Here's how you clear the shrubbery. (Apologies to Monty Python)

Billmon at The Whiskey Bar

The Rovians may have been badly weakened by the loss of Congress, but they still control the PR high ground and a solid "unitary executive" majority on the Supreme Court. They can still defend themselves.

But the collaborators and co-conspirators on the outside can't simply defy a congressional subpoena or tell Pat Leahy to go fuck himself. Pretty soon, small fish will be talking about medium-sized fish, and then medium-sized fish will start talking about big fish.

Then will come the criminal referrals to the Justice Department, which will become progressively harder to sit on as the allegations move closer to the administration itself. Demands will be made for special prosecutors, demands which a deeply unpopular lame-duck president could find progressively harder to stonewall. By the time congressional subpoenas start being served on the top guys themselves, it will be much harder to spin the ensuing court battles over executive privilege as matters of principle.

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