Surprise! Name Floated as Possible Holder Replacement Has Prior History of Slow-Walking Information

@johnekdahl remembered the name "Kathryn Ruemmler" and sent this along.

This is Buzzfeed, by the way.

Ruemmler is the ex-White House counsel here.

Advisers Urged Obama Early On To Release Comprehensive Benghazi Timeline

How Obama got tripped up by his lawyers.

WASHINGTON -- The White House Counsel's office advised senior Obama officials to keep quiet about the attack in Benghazi during the weeks preceding last year's November presidential election, according to two administration sources.

BuzzFeed has learned that key members of President Obama’s national security team... pushed to release a comprehensive timeline of events documenting the attack...

Those plans were quashed, however, when the White House Counsel's office, which is led by Kathryn Ruemmler, advised the officials to not release any information to the public out of fear it could be used against them in any subsequent investigations and other legal complications.

...

Ruemmler has also come under fire this week for not making the president and others aware of the IRS investigation.

Buzzfeed links one account of that story, but I'll link the WaPo.

White House senior aides knew details of IRS probe but didn't tell Obama, spokesman says

By Juliet Eilperin and Zachary A. Goldfarb May 20, 2013

Senior White House officials, including Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, learned last month about a review by the Treasury Department’s inspector general into whether the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, but they did not inform President Obama, the White House said Monday.

The acknowledgement is the White House's latest disclosure in a piecemeal, sometimes confusing release of details concerning the extent to which White House officials knew of the IG’s findings that IRS officials engaged in the "inappropriate" targeting of conservative non-profits for heightened scrutiny. Previously, the White House said counsel Kathryn Ruemmler did not learn about the final results of the investigation until the week of April 22nd, and had not disclosed that McDonough and other aides had also been told about the investigation. On Monday, White House Spokesman Jay Carney said a member of Ruemmler's staff learned of the probe the week of April 16; Ruemmler learned of the investigation on April 24th; and after that point she informed the chief of staff and other aides about the probe's findings.

The White House has said President Obama did not learn of the IRS's actions until he saw news reports on the matter earlier this month.

Even Lanny Davis was moved to demand her resignation if this were true.

I've been told today by several reporters that President Obama’s White House counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler, knew for several days -- perhaps weeks --that some Internal Revenue Service officials were engaging in political targeting of conservative groups, and that she did not tell the president as soon as she knew even partial reports about the story. With all due respect to someone who has impeccable legal credentials, if she did have such foreknowledge and didn’t inform the president immediately, I respectfully suggest Ms. Ruemmler is in the wrong job and that she should resign.

He also said this:

It is also hard to understand why some people in the media who apparently knew about this foreknowledge by the White House counsel and her failure to tell the president missed this story and its significance.

With respect, Mr. Davis, I don't believe any of this is "hard to understand."

Noah Rothman examines some other possibilities, including the Beta version of Obama, Deval Patrick.

But do not fret -- the White House is calling upon all the wisest jurists for advice as to Holder's replacement.

By which I mean Al Sharpton says he's helping to pick the next attorney general, per Business Insider.

posted by Ace at 01:43 PM

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