Victoria Toensing

Victoria Toensing, a founding partner with her husband, Joseph E. diGenova, in the law firm of diGenova & Toensing.

Toensing served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General during the Ronald Reagan (R) administration, Chief Counsel for Senator Barry Goldwater (R), and an Assistant U.S. Attorney during the Gerald R. Ford (R) and Jimmy Carter (D) administrations.

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Observations on Toensing

Republican partisan

"Toensing is, of course, not only a pricey DC defense lawyer. She's also a professional Republican, one tightly connected with the DC GOP power structure, and someone you could find at pretty much any point in the late nineties as an anti-Clinton 'legal expert' on every chat show under the sun," Joshua Micah Marshall wrote January 1, 2004, at Talking Points Memo.

"Joe DiGenova (as well as his wife and law partner Victoria Toensing) is a part of the DC Republican establishment who is routinely put forward when legal opinions are needed which exculpate Republicans or inculpate Democrats.

"There's no other way to put it. Look at their public statements in the various Clinton 'scandals', the Fitzgerald investigation and now this case. In their voluminous public pronouncements they are both, in the clearest sense of the word, advocates. And their 'client' is the Republican party establishment in Washington, DC. That's fine, as far as it goes. But they should be identified as such, albeit perhaps in gentler terms, when they provide quotes in papers like the [Washington] Times," Marshall wrote November 25, 2005, at Talking Points Memo.

trial of Scooter Libby

"Just days before the perjury/obstruction trial of former White House aide I. Lewis Scooter Libby goes to the jury, the Washington Post's 'Outlook' section published a bizarre front-page article by right-wing legal expert Victoria Toensing suggesting that the prosecutor and one of the chief victims in the case should be put on trial," Robert Parry wrote February 19, 2007, at Consortiumnews.

Affiliations

• American Center for Democracy, Advisory Countil
• Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Senior Fellow
• Republican National Lawyers Association, Member [1]

Employment History

• Private Practice, 1988-Present
• Special Counsel to U.S. House of Representatives Teamsters Investigation, 1997-1998
• Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 1984-1988
• Chief Counsel, U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Washington, D.C., 1981-1984
• Assistant U.S. Attorney, 1976 - 1981
• Law Clerk, Michigan Court of Appeals, 1975-1976
• Admitted to bar, 1975, Michigan; 1980, District of Columbia.
• Prior to law school, teacher of high school English.

Education

• University of Detroit (J.D., cum laude, 1975)
• Indiana University (B.S.Ed., 1962)

Contact Information

diGenova & Toensing
Suite 430
901 15th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005-2327

Related SourceWatch Resources

• Valerie Plame

External links

Profiles

• Bio: Victoria Toensing, diGenova & Toensing.
• Victoria Toensing in the Wikipedia.
• Profile: Victoria Toensing, NNDB.com.
• Victoria Toensing, NameBase.org.

Litigation Record

• The Litigation Record for Victoria Toensing, Thompson Legal Record / West Law / FindLaw.com.

Testimony by / Interviews with Toensing

• Testimony of Ms. Victoria Toensing, Attorney diGenova & Toensing, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, "DOJ Oversight: Preserving Our Freedoms While Defending Against Terrorism", December 4, 2001.
• Transcript: "Law Protects Confidential CIA Agents," American Morning/CNN, October 3, 2003.

Articles by Toensing

• "Dick Morris, Moral Philosopher," New York Times (diGenovaToensing.com), March 22, 1997.
• "In What Court? Policy and precedent in the Abdullah al Mujahir case," National Review Online, June 11, 2002.
• Opinion: "Citizenship doesn't matter," USA TODAY, June 13, 2002.
• "Justice is Blind, Not Deaf," FrontPageMag.com, November 24, 2002.
• "ACLU Misleads. We are not all suspects," National Review Online, October 19, 2004.
• With Bruce W. Sanford, "The Plame Game: Was This a Crime?" Washington Post, January 12, 2005.
• "The White House’s Legal Katrina," Human Events Online, October 18, 2005.
• "Investigate the CIA. An 'outing' was the result of either incompetence or an effort to undermine the White House," WSJ OpinionJournal, November 6, 2005.
• "Terrorists on Tap. Do Al Gore and other Democrats really want to keep the government from finding al Qaeda agents in the U.S.?" WSJ OpinionJournal, January 22, 2006.
• "What a Load of Armitage! What did Patrick Fitzgerald know, and when did he know it?" WSJ OpinionJournal, September 15, 2006.
• "Hubris. Responding to David Corn responding to me," National Review Online, September 17, 2006.
• "Trial in Error. If You're Going to Charge Scooter, Then What About These Guys?" Washington Post, February 18, 2007.
• "Does the Libby Verdict Have Appeal? Making sense of legal nonsense," National Review Online, March 6, 2007.

