Reminder: Special Counsel Fitzgerald Is the "Attorney General" ...

[understandinglife]

.... effectively for this case. He acts without any "supervision or control" from any DoJ officer for the investigation of the illegal disclosure of a covert CIA Agent and matters relevant to that illegal action.

Office of the Deputy Attorney General

Washington, D.C. 20530

December 30, 2003

The Honorable Patrick J. Fitzgerald
United States Attorney
219 S. Dearborn Street
Chicago, IL 60604

Dear Patrick,

By the authority vested in the Attorney General by law, including 28 U. S .C. §§ 509, 510, and 515, and in my capacity as Acting Attorney General pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 508, I hereby delegate to you all the authority of the Attorney General with respect to the Department's investigation into the alleged unauthorized disclosure of a CIA employee's identity, and I direct you to exercise that authority as Special Counsel independent of the supervision or control of any officer of the Department.

/s/ James B. Comey James B. Comey
Acting Attorney General

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/documents/ag_letter_december_30_2003.pdf

MEMORANDUM TO: David Margolis Associate Deputy Attorney General

FROM: James B. Comey Deputy Attorney General

SUBJECT: Delegation of Authority

In the attached correspondence to Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, dated December 30, 2003, and Feburary 6, 2004, I delegated to Mr. Fitzgerald all of the authority of the Attorney General with respect to the Department’s investigation into the alleged unauthorized disclosure of a Central Intelligence Agency employee’s identity.

By virtue of the authority vested in me as Deputy Attorney General under the law, including 28 C.F.R. § 0.15(a), I delegate to you all of my authority as Acting Attorney General with respect to that investigation and Mr. Fitzgerald’s service as Special Counsel, as delineated in that correspondence.

This delegation to you in no way retracts or modifies the scope of the prior delegations of authority to Mr. Fitzgerald.

August 12, 2005

/s/ James B. Comey Date James B. Comey

Attachments (2)

cc: Robert D. McCallum, Jr. Patrick J. Fitzgerald

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/documents/ag_memo_august_12_2005.pdf

Bush can fire him.

But, that's all that can stop him.


Peace.

[babylonsister]

1. Bush has praised Fitzgerald recently, so

it'd be pretty transparent if he fired him. I have not heard one negative word about Fitz. In fact, he's been described as 'pious'. Works for me!

[understandinglife]

2. Billmon: "More prosaically, I think the fact that Fitzpatrick's ....

.... office has created its own web page is a strong sign that indictments are coming -- but not for the reason most widely held. Yes, a web page will come in handy for posting indictments, press releases about indictments, etc. But I think the documents already posted there may be the real tip off. They constitute a not-so-subtle reply to the conservative lie du jour -- that Fitzgerald has strayed far beyond his "original" mandate to investigate alleged violations of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

I've seen this lie repeated so many times today -- mostly by people smart enough to know better -- that I'm beginning to wonder if the RNC really does have a chip implanted in the brain of every corporate journalist on the planet. It was in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and in a Weekly Standard editorial so duplicitous that it cements Bill Kristol's claim to be the most talented intellectual hooker in Washington.

On his brand new web page, however, Fitzgerald has prominently posted both his original delegation of authority from the Justice Department -- which instructs him to investigate "the alleged unauthorized disclosure of a CIA employee's identity" -- and a follow up letter, dated Feb. 6, 2004, which clarifies that he has the power to investigate and prosecute:

... violations of any federal criminal laws related to the underlying alleged unauthorized disclosure, as well as federal crimes committed in the course of, and with intent to interfere with, your investigation, such as perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses . . .

Nowhere -- a word even Bill Kristol can't parse -- in either document is it stipulated that Fitzgerald's brief is limited to the IIPA, in fact the opposite is true. By throwing those letters up on the web today, Fitzgerald has, intentionally or not, signaled that he doesn't have the slightest intention of backing down. This guy is about as Irish as they come, and the Irish are not generally known for ducking away from bar fights. If the neocons want to take him on -- on the ground he's been preparing for the past two years -- they'd better have the propaganda equivalent of broken bottles in their hands.

Much more at the link:

http://billmon.org/archives/002284.html

Agree.


Peace.

[Jose Diablo]

3. LOL, 'Bar fight'

That Billmon puts it so graphically. I doubt anybody in this administration has the guts for a bar fight. They seem so, fratish, I think describes them.

Anybody else remember the 'frats' and 'greasers' from days gone by. 'Class' fighting right from the get go. As Steve Earle said, "Draft the white trash first round here anyway". But it seems they couldn't kill all the followers of James Dean. I am sorry to the more 'sensitive' here on this board, especially those to the north, but the Beatles suck. More interference from 'King George' and that old bag the Queen toward a former colony.

I know I'd like to meet Rove or Scooter out behind the bar for a 'discussion'. Even the coke sniffer hisself, you know, the guy in the gleeclub.

