TPM Muckraker
Reason for Suspicion
March 27, 2007
By Paul Kiel
shortly before Lam was fired,
a Justice Department official brainstormed about
how to explain firing several U.S. attorneys:
"The one common link here is that three of them
are along the southern border so you could make the connection
that DoJ is unhappy with the immigration prosecution numbers
in those districts."
-- Lam was fired midway into a historic, wide-reaching
public corruption investigation that targeted
a number of Republican members of Congress and
the executive director of the CIA.
-- Despite the fact that it was one of the highest profile
federal investigations being undertaken at the Department,
Lam's investigation into Duke Cunningham and
others is never mentioned in the Justice Department emails
that have been released. Not once.
This must have been discussed at the highest levels,
but we've seen no record of those communications.
-- The FBI's bureau chief in San Diego has said,
"I guarantee politics is involved" in Lam's firing.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/...
----
ThinkProgess
Waxman Demands Info Linking White House To Cunningham Probe
And Possible Attorney Firing
March 26, 2007
Posted by Faiz
Last Monday, ThinkProgress questioned whether
fired U.S. attorney Carol Lam was targeting the White House
prior to her dismissal.
We noted the following information that stemmed from
Lam’s investigation into former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA):
the White House awarded a one-month, $140,000 contract
to MZM contractor Mitchell Wade ...
Two weeks after Wade got paid, he used a cashier’s check
for exactly $140,000 to buy a boat
for a now-imprisoned congressman (Cunningham)
Today, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote a letter
to White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten demanding
"all contracts, subcontracts, and task orders between MZM, Inc.
... and the Executive Office of the President"
Waxman requests that the White House provide documents
relating to the White House-MZM contracts
as soon as possible, but in no case later than Friday, April 6.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
To Summarize: This U.S. Attorney with the most serious
investigation (and conviction) of a U.S. Congressman, since ever,
was NOT even noticed by the Justice Dept,
and was fired for "performance reasons"?
(or was it for not protecting the borders?
I have trouble keeping their stories straight.)
Nevermind Carol Lam's ongoing investigation was leading back
to other Congressmen, the CIA, and even the White House!
Forget all that -- she has to GO!
SO Perhaps it WAS true,
that she was "no longer pleasing the president."
Americans can be glad Waxman has picked up this trail --
He won't be SO easy to Fire and Discredit!
--------
Here's the case that no one at DOJ seemed to notice:
Congressman Admits Taking Bribes, Resigns
GOP's Cunningham Faces Jail Term
November 29, 2005
Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) resigned from Congress yesterday
after tearfully confessing to evading taxes
and conspiring to pocket $2.4 million in bribes,
including a Rolls-Royce, a yacht
and a 19th-century Louis-Philippe commode.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...