Articles about Toensing

• Howard Kurtz, "The Power Couple at Scandal's Vortex," Washington Post, February 17, 1998.
• Jacob Weisberg, "Worse Than Drudge. What game is Joe diGenova playing?" Slate, February 28, 1998.
• Howard Kurtz, "DiGenova & Toensing, Partners At Jaw," Washington Post, April 20, 1998.
• Joshua Micah Marshall, "Mike, Mike, Mike ... just when you were doing so well!" Talking Points Memo, January 1, 2004.
• John W. Dean, "Why Did Attorney General Ashcroft Remove Himself From The Valerie Plame Wilson Leak Investigation? Signs that a Key Witness May Have Come Forward," FindLaw's Writ, January 6, 2004.
• Mary Jacoby, "The operative," Salon, October 1, 2004: "White House water-carrier Robert Novak, infamous for exposing Valerie Plame, has been flacking for the Swift Boat Veterans book -- not bothering to disclose his close personal ties with the publisher." Free preview or subscription required.
• Richard W. Stevenson, Carl Hulse, and David Johnston, "At White House, A Day of Silence on Role of Rove," New York Times (Abstract), January 12, 2005. re Karl Rove See "NYT: 'At White House, a Day of Silence on Rove's Role in C.I.A. Leak' (Richard W. Stevenson)," The Common Ills Blogspot, January 12, 2005.
• "Victoria Toensing failed to disclose friendship with 'No Disclosure' Novak in Wash. Post op-ed," Media Matters for America, January 14, 2005.
• Jack Shafer, "Memo to Cooper and Miller. Fire Floyd Abrams. Hire Bruce Sanford," Slate, February 15, 2005. re Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller
• Mark Schmitt, "More diGenova/Toensing Nonsense," The Decembrist, July 22, 2005.
• Joshua Micah Marshall, "Joe deGenova, on the case," Talking Points Memo, November 25, 2005.
• David Corn, "Rove Scandal: Distractions and Disinformation," The Nation, July 19, 2005.
• Brad DeLong, "The Nine... Well, the Four...," Grasping Reality with Both Hands, October 18, 2005.
• David Fiderer, "Whom Should I Believe? Victoria Toensing or My Own Lying Eyes?" The Huffington Post, October 25, 2005.
• ReddHedd, "Libby Masking Cheney's Role?" Firedoglake, November 13, 2005. re Dick Cheney
• Ellen, "Why Sean Hannity And GOP Attorney Have No Problem With Bush Ordering Illegal Spying On Americans: What If Osama Bin Laden Is Calling?" News Hounds, December 19, 2005. See Transcript: "Spies Like Us?" Hannity & Colmes/Fox News, December 19, 2005.
• Jon Ponder, "Clinton-Hater Toensing Laughs - Literally - at Idea of Investigating Bush’s Allegedly Illegal Spying on U.S. Citizens," Pensito Review, December 20, 2005. re George W. Bush's domestic spying
• GOP Hypocrite of the Week: Victoria Toensing, BuzzFlash, December 23, 2005.
• Jim Montague, Letters: "Joe DiGenova and Victoria Toensing set the standard for Republican criminal behavior," Salon, March 6, 2006.
• Jeralyn Merritt, "Pardon Talk for Scooter Libby Begins," Talk Left, June 17, 2006. re trial of Scooter Libby
• Ellen, "Former DOJ Official Victoria Toensing Can't Give A Straight Answer About How New York Times Compromised National Security," News Hounds, June 29, 2006.
• Jeralyn Merritt, "David Corn Denies Outing Valerie Plame Wilson," Talk Left, September 16, 2006.
• "James Bamford Punks Victoria Toensing," Crooks and Liars, December 20, 2006.
• Larry Johnson, "Washington Post Enables Toensing's Delusions," Booman Tribune, February 18, 2007.
• Jeralyn Merritt, "The Worst Argument for Libby's Acquittal," Talk Left, February 18, 2007.
• Brent Budowsky, "Dear Editor, Washington Post," No Quarter, February 18, 2007.
• Robert Parry, "Shame on the Washington Post, Again," Consortiumnews, February 19, 2007.
• "Just Learn to Read Your Talking Points: How to be a Washington Expert," I can't believe it's not a democracy! Blog, February 20, 2007; CounterPunch, February 20, 2007.
• "We'll Have Priest's People Call Toensing's People," PostWatch Blog, February 22, 2007.
• Jeff Lomonaco, "WaPo Good, Bad, and Funny," TAPPED/The American Prospect, February 22, 2007.
• GOP Hypocrite of the Week: Victoria Toensing, BuzzFlash, February 23, 2007.
• "Deb Howell's Victoria Toensing Defense," Big Head DC, February 25, 2007.
• "Assclowns of the Week #60: Iraq and Ruin Edition," Welcome to Pottersville Blogspot, February 25, 2007. Scroll down to #7: Victoria Toensing.
• Jim Marcinkowski, "Victoria's Secret," No Quarter, February 27, 2007.
• "CNN's Blitzer interviewed Toensing after Libby verdict, did not disclose her legal work for CNN during probe," Media Matters for America, March 6, 2007.
• Wandering mind, "The Victoria Toensing Misdirection Game," Daily Kos, March 15, 2007.
• John Amato, "Waxman v Toensing," Crooks and Liars, March 16, 2007.
• David Corn, "Did GOP Lawyer Mislead Congress About Plame Case?" The Nation, March 19, 2007.
• Cliff Schecter, "Where Lies, Neo-Cons, Scandals and Crime Intersect... You always find Vickie," Cliff Schecter Blogspot, April 17, 2007.