FYI
May 3, 2014
Was Obama Hiring of Criminal Lawyer Due to Benghazi E-mails?
M. Catharine Evans
Did President Obama lawyer up in anticipation of Judicial Watch’s release of the Benghazi e-mails?
On April 29, Judicial Watch announced that it had obtained the “smoking gun” e-mail on April 18, 2014 – days before Obama announced that Neil Eggleston would replace Kathryn Ruemmler as White House counsel to the president.
Politico reported on the switch and made mention of Eggleston’s role in the Whitewater investigation during Clinton’s first term, as well as his ties to Obama’s former White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. The high-powered lawyer helped Emanuel avoid jail time in the pay-to-play schemes involving former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.
Politico then suggested that Obama needed Eggleston in case of a GOP sweep in November.
Eggleston is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis and has extensive experience in the kinds of oversight cases that the Obama White House is likely to face more of if Republicans take control of the Senate in November and retain control of the House.
Is the Obama administration simply gearing up for battle due to myriad unconstitutional and possibly illegal activities? Eggleston will certainly have his hands full after the last six years. Or is the announcement of Eggleston’s new position directly related to the Benghazi e-mails and the murder of four Americans?
The timeline is interesting on this one. Judicial Watch has fought for two years to get documents from the State Departments specifically pertaining to the talking points used by former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice on talk shows. A federal judge finally ordered their release two weeks ago. Three days later, Obama hired Eggleston. Eight days later, JW went public with the e-mails.
http://www.kirkland.com/sitecontent.cfm?contentID=230&itemId=10124
Among his recent high-profile representations, Mr. Eggleston served as defense counsel for former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in the prosecution of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He also previously represented the Office of the President of the United States in the Whitewater/Lewinsky investigation, a secretary of labor, a secretary of transportation and U.S. senators, among other prominent agencies and individuals.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Eggleston served in several government positions. From 1993 to 1994, he was a White House lawyer under President Clinton. In that role, he worked with Kirkland’s Susan Davies, who joined the Firm last year after serving as Deputy White House Counsel under President Obama. Mr. Eggleston also served as Deputy Chief Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran (1987-1988), Assistant U.S. Attorney (1981-1987) and Chief Appellate Attorney (1986-1987) for the Southern District of New York.
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Mr. Eggleston will also be united with Mark Filip, a Kirkland partner who focuses on white collar matters and who also serves on Kirkland’s Global Management Executive Committee. Mr. Filip served as Deputy Attorney General under President George W. Bush and is a former U.S. District Court Judge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkland_%26_Ellis
Kirkland, through its employees, was a top-20 contributor to Barack Obama in 2008, giving at least $493,735.[8] The firm’s attorneys leaned heavily (77%) Democratic in their political contributions during the 2008 election cycle, which were substantial ($579,976 as of 10/29/07).[9]
The firm has its own Political Action Committee (PAC), which gave 97% of its contributions to Democrats during the 2008 election cycle, as of 12/7/07.[10] The firm’s members have given more money to Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (by some measures the most liberal Democrat in the Senate)[11] since 1989 than donors from any other company or organization.[12]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Filip
Deputy Attorney General and Acting Attorney General[edit]
Filip was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on March 3, 2008,[1] and he was sworn in as Deputy Attorney General on March 10, 2008.[1] Filip was asked to assume the position of Acting Attorney General by then President-elect Obama.[2] Filip led the Department while President Obama’s nominee, then Attorney-General Designate Eric Holder, awaited confirmation by the United States Senate.[3] Holder was confirmed on February 2, 2009,[6] and sworn in the next day[7] thus ending Filip’s tenure as the Acting Attorney General.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704122904575315313836805720
Former DOJ Official to Help BP Navigate Probe
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FLASHBACK:
(no link)
ATTORNEYS DENY HINDERING WHITEWATER INVESTIGATION
National Public Radio - Tuesday, January 16, 1996
Show: All Things Considered
NOAH ADAMS, Host: It’s All Things Considered; I’m Noah Adams.
EXCERPT
JON GREENBERG, Reporter: One critical legal issue arising from the meeting is whether the White House staffers passed on confidential government information to the Clintons’ personal attorneys. Republicans said if the first family became the target of a government probe, the first thing any good defense lawyer would want to know is what documents were in the hands of government prosecutors.
A few days after the meeting, Neil Eggleston , then an associate White House counsel, went to the offices of the Small Business Administration and picked up a report on a certain Judge David Hale. Hale has accused the president of pressuring him to make a loan to one of the Clintons’ Whitewater partners. Under sharp questioning from the chief Republican counsel, Michael Chertoff, Eggleston said he never showed the report to the Clintons’ private attorneys or even Bruce Lindsey, at the time a powerful White House aide.
NEIL EGGLESTON , Former White House Lawyer: [excerpt from 1/16/96 Whitewater hearings] Very shortly after this I learned that the Department of Justice was having difficulties with the fact that the White House had them, and then I was glad that I’d never shown them to Mr. Lindsey or anybody else.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, Chief Republican Counsel: [excerpt from 1/16/96 Whitewater hearings] Several days afterwards that that came up.
NEIL EGGLESTON : I think two- I think it was not the next day but the following day.
SEN. ALFONSE M. D’AMATO (R-NY), Chairman, Whitewater Committee: [excerpt from 1/16/96 Whitewater hearings] Are you suggesting that you sat on these documents for two days and that you did not make an attempt to communicate or bring them to Mr. Lindsey? Is that what you’re saying?
NEIL EGGLESTON : Yes.
JON GREENBERG: That was Republican Senator Alfonse D’Amato. His skepticism was obvious throughout today’s hearing. He questioned the author of the notes, former White House lawyer William Kennedy. Some of the most intriguing entries in his notes pertain to the Rose Law Firm, where Hillary Rodham Clinton worked. Kennedy’s typewritten transcript of his handwritten notes has a line, `Documents - never know go out.’ And below that the word `Quietly (?),’ with a question mark.
WILLIAM KENNEDY, Former White House Aide: [excerpt from 1/16/96 Whitewater hearings] I wasn’t sure at the time whether the word was `Quietly’ or `Quality.’ And the word is not quietly, it is quality. I have taken a magnifying glass, applied it to the originals, and that is the word. Now, that ties in with the discussion about the quality of the Whitewater records that I once had in my possession, received from Miss Clinton.
JON GREENBERG: Kennedy said the lawyers at the November meeting all agreed many key Whitewater documents were missing. That was the meaning, he said, of the most cryptic of all the entries in his notes, `Vacuum Rose Law files.’ He said it meant there was an information vacuum. The Democrats’ chief counsel, Richard Ben-Veniste, was the first to raise that topic today. He asked Eggleston about the critical issue the phrase implied.
RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, Democratic Chief Counsel: [excerpt from 1/16/96 Whitewater hearings] Was there any discussion about removing or destroying or obliterating or otherwise making unavailable any files that were believed to be in existence at the Rose Law Firm during that meeting?
NEIL EGGLESTON : [excerpt from 1/16/96 Whitewater hearings] Absolutely not. There was absolutely no discussion at this meeting of anybody destroying any files. I would not have tolerated it, Mr. Kendall wouldn’t have tolerated it. I knew- I had known Mr. Nussbaum for a period of time before that; he would not have tolerated that. That would- that conversation did not occur at this meeting.