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October 02, 2003
GOP Senator advises Ashcroft to consider recusal
A few days ago, I pointed out that one potential conflict of interest for John Ashcroft in running the investigation into the Plame scandal is the fact that Karl Rove has worked on Ashcrofts campaigns since 1985. Now it turns out that a Republican senator is speaking out about the same concern.
Asked whether White House political aide Karl Rove's history as a political advisor to Ashcroft during his gubernatorial and Senate campaigns were grounds for the attorney general to step away from the case, Sen. Arlen Specter said, "Recusal is something Ashcroft ought to consider."Senator Charles Shumer, a New York Democrat offers an additional reason for Ashcroft to consider recusing himself from the case.
Schumer's press secretary said Justice Department rules hold that a federal prosecutor cannot issue subpoenas of news media phone records without the express written consent of the attorney general. Since media phone records may end up being subpoenaed, Schumer believes Ashcroft should step aside.With even Republicans starting to be willing to speak up and say that Ashcroft should consider handing the investigation over to someone else, he probably should start paying attention to the idea. It may be that Ashcroft could run the investigation fairly, but, like many others, I don't trust him to. The fact that there is sufficient concern from so many - in and out of the government - to question his suitability should send a message to Ashcroft that his very presence could cause a taint - fairly or not - on the investigation, particularly if the investigation doesn't find anything.
While it's certainly possible that the investigation may not be able to break the wall of anonymity, if Ashcroft - and especially Bush - ever want the investigation to be able to offer the last word on the matter, Ashcroft at the very least needs to back out of it now. Otherwise, there will always be those who will ask if he blocked the investigation in some way or manipulated the situation to help protect Bush or whomever close to him could be caught up in the scandal.
Posted by thorswitch at October 2, 2003 04:08 PM
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