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Bush Hires Lawyers to Fight Legal Battles with Congress
WASHINGTON - President Bush is signing up legal help as he girds for battle with the Democratic-led Congress.
Faced with a flurry of document requests and expanding congressional investigations, the White House announced Friday that Bush had hired nine lawyers, including five who'll fill new jobs in the president's legal office. The recruits have solid experience in white-collar crime, government investigations and constitutional law.
Legal experts said the hires indicated that Bush was gearing up to fight congressional inquiries that he considered an encroachment on presidential power. The president has accused Democrats of seeking to score political points by delving into White House deliberations on a host of issues.
"This indicates a war-on-all-fronts legal strategy against congressional oversight," said Washington lawyer Bruce Fein, who served as the deputy attorney general in the Reagan administration.
Bush, who's tested the limits of presidential authority on issues ranging from electronic eavesdropping to the control of presidential papers, has made no secret of his frustration with congressional investigations.
After six years with a compliant Republican-led Congress, the White House is facing a host of congressional investigations and demands for top presidential advisers to testify. The White House and Congress could be headed for a showdown if Democrats follow through on threats to subpoena White House adviser Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriet Miers for an investigation into the firings of nine U.S. attorneys.
"The White House is laying in its stone wall," said John Flannery, a former federal prosecutor and a Democratic activist. "They are preparing to deflect the subpoenas for Rove and Miers from the beaches of Capitol Hill to the heights of the Supreme Court if necessary."
White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore acknowledged that the hires are directly related to the change of power in Congress.
"Our goal is to simply have the right people in place to adequately address issues and requests that come our way. Obviously, there's been an increase with the new Congress," she said. "While we do recognize some requests as legitimate and responsible requests for information, others are unfortunate fishing expeditions."
© 2007 McClatchy Washington Bureau and wire service sources.
35 Comments so far
Show AllNINE lawyers?
That's pretty funny.
Try to think of the coming court battles as spectator sport.
We will win.
Only the lawyers win!!
While we do recognize some requests as legitimate and responsible requests for information, others are unfortunate fishing expeditions."
What would you call indiscriminant wire-tapping except " fishing expeditions" ? The shoe is on the other foot now.
Let's see how it fits.
It's absolutely mind-boggling how similar White House staff are to the ancient Pharisees
Top American politicians are organized criminals. Bush, sand all the miserable politicians on both sides who have supported him have the blood of millions of Iraqis on their filthy nasty hands.
An estimated 800,000 Iraqis of all ages have been killed,
many more crippled for life, and none of our politicians have any remorse.
According to their disgusting, "laws", all their killing and maiming is perfectly legal. I would expect more humane behavior from a bunch of apes.
Top American politicians of both major parties have lost touch with their humanity and have become aspects of a huge monster that threatens the world. They no longer know which way is up, and should not be called "leaders". They are MISLEADERS who can not be trusted with power over others.
--------------------------
WAR PICTURES
Pictures of Destruction and Civilian Victims of the Anglo-American Aggression in Iraq
These photos are only of a very tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people who have been terrorised, humiliated, injured, maimed and killed through British and American bombing of civilian areas in various cities of Iraq.
Due to insecurity, independent reporters could not and still can not reach many areas to photograph and report the atrocities. Several independent reporters and journalists were deliberately bombed to prevent them reporting the atrocities.
WARNING: THESE PICTURES ARE NOT SUITIBLE FOR SMALL CHILDREN AND THOSE WITH WEAK HEARTS
Robert Fisk:
http://snipurl.com/h6tm
Mind Prod:
http://snipurl.com/h6tp
===================================
And we taxpayers will get stuck with the @#$%ing bill for attorney fees!!
The nine Ring-wraiths/Dark Riders of The Lord of the Rings, servants of the evil Lord?
"Those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old. They obtained glory and great wealth, yet it turned to their undoing. They had, as it seemed, unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men; but too often they beheld only the phantoms and delusions of Sauron. And one by one, sooner or later, according to their native strength and to the good or evil of their wills in the beginning, they fell under the thralldom of the ring that they bore and of the domination of the One which was Sauron's. And they became forever invisible save to him that wore the Ruling Ring, and they entered into the realm of shadows. The Nazgûl were they, the Ringwraiths, the Enemy's most terrible servants; darkness went with them, and they cried with the voices of death" (The Silmarillion: "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age", 289).
