IMPEACHMENT: Bush Administration setting up for eventual Impeachment Fight!

FRED F. FIELDING COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT:

WHITE HOUSE NOW PREPARED TO DEAL WITH IMPEACHMENT CHALLENGES.


Keep your eye on any and all Judicial changes by the administration!



Fred Fisher Fielding (born March 21, 1939) was selected on January 8, 2007 by President of the United States George W. Bush to replace outgoing White House Counsel Harriet Miers.[1]


Fielding is a senior partner at Wiley Rein & Fielding, a Washington, D.C. law firm. He has served the American government in a number of roles throughout his career.


He served as Associate Counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1970 to 1972, where he was the deputy to John Dean during the Watergate scandal. He was the Counsel to the President for President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1986. Fielding has also served on the Tribunal on the U.S.-UK Air Treaty Dispute (1989-1994), as a member of the president's Commission on Federal Ethics Law Reform (1989), as a member of the Secretary of Transportation's Task Force on Aviation Disasters (1997-1998) and as a member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission).


He is the chairman of the National Legal Center for the Public Interest.

He was born in Philadelphia and raised in Mechanicsville, Pennsylvania. He graduated with honors from Gettysburg College. He then attended the University of Virginia School of Law.


He married Maria Dugger on October 21, 1967. They have two children: Adam and Alexandra.


Deep Throat connection


In April 2003, a team of journalism students taught by William Gaines conducted a detailed review of source materials, leading them to conclude that Fielding was Deep Throat, the unnamed source for articles written by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.[2]


This would prove to not be the case when former top Federal Bureau of Investigation official W. Mark Felt announced in May 2005 that he was the mysterious Watergate informant. This was later confirmed by Woodward, Bernstein and Executive Editor Ben Bradlee in a statement released through The Washington Post.

References
1. Allen, Mike. "Exclusive: Bush Picks a Replacement for Harriet Miers", Time, January 8, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-01-08.
2. Noah, Timothy. "Was Fred Fielding Deep Throat?", Slate, April 8, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-01-09.
See also

9/11 Commission
Fred Fielding's federal campaign contribution report
Listing on Wiley Rein & Fielding LLP
Spartacus Educational Biography


WITH THIS ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT THE WHITE HOUSE HAS PREPARED ITSELF FOR THE GROWING MOVEMENT FOR IMPEACHMENT. WHILE THE MEDIA REMAINS TIMIDLY COERCED INTO AS MUCH SILENCE AS IS POSSIBLE; THE WHITE HOUSE IS AWARE AND PREPARING FOR THE INEVITABLE.


“I have selected Fred Fielding to serve as Counsel to the President. Fred's exemplary legal career has equipped him with the judgment and expertise necessary to serve in this important position. Fred's distinguished record of public service, including five years as President Reagan's Counsel, makes him uniquely qualified for this position. He served with distinction on the 9/11 Commission, is a senior partner at a leading law firm, and he has earned a strong reputation for integrity. Fred is one of the most well-respected and accomplished lawyers in our Nation, and I look forward to benefiting from his wise counsel. I am pleased that he will once again take up public service in the White House.


Fred is replacing my long-time adviser and good friend, Harriet Miers. Harriet has served as a key member of my team for the last six years, as Counsel, Deputy Chief of Staff, and Staff Secretary. I have greatly valued her sound judgment. Throughout her career, she has devoted herself to the rule of law and the cause of justice, earning a reputation as a talented lawyer dedicated to excellence. Harriet possesses a tireless work ethic and a strong commitment to serving others. Laura and I are deeply grateful for Harriet's dedication and for her friendship. We wish her the very best in the next chapter of her life.”


Fielding has “an insider reputation” as an advocate who will help you defend your position, stick to your principles, but tries to work out a reasonable compromise," the official said. "He's highly partisan, but he's highly regarded by everyone."


The idea came from Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, and Administration officials said they regarded it as a savvy choice. The selection of Fielding, a member of the 9/11 commission from 2002 to 2004, comes as the White House is gearing up for a multitude of investigations — and likely subpoenas — from Democrats, vowing to pursue aggressive oversight and deny the White House blank checks for Iraq or anything else.


Fielding was persuaded to leave his lucrative position as a senior partner in the Washington law firm of Wiley, Rein & Fielding with "an appeal to patriotism" and an assurance that he would not just be the President's lawyer but would be deeply involved in Congressional strategy and negotiations, the official said. Fielding was Counsel to President Reagan from 1981 to 1986, deputy White House counsel from 1972 to 1974 and associate White House counsel from 1970 to 1972. He was Clearance Counsel for the Bush-Cheney Presidential Transition in 2000 and 2001, and has degrees from Gettysburg College and University of Virginia School of Law.


"The key for the Administration is going to be drawing the lines on these boundaries of executive privilege and access to documents and congressional oversight — drawing the lines around the really important issues and trying to be a little more flexible on the others," said a former colleague of Fielding. "They're not going to fold, because Fielding is a very serious, hard-nosed person, and he's a tough negotiator. But they're also going not to take a totally stonewall position. That doesn't mean they're going to cave in. What it means is they're going to negotiate and focus on the things that they're truly protecting and that are truly important."


David Gergen, who was White House adviser to four Presidents and now is a professor of public service at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, lauded Fielding last May during the commencement address at Duke University Law School, calling him an example of how a lawyer can make his children proud. Fielding was John Dean's deputy counsel, but was, as Gergen noted, "completely clean" on Watergate."

Gergen said that in the Reagan White House Field would generally phrase his advice as: You know, David, it would be technically okay for you to take the following course of action ... But can I advise you as a friend and as someone who wants to be respected that there is a much wiser way to proceed? You won’t find it as convenient and you may not achieve everything you want, but at the end of the day, you can sleep at night and your honor will be intact. Now, Fielding will have the chance to offer that advice to a new client.

