Your daily drivetime update on the US Attorney Purge...
Technically, this video pertains to former Los Angeles USA Debra Wong Yang, but it's really more descriptive of Gonzales:
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Gonzales' "maybe I know" comment is right up there with his "I don't recall remembering" classic. Sweet Chocolate Jesus, what an insult to the DoJ this guy is. Ok, on to the US Attorneys...
NEWS ON INDIVIDUAL ATTORNEYS
1. Fired San Diego USA Carol Lam: From May 7, Carol Lam responds in writing to Congress, essentially saying she received no reason for her firing, although the decision to fire her came from the "highest levels of government." Muckraker's got it here. Also, from former Deputy Attorney General James Comey's testimony last week, Carol Lam's gun prosecution numbers (one of the Administration talking points on why she was fired) mean "nothing" by itself. We still do not have a verified, documented reason for Lam's firing.
2. Fired New Mexico USA David Iglesias: FROM TODAY, Gonzales still doesn't know nuthin' about no Iglesias. In fact, he doesn't know nuthin' about any of the USAs on the list. Video:
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But wait there's more! It turns out Alberto does know a guy named Iglesias, and he does know about a list, and it turns out Iglesias was added to that list on "Election Day, November."
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3. Former Los Angeles USA Debra Wong Yang: FROM TODAY, Gonzales speculates in testimony that Yang would have made more money if the DoJ fired her, and maybe that's why former White House Counsel Harriet Miers wanted her gone. Ummm, yeah...do you ever get the feeling that Gonzales has just stopped trying?
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4. Fired Seattle USA John McKay: FROM TODAY, Gonzales admits in testimony that he's not sure why McKay was fired, based on the admission that the time when McKay was added to the list preceded the time when McKay started having "problems" with Main Justice. Also, note towards the end of the video (about 40 sec left) that Gonzales slips a little- he starts to say "when I made the decis...when I accepted the recommendations." It's a little thing, and it's by no means evidence, but this little slipup tells us that Gonzales, in his own mind, did have some role in deciding on the firings. But we already knew that, didn't we? Video:
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5. Fired Arizona USA Paul Charlton: From April 25, two bits of news, to which both answer my previous question- Charlton's investigation of Republican Congressman Rick Renzi was related to his firing.
- Muckraker has good piece here, but I'll quickly sum up. When the Renzi probe began to go public, Renzi's top aide contacted Charlton's office, which (as we saw with Pete Domenici, R-NM, and Doc Hastings, R-WA) is a big no-no. Unlike Iglesias and McKay, however, Charlton's office notified the DoJ of the improper contact. But, and this is the really interesting thing, in all the document dumps, testimony, public statements, etc., the DoJ never mentioned this improper contact, and never included Charlton's office's emails dealing with that improper contact. The DoJ concealed this. Huh.
- The Wall Street Journal is reporting here (h/t to Muckraker for their piece here) that Charlton's office had great difficulty in getting DoJ approval to move forward on the Renzi investigation. Coincidentally, that difficulty was right during midterm election season. Double huh.
6. Fired Nevada USA Daniel Bogden: From April 19, Bogden was doing "outstanding work", according to Mary Beth Buchanan, then-director of the Executive Office of US Attorneys, and now a US Attorney in Western Pennsylvania District. The title of the linked article says it all- Outstanding Work in 2005, Fired in 2006. Huh.
7. Fired Arkansas USA Bud Cummins: FROM TODAY, whoa, what the hell is this this? (note: the price of me skimming the article too quickly, I didn't see the original link) Hat tip to pidge not midge for pointing me to this story yesterday, and hat tip to madhaus for clarifying who the original author of this post is. First, let me say that I cannot vouch for Scoop, although I have trouble believing a New Zealand news outlet has any interest in putting out false or misleading stories. Second, and more important, although this piece is mostly just wondering aloud, we do have a new character in the Cummins firing: Mark F. "Thor" Hearne, who was apparently charged with "fixing" the mess created by Cummins' investigation into Missouri Republican Governor Matt Blunt.
8. Reassigned Guam USA Frederick Black: From April 18, James Risser looks into this in an extensive diary. Set aside some time if you want to read this.
9. Fired Western Missouri USA Todd Graves: FROM TODAY, Gonzales goes back and forth with Democrat Zoe Lofgren on whether Graves' firing had anything to do with his refusal to sign on to a DoJ lawsuit aimed at purging Missouri voter rolls. Personally, I didn't like this exchange, as it exemplified why Congressional questioning often doesn't reveal anything new. IMO, there's too much speechifying and very little testifying, but you be the judge:
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In more substantive news on Graves' firing, our old friend "performance reasons" has reared his ugly head, this time in explanation to Republican Senator Kit Bond for Graves' firing. But as we know with dear old "performance," he's full of shit, as the DoJ itself gave a completely different explanation to Graves himself to explain his firing. Oh "performance," we missed you big guy!
10. Former Interim Western Missouri USA Bradley Schlozman: From May 9, "the Schloz" will be testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary on May 15. We've got to come up with a nickname for this jerk.
11. Minnesota USA Rachel Paulose: FROM TODAY, the 'Disgusted Four' in Paulose's office who demoted themselves rather than work with her sent her a letter telling her to stop insinuating bad things about them in the press. Text of the letter here.
12. Fired Western Michigan USA Margaret Chiara: From April 24, there was a brief discussion yesterday about whether Chiara had begun an investigation or a lawsuit involving the Saginaw Tribe in Michigan, but no one could seem to find any details. FWIW, I contacted one of the editors of Indianz (great resource for Native American politics and Abramoff activities, BTW), and he was not aware of any investigations or lawsuits involving the Saginaw or the Chippewa Tribes. Just throwing that out there.
