uruknet.info
  اوروكنت.إنفو
     
    informazione dal medio oriente
    information from middle east
    المعلومات من الشرق الأوسط

[ home page] | [ tutte le notizie/all news ] | [ download banner] | [ ultimo aggiornamento/last update 01/01/1970 01:00 ] 14779


english italiano

  [ Subscribe our newsletter!   -   Iscriviti alla nostra newsletter! ]  



Hinchey, Conyers Call For Investigation Of Former U.S. Attorney General Ashcroft's Involvement In Plame Leak Probe


Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, today called on U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Glenn A. Fine to launch an investigation into whether former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft violated explicit conflict of interest rules by not immediately recusing himself from the Valerie Plame name leak investigation. In particular, the congressmen focused on Ashcroft's failure to remove himself promptly from the investigation despite the former Attorney General's personal and professional relationship with President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, who has been a focus of the investigation from its early stages...


[14779]



Uruknet on Alexa


End Gaza Siege
End Gaza Siege

>

:: Segnala Uruknet agli amici. Clicka qui.
:: Invite your friends to Uruknet. Click here.




:: Segnalaci un articolo
:: Tell us of an article






Hinchey, Conyers Call For Investigation Of Former U.S. Attorney General Ashcroft's Involvement In Plame Leak Probe

Maurice Hinchey

For Immediate Release
August 17, 2005

Congressmen Urge U.S. Department Of Justice Inspector General
To Determine Whether Ashcroft Waited Too Long To Recuse Himself From Case


Washington, D.C. - Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, today called on U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Glenn A. Fine to launch an investigation into whether former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft violated explicit conflict of interest rules by not immediately recusing himself from the Valerie Plame name leak investigation. In particular, the congressmen focused on Ashcroft's failure to remove himself promptly from the investigation despite the former Attorney General's personal and professional relationship with President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, who has been a focus of the investigation from its early stages.

"Recent revelations have uncovered what appears to be a blatant violation by former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft of ethical rules and guidelines surrounding conflicts of interest," Hinchey said. "It now appears that Mr. Ashcroft failed to recuse himself from the Plame name leak investigation in a timely manner, which may have jeopordized investigators ability to get to the bottom of this case. The more this case and story go on, the more we learn about apparent, serious wrongdoings by numerous officials within the Bush Administration. The American people deserve answers and our request for an investigation into Mr. Ashcroft's role in the Plame name leak investigation seeks to accomplish just that."

A recent news report in the Village Voice detailed that Ashcroft was briefed on the Plame name leak investigation, including details of an interview that investigators had with Rove. Rove was an adviser to Ashcroft during the former Attorney General's political campaigns, earning nearly $750,000 for his services. Rove also urged President Bush to nominate Ashcroft for the Attorney General post.

###

The full text of Hinchey and Conyers' letter to Inspector General Fine minus footnotes follows:

August 17, 2005

The Honorable Glenn A. Fine
Inspector General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Mr. Fine:

As the Ranking Member of the Committee on the Judiciary and a Member of the Committee on Appropriations, both of which have oversight jurisdiction over the U.S. Department of Justice, we write to request that your Office immediately investigate whether then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft violated explicit rules on conflicts of interest when he failed to recuse himself from, and in fact was briefed on, the CIA name leak investigation despite his personal connection to Karl Rove, a person of interest to investigators. This investigation would not conflict with the investigation by Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald into the actual leak; instead, it would focus on Mr. Ashcroft’s failure to recuse himself at the appropriate time in the case. Furthermore, the investigation into the recusal delay would be a logical extension of the request that you also investigate the Department’s failure to comply with proper procedures by not ensuring the preservation of document and other evidence connected with the leak.

Early in the Department’s investigation of who had leaked a covert CIA operative’s identity to the media, it became clear that Karl Rove, a senior advisor to the President, was receiving public attention as someone who may have been involved in the crime. We have now learned that, according to law enforcement officials close to the investigation, Mr. Rove failed to disclose to the FBI that he had ever spoken with Time’s Matthew Cooper, a reporter involved in the case. These officials also have indicated that then-Attorney General Ashcroft was personally and privately briefed on the Rove interview.

These new disclosures are troubling because, at the time of these events, Mr. Ashcroft had known personal and political connections to Mr. Rove. Mr. Rove was an adviser to Mr. Ashcroft during the latter’s political campaigns, earning almost $750,000 for his services. Mr. Rove also had urged the President to nominate Mr. Ashcroft to be Attorney General after Mr. Ashcroft lost his Senate re-election campaign to the deceased Mel Carnahan. The fact that Mr. Ashcroft eventually recused himself demonstrates that there in fact were conflicts of interest with his continued involvement in the investigation. The fact that he did not recuse himself early on and was briefed on the matter may well have violated ethical rules and guidelines.

Existing law and rules of professional conduct govern when Department attorneys must recuse themselves from particular investigations. Federal law requires the Attorney General to promulgate rules mandating the disqualification of any officer or employee of the Justice Department "from participation in a particular investigation or prosecution if such participation may result in a personal, financial, or political conflict of interest, or the appearance thereof." Pursuant to this requirement, the Department has promulgated regulations stating that:

no employee shall participate in a criminal investigation or prosecution if he has a personal or political relationship with: (1) any person . . . substantially involved in the conduct that is the subject of the investigation or prosecution; or (2) any person . . . which he knows or has a specific and substantial interest that would be affected by the outcome of the investigation or prosecution.


