Thursday, July 09, 2009

AmeriCorpsGate: Stonewall In Place

This continues to develop as a major Obama scandal.

A top official of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the government agency that oversees AmeriCorps, has refused to answer questions from congressional investigators about the White House's role in events surrounding the abrupt firing of inspector general Gerald Walpin.

Frank Trinity, general counsel for the Corporation, met with a bipartisan group of congressional investigators on Monday. When the investigators asked Trinity for details of the role the White House played in the firing, Trinity refused to answer, according to two aides with knowledge of the situation.

"He said that's a prerogative of the White House, so he didn't feel at liberty to disclose anything regarding White House communications," says one aide.

The Congressional investigators assert that there is ZERO legal support for the 'prerogative' claim barring 'Executive Privilege,' which can only be asserted by the President.

Trinity refused to say what contacts the Corporation had with the White House prior to the firing, or after the firing. He refused to say who at the Corporation had spoken to whom at the White House. He refused to say whether Corporation officials had discussed the specific reasons for the firing with the White House.

Maybe history has escaped the notice of Mr. Trinity and his principals--but the term 'coverup' comes to mind.

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