Front-paged at
BoomanTribune.com.
CIA leak case special prosecutor and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald will "stay on the job for a long while," reports veteran investigative journalist Murray Waas.
As expressed in my July 29 story, "Will Moves at Justice Affect CIA Leak Case?," and at Josh Marshall's TPMCafe, there have been concerns that Fitzgerald might be shunted aside, forced out, or his U.S. Attorney term not renewed. It's up in October. But, Murray Waas writes at his blog:
regarding concerns that there might have been, in recent days, an effort afoot to not reappoint Patrick J. Fitzgerald as U.S. Attorney in Chicago, because either prominent Republicans or the White House are upset with his tenacious pursuit of the Plame matter.
No worries.
Waas bases his certainty about Fitzgerald's viability on his own digging, and on a
Chicago Sun-Times story by Lynn Sweet that says that Fitzgerald "is in no danger of losing his job" even though his mentor expressed concerns on a Chicago TV station ... MORE BELOW:
From the
Sun-Times story:
WASHINGTON -- It's his call.
Though his term is up this fall, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the aggressive prosecutor who is investigating Mayor Daley's City Hall, possible illegal White House leaks and who has a former Illinois governor awaiting a corruption trial, is in no danger of losing his job.
Fitzgerald's original four-year term expires in a few months, and former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.), who engineered his appointment (they are not related), is raising a concern the Chicago-based career prosecutor may be pressured out.
The former senator said in a WGN-TV interview Wednesday he feared for Patrick Fitzgerald's future because of his pursuit of official corruption. Peter Fitzgerald did not offer specifics and was vacationing Thursday and could not be reached.
[Susan's Note: Below, read how Peter Fitzgerald got Patrick Fitzgerald his U.S. Atty post in Chicago.]
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) was asked about Peter Fitzgerald's concerns Thursday . "I know there [have] been innuendos about my getting pressures. I can tell you nobody has talked to me or called me about this. Anybody. Period,'' Hastert said.
For legal and political reasons, however, it seems it is Patrick Fitzgerald's decision to stay or go. Legally, if President Bush does nothing, he stays on the job even though his term is over. Politically, Bush would face a storm of protest if he fired a man who is investigating his own administration. ... [...]
Illinois Democratic Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama have been on record since January -- before the White House and City Hall probes heated up -- as wanting Patrick Fitzgerald to stay. ...
I am gratified to learn that both of Illinois' senators Durbin and Obama are
on this.
But,
despite the Sun-Times article, I remain paranoid. And I trust that Durbin and Obama will remain paranoid.
Lynn Sweet also
explains how Fitzgerald got tapped for the U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago:
Peter Fitzgerald was the state's senior Republican in 2001 when he reached outside of Illinois to recommend Patrick Fitzgerald, then a New York federal prosecutor, for the job. In the process, Peter Fitzgerald alienated Hastert by refusing to discuss with him the selection of three new U.S. attorneys for Illinois after Bush came into office.
Ms. Sweet also
spells out the selection system for U.S. attorneys:
- A U.S. attorney is nominated by the president and needs Senate confirmation, though there are no hearings.
- When the term is up, the U.S. attorney serves until a successor is named. No affirmative action -- such as a formal reappointment -- needs to take place.
Then journalist Murray Waas weighs in with what he knows after a lot more digging around and interviewing:
I did speak to the people (at a high up enough level to know these things) at DOJ who say the likelihood of Fitzgerald not being appointed to a second term are between zero and slim.
If any prominent Republican, or Democrat, for that matter, were to lobby the White House that Fitzgerald not be reappointed, the move would appear to be (and might very well be in actuality) a blatantly political maneuver. But there is just no evidence that anything like that has been going on.
The Chicago Sun-Times' Sweet is deadpanning when she writes that "Bush would face a storm of protest if he fired a man who is investigating his own administration." That is akin to saying that Richard Nixon would face a storm of protest if he were to fire Archibald Cox... Oops. Not exactly a great example. Nixon did fire Cox! But we all know that story had a happy ending anyway.
And also very importantly-- Fitzgerald is adored by his bosses. This is what deputy Attorney General James B. Comey had to say when he appointed Fitzgerald as special counsel to investigate the Plame leak. For those who do not want to click on to the transcript of the press conference, Comey said he chose Fitzgerald, who he referred to as his "friend and former colleague", because of his "sterling reputation for integrity and impartiality."
Comey also noted, he had once said that Fitzgerald was "Eliot Ness with a Harvard law degree and a sense of humor."
With comments made like those by the Deputy Attorney General, it would be all but impossible for the White House not to reappoint Fitzgerald, unless the prosecutor himself had something better to do with his life.
In short, don't expect Fitzgerald out anytime soon as U.S. Attorney for Chicago. And also don't expect him to let up anytime soon in his moonlighting role as special counsel for the Plame matter.
All emphases mine.