Five days before the 2006 mid-term elections, Bradley Schlozman, then the U.S. Attorney for Western Missouri, filed indictments against four voter registration recruiters for the community organization group ACORN.

The timing of the indictments contradicted long standing Justice Department policy, which advises that “most, if not all, investigations of an alleged election crime must await the end of the election,” to avoid influencing the outcome.

During testimony Tuesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) asked Schlozman why he had violated this policy by bringing indictments so close to an election. Schlozman deflected the question, saying that he he had only “acted at the direction” of Craig Donsanto, the director of the Election Crimes branch in the Public Integrity section. Watch it:

Donsanto literally wrote the Justice Department’s manual on how to approach election crimes. Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias told TPMMuckraker that it is highly unlikely that Donsanto authorized the indictments. “I had numerous conversations with [Donsanto] over the course of two years, I can’t believe that he’d have gone 180 degrees on that policy,” Iglesias said. “I just don’t believe it.”

At a press conference attended by ThinkProgress today, Joseph Rich, who ran the Justice Department’s voting rights section from 1999 to 2005, concurred with Iglesias assessment. “That would have been my judgement,” said Rich.

Rich also implied that foul play may have had a role in the indictments. “Schlozman’s the person who recommended those lawsuits, he pushed to get them,” said Rich. “And I suspect [Schlozman] pressured Donsanto.”

Rich suggested that Schlozman may have appealed to Donsanto’s superiors. “I’ve heard that Schlozman talked to [Michael] Elston, which indicated he may have gone over Donsanto’s head to get approval,” said Rich. At the time, Elston was the chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty.

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“We call on you to recuse yourself from involvement in any issues relating to the criminal prosecution of your former aide, I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, including the issue of a potential pardon, and to refrain from further public comment on the prosecution.”

These requests are prompted, in part, by your reported comments in which you stated your hope that “our system will return a final result consistent with what we know of this fine man,” and by reports that Administration officials expect you to press for a pardon in internal White House debates. [...]

The Executive Branch must speak through one voice on matters of criminal prosecution. We would hope a sitting Vice President would not suggest that the Government seeks any result other than that sought by the prosecutors representing the Department of Justice, or imply that the decisions of the trial court — both as to the validity of the verdict or the proper sentence — should be undone.

Last week, CNN announced that it had hired a reporter to cover “things like Britney, as well as the Michael Jackson memorabilia.” Today, during a preview of its coverage of Paris Hilton’s jail term, a CNN anchor described the network as “the most trusted name in Paris news.”

According to President Bush, incoming war czar Gen. Doug Lute “will be the full-time manager for the implementation and execution of our strategies for Iraq and Afghanistan.”

During his confirmation hearing this morning, Lute clarified that his new authority means that National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley’s portfolio will no longer include Iraq and Afghanistan. Shocked by the revelation, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) argued Hadley should be fired if he’s taken a hands-off approach to the most important national security issues:

REED: That I find interesting. I mean, frankly, Afghanistan, Iraq, and, related to that, Iran, are the most critical foreign policy problems we face. And the national security adviser to the United States has taken his hands off that and given it to you? Is that your understanding?

LUTE: Sir, that’s the design, yes.

REED: Well, then he should be fired, because, frankly, if he’s not capable of being the individual responsible for those duties and they pass it on to someone else, then why is he there? Well, that’s my view.

Watch it:

The Senate then took a short recess in the middle of the hearing. When the committee meeting resumed, Lute had a prepared statement — likely communicated to him by the White House — that he offered to Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) in which he backpedaled from his earlier claim that Hadley is irrelevant on Iraq and Afghanistan. Hadley’s “role is not diminished by this appointment,” Lute clarified.

An early architect of the Iraq war, Hadley has proven to be more of a spin artist than a policy adviser. Some examples:

– He falsely claimed that Iraq was not in a civil war
– He claimed that the Iraq Study Group supported Bush’s escalation
– He defended Dick Cheney’s claim that the insurgency was in its “last throes”

(HT: Mahler3)

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“Wyoming’s U.S. Attorney Matthew Mead has announced his resignation, effective tonight at midnight, according to a press release from his office. Mead, a Jackson native, has served as the state’s U.S. attorney since 2001. … Mead recently learned that he was on a list of federal prosecutors that Justice Department officials considered firing last year. It remains unclear why Mead was on the list. He told the Star-Tribune in late May that he was ‘surprised’ to learn his name was on the list.”

UPDATE: NBC: Mead “considered a replacement for Sen. Craig Thomas, who died on Monday.”

“Bombs exploded today outside a popular falafel restaurant in Baghdad and a police station near the Syrian border as Iraq’s bloodshed claimed at least 20 more lives. A U.S. soldier, a British soldier and an Iraqi journalist were among those reported killed.”