The latest in the back and forth between Harriet Miers and the House Judiciary, from the AP:

A federal appeals court has blocked former White House counsel Harriet Miers from testifying about the firing of nine U.S. attorneys until judges decide whether they have authority to wade into a battle that pits Congress against the Bush administration.

Miers is supposed to testify at a House Judiciary Committee hearing next Thursday.

. . . The three-judge panel gave House lawyers until 4 p.m. next Wednesday to make its case on why the court should uphold an earlier ruling forcing Miers to testify. The Justice Department must submit its own argument -- why she should not -- two days earlier, on Monday.

We have the order here, full text after the jump.

Read more »

Even if she refuses to testify voluntarily, Sarah Palin will definitely not be subpoenaed as part of the Trooper-Gate investigation, Rep. Jay Ramras, a Republican on the committee overseeing the probe, just confirmed to TPMmuckraker.

Ramras said that issuing a subpoena for a vice-presidential candidate "would be disrespectful." He called it "inappropriate conduct, given the unique political circumstances," and "bad form."

Ramras said that Hollis French, the Anchorage Democrat who heads the committee, was in agreement with the decision to rule out issuing a subpoena for Palin. But French may be feeling the heat from committee Republicans. Rep. John Coghill, a Republican from the North Pole, put out a press release this morning calling on French to stand down from his role overseeing the investigation, accusing him of making comments about the investigation "that were political in nature."

French announced this morning that the committee, made up of 8 Republicans and 4 Democrats, will vote September 12 on whether to issue subpoenas to other witnesses.

Despite stone-walling from Sarah Palin, Alaska legislators aren't backing down in their quest to uncover what happened in Trooper-Gate.

The bipartisan committee overseeing the investigation announced today in a press release that they're moving up the date that they release the results of their investigation by three weeks, meaning it should come out in early October. The commitee, led by Sen. Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat also announced that it would meet on September 12 to issue subpoenas in the case.

But according to the release, Palin herself will not be subpoenaed. The committee still holds out hope that she will talk to indepedendent investigator Steven Branchflower voluntarily.

"We also discussed and agreed amongst ourselves that no subpoena will be issued for the Governor," said
Representative Nancy Dahlstrom, R-Eagle River. "She has told the public that she intends to cooperate with
the investigation, indeed, she has told the public that she welcomes the investigation and I have every faith
that she means it. If necessary we can send Mr. Branchflower to wherever the Governor is, or she can give
her statement to him over the telephone, whatever is most convenient for her. We recognize that her
schedule is extremely busy, and we want to accommodate that."

French had initially indicated that subpoenas likely wouldn't be necessary, since Palin had pledged her full cooperation. But earlier this week, Palin's lawyer warned that unless the case were handed over to the state personnel board -- whose three members are appointed by the governor -- Palin would not be made available to testify. And according to the release: This week, seven key witnesses informed Mr. Branchflower through their attorneys that they would not provide depositions. Their depositions, which had been agreed to and scheduled earlier with Mr. Branchflower, were cancelled within the last 72 hours."

The case centers on allegations by former Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan that he was fired because of his reluctance to fire a state trooper, Jim Wooten, who was divorced from Palin's sister and was embroiled in a family dispute with the Palins. Palin has denied her personal involvement in the effort to have Wooten fired, though emails from Palin provided Wednesday night by Monegan to the Washington Post show that in February 2007 she complained to Monegan that Wooten was still employed.

Speaking to ABC News, French accused the McCain-Palin campaign of using stall tactics to prevent him from releasing the results of the probe by October 31st -- just four days before the election.

The issuance of subpoenas will need to be voted on by the full Judiciary Comittee, which is composed of 8 Republicans and 4 Democrats. In late July, the Committee voted 12-0 to hire an independent investigator to look into the affair.

It's worth noting that the legislature doesn't have the power to compel witnesses to be deposed by Branchflower. Rather, it can require them to testify, under oath, at public hearings.

ABC News reports that Sen. Hollis French will announce later today his intention to move up by three weeks the results of the Trooper-Gate investigation he's overseeing, which had been scheduled to wrap up October 31. French accused the McCain-Palin campaign of using stall tactics to prevent the results from being released by October 31.

CNN caught up earlier today with Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten, the former brother-in-law of Sarah Palin, who is at the center of Trooper-Gate.

Wooten doesn't appear to have spoken publicly since his name became the focus of the investigation involving the firing of Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, who claimed he was terminated by Palin after he refused to fire Wooten.

