White House Counsel Craig to end embattled tenure

[cal04]

Source: Washington Post

White House Counsel Gregory B. Craig is expected to announce his departure as early as Friday, people familiar with the situation said, ending an embattled tenure in which he struggled to lead the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

Craig will be replaced by Bob Bauer, a prominent Democratic lawyer who is Obama's personal attorney.

The shakeup has been long-awaited, coming after months of dissatisfaction over Craig's management of Guantanamo policy. It represents the most high-level White House departure to date -- as well as the most concrete expression of how badly the administration's detainee policy has gone off-course.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/12/AR2009111211348.html

---

Top White House Lawyer Pushed Out
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/12/top-white-house-lawyer-pushed-out/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_politicalticker+%28Blog%3A+Political+Ticker%29

[BunkerHill24]

1. I'll leave it to Mr. Obama's newly appointed attorney to interpret how Mr. Obama's

feelings about torture. Maybe now there will be of no misunderstanding of how Mr. Obama himself feels about torture, or Gitmo-bay torture, as a whole, without further due blame from anyone else.

[tomm2thumbs]

2. maybe as a coincidence, all the leaks to the press will stop now

just a coincidence of course. nothing being implied there.


updated: wanted to note that 'leaks to the press' refers to leaks against the WH, not leaks from Craig. Wanted that to be clear.

I think he was a marked man. He drafted executive orders banning torture and ordering the Guantánamo prison closed within a year. Over the objections of the Central Intelligence Agency, he recommended the release of Justice Department memorandums describing harsh interrogation.

[jaysunb]

3. He did his job...

Let's thank him for his service.

[Delphinus]

6. That's what concerns me.

He seems to be working (or worked) on behalf of the right thing to do - stopping torture and closing the prison. What's going to happen now?

[katkat]

4. this certainly looks bad for Obama

and apparently Rahm's fingers were in this pie.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/us/politics/13craig.html?_r=1&hp

You don't usually have the spouse leaving as well when things are amicable.

[No Elephants]

24. Craig's wife is not the one stepping down. Bauer's wife is. Bauer is replacing Craig.

Still, that is an odd combination of events. Maybe they did not want two spouses on the White House payroll?

[Piewhacket]

5. Obama needs a new personal attorney.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. He's got several including

Valerie Jarrette and his wife. ;)

[maglatinavi]

8. Valerie's wife???

Hmm! ... Any way, just one more matter to make me incredulous about Obama... Sigh!!!
:cry: :cry: :cry: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[Piewhacket]

28. I think BumRushDaShow meant Obama's wife, who is a lawyer.

Michelle will not be available for the job.

[Piewhacket]

23. Fine, but she needs to get out of the Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs stuff.

Valerie Bowman Jarrett (born November 14, 1956) is a senior advisor and assistant to the president for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Obama administration. (Wikipedia)

[tularetom]

9. There's another side to this

Mr Craig was apparently asshole buddies with Karl Rove and may have been up to his elbows in the Don Siegelman mess - on the bad side.

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/03/05/dana-jill-simpson-and-greg-craig/

Far as I'm concerned he was allowed to pollute the White House way too long.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. Officials: Top White House lawyer to be pushed out

Source: CNN.com

Tokyo, Japan (CNN) -- In the first major shakeup among President Obama's senior staff, White House Counsel Greg Craig is being pushed out in favor of veteran Democratic lawyer Bob Bauer because of a dispute over plans to close the U.S. military prison in Cuba, CNN has learned.

Democratic officials said Craig was ousted because of frustration among senior White House aides over his handling of the plans to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. As the White House's top lawyer, Craig was pivotal in advising Obama to sign an executive order during his first week in office promising to shut the prison by the end of January 2010.

In a politically embarrassing move that has frustrated some of the president's liberal supporters, White House aides have since backed off that deadline, citing complex legal issues surrounding what to do with the approximately 200 terror suspects still detained at Guantanamo.

Craig was one of the lawyers defending then-President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial. He became an early and active supporter of Obama in the Democratic presidential primaries, angering backers of then-Sen. Hillary Clinton. That is one of the reasons why allies of Craig are frustrated he is being replaced so early in the administration.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/13/obama.staff.shakeup/index.html

---

Is this implying that Obama's aids will decide to keep Guantanamo open?

[Demeter]

11. It's Not a Good Sign

Those who live with Guantanamo, will die with Guantanamo.

[mac56]

12. It may not be all that bad.

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/03/05/dana-jill-simpson-and-greg-craig/

Craig was pretty thick with Karl Rove.

[pjt7]

17. Craig was thick with Rove

Is that true?

[mac56]

19. so it appears

http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2009/01/litigator-of-the-week-gregory-craig-white-house-counsel.html

[lonestarnot]

14. Do you know more?

My understanding was that he wasn't doing a good job shutting down Guantanamo.

[Lerkfish]

13. unfortunately, that seems to be the most likely interpretation

but considering that this is from backroom crosstalk, I am not sure if it is the correct interpretation.,

I certainly hope not.

[lonestarnot]

15. No, apparently he wasn't working fast enough to shut it down.

[amerstates]

16. Sacrificial lamb for a stupid statement about closing gitmo in a year.

There are real criminals in Gitmo; find 'em and let the others go. But GOD DAMN not another one you let go better get caught again on the battlefield killing Americans.

[bertman]

20. Well now, that's an interesting requirement to put on it, amerstates. So, those "real"

criminals (however you define them) will be incarcerated somewhere else, but we will release the others who have been kept locked up like animals in cages, tortured physically and mentally, and imprisoned for YEARS--many after being abducted. Those individuals will be SO GRATEFUL that they have been released that they will NEVER have anything to do with fighting the kind Americans who let them out of Gitmo.

Amazing.

[firedupdem]

18. My understanding was that he wasn't doing enough to get it

closed down. :shrug:

[Octafish]

21. What Rahm wants...

...Rahm gets.

[peacetalksforall]

22. Read the article linked to by Mac56 above. I refreshed my memory about this article

which had faded from memory. This dismissal could be as much about other issues as it is about what is implied here - Guantanamo.

I kinda hope it's about Siegelman as much as people think it's about Gitmo. After reading the article again, I say good riddance. Shouldn't have been hired in the first place. Not knowing more, he seems someone that you would not want on the inside.

[No Elephants]

25. Why would Craig be fired for something that was known when Obama hired him?

[peacetalksforall]

26. I'm not sure. The article was written March 2009. Did Obama know all that?

The Siegelman case may not be getting the support it deserves because Craig is/was an insider? At the same time, it's not going away - helped by his perseverance and the transcript that was released and other things that are coming out.

If he knew that there was a Craig-Rove communications link - he was a fool to hire him.

But, what does that say about some others - like the ones handling (supposedly) the money.

[chill_wind]

27. Gitmo or Rove/Seigelman/Dana Jill Simpson ethics charges

or some mixture of both?

Gitmo?

Rahm’s Greg Craig Campaign
By: emptywheel Wednesday October 21, 2009 9:33 pm

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/10/21/rahms-greg-craig-campaign/


Rove/Seigelman?

http://pubrecord.org/special-to-the-public-record/3263/white-house-should-craig/


or who knows why, and we may never.


http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/03/greg-craig-in-trouble-but-for-what/