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Shades of the Saturday Night Massacre?
Jan. 16th, 2007 03:43 pmU. S. Attorneys Forced to Resign - UNPRECEDENTED
What's the White House Doing to Prosecutors? Feinstein Speaks out on U.S. Atty Firings
Among the U.S. Attorneys forced or "encouraged" to resign in the last 2-3 months (emphasis in the quotes is mine):
As one poster on Daily Kos sums it up:
What's the White House Doing to Prosecutors? Feinstein Speaks out on U.S. Atty Firings
Among the U.S. Attorneys forced or "encouraged" to resign in the last 2-3 months (emphasis in the quotes is mine):
- Arizona - 12/19/06 - Paul K. Charlton
- Little Rock (Ark.) - 12/15/06 - Bud Cummins (more)
Senator Feinstein:
"Now the most well-known case involves a U. S. Attorney in Arkansas. Senators Pryor and Lincoln have raised significant concerns about how Bud Cummins was asked to resign, and in his place the administration appointed their top lawyer in charge of political opposition research, Tim Griffin." - San Diego - 1/12/07 - Carole Lam (heading up the Randy "Duke" Cunningham investigation)
Senator Feinstein:
"Now to my knowledge, there are no allegations of misconduct having to do with Carol Lam. She is a distinguished former judge. Rather, the only explanation I've seen are concerns that were expressed about prioritizing public corruption cases over smuggling and gun cases." - San Francisco - 1/16/07 - Kevin V. Ryan
- Nevada - 1/15/07 - Daniel Bogden
- New Mexico - 12/19/06 - David Igleslias
- Seattle - 12/15/06 - John McKay
As one poster on Daily Kos sums it up:
What it gains the White House
is the ability to use the power of the US attorney's office, and the Department of Justice, to investigate any possible lead - no matter how insubstantial - that affects a Democratic candidate.
The Republican Party is trying to defend 22 senate seats in 2008, compared to our 12. ...
So what tools do they have? Force out the US attorney in Nevada and install a political hack so that they can go after Harry Reid ... Undermine investigations of the whole massive California GOP congressional delegation - Jerry Lewis, Duncan Hunter, Cunningham, etc. Hence you have to get rid of the apolitical US Attnys in San Diego and San Francisco. [Asheris: Or you need someone new to start some bogus investigations into Pelosi, Feinstein, etc.]
Hillary? Well, you had better put the RNC head of opposition research in charge of the US Attorney's office in Little Rock.
What we are seeing, without exaggeration and without hyperbole, is a sustained effort to use the infrastructure of the Department of Justice for deliberate political ends.
It's nothing new. Tom deLay did it when he used the feds to track Democratic state senators in Texas. Gonzales is doing it now by bombing the House Ethics Committee with meaningless FOIAs in order to gum up their investigations.
...