Wooten has been embroiled in a bitter dispute with the Palin family since a messy 2005 divorce from Palin's sister Molly McCann. In 2005, complaints were filed against Wooten to the state troopers which resulted in an internal investigation of Wooten. Thirteen charges were investigated and four were ultimately found to have merit. Those included charges that he tasered his 11 year-old stepson, shot a moose out of season, drove drunk in his trooper car and threatened to "put a bullet in [the] f***ing brain" of Palin's father.

Wooten received a 10-day suspension from the force as a result of the findings, which was shortened to 5 days after advocacy from the troopers union.

Yesterday, the troopers union filed an ethics complaint against Palin for improperly accessing Wooten's personnel record. In her defense Palin states that she received information on Wooten from the divorce proceedings, which Wooten had made public by signing a waiver.

The Bush administration has been conducting extensive espionage on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, as well as others in his staff and government, according to a new book by Bob Woodward entitled The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008. One source claims that "We know everything [Maliki] says". Woodward's book, scheduled to be published on Monday, details the "groundbreaking" covert operations behind recent U.S. efforts in Iraq. (Washington Post)

The same KBR and Halliburton executive who recently pleaded guilty to bribing officials in Nigeria has secured questionable contracts all over the world, according to Justice Department documents. Albert Stanley had a central role in securing multi-billion dollar construction contracts in Malaysia, Egypt and Yemen, which included $10 to $15 million "success fees" given to an unnamed consultant, who allegedly gave kickbacks to Stanley. (Wall Street Journal)

Another senior official of the Service Employees International Union has stepped aside, and two additional staffers have been fired over charges of retaliation against employees in connection to the widening scandal over the union's misuse of funds. It is alleged that SEIU employees who had refused to sign a letter showing support for Los Angeles area SEIU president Tyrone Freeman had been transfered, and had their cell phone service suspended, and that one such employee was fired. SEIU president Andy Stern told the Los Angeles Times that retaliation against employees was "deeply offensive to our core values as a union" and that the union will move "immediately and aggressively" to punish those responsible. (Los Angeles Times)

Read more »

Jack Abramoff was sentenced today to four years in prison. But that sentence means Abramoff won't spend any additional time in jail than he was already serving.

As Reuters explains:

Abramoff is already serving a nearly six-year term on unrelated charges and the new sentence will be served at the same time, meaning he will not spend any extra time behind bars once his original sentence ends in 2012.

Abramoff continued his performance of contrition before the judge today, telling her: "I've fallen into an abyss, and I don't quite know how to get out."

Judge Ellen Huvelle could have sentenced Abramoff to up to 11 years, but reportedly gave Abramoff a more lenient sentence on account of his cooperation in the FBI's influence-peddling investigation.

Sarah Palin could be facing another investigation in relation to Trooper-Gate.

NBC News reports that the police officer's union of Alaska has filed an ethics complaint on behalf of Mike Wooten, the trooper who was embroiled in a dispute with the Palin family, and who the governor is alleged to have attempted to have fired.

According to NBC News:

The complaint alleges that the governor or her staff may have have improperly disclosed information from Wooten's personnel records. The complaint alleges "criminal penalties may apply."

The union argues that recordings of a phone conversation involving Palin-aide Frank Bailey -- released last month as part of the Attorney General's own Trooper-Gate probe -- suggested that Wooten's records were accessed improperly.

In response, the McCain-Palin campaign told NBC News that the files were not protected, and that Wooten himself had signed a waiver allowing a divorce lawyer to gain access to his personnel records. They added that Todd Palin, the governor's husband, was the source of information for Bailey, and that the information came from Wooten's divorce proceedings.

In other words, the McCain campaign is saying that Todd Palin gathered damaging information on Mike Wooten by looking through his divorce proceedings, then passed it on to an aide to the governor, who later used it to try to have Wooten fired. That may or may not be legal, but it doesn't exactly sound like the kind of ethical, reformist approach to government that Governor Palin claims to stand for.

After lenient sentence recommendations from the prosecution, and pleading letters to the Judge, disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff has finally received his sentence: 4 years.

From the AP:

A federal judge has sentenced disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to four years in prison. The judge could have sentenced Abramoff to 11 years, but he gave him credit for helping the FBI investigate influence-peddling scandal.