What Ms. Lawrimore needs to understand is congressional oversight implies it is not up to her to decide which requests are legitimate and which are fishing expeditions.
Anyway, hasn't Mr. Bush already assured us time and again he doesn't want anybody in his administration who acts in violation of the law so why all the fuss about subpoenas to Rove and Meiers?
Good question above, who does pick up the tab for the nine lawyers?
YooHoo- does enyone remember the office of special prosecuter that had years and years of expensive investigations into a private tryst between consenting adults and a money losing land deal. Our timid repubicrat congress is slowly thinking about perhaps broaching the subject of massive wrong doing- misrepresenting reasons for war ongoing mass murder of inocent human beings and outright theft of billions refusing to honor international treaties on and on and on. If congress reinstated the office of special prosecuter Bush could veto I supose- the keystone cops meet the the oil mob at the watergate poker parlor.
At least he's choosing the right lawyers for the job - with solid experience in white collar crime.
Good question - so who does pay for all this? Clinton left office owing a fortune to his lawyers.
Tired of having your Constitution used as cheap, one-ply RV toilet paper? Two words... Ron... Paul...
It's easy to see who'll win this one. Bush's binions will take it all the way to the Supreme Court, and with their 5-4 vote, Bush wins again! Only thing that will save the day is if one of those five has any real care about what this country is founded on.
And why don't we drop the pretense that "Bush hired..."?
From now on, why not just say Cheney did this or that, or the Cheney administration said thus and so?
http://www.minutemanmedia.org/CARTOON%20020707%20FULL%20SIZE.htm
Who provides the money for that ignoramus to hire lawyers?
Congress is such a generous bunch of thugs. Maybe I'll ask them to send me a few bucks so I can get some new shutters for my building...
Pull out your pocketbooks folks. The lawyers are arming up and it looks like war. It will be costly, but don't expect the white house bastions to hold. This is a front I want to see.
"Tested the limits"? "TESTED THE LIMITS"??!!!!
He broke the f*ing law multiple times, and you call this "testing the limits"?
I have a few choice words for you and the horse you rode in on.
I know, I know, you'd have to use the word "alleged" to qualify these crimes until he's actually convicted by a jury.
But at least you could also refer to him as the "alleged president" since the jury is still out on that one too.
Or would that be too much of a strain on your alleged journalistic skill?
Frodo failed : Bush has The Ring.
wasnt it Bush who said: 'International law? Id better see my lawyer'....it seems hes treating domestic entaglements with the same attitude.
a baseball team ( n.l. only - damned designated hitter) of lawyers. does that ever open the door for sports terms. will they strike out? hit a home run? steal the signs? (for sure) throw at your best hitter? (for sure) who is on steriods? (cheney?)
having been lawyered to death before, i can only imagine the "game plan" bush has.
Well maybe if they keep him busy talking to his lawyers he won't be thinking about starting another war. After all we all know that he can't think and do two things at once. Hell it will take him a day or two to just change the subject. Unless of course Cheney gets involved . . . but maybe Cheney will be busy with his own impeachment suit . . . We can dream can't we.
Who here didn't know this was going to happen?
As far as I'm concerned we're about six-months behind in issuing the subpoenas.
Quit talking about it and do it.
Investigate the impeachable offenses first.
For Bush's sake he better hire the best Sophists--according to Plato, those that can make the true look false and the false appear true.
Nine Scorpions elect the king
who in the darkness binds them.
Nine more confound the People's wits
with tanglements to wind them.
-with apologies to Tolkien
He can run but he can't hide We'll smoke him out of his hole – git him on the run – but he can't hide – 'Cause we'll smoke him out – git him on the run … but he can't hide…
Impeach for peace and eat a peach…
I think the response to this should be that the Democratic Congress gear up and increase its own muscle.
This has been part of the problem with the corporate take-over . . . more money and power on one side.
Yes, this regime is organized crime and if we do succeed in impeaching Bush/Cheney then let's make sure that this time the thugs go to prison. International World Courts would be happy to have both of them!
The destruction we have brought to Iraq is rivaling the destruction that we brought to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
We are the aggressors -- we are the outlaws -- and if we want to hold on to our humanity and our planet, we must stand up together and move this in the right directions.
VOTE EVERY DAY IN SOME WAY TO MOVE THESE CRIMINALS OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE.
like the democrats are going to do anything to piss off their corporate masters
Looks like Liebermann is now advocating that we bomb Iran. Now while this may be a dream for Israel's lebensraum or the military industrial complex, now how exactly does this make my life safer? Does this nutcase want to start WWWIII? It's psychosis.
