HUGE: It was two years ago, when the White House suggested that the Justice Department fire all 93 U.S. attorneys!
The documents will be provided to Congress today!
Coming from WaPo:
The dismissals took place after President Bush told Attorney General 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 by The Washington Post.
Sampson resigned Monday
Here soon: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
E-mails tell the tale.
So Rove and company finally settled on an "enemies list" in the Justice Department whittled down to seven U.S. prosecutors.
Some of the reasons why those seven were picked have come to light.
More from WaPo:
Sampson resigned Monday, officials said, after acknowledging he did not tell other Justice officials who testified to Congress about the extent of his communications with the White House, leading them to provide incomplete information in their testimony to lawmakers.
snip ...
Administration officials have repeatedly portrayed the firings as a routine personnel matter, designed primarily to rid the department of a handful of poor performers.
But the documents and interviews indicate that the idea of the firings originated at least two years ago, in February 2005, with former White House counsel Harriet Miers suggesting that all prosecutors be dismissed and replaced with new personnel.
Over the next two years, Bush, top adviser Karl Rove and other White House officials also forwarded complaints that U.S. attorneys were not doing enough to prosecute certain crimes such as voter fraud, according to officials and documents.
A "routine personnel matter"?
The e-mails also show Rove was interested in the appointment of his former colleague, Tim Griffin, as an Arkansas prosecutor. Sampson wrote in one e-mail that ``getting him appointed was important to Harriet, Karl, etc.''
Administration officials say they are braced for a new round of criticism from lawmakers Tuesday who may feel misled by testimony in recent weeks from Gonzales, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty and William Moschella, principal associate deputy attorney general. Several Democrats, including Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), have asked for Gonzales's resignation in recent days.
The documents, which include numerous e-mails between Sampson, Miers and others in the White House counsel's office, show the firings plan dated from February 2005, when Miers's office brought up 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 and disruptive, 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.
So a political enemies list. And a blueprint to turn the Justice Department into a virtual Republican patronage machine. And a machine with which to intimidate political foes and pursue political agendas.
Turns out Iglesias was not on the original hitlist, until Crazy Pete Domenici stepped in.
Iglesias, the New Mexico prosecutor, was not on the list in September. Justice officials said Sampson added Iglesias in October, based in part on complaints from Sen. Pete Domenici and other New Mexico Republicans that he was not prosecuting enough voter-fraud cases.
And why not use the Patriot Act for this "routine personnel matter"?
``I am only in favor of executing on a plan to push some USAs out if we really are ready and willing to put in the time necessary to select candidates and get them appointed,'' Sampson wrote in a Sept. 17, 2006, memo to Miers. ``It will be counterproductive to DOJ operations if we push USAs out and then don't have replacements ready to roll immediately.
``I strongly recommend that as a matter of administration, we utilize the new statutory provisions that authorize the AG to make USA appointments.'' By avoiding Senate confirmation, he added, ``we can give far less deference to home state senators and thereby get 1.) our preferred person appointed and 2.) do it far faster and more efficiently at less political costs to the White House.''
Miers thanked Sampson for the idea. ``Kyle thanks for this. I have not forgotten I need to follow up on the info. But things have been crazy,'' she wrote.