling, immunity. Here is what David Iglesias had to say about this development.
As former U.S. Attorney for New Mexico David Iglesias pointed out yesterday, Goodling should prove to be a very valuable witness to investigators. Since Goodling acted as the liaison to the White House at the Justice Department, communications from Karl Rove or other White House officials are likely to have gone through her. As Iglesias put it, she has “the keys to the kingdom.”
Over on the Senate side, Patrick Leahy has issued a subpoena compelling the testimony of Sara Taylor, one of Karl Rove’s top deputies.
And it is not just Congress that is hounding the Republicans. The Justice Department seems to have shaken loose from their shackles and they are aggressively pursuing the Abramoff scandal.
In a burst of activity over the last eight days, FBI agents and federal prosecutors have won a guilty plea from a former congressional aide, implicated two more House of Representatives members and put the scandal surrounding onetime super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s influence-peddling back into the headlines.
The pace of the inquiry, which now has bagged a veteran congressman, a deputy Cabinet secretary, a White House aide and eight others, appears to be accelerating.
And it portends to be a major new headache for the Bush administration and congressional Republicans still reeling from a furor over the Justice Department’s firing of eight U.S. attorneys and from last fall’s election, which put Democrats back in command on Capitol Hill.
The newest figure to face serious FBI scrutiny is Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., who said bureau agents have asked for details of a 2003 golf trip to Scotland that he took with Abramoff – a trip that the House ethics committee recently found violated House rules.
Last week, FBI agents raided the home of Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif.
And on Tuesday, former congressional aide Mark Zachares pleaded guilty to helping Abramoff obtain government business and inside information in exchange for cash, gifts and job favors. Zachares was an aide to Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, when Young chaired the House transportation committee.
Abramoff may have provided the impetus for the flurry of public activity by cooperating extensively with investigators in return for promises of leniency as he tries to wriggle out of a prison sentence that theoretically could jail him for up to 30 years.
“He’s talking so much he doesn’t have time to eat,” one lawyer involved in the matter quipped, insisting upon anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. “Everybody who had business dealings with the guy should be nervous.”
Even the little known Office of Special Counsel is investigating. They’re looking into possible violations of the Hatch Act by Karl Rove. Of course, the OSC is run by a total crony wingnut, so I don’t exactly expect much from them.
Nevertheless, years of rampant criminality are being exposed every day. It’s delicious.