But the fact that Gore picked someone like Liebermann may well suggest he had to appease the Bilderbergs or whoever/whatever it is that basically decides who's going to be elected, who'll be ignored by the mainstream corporate press, etc. "They" wanted to invade Iraq, and Clinton was required to at least keep it in a "holding pattern" between King George I and II.
Best bet is even if 500 US cities come out in favor of impeachment that the Dems do nothing. Hell, 10 million people could be marching up to the White House -- and take it over -- and the Dems would still do nothing. Best guess is that they would neither impeach the president nor prevent the uprising. But they'd probably crumple to the ground and we'd then learn that they've been hollow puppets, cheap robots, or zombies all this time.
To think that all George had to do was compromise - to level with the new Congress. Then there would be no need for any court hearings. After 6 and 1/2 years, George simply does not know how to be diplomatic. Period! He is unable. I don't know why. Perhaps the website www.bushisantichrist.com helped to shed some light for me on the reasons for his inept diplomatic skills. Yet, I still feel confounded. Even so, he made the unwise decision to hire as Secretary of State arguably the worst diplomat in U.S. History. Her name is Condoleezza Rice. Condoleezza Rice - not only is her name horrific, but she is in essence the ultimate Uncle Tom Hypocrite!
That aside, one possible consequence for George's inability to compromise may bring on WWIII. However, I predict that a more realistic consequence would be Cold War II. Both scenarios, whether occuring simultaneously or either/or, should concern most human beings. This is extremely scary. I try not to be a pessimist unless it is based on the preponderance of evidence what likely scenarios could happen based solely on George's choices that he has made and will continue to make. I am scared. Really...
These scenarios are not even taking into consideration how China may influence these possible chain of events. China, the U.S. financier if you will, could quite literally tomorrow if the leaders there want, devalue the U.S. Dollar so much that China could cause Great Depression II in the United States. They most certainly have the ability to do that. Would they? Maybe yes maybe no. The point I am making is that this particular scenario is independent of what is happening in the "Global War on Terror." The "Global War on Terror" waged by the United States, I must note, is finananced by the Chinese to which U.S. taxpayers must pay back to them. If the Chinese Government wants all their money owed to them by the United States tomorrow; indeed, China would get the money owed to them tomorrow if they wanted it - one way or the other. Those who are making money off of the "Global War on Terror" will pay little to nothing for this debt - based on the choices of those who financially profit from the decision to wage a "Global War on Terror."
Meanwhile, Reality TV and undocumented Mexicans are more worthy of American attention.
Bush will fight this all the way because the US attorney firings lead to massive 2004 election fraud involving Rove and Tim Griffin (I believe who has since resigned from Arkansas AG). Griffin set up "caging" lists to challange mostly minority voters and soldiers who voted by absentee ballots.
See Greg Palast for more details. AG appointees must get Senate approval, but an assistant to Sen Spector slipped in a provision to appoint interim
AG's without Senate confirmation. This assistant is now an AG for Utah or Idaho.
The Democrats will not impeach because they will have to govern for 2 years
in which they would do nothing and increase the chances that a Republican will win the Presidentcy.
Nine foxes in charge of the hen coop, or of the cesspool in which the current US Aministration swims? Or are they just nine boys with their thumbs in the legal damn, hoping it does not burst and sweep the whole darn lot away in the ensuing tsunami. Here's hoping.
There is one area even the MSM gets right in coverage of George Bush--He is making a stupid face in every picture. They let the picture show what they lack the courage to report.
IMPEACH GONZO DE TORQENADA
I was just reading that CNN ran an article pointing out that Ron Paul flew first-class on the airlines while other guys were flying regular class.
Gee, lets compare how much money Bush costs us in lawyers compared to Ron Pauls first class expenditure.
Ron Paul gets frequent flyer miles, so probably that doesn't cost us much.
George W. gets frequent screw up miles, so he should get cut -rate lawyer rates.
Still, lawyers cost a BUNCH more than airline flights so I guess George is the real luxury. I don't think we can afford him.
Let's just give him Gonzales and get a new AG.
hollywood wealth could be put toward legal aid. paris could pay for the blackwater lawsuit and help prove the employees were sent in to be killed and escalate the war.help us hollywood. mel gibson etc.