Late Update: Because Abramoff was already serving a six-year sentence on unrelated charges, today's sentencing, which will be served concurrently with the earlier one, means he won't be doing any extra time.

In June, an appeals court granted Jack Abramoff crony David Safavian a new trial.

Safavian, the former chief of staff for the General Services Administration, was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison for lying to investigators about his relationship with Abramoff, but the sentence was put on hold while the appeal played out.

Today, he was given a new trial date, set for December.

From the Washington Post:

Former White House aide David H. Safavian, whose lying and obstruction convictions connected to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal were tossed out by a three-judge panel in June, will go back to court in December for a new trial, according to court documents.

It looks like Sarah Palin's legal strategy in the Trooper-Gate investigation may not hold much water.

In a complaint filed this week with the state Attorney General, Palin's lawyer argued that only the state personnel board -- whose three members are appointed by the governor -- has jurisdiction over ethics complaints. The lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, asserted that unless the legislature's investigation were called off and the matter handed over to the personnel board, Palin would not be made available for her deposition.

But an expert we spoke to shot down that argument. John Havelock, a former Alaska Attorney General, told TPMmuckraker: "The investigative power of the legislature is plenary." In other words, the Alaska legislature can investigate whatever it likes. Said Havelock of Van Flein's argument "It's not likely to be persuasive to a court." That opinion was echoed by several other Alaska lawyers that TPMmuckraker spoke to.

Havelock, a Democrat, added that the legislature could voluntarily choose to hand over the investigation. But is has shown no sign of making that choice. Hollis French, the Anchorage Democrat who heads the bipartisan committee overseeing the probe, responded to Van Flein's filing by telling the Anchorage Daily News that the investigation would go ahead as planned.

It's likely, of course, that Van Flein's argument isn't designed to ultimately hold up on the merits, but rather to drag out the investigation. That impression was re-inforced yesterday when a lawyer for ex-Palin aide Frank Bailey abruptly cancelled Bailey's scheduled deposition. The lawyer today cited uncertainty over the jurisdictional issue as a reason for the cancellation.

It looks like the figure at the center of the Trooper-Gate probe thinks Sarah Palin hasn't been entirely honest about her involvement in the matter.

Walt Monegan, the former Alaska public safety commissioner, told ABC News today: "I think there are some questions now that, coming to light about how transparent and how honest she wants to be," Monegan said.

Monegan also said, as he has before, that he believes he was fired because of his reluctance to fire Mike Wooten, a state trooper who was embroiled in a bitter dispute with Palin's family.

Palin has been caught out in falsehoods on Trooper-Gate at least twice before. She originally said that her administration didn't exert pressure on Monegan to fire Wooten, but had to backtrack after evidence emerged that contradicted that stance.

She also has claimed that she discussed Wooten with Monegan only in the context of the safety of her family. But yesterday, the Washington Post published emails from Palin to Monegan in which she expressed frustration that Wooten was still employed.

The former chief executive of security contractor KBR has pleaded guilty to charges of bribing foreign officials. Albert Stanley paid Nigerian officials $182 million and in return, received contracts to build a $6 billion liquefied natural gas complex. Stanley faces a prison term of up to 7 years, and the SEC is considering an additional civil action against the firm. KBR is a former subsidiary of Hallburton. (New York Times)

Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is close to making a plea deal that would resolve months of uncertainty about the indicted mayor's future. Prosecutors expect Kilpatrick will make a guilty plea this morning. Kilpatrick has been indicted on eight felonies, including perjury. If Kilpatrick is convicted of any one of these felonies, then he will automatically be expelled from his office. (AP)

Federal judge Samuel Kent pleaded not guilty today to two counts of abusive sexual conduct and one count of aggravated attempted sexual abuse. The judge is accused of attempting to force a deputy court clerk to have oral sex, among other incidents of sexual coercion. Kent called the charges "flagrant" and "scurrilous" and promised "a horde of witnesses" in his defense. (AP)

Read more »

As we get ready for the big Sarah Palin speech tonight, it's worth taking a moment to step back from the charges of negligent vetting and media sexism, to focus on what really should be the heart of the issue.

The McCain campaign has presented Palin as a squeaky-clean reformer, who took on corruption in Alaska, and will help to bring a new brand of politics to Washington. But a flurry of reports over the last few days significantly undercut that image.

