------------------------------------------------------
The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
------------------------------------------------------
The "Hardball Briefing" in just a moment...but first, don't miss MSNBC's
special coverage on Monday of the 4th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq
war.
"The Iraq War: Four Years Later" begins at 9:00 AM EST and continues all day as
we talk about how the war began with some of the biggest names in politics,
including Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), former Arkansas Gov.
Mike Huckabee (R), RNC Chairman Sen. Mel Martinez and DNC Chairman Howard Dean.
Join NBC's Tim Russert, David Gregory, Andrea Mitchell and Chip Reid, as well
as MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Joe Scarborough, Tucker Carlson and
Norah O'Donnell for this living history event.
Today, more details continue to emerge in the Justice Department firings of
eight U.S. attorneys. President Bush and Attorney General Antonio Gonzales
both admit mistakes were made. Now, new evidence shows the attorneys may have
been fired for political reasons. Were investigations interrupted? Will
Gonzales be out with the fired attorneys? And what about "the architect" Karl
Rove - did he construct any of the events?
We begin tonight with NBC News Justice Correspondent Pete Williams for the
latest on the U.S. attorney firings. Did eight prosecutors lose their jobs
because of bungling or is this a case of playing politics? Robert Raben is a
former assistant attorney general who had the responsibility of getting U.S.
attorneys and judges confirmed, and David Rivkin is a former Justice Department
official. They'll be here tonight to share their insight. And later in the
show, we'll talk more about Rove's role in all this and the power of the
Democratic-controlled Congress with Ron Brownstein from the LA Times and Matt
Cooper from Portfolio.com. We'll also hear from one of those Democrats,
Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor, who says Gonzales should go.
Plus, testifying today on Capitol Hill, former CIA operative Valerie Plame
Wilson described senior White House and State Department officials as acting
"carelessly and recklessly" in exposing her identity. We'll get a full report
from Hardball's David Shuster.
And we can't hit the road for the weekend without a dose of the Hardballers.
Radio talk show host Ron Reagan and John Fund from OpinionJournal.com will be
here tonight to hash out the week in politics and give us a leg up on what's
coming next. Plus, we'll take a look at Fund's exclusive interview with former
Tennessee senator and potential '08 candidate Fred Thompson (R) on the set of
"Law and Order."
For the latest on all of today's political news, go to the best political
website www.politics.msnbc.com, powered by NBC News and the National Journal.
Don't forget to check out NBC's "First Read" http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/
and MSNBC.com's political calendar http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14708421/.
Shelby Poduch compiled the "Hardball Briefing" from Washington, D.C.
=========================================
This e-mail is never sent unsolicited. You have received this The Hardball
Briefing Newsletter newsletter because you subscribed to it or, someone
forwarded it to you.
To remove yourself from the list (or to add yourself to the list if this
message was forwarded to you) simply go to
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7140407/, select unsubscribe, enter the email
address receiving this message, and click the Go button.
Microsoft Corporation - One Microsoft Way - Redmond, WA 98052
MSN PRIVACY STATEMENT
http://privacy.msn.com <http://privacy.msn.com/>