Fitz will stomp those guys flat.

[understandinglife]

4. "legal analysis explaining why Fitzgerald cannot "legally" be fired by

... Bush or anybody in the DOJ as the "Special Prosecutor" for Treasongate offenses.

<clip>

As Special Prosecutor he cannot be fired. Why? Read my August 8th, 2005 article for the detailed answer including extensive links.

The short version goes something like this:

Fitzgerald's plenary authority was delegated to him by acting Attorney General James Comey. Two official DOJ letters were used by Comey to establish Fitzgerald as the "Acting US Attoney General" in this matter. That means he is effectively the Attorney General for this case and he doesn't have to answer to anybody.

OK, but even the Attorney General can be fired by the President. This is true. So why can't Bush fire Fitzgerald even if Fitz is the Acting Attorney General with plenary authority?

That's where the Government Accountability Office (GAO) comes in. The DOJ made a very extensive argument to the GAO that Fitzgerald has all of the power of an Independent Counsel (like Ken Starr when he was investigating Clinton). Even though the Indepenent Counsel law has expired, DOJ argued that under this set of facts and this unique delegation of power from Comey to Fitzgerald, the GAO should recognize Fitzgerald as having all the power of an Independent Counsel so that unlimited funds could be released to Fitzgerald so this investigation could be properly conducted.

The GAO bought this argument and granted the funds on this basis.

<clip>

Much more at the links:

http://citizenspook.blogspot.com/2005/10/treasongate-comey-clarifies.html

http://citizenspook.blogspot.com/2005/08/treasongate-us-attorney-generals.html

May be a good time to read this analysis. I encourage everyone to do so and to distribute, widely.


Peace.

[G_j]

5. Counsel has special power

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=104&topic_id=5140246&mesg_id=5140246

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usfitz234481553oct23,0,254245.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines

Counsel has special power

BY TOM BRUNE
WASHINGTON BUREAU

October 23, 2005

WASHINGTON - The federal prosecutor investigating the leak of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity has extraordinarily broad authority to pursue the case, with powers much greater than most special counsels.

According to the letters outlining his role, he was granted "all the authority of the attorney general" and was directed to exercise that power "independent of the supervision or control" of any official at the Justice Department.

Unlike other special counsels, he does not have to report on his probe to anyone, he has no pre-set budget and he does not have to seek approval for his actions, whether issuing subpoenas to reporters, filing appeals in related litigation or, in the end, issuing indictments.

That is the charge for pursuing the case that was given to Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, when he was appointed special counsel two years ago to insulate the Justice Department from charges of conflict of interest.

"The appointment gives Pat very broad authority to conduct the investigation," said Eric Holder, who was deputy attorney general in the late 1990s.


..more..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Catherine Vincent]

6. And let me add to that, this quote from a long time Chicago lawyer:

<<When defense attorney Ron Safer heard that Patrick Fitzgerald would lead an inquiry into the leak of a CIA operative's name, his first thought was that, from the Bush administration's perspective, "they could not have picked a worse person."

:rofl:

[TahitiNut]

7. My friend in D.C. called and said both Rove and Libby would be indicted.

That was the "good news" I got when I returned home this evening. My friend is reliable. I put the chances of this coming true this week at about 70%, or 2-to-1.

[Leopolds Ghost]

8. The "good news"? Umm... Was there "bad news"?

I take it that's as far as it goes, or your friend would say
otherwise... if he/she knows anything the rumor mill doesn't :-(

Edited to note that I hope this ain't the whole story. If it's
just Karl & Libby, with Libby taking the fall, then Karl's
attention can turn to exonerating the administration and setting
up Libby as the fall guy and himself as the state's evidence.

Karl as state's evidence to convict Libby, with no other indictments,
would be like Gotti turning state's evidence in order to convict the hitman.

[TahitiNut]

10. I've known this friend for 13 years, since we both worked for a federal ..

... contractor in DOE. My friend has very high integrity and has been very reliable. (S)He has (completely legal, of course) ways to obtain insider information in a relatively casual manner - information that turns out to be uncannily reliable. I don't at all interpret this as either the full extent of the forthcoming indictments or the limit on seniority. The way I understand it would not preclude senior "unindicted co-conspirators" even though the specifics of the indictments weren't communicated. Like I say, I personally see it now as a 2-to-1 probability that at least Rove and Libby will be indicted this week.

[don954]

9. I swear, bush must have done something to royaly piss Ashcroft off bad

Why would he appoint someone as die-hard and apolitical as Fitz? The only reason I can think of is a big ol' FUCK YOU to bush...

I bet he is sitting at home watching the fireworks fly, very amused.. :)

[Catherine Vincent]

11. It wasn't actually Ashcroft was it?

Deputy Atty General James Comey.