13. Milwaukee USA Steven Biskupic: From May 7, from Comey's testimony, Biskupic is apparently a straight shooter and, in his opinion, is not the type of US Attorney to 'play ball' with the Bush Administration. Josh Marshall chews on this here.
14. District of Columbia USA Jeffrey Taylor: From May 8, this article here mostly focuses on Jay Apperson's history, but keep in mind that it was Taylor who ultimately hired him. In a vacuum, this odd hire (and its odd process) might mean nothing. But we're not in a vacuum. Taylor was a close aide to Gonzales before getting this USA job, he interacted with Main Justice frequently WRT hiring Apperson, and any hire he makes that is outside the normal screening process (as was the case with Apperson) deserves close scrutiny.
15. Western Pennsylvania USA Mary Beth Buchanan: From April 18, we have our answer as to why Conyers wants to speak with her. She was consulted on the firing decisions (h/t TPM).
16. Alaska USA Nelson Cohen: From April 23, the DoJ picked this guy to be the Alaska USA over the recommendations of both Republican home state Senators Stevens and Murkowski (h/t TPM). What was so special about Cohen that the home state Republicans had to be overruled? The article hints that Cohen had a desire to return to Alaska, but that's not how these things are supposed to work. Home state Senators are supposed to have significant, if not complete, influence on who gets nominated to be a US Attorney. It looks like the DoJ in DC rode roughshod over the Senators' recommendations- why?
17. Central Pennsylvania USA Thomas Marino: From April 27, The same sources that confirmed Graves was going to be fired also confirmed that Thomas Marino was going to be fired, but ended up surviving the ax. So, what did Marino do to avoid getting fired?
18. Northern Texas USA Richard Roper: From April 17, hat tip to James Risser for tipping me off to this story in his diary. Quite simply, what the hell's been going on in this office? They open an investigation into Novation LLC, a subsidiary of health care giant Tenet HealthCare, and two of the Assistant US Attorney's (AUSAs) working the case suddenly die. Two months later, three other AUSA's in the Dallas office resigned, two to go into private practice, and one to retire. You'll note in James Risser's diary that he discusses the Western Missouri US Attorney's office, because there is a lawsuit against Novation by a company in that area (I think?), Medical Supply Chain. But I separate that out, because that's a whole other ball of wax. If strange things happen after a US Attorney's office opens an investigation into Republican targets, however, then I get interested. And with the Dallas USA office opening a (according to the NYT link) "broad investigation" into Novation/Tenet and other health care and pharma giants, I'm interested to see where that investigation headed, and if/why it was suppressed.
19. New Jersey USA Chris Christie: From May 9, well looky looky looky (h/t Steve M). Our good friend and Bush Pioneer found himself some 'tairists' looking to attack Fort Dix (friggin' Fort Dix!) with (cue dramatic music)...some assault rifles. That they hadn't bought yet. And, mein gott! They saw some videos! Surely this isn't an overblown, politicized case designed to scare the s--t out of us, because we all know that USAs are completely independent, and only bring cases forward when the evidence warrants it. Sure, nothing odd here- just the Bush Administration doing its regular best.
20. Middle North Carolina USA Anna Mills Wagoner: From March 29, from Sampson's testimony, this USA was on an early list, but was taken off on advice from Monica Goodling. Why was she on an early list?
21. Connecticut USA Kevin O'Connor: From April 10, does this mean Mr. O'Connor is a "loyal Bushie?" And why must we insist on absentee US Attorneys?
22. New Hampshire USA Tom Colantuono:
23. Former Western North Carolina USA Robert J. Conrad, Jr.:
24. Kentucky USA David Huber:
25. Southern Mississippi USA Dunn Lampton:
CONGRESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
- House Judiciary heard testimony from Alberto, obviously, and so there's nothing to put here today. Although I didn't catch much of the testimony, I thought I heard Chairman Conyers at the end say that his committee will continue to investigate this. Good.
WHITE HOUSE AND DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ACTIVITIES
- The Bush Administration withheld some emails from Congress in an effort to conceal Karl Rove's role in the firing of Cummins (and the interim hiring of Griffin). TPM has analysis here.
- Alberto Gonzales did not review the personnel files of any of the USAs that were fired. Ever. He didn't review them in January, February, March, in preparation for testimony...never did it. Democrat Maxine Waters forced that admission from him. He didn't review those files, but he's "sure" nothing "improper" happened here. At what point in time does everybody- and I mean everybody, including Republicans and the media- throw up their hands and say enough?
- More Alberto, and this is just fantastic. That wonderful "collaborative process" that Alberto and the White House keep singing about, in order to give everyone the chance to pass the buck on the firings? Well, it turns out that some people weren't even aware that they were part of the process, according to Alberto:
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PERSPECTIVE
- Marty Lederman has a question for Alberto (h/t TPM). So does TPM reader GB. Josh Marshall has more questions in his daily video briefing here. Good questions all, but who are we kidding? Alberto Gonzales: you've got questions, he doesn't have answers.
- Marty Lederman again on why Alberto's secret order was important. It's long, put aside some time if you want to read it.
- Time's Karen Tumulty and Massimo Calabresi finally do a good job summarizing the US Attorney story. It's a start, Karen, but I'd love to see someone at Time cover this story on a regular basis.
- From me, again I call for impeaching Gonzales. No long writeup here, I'm just saying it one more time for posterity. Impeach the bastard. Oh, and Anonymous Liberal agrees.