The basic narrative coming out of the White House (and from it defenders) on the whole USA/DoJ business has been that a) all of this is very simple and really just about presidential prerogative concerning appointees and b) the critics are making mountains out of teeny-weeny not-even-quite mole hills.

Yet, we keep getting stuff like this: Administration Withheld E-Mails About Rove

The Bush administration has withheld a series of e-mails from Congress showing that senior White House and Justice Department officials worked together to conceal the role of Karl Rove in installing Timothy Griffin, a protégé of Rove’s, as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

The withheld records show that D. Kyle Sampson, who was then-chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, consulted with White House officials in drafting two letters to Congress that appear to have misrepresented the circumstances of Griffin’s appointment as U.S. attorney and of Rove’s role in supporting Griffin.

In one of the letters that Sampson drafted, dated February 23, 2007, the Justice Department told four Senate Democrats it was not aware of any role played by senior White House adviser Rove in attempting to name Griffin to the U.S. attorney post. A month later, the Justice Department apologized in writing to the Senate Democrats for the earlier letter, saying it had been inaccurate in denying that Rove had played a role.

If this is all so above the board, simple and normal, one would think that there would be a whole lot less in terms of new revelations about questionable behavior.

In this case it is a double-whammy: first the appearance of concealment from Congress followed up by an apology and then the seeming suppression of the e-mails that tell the story.

Again, for a story that many have told me is about absolutely nothing and that I should move along because there is nothing more to see, there sure is a lot more to see on a weekly basis. Indeed, there have been several stories this week that I haven’t had time to adequately read and blog about on this very topic.

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One Response to “More USA Nonsense”

1. Patrick Says:
   May 11th, 2007 at 8:52 am

   Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.