Now that Elston's thrown McNulty under the bus, who's McNulty gonna throw?

murray waas does it again...

[Michael Elston, the chief of staff] to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty has told congressional investigators that phone calls he placed to four fired U.S. attorneys -- calls that three of the prosecutors say involved threats about testifying before Congress -- were made at McNulty's direction.

[...]

The U.S. attorneys have said that Elston, in effect, told them that if they kept quiet about their dismissals, the Justice Department would not suggest that they had been forced to resign because of poor performance.

[...]

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee made public formal correspondence from three fired prosecutors who said they thought that Elston was trying to intimidate them into keeping quiet.

[...]

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., asked Cummins ... what they [he] would have done ... as [a] federal prosecutor[s] had they [he] learned that an interested party in one of their [his] investigations had tried to discourage a witness from providing information or testifying.

[...]

Whitehouse pressed Cummins: "But if that sort of approach had been made to a witness in an active proceeding that you were leading, and you were extremely proactive about it, that would lead you where?"

"Well, we'd certainly investigate it and see if a crime had occurred."

"And the crime would be?"

Cummins responded: "Obstruction of justice. I think there are several statutes that might be implicated -- but obstruction of justice."

looks like any thoughts i may have had about mcnulty being kept in the dark are now history...

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Conyers is turning the screws on Bush

conyers is one hell of an impressive guy to watch in action...

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced this afternoon a deal with the Justice Department to allow at least eight current and former employees to sit for transcribed interviews with House and Senate Democrat and Republican investigators. The first hearing, with Michael Elston, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General, will occur at 10 AM tomorrow.

However, the agreement could not be concluded without Congressional leaders agreeing that investigators will keep "the content of the interviews confidential pending consultation with Department officials."

Conyers appeared to suggest that the deal would ratchet up the pressure on President George W. Bush to make White House aides available for testimony without subpoenas being issued.

"If we are going to get to the bottom of this, we must talk to those involved in guiding the decision-making process. This agreement, which involves on the record interviews in advance of possible hearings, helps bring us down that path," he said. "We still anxiously await further negotiation with the White House."

you're a pretty sly guy, john...

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