Now The DOJ Is Mad!

from the Reality-Based Community

"Bush and the House GOP
against the Justice Department and the FBI

Posted by Mark Kleiman

Can you say "Watergate"? The latest on the Jefferson raid gets us into Saturday Night Massacre territory.

Not only are the AG, the Deputy AG, and the FBI Director prepared to resign in protest if Bush orders them to return the materials seized in the Jefferson raid, they're almost openly on the warpath against the Republican majority in the House. Here's the money paragraph from Saturday's blockbuster NYT story by David Johnston and Carl Hulse, vaguely sourced to "government officials" but obviously from the DoJ:

Tensions were especially high because officials at the Justice Department and the F.B.I. viewed the Congressional protest, led by Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and House Republicans, as largely a proxy fight for battles likely to come over criminal investigations into other Republicans in Congress.

(Those would be, presumably, the Abramoff and MZM investigations.)

Now who other than the DoJ could have been familiar with the thinking of "officials at the Justice Department and FBI"? It will be interesting to see whether Gonzales, McNulty, and Mueller, the three officials mentioned by name, come forward to contradict the story. This is a case where silence gives consent. . ."