Firing the Foggo Prosecutor: Sacked U.S. Attorney Bags CIA Official

By Scott Lilly February 14, 2007

Two days before giving up her position as the U.S. Attorney for San Diego, Carol Lam won indictments against a former top official in the Central Intelligence Agency and a California businessman who was a top contributor to the Bush 2004 reelection campaign. The Justice Department says she is being asked to step down because of “performance-related” issues.

In an article headlined, “Bush Removal Ended Guam Investigation,” The Los Angeles times reported that “a U.S. grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor, and the probe ended soon after.” With at least six prominent federal prosecutors recently removed from office, many of them managing large scale public corruption cases, many are wondering if history is not repeating itself.

Deputy Attorney General Defends Prosecutor Firings

By Dan Eggen Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, February 7, 2007;

A senior Justice Department official acknowledged yesterday that a top federal prosecutor in Arkansas was removed to make room for a former aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove, but he said that six other U.S. attorneys were fired for "performance-related" issues.

In often contentious testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty also disputed Democrats' allegations that the firings appeared to be aimed at rewarding Republican allies and at avoiding the Senate's role in confirming U.S. attorney appointments.

WASHINGTON - Senators labored for consensus Thursday on a bill that would change part of the USA Patriot Act that allows the Bush administration to fire and replace federal prosecutors indefinitely without Senate confirmation.
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Democrats contend that prosecutors were forced to resign to make way for Republican political allies, and that the White House slipped the provision into the Patriot Act to permit such indefinite appointments.

October 20, 1973

Saturday Night Massacre: Nixon fires Archibald Cox and abolishes the office of the special prosecutor. Attorney General Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus resign. Pressure for impeachment mounts in Congress.

Mark Hansen wrote:Thanks for posting this info Bob. I hadn't seen it before.

buzzflash wrote:President Bush recently fired seven U.S. Attorneys for political reasons and replaced them with members of his "inner circle."

Today, a new report concludes that Bush's actions were completely unprecedented. The study was conducted by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) and released by House Judiciary Chairman Rep. John Conyers and Subcommittee Chairwoman Rep. Linda Sánchez.

The examination is ongoing because the Bush Administration has refused to cooperate with the CRS' investigation. "I intend to do everything within my power to obtain the necessary information and get to the bottom of this growing scandal," Conyers said.

the Hill 3-1-07 wrote:Washington - House Judiciary Committee John Conyers today issued subpoenas against certain former U.S. Attorneys who were recently fired by the Bush Administration.

The subpoenas require former U.S. Attorneys David C. Iglesias, Carol Lam, H.E. Cummins, III, and John McKay to appear before a CAL Subcommittee hearing next week.

"The former U.S. Attorneys are alleging very serious charges against the Administration and we need to hear from them," Chairman Conyers said. "We want to hear their stories and we want the Administration to address the charges head on so that we can get to the bottom of this."

The sudden resignation of a top government official involved in the sacking of US attorneys has raised eyebrows in Congress. The chairperson of a congressional subcommittee investigating the situation said that the official's sudden exit from government service showed that "the wheels seem to be coming off" the administration's defense of its actions.

The Associated Press today reported the resignation of Michael A. Battle as Director of the Executive Office for US Attorneys. According to the AP report, Battle "had personally informed the ousted U.S. attorneys of their removal" but was reportedly not involved in the decision-making leading to the firings.

palast 3-7-07 wrote:There’s only one thing worse than sacking an honest prosecutor. That’s replacing an honest prosecutor with a criminal.

There was one big hoohah in Washington yesterday as House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers pulled down the pants on George Bush’s firing of US Attorneys to expose a scheme to punish prosecutors who wouldn’t bend to political pressure.

But the Committee missed a big one: Timothy Griffin, Karl Rove’s assistant, the President’s pick as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Griffin, according to BBC Television, was the hidden hand behind a scheme to wipe out the voting rights of 70,000 citizens prior to the 2004 election.

Key voters on Griffin’s hit list: Black soldiers and homeless men and women. Nice guy, eh? Naughty or nice, however, is not the issue. Targeting voters where race is a factor is a felony crime under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In October 2004, our investigations team at BBC Newsnight received a series of astonishing emails from Mr. Griffin, then Research Director for the Republican National Committee. He didn’t mean to send them to us. They were highly confidential memos meant only for RNC honchos.

However, Griffin made a wee mistake. Instead of sending the emails — potential evidence of a crime — to email addresses ending with the domain name “@GeorgeWBush.com” he sent them to “@GeorgeWBush.ORG.” A website run by prankster John Wooden who owns “GeorgeWBush.org.” When Wooden got the treasure trove of Rove-ian ravings, he sent them to us.

krugman wrote:"The bigger scandal, however, almost surely involves prosecutors still in office," Krugman writes. "The Gonzales Eight were fired because they would not go along with the Bush administration's politicization of justice. But statistical evidence suggests that many other prosecutors decided to protect their jobs or further their careers by doing what the administration wanted them to do: harass Democrats while turning a blind eye to Republican malfeasance."

Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is calling on President Bush to explain the firings of US attorneys, days after the White House admitted that White House adviser Karl Rove acted as a conduit for complaints about federal prosecutors.