It seemed like a pretty big deal. Republican staffers on the Hill accessed Dem computer servers and stole over 4,000 memos and documents. It was, for a short while, front-page news. Almost 12 months ago, the Justice Department announced that it was launching a formal criminal probe into the scandal, including appointing a qualified U.S. attorney — David Kelley — to head the investigation. It sounded like this was going to be a dramatic embarrasment for the GOP.
By May 2004, the investigation was off to a terribly slow start. Two months after getting started, the Justice Department hadn’t even asked for the evidence that had been culled by House Sergeant-at-Arms Bill Pickle, who had conducted a preliminary investigation of his own.
Now it’s been about a year. Are we any closer to holding the thieves responsible? Not so much.
No indictments have been handed down and the case appears to have slowed to a near halt since the holidays. But U.S. Attorney David Kelley had previously interviewed at least 20 current and former Republican aides as well as Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Bill Pickle and a team of Secret Service agents Pickle used to conduct the chamber’s internal investigation into the memo case, according to more than a half-dozen individuals with knowledge of the probe. A few former Democratic staffers were also questioned, sources said.
The probe, according to those who have spoken with investigators, is focusing on the actions of Manuel Miranda, the former Judiciary staffer who also worked for Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).
Dems, many of whom had their private memos stolen and released to conservative news outlets, are getting a little antsy about the glacial pace.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), whose Judiciary staff files were targeted more than those of any other Senator, said he has grown a little anxious about the case because he has received no update on the investigation, which was sparked a year ago this week when he and other panel members sent the Pickle report to the Justice Department and requested a formal probe.
“They have not spoken to me. I think it would be appropriate at this time for me to write him and ask for a general status update,” Durbin said last week. A letter, from Durbin and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Judiciary’s ranking member, could go out to Kelley as early as this week.
These Republican criminal investigations sure are slow, aren’t they? The White House criminal probe over the Plame game affair began in September 2003, and we still don’t have any real answers about which Bush aides outed an undercover CIA agent. By that standard, the “Memogate” scandal is still fairly new, though no closer to resolution.
Stay tuned.