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Excerpt - WASHINGTON -- Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Office of Special Counsel here, seizing computers and documents belonging to the agency chief Scott Bloch and staff. More than a dozen FBI agents served grand jury subpoenas shortly after 10 a.m., shutting down the agency's computer network and searching its offices, as well as Mr. Bloch's home. Employees said the searches appeared focused on alleged obstruction of justice by Mr. Bloch during the course of an 2006 inquiry into his conduct in office. ~ snip ~

Excerpt - WASHINGTON -- The government agency that enforces one of the principal laws aimed at keeping politics out of the civil service has accused the Justice Department of blocking its investigation into alleged politicizing of the department under former Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales. Scott J. Bloch, head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, wrote Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey last week that the department had repeatedly "impeded" his investigation by refusing to share documents and provide answers to written questions, according to a copy of Bloch's letter obtained by the Los Angeles Times. The Justice Department wants...

FReep This Poll! Here is the poll question in full form... Do you agree with President Bush's decision to commute former White House aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby's prison term? Yes No Not sure Link over to the North County Times/The Californian homepage. Scroll down a bit and look for the poll on the right hand side. Vote your choice.

The Libby case has always tantalized the left with its imagined scent of corruption in the White House. Libby himself was a highly-placed target, but the blood lust raged for a bigger name. The left was gnawing their paws at the growing realization that Karl Rove probably won’t be indicted, despite the Jason Leopold-sponsored rumor that swept the left blogosphere. Now the Washington Note reports that Bobby Joe Inman, former head of the NSA, said that it was really Richard Armitage, Colin Powell’s, Deputy who was in Fitzgerald’s cross hairs

We have just been granted a window on the struggle between Lewis “Scooter” Libby and the elite media over his access to their internal documents. Libby is charged with federal crimes because his versions of conversations with reporters differ from the accounts of the media people. He seeks evidence from their files about what they knew and what they privately wrote at the time. In a “he said/she said” confrontation, access to supporting evidence becomes critical to the ability to mount a defense. Late Monday night Libby filed a Motion in Response to the media’s efforts to quash his subpoenas...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should appoint a special counsel to investigate the legality of the Bush administration's eavesdropping program, 18 House Democrats told President Bush in a letter released Monday. The lawmakers said the surveillance of terrorists must be done within the bounds of U.S. law, but complained that their efforts to get answers to legal and factual questions about the program have been stymied -- "generally based on the feeblest of excuses." "If the effort to prevent vigorous and appropriate investigation succeeds, we fear the inexorable conclusion will be that these executive branch agencies hold themselves...

"I think what we see here today, when a vice president's chief of staff is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice, it does show the world that this is a country that takes its law seriously; that all citizens are bound by the law. But what we need to also show the world is that we can also apply the same safeguards to all our citizens, including high officials. Much as they must be bound by the law, they must follow the same rules." – Independent Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, Friday, Oct. 28, 2005 Those were stirring words from...

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby should be the final proof that the system of "special prosecutors" is bankrupt and ought to be abandoned. Fitzgerald, a highly respected federal prosecutor from Chicago, was given the task of investigating whether Bush administration officials had violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by "leaking" the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame. It is clear that, at least by sometime in January 2004 -- and probably much earlier -- Fitzgerald knew this law had not been violated. Plame was not a "covert" agent but a bureaucrat working at CIA headquarters....

The Honorable Patrick J. Fitzgerald United States Attorney Northern District of Illinois 219 S. Dearborn Street Chicago, Illinois 60604 Dear Patrick: At your request, I am writing to clarify that my December 30, 2003, delegation to you of "all the authority of the Attorney General with respect to the Department's investigation into the alleged unauthorized disclosure of a CIA employee's identity" is plenary and includes the authority to investigate and prosecute violations of any federal criminal laws related to the underlying alleged unauthorized disclosure, as well as federal crimes committed in the course of, and with intent to interfere with,...

A special counsel from inside the Justice Department will conduct an independent investigation of the White House leak allegations, a top department official said Tuesday. Deputy Attorney General James Comey also told reporters that Attorney General John Ashcroft had recused himself, or withdrawn from supervising the investigation. Ashcroft had come under criticism that his supervision of the process would be a conflict of interest. Comey named Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, a Bush appointee, as special counsel to conduct the independent investigation. A former U.S. ambassador has said administration sources improperly revealed the name of his wife, an undercover...

In view of the Clintons' demand earlier this week for payment of several million dollars of taxpayer money to cover their legal fees in the Whitewater matter, it is worth remembering that it was Bill Clinton himself who requested the appointment of a Special Counsel. Here is a relevant statement from George Stephenopoulos on January 12, 1993 - "The President today has directed White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum to request the Attorney General to appoint a Special Counsel, a respected, impartial and qualified attorney who is not a member of the Department of Justice or an employee of the federal...