-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 5, 2007 1:48:57 PM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Purge of US Attorneys Results in Purge of Purger?
BUSH'S DIRECTOR FOR U.S. ATTORNEYS MYSTERIOUSLY RESIGNS
BuzzFlash, 03/05/2007
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/alerts/189
The "unprecedented" U.S. Attorney firing scandal keeps getting
weirder. It was revealed today that Michael Battle, the director of
the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, will resign on March 16.
Battle personally informed the fired attorneys of their removal,
but the Department of Justice insists he was not involved in the
actual decision making process (he allegedly told them the order
had come from 'on high'").
A spokesperson also said the timing is merely a coincidence and "is
not connected to the U.S. attorney controversy whatsoever."
In fact, the DoJ now claims he had informed them of his resignation
as long ago as last summer, which would have been just a year since
he began working in June 2005.
Congressional Democrats are understandably skeptical.
Sen. Charles Schumer wondered whether Battle's resignation was
merely "another casualty of the U.S. attorney's imbroglio."
"The Administration's explanation of Mr. Battle's apparent
resignation is as murky as everything else they have told us about
this case," said Rep. Linda Sanchez. "I look forward to hearing the
testimony of the fired federal prosecutors so we can get closer to
the truth of what happened."
Sanchez chairs the Judiciary Subcommittee hearing testimony
tomorrow from fired attorneys. Four have already been subpoenaed,
and Sanchez announced Monday morning that two additional attorneys
might also receive subpoenas.
News of Battle's resignation comes just days after the resignations
of two top military officials following the Walter Reed Hospital
scandal. Battle has long been a loyal member of the Bush
Administration, having been appointed a U.S. Attorney in 2002
before his current position.
In an online Q&A for WhiteHouse.gov in 2005, Battle parroted Bush
rhetoric, going so far as to claim that "Far from compromising our
civil liberties, the PATRIOT Act expressly protects them."
------------
CHARGES OF POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN U.S. ATTORNEY FIRINGS
NOT REPORTED BY NETWORKS' EVENING NEWSCASTS
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703030007?src=other
Summary: Many news reports on the firing of eight U.S. attorneys
have suggested political interference in the justice system, but
none of the broadcast networks' evening news programs has even
mentioned the case.
In December 2006, the Bush administration fired eight U.S.
attorneys and reportedly replaced several of them with interim
appointments drawn from the administration's "inner circle." Three
of the dismissed prosecutors were, according to a March 1
Washington Post article, "conducting corruption probes involving
Republicans" when they were asked to step down, while another has
claimed that, in mid-October 2006, he felt pressure to speed up an
investigation involving local Democrats. Many news reports have
suggested political interference in the justice system, and the
House of Representatives issued subpoenas to four of the fired
prosecutors on March 1. However, none of the broadcast networks'
evening news programs -- ABC's World News with Charles Gibson, the
CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, and NBC's Nightly News with
Brian Williams -- has even mentioned the case in the past three
months, according to a search of the Nexis news database and a
review of the programs' March 2 broadcasts.*
One of the dismissed prosecutors, Carol Lam in San Diego, was
investigating allegations of corruption stemming from the bribery
case involving former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA). That
investigation recently resulted in indictments against defense
contractor Brent Wilkes and former CIA Executive Director Kyle
"Dusty" Foggo, who face charges including wire fraud and bribery.
In addition, David C. Iglesias, formerly the U.S. attorney in New
Mexico, has alleged that two members of Congress -- reportedly Sen.
Pete V. Domenici (R-NM) and Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-NM) --
"attempted to pressure him to speed up a probe of Democrats just
before the November elections."
Initially, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales claimed that each
U.S. attorney had been fired for reasons related to their
performance in their jobs. But, as Media Matters for America noted,
at a February 6 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Deputy Attorney
General Paul McNulty conceded that performance played no role in at
least one case: the forced resignation of H.E. "Bud" Cummins III as
U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Cummins was
replaced by J. Timothy Griffin, a former research director for the
Republican National Committee and aide to White House senior
adviser Karl Rove. As Media Matters noted, Griffin has since said
he will not seek Senate confirmation for the permanent post,
although a recent change in U.S. law allows Griffin -- and all
"temporary" replacements for the other fired U.S. attorneys -- to
continue as an "interim" U.S. attorney until the president decides
to replace him.