In this case, Mr. Ashcroft would have been prohibited from involvement in the leak investigation under both provisions. His relationships with the President and Mr. Rove consists of both personal and political connections with individuals who might have been the investigation’s subjects. At a minimum, his friend, Mr. Rove, had a "specific and substantial interest that would be affected by the outcome" in that his entire political legacy would be tarnished if he were implicated in the leak.

To reiterate the importance of preventing conflicts of interest, the Justice Department has further explicated the guidelines in its U.S. Attorneys’ Manual. The Attorneys’ Manual provides that:

When United States Attorneys, or their offices, become aware of an issue that could require a recusal in a criminal or civil matter or case as a result of a personal interest or professional relationship with parties involved in the matter, they must contact General Counsel's Office (GCO), EOUSA. The requirement of recusal does not arise in every instance, but only where a conflict of interest exists or there is an appearance of a conflict of interest or loss of impartiality.

In the leak investigation, Mr. Ashcroft clearly had a professional relationship with a party involved the matter. His failure to have recused himself earlier may have been an instance of "too little, too late," as the conflict may have impeded the investigation.

Furthermore, rules of professional conduct bar lawyers such as Mr. Ashcroft from matters in which they have conflicts of interest. Because Department attorneys must follow the ethical rules of the bar in which they practice, as an official at Main Justice he would have been obligated to comply with the District of Columbia Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct. These Rules state that, without consent, a lawyer shall not represent a client if "the lawyer’s professional judgment on behalf of the client will be or reasonably may be adversely affected by the lawyer’s responsibilities to or interests in a third party or the lawyer’s own financial, business, property, or personal interests." In the instant situation, Mr. Ashcroft clearly had a personal connection to Mr. Rove that would have interfered with proper oversight of the case.

We look forward to hearing whether you will open such an investigation and, if not, the reason for your decision. Please reply to Rep. Conyers at 2142 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 (tel: 202-225-6504; fax: 202-225-4423) and to Rep. Hinchey at 2431 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 (tel: 202-225-6335; fax: 202-226-0774).

Sincerely,

John Conyers, Jr
Ranking Member
Committee on the Judiciary

Maurice Hinche
Member
Committee on Appropriations




Thanks to Adam Roufberg , Editor, OrbStandard


:: Article nr. 14779 sent on 18-aug-2005 17:30 ECT

www.uruknet.info?p=14779

Link: www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ny22_hinchey/morenews/081705ashcroftigletter.html



:: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.

The section for the comments of our readers has been closed, because of many out-of-topics.
Now you can post your own comments into our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/uruknet





       
[ Printable version ] | [ Send it to a friend ]


[ Contatto/Contact ] | [ Home Page ] | [Tutte le notizie/All news ]







Uruknet on Twitter




:: RSS updated to 2.0

:: English
:: Italiano



:: Uruknet for your mobile phone:
www.uruknet.mobi


Uruknet on Facebook






:: Motore di ricerca / Search Engine


uruknet
the web



:: Immagini / Pictures


Initial
Middle




The newsletter archive




L'Impero si è fermato a Bahgdad, by Valeria Poletti


Modulo per ordini




subscribe

:: Newsletter

:: Comments


Haq Agency
Haq Agency - English

Haq Agency - Arabic


AMSI
AMSI - Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq - English

AMSI - Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq - Arabic




Font size
Carattere
1 2 3





:: All events








     

[ home page] | [ tutte le notizie/all news ] | [ download banner] | [ ultimo aggiornamento/last update 01/01/1970 01:00 ]




Uruknet receives daily many hacking attempts. To prevent this, we have 10 websites on 6 servers in different places. So, if the website is slow or it does not answer, you can recall one of the other web sites: www.uruknet.info www.uruknet.de www.uruknet.biz www.uruknet.org.uk www.uruknet.com www.uruknet.org - www.uruknet.it www.uruknet.eu www.uruknet.net www.uruknet.web.at.it




:: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more info go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
::  We always mention the author and link the original site and page of every article.
uruknet, uruklink, iraq, uruqlink, iraq, irak, irakeno, iraqui, uruk, uruqlink, saddam hussein, baghdad, mesopotamia, babilonia, uday, qusay, udai, qusai,hussein, feddayn, fedayn saddam, mujaheddin, mojahidin, tarek aziz, chalabi, iraqui, baath, ba'ht, Aljazira, aljazeera, Iraq, Saddam Hussein, Palestina, Sharon, Israele, Nasser, ahram, hayat, sharq awsat, iraqwar,irakwar All pictures

url originale



 

I nostri partner - Our Partners:


TEV S.r.l.

TEV S.r.l.: hosting

www.tev.it

Progetto Niz

niz: news management

www.niz.it

Digitbrand

digitbrand: ".it" domains

www.digitbrand.com

Worlwide Mirror Web-Sites:
www.uruknet.info (Main)
www.uruknet.com
www.uruknet.net
www.uruknet.org
www.uruknet.us (USA)
www.uruknet.su (Soviet Union)
www.uruknet.ru (Russia)
www.uruknet.it (Association)
www.uruknet.web.at.it
www.uruknet.biz
www.uruknet.mobi (For Mobile Phones)
www.uruknet.org.uk (UK)
www.uruknet.de (Germany)
www.uruknet.ir (Iran)
www.uruknet.eu (Europe)
wap.uruknet.info (For Mobile Phones)
rss.uruknet.info (For Rss Feeds)
www.uruknet.tel

Vat Number: IT-97475012153