Fire all 93 U.S. attorneys? - Top Bush aide floated plan to replace prosecutors in 2005
Fire all 93 U.S. attorneys? - Top Bush aide floated plan to replace prosecutors in 2005
By Dan Eggen and John Solomon
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post
Published March 13, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The White House suggested two years ago that the Justice Department fire all 93 U.S. attorneys, a proposal that eventually resulted in the dismissals of eight prosecutors last year, according to e-mails and internal documents that the administration will provide to Congress on Tuesday.
The dismissals took place after President Bush told Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales that he had received complaints that some prosecutors had not energetically pursued voter-fraud investigations, according to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
Gonzales approved the idea of firing a smaller group of U.S. attorneys shortly after taking office in February 2005, but he left it to an aide, Kyle Sampson, to carry out most of the details, according to interviews and documents reviewed Monday.
Sampson resigned Monday, officials said, after acknowledging he didn't tell other Justice officials who testified to Congress about the extent of his communications with the White House, which led them to provide incomplete information in their testimony.
Congress requested the documents as part of an investigation by House and Senate Judiciary Committees into whether the firings were politically motivated.
Seven U.S. attorneys were fired Dec. 7 and another was fired months earlier, with little explanation from the Justice Department. Several former prosecutors have since alleged intimidation.
Administration officials have repeatedly portrayed the firings as a routine personnel matter, designed primarily to rid the department of a handful of poor performers. U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president, who can legally end an appointee's tenure for any or no reason.
Documents and interviews indicate the idea of the firings originated in February 2005. Over the next two years, Bush, top adviser Karl Rove and other White House officials also forwarded complaints that U.S. attorneys weren't doing enough to prosecute certain crimes such as voter fraud, according to officials and documents.
Perino said that "it doesn't appear the president was told about a list nor shown a list" of U.S. attorneys at any point in the discussions.
Bush personally mentioned such complaints to Gonzales in a conversation in October 2006, Perino said.
"White House officials including the president did not direct DOJ to take any specific action with regards to any specific U.S. attorney," Perino said.
Documents show that in February 2005, the office of then-White House counsel Harriet Miers raised the question of whether U.S. attorneys should be replaced with new Republican appointees for Bush's second term.
That proposal was immediately rejected by Gonzales as impractical, Justice officials said, but it led Sampson to send an e-mail to Miers in March 2005 ranking all 93 U.S. attorneys. Strong performers "exhibited loyalty" to the administration; low performers were "weak U.S. attorneys who have been ineffectual managers and prosecutors, chafed against administration initiatives, etc."; a third group merited no opinion.
Only three of those eventually fired were given low rankings: Margaret Chiara in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Bud Cummins in Little Rock, Ark.; and Carol Lam of California. Two were given strong evaluations: David Iglesias in Albuquerque and Kevin Ryan in San Francisco, whose firing has generated few complaints because of widespread management and morale problems in his office.
Justice officials said Sampson added Iglesias to a list of candidates to fire in October 2006, based in part on complaints from Sen. Pete Domenici and other New Mexico Republicans that he wasn't prosecuting enough voter-fraud cases.
Sampson also strongly urged bypassing Congress in naming replacements, using a little-known power slipped into the renewal of the USA Patriot Act in March 2006 that allows the attorney general to name interim replacements without Senate confirmation.
One e-mail from Miers' deputy, William Kelley, on the day of the Dec. 7 firings said Domenici's chief of staff "is happy as a clam" about Iglesias.
Sampson wrote in an e-mail a week later: "Domenici is going to send over names tomorrow (not even waiting for Iglesias's body to cool)."
By Dan Eggen and John Solomon
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post
Published March 13, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The White House suggested two years ago that the Justice Department fire all 93 U.S. attorneys, a proposal that eventually resulted in the dismissals of eight prosecutors last year, according to e-mails and internal documents that the administration will provide to Congress on Tuesday.
The dismissals took place after President Bush told Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales that he had received complaints that some prosecutors had not energetically pursued voter-fraud investigations, according to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
Gonzales approved the idea of firing a smaller group of U.S. attorneys shortly after taking office in February 2005, but he left it to an aide, Kyle Sampson, to carry out most of the details, according to interviews and documents reviewed Monday.
Sampson resigned Monday, officials said, after acknowledging he didn't tell other Justice officials who testified to Congress about the extent of his communications with the White House, which led them to provide incomplete information in their testimony.
Congress requested the documents as part of an investigation by House and Senate Judiciary Committees into whether the firings were politically motivated.
Seven U.S. attorneys were fired Dec. 7 and another was fired months earlier, with little explanation from the Justice Department. Several former prosecutors have since alleged intimidation.
Administration officials have repeatedly portrayed the firings as a routine personnel matter, designed primarily to rid the department of a handful of poor performers. U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president, who can legally end an appointee's tenure for any or no reason.
Documents and interviews indicate the idea of the firings originated in February 2005. Over the next two years, Bush, top adviser Karl Rove and other White House officials also forwarded complaints that U.S. attorneys weren't doing enough to prosecute certain crimes such as voter fraud, according to officials and documents.
Perino said that "it doesn't appear the president was told about a list nor shown a list" of U.S. attorneys at any point in the discussions.
Bush personally mentioned such complaints to Gonzales in a conversation in October 2006, Perino said.
"White House officials including the president did not direct DOJ to take any specific action with regards to any specific U.S. attorney," Perino said.
Documents show that in February 2005, the office of then-White House counsel Harriet Miers raised the question of whether U.S. attorneys should be replaced with new Republican appointees for Bush's second term.
That proposal was immediately rejected by Gonzales as impractical, Justice officials said, but it led Sampson to send an e-mail to Miers in March 2005 ranking all 93 U.S. attorneys. Strong performers "exhibited loyalty" to the administration; low performers were "weak U.S. attorneys who have been ineffectual managers and prosecutors, chafed against administration initiatives, etc."; a third group merited no opinion.
Only three of those eventually fired were given low rankings: Margaret Chiara in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Bud Cummins in Little Rock, Ark.; and Carol Lam of California. Two were given strong evaluations: David Iglesias in Albuquerque and Kevin Ryan in San Francisco, whose firing has generated few complaints because of widespread management and morale problems in his office.
Justice officials said Sampson added Iglesias to a list of candidates to fire in October 2006, based in part on complaints from Sen. Pete Domenici and other New Mexico Republicans that he wasn't prosecuting enough voter-fraud cases.
Sampson also strongly urged bypassing Congress in naming replacements, using a little-known power slipped into the renewal of the USA Patriot Act in March 2006 that allows the attorney general to name interim replacements without Senate confirmation.
One e-mail from Miers' deputy, William Kelley, on the day of the Dec. 7 firings said Domenici's chief of staff "is happy as a clam" about Iglesias.
Sampson wrote in an e-mail a week later: "Domenici is going to send over names tomorrow (not even waiting for Iglesias's body to cool)."
posted by Carlos T Mock at 11:28 AM
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