To be sure, Palin's claims to be a reformer aren't toally without merit. Before becoming governor, she went after the state GOP chair, Randy Ruedrich, for doing work for the party on public time and working closely with a company he was supposed to be regulating. She also filed a formal complaint against Attorney General Gregg Renkes for having investments in an energy company that stood to benefit from a state trade deal. Both Ruedrich and Renkes ultimately resigned their posts, and Ruedrich paid a $12,000 fine.

But let's look at the other side of the ledger. Both as mayor of Wasilla and as governor, Palin has aggressively sought federal earmarks, and has a friendlier relationship with indicted GOP senator Ted Stevens than one would expect for a good-government crusader. She has fired employees who she sees as disloyal. And, in a move reminiscent of the Bush-Cheney White House, she has stonewalled legitimate efforts by the legislature to uncover the truth in the Trooper-Gate affair.

Here's a sampling of reports that complicate Palin's reformist credentials:

• Last year, Palin requested more earmarks per person than any other state -- including some that were criticized by McCain himself.

• Even as mayor of Wasilla, Palin's pursuit of earmarks was aggressive. She oversaw the hiring of a Washington lobbyist -- who, as we reported yesterday, had ties to Jack Abramoff -- to go after federal pork.

• And though Palin touted her opposition to the "Bridge to Nowhere" just last week in her debut speech, she initially supported the project during her run for governor. It was only after the bridge became notorious as an example of pork barrel spending that she changed her position.
• In her run for governor, Palin was endorsed by now-indicted Sen. Ted Stevens. Video of the endorsement has been removed from her government website, but the two appeared together just two months ago at a press conference on energy. The friendly relationship between the embattled senator, who is accused of lying about gifts he recieved from an oil contractor, and the supposedly maverick governor is at odds with Palin's claim to dismantling the "old boys club" of Alaska government.

• As Wasilla mayor, Palin reportedly fired the police chief and attempted to fire the librarian, because she did not feel that she had their "full support in [her] efforts to govern the city of Wasilla." Former city officials allege that the attempts to remove the librarian were a result of her her refusal to censor books at Palin's request.
• Palin has been at the center of the Trooper-Gate scandal that alleges misuse of her gubernatorial power. The affair erupted in July when Palin fired the Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Monegan later claimed his firing was a result of his refusal to fire Palin's former brother-in-law and trooper Mike Wooten. Palin denied that she, her husband or her staff ever pressured Monegan, a statement she later had to retract when recorded phone calls revealed one of her aides, Frank Bailey, had called a troopers office pushing for Wooten's removal.
• Tonight, the Washington Post published emails from Palin to Monegan in which she appeared to complain that Wooten was still employed, apparently undercutting her claim that she discussed Wooten with Monegan only in the context of the security of her family.
• As a result of the Trooper-Gate allegations, an independent investigator has been appointed by the state legislature. In recent days, Palin has appeared to stonewall the probe. Her lawyer argued in a complaint filed last night that she wold not be made available for her deposition unless the probe were handed over to the state personnel board, whose members are appointed by the governor. Bailey, who had been suspended by Palin with pay for his actions, today backed out of his deposition.
• In a separate civil suit related to Wooten, Palin has claimed executive privilege on over a thousand emails between her and her staff, including Bailey.

Don't look now, but on the night of the biggest speech of her life, Sarah Palin's story on Trooper-Gate may be in the process of falling apart.

The Washington Post has obtained emails sent by Palin to then-Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, which show Palin complaining about the fact that trooper Jim Wooten -- who was embroiled in a family dispute with the Palins -- was still employed. The emails don't explicitly show Palin pressuring Monegan to fire Wooten -- but they do appear to undercut Palin's claim said that she only ever discussed Wooten with Monegan in the context of security concerns for her family.

Here's the Post's description of the key emails:

"This trooper is still out on the street, in fact he's been promoted," said the Feb. 7, 2007, e-mail sent from Palin's personal Yahoo account and written to give Monegan permission to speak on a violent-crime bill before the state legislature.

"It was a joke, the whole year long 'investigation' of him," the e-mail said. "This is the same trooper who's out there today telling people the new administration is going to destroy the trooper organization, and that he'd 'never work for that b****', Palin'.)

This isn't the first time that events have appeared to contradict Palin's story about her role in Trooper-Gate. Palin at first claimed that her administration did not put pressure on Monegan to fire Wooten. But after a phone recording surfaced in mid-August of Palin aide Frank Bailey raising the issue of Wooten's employment with a trooper official, she was forced to acknowledge her office's involvement, though she has continued to deny her personal role.