Fred Fielding, seen during September 11 hearings in New York, May 18, 2004, will mediate a lawsuit by Hungarian Jews who claim the U.S. Army stole their family treasures and heirlooms from a seized Nazi train. [AP/file]

The agreement over 24 boxcars filled with $50 million to $200 million worth of art and household goods stolen by the Nazis and then confiscated by the United States still has to be worked out in detail, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, Sam Dubbin, told a court.


Government documents cited by the lawsuit said some of the property was requisitioned by U.S. military officers to furnish homes and offices, sold in army commissaries or kept by military personnel as trinkets.


"This money won't bring back my parents, my loved ones and my sister. I don't care if I get one dollar or $100,000, I just want closure," said Holocaust survivor Jack Rubin from Boynton Beach, Florida.


Rubin, 76, was 15 when the Nazis took him to Auschwitz concentration camp.


White House Brings in Nixon-Era Counsel
10 days ago, Back at White House, Fred Fielding says he won't stonewall Dems
10 days ago, White House Brings in Nixon-Era Lawyer

(AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)New White House Counsel Fred Fielding gestures during an interview with The Associated Press, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007, at the White House in Washington.

Printer Friendly PDF Email digg By DEB RIECHMANN, The Associated Press Feb 22, 2007 2:51 PM (10 days ago)Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON - In his first job as a White House lawyer, Fred Fielding, barely in his 30s, broke the news to President Nixon about the Watergate break-in.


In 1981, when President Reagan was shot and lying on an operating table, it was Fielding who helped settle a dispute about who was in charge of the nation. A few years later, Reagan's counsel stood at the president's bedside, making sure he was competent to reclaim his authority after cancer surgery.


Now, more than two decades later, President Bush has brought the 67-year-old lawyer back to handle legal fights the White House expects with the new Democratic Congress.


In an Associated Press interview, he is so soft-spoken that some of his words are drowned out by heat blowing from a register across the room. But Fielding, who has defended huge corporate clients, is no pushover.


Still, he insists he has no interest in stonewalling Democrats, who plan to investigate the Iraq war, suspected government fraud and White House decision-making on environmental policy, secret surveillance and other matters. The White House could erect roadblocks to congressional subpoenas and requests for information.


"Then nobody gets anything done," said Fielding, who has a tiny motorized train on his desk that runs in a circle on its way to nowhere. "If they need information and we can provide them information consistent with not giving away the executive branch prerogatives, then we'll find a way."


In responding to congressional requests for documents, Fielding will be conferring at times with Vice President Dick Cheney and his chief of staff, David Addington, who have broadly interpreted the powers of the presidency. Cheney has argued that executive privilege, which lets the president seek advice and deliberate policy without having to disclose the information, has been eroded by Congress in response to the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal.


"There has been some erosion, but this is historic," Fielding said. "Sometimes, the executive branch has more leverage. Sometimes the legislative branch has more."


Some things - like the office phone number - haven't changed since Fielding held the job before. He still has some of his old business cards. A photo of Reagan and him on Air Force One is back on the office wall. The two are smiling as Reagan holds up a bumper sticker that says: "My lawyer can beat your lawyer."


Another more recent photo taken at his daughter's wedding is evidence that much time has passed. It shows Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who was one of Fielding's young staff lawyers in the Reagan White House. In respect to his former boss, Roberts inscribed the photo: "Some folks said I need a little bit more gray hair, but I told them you had enough for both of us."


"I'm the old guy," Fielding said, making light of his image as the experienced legal hand brought on board to battle Congress.


Fielding was born in Philadelphia and grew up on a farm in Bucks County, Pa. His father died when he was 11. He attended public schools, played football, fished and worked on neighborhood farms in the summers. He attended Gettysburg College and the University of Virginia School of Law on scholarships.


After law school, he worked with a Philadelphia law firm, and in 1970 became deputy to former White House Counsel John Dean. As news of the break-in at the Democratic national headquarters broke over the capital, Fielding remembers trying to convince Dean, who was on his way back from a trip to the Philippines that he should return to Washington at once instead of staying over in California to rest.


"I said `There's something in the newspaper that there's a lot of interest in,'" Fielding said. "I didn't know how big it was. I just thought that, maybe, as counsel to the president, he ought to come back."


Years later, Fielding was included - incorrectly - in speculation about the identity of "Deep Throat," a source for Watergate news stories.


Now, Dean predicts Fielding will work under the radar to fight the big fights with Congress and let some of the little ones slide.

"Fred, by nature, is not hard-nosed," Dean said. "I think he'll try to split the difference ... and stop all the nonsense."

Fielding left the Nixon White House and returned to private practice in January 1974. Reagan picked him to be his chief counsel in 1981.


On the day Reagan was shot, Fielding was in the White House nerve center discussing succession and command authority. It was the day that Secretary of State Al Haig came out of the Situation Room and declared on national television: "I am in control here."


A few years later, Fielding stood at Reagan's bedside when he reclaimed his presidential powers after surgery - the first time the Constitution's presidential disability clause was invoked


Fielding and other advisers were wondering how to determine whether the former president had regained his mental faculties so he could take back the powers he had handed to Vice President George H.W. Bush before the surgery.


"I asked the doctor, `If he can read the letter and answer questions about it, would that be a test of his cognitive ability?'" Fielding said. "The doctor said `Yeah.'"


Knowing that his advisers were testing him, Reagan squinted and acted puzzled and confused over the letter. Then, just as they started showing signs of worry, Reagan quipped: "Hey guys.”I'm sorry. I need my glasses."