Lam, meanwhile, was replaced by the executive assistant U.S.
attorney in her district, Karen Hewitt. According to a February 26
New York Times column by assistant editorial page editor Adam
Cohen, Hewitt's résumé "shows almost no criminal law experience,
but includes her membership in the Federalist Society, a
conservative legal group."
Moreover, as Media Matters noted, a February 14 McClatchy
Newspapers article reported that "at least five of [the U.S.
attorneys] received positive job evaluations before they were
ordered to step down." For example, a February 8 Seattle Times
article reported that one of the fired U.S. attorneys, John McKay,
of the Western District of Washington, received a "glowing
performance review" from the Justice Department seven months before
he was forced out. " 'McKay is an effective, well-regarded and
capable leader of the [U.S. attorney's office] and the District's
law enforcement community,' the team of 27 Justice Department
officials concluded, according to a copy of their final report
obtained by The Seattle Times."
More recently, a March 2 McClatchy Newspapers article reported
that, in mid-October 2006, Domenici and Wilson called Iglesias to
"press [him] for details" of a "federal corruption investigation
that involved at least one former Democratic state senator,"
according to unnamed sources. McClatchy reported that Iglesias
believes he was fired because "he resisted the pressure to rush an
indictment," and he provided further details about his allegations
in a March 1 interview on National Public Radio's All Things
Considered. As the McClatchy article noted, Wilson was, at the
time, "in a competitive re-election campaign that she won by 875
votes out of nearly 211,000 cast." As noted by the weblog
TPMmuckraker.com, Iglesias confirmed that, in "an e-mail to a
friend," he "described his dismissal as a political 'fragging,' "
according to a February 28 Albuquerque Tribune article.
On March 1, the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Iglesias, Lam,
Cummins, and McKay, ordering them to testify at a March 6 hearing
before the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.
A March 3 Washington Post article reported that "[t]he White House
approved the firings of seven U.S. attorneys" -- apparently
excluding Cummins' termination -- "late last year after senior
Justice Department officials identified the prosecutors they
believed were not doing enough to carry out President Bush's
policies on immigration, firearms and other issues," according to
"White House and Justice Department officials." According to the
article, officials said the actions were "part of a routine
process" and that, despite previous assertions that the firings
were "performance-related," "the ousters were based primarily on
the administration's unhappiness with the prosecutors' policy
decisions and revealed the White House's role in the matter." The
list of whom to fire was reportedly "based largely on complaints
from members of Congress, law enforcement officials and career
Justice Department lawyers." The article also reported that,
according to Domenici's office, the senator specifically complained
to the Justice Department about Iglesias -- though without
commenting on Iglesias' allegation of pressure.
*March 2 broadcast review was conducted by reading the March 2
Factiva transcripts for World News and the CBS Evening News, and
watching the video of the March 2 Nightly News. Nexis database
search was for December 2, 2006 to March 1, 2007, in the "ABC News
Transcripts," "NBC News" and "CBS News Transcripts" sources for
"show(Nightly News or World News or Evening News) and (Iglesias or
U.S. Attorney or US Attorney or Cummins or Griffin or subpoena! or
(Carol w/2 Lam!) or (Heather w/2 Wilson) or (Pete! w/2 Domenici) or
McNulty or prosecutor or Cummins or McKay)"
----------------
GONZALES TO DEMS: SHOO, FLY
By Paul Kiel - March 3, 2007, 10:02 AM
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002669.php
From Bob Novak's column today:
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has indicated he is too busy to
answer letters from Democratic congressional leaders about his
firing seven U.S. attorneys involved in probes of public
corruption, though a lower-level Justice Department official
rejected their proposals.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, House Democratic Caucus chairman, had written
Gonzales two letters suggesting that he name Carol Lam, fired as
U.S. attorney in San Diego, as an outside counsel to continue her
pursuit of the Duke Cunningham case.
Asked by Melissa Charbonneau of the Christian Broadcasting Network
about this column’s report that Gonzales did not respond, Gonzales
said: “I think that the American people lose out if I spend all my
time worrying about congressional requests for information, if I
spend all my time responding to subpoenas.”
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