It’s a busy news day — Libby, Jefferson, a GOP presidential debate, the return of the Cold War — but let’s not forget that the U.S. Attorney scandal isn’t even close to being done yet. It’s been pushed off the front page, at least for now, but developments continue unabated.
Right now, for example, the Senate Judiciary Committee is hearing testimony from the former head of the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, Bradley Schlozman, widely known for replacing Todd Graves as the U.S. Attorney in Missouri under unusual circumstances.
ThinkProgress offers an excellent primer for those who’ve already put away their purge-ology textbooks. Obviously, given all of this, Schlozman is at the very heart of the purge scandal, not to mention the general politicization of the Justice Department. What’s more, since Schlozman was appointed to his U.S. Attorney position by way of the Patriot Act, the Senate Judiciary Committee has never really had a chance to grill this guy, and one assumes they’ll take advantage of the opportunity this afternoon.
The hearing, which started at 2:30 eastern, already has produced some fireworks. Judiciary Committee Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) focused in on voter-fraud indictments Schlozman obtained less than a week before last November’s election in Missouri (home to a very competitive Senate race).
As Leahy noted today, the indictments — at least on their face — appear to contradict Justice Department guidelines that call for prosecutors to, when possible, hold off on bringing indictments that could possibly affect the outcome of an election. [Schlozman said that he was aware of those guidelines, but was given the go-ahead by the Justice Department’s election crimes branch.]
But as Leahy continued to question Schlozman on the case, it was clear that the Senator was increasingly angry, even condescending to Schlozman. “Why didn’t you just wait a couple weeks more? Wasn’t it obvious to you…that just the bringing of the charges could have had an effect on the election?” Leahy asked. And when Schlozman responded that he felt the indictments would have no effect on the election and that no person would be disenfranchised, Leahy quipped, “That’s not my question at all, Mr. Schlozman, and you know it.” “I didn’t think it was going to have any effect on the election at all, no, Senator,” Schlozman clarified, prompting Leahy to exclaim, “Amazing!”
Finally, when Schlozman asserted that “the Department of Justice does not tie prosecutions to elections,” Leahy outright yelled at him in response. “Yes, they do!” Leahy said. “That’s what the manual says, and you — rather reluctantly, I felt — admitted that you read it.”
Get the sense that maybe Leahy is tired of the nonsense?
And in case that wasn’t enough, let’s also not forget that Graves, the U.S. Attorney who was pushed out for failing to file trumped up voter-fraud cases in Missouri, will testify before the committee after Schlozman.
I’ll have more tomorrow, but you can tune into the festivities online (click the “webcast” button).
The scandal is still brewing, the no-confidence vote in Gonzales is still coming up, and anyone who hoped the purge scandal was dying down is going to be very disappointed.