White House implicated in firings, Democrats say

[Kristina]

White House implicated in firings, Democrats say
POSTED: 1:51 p.m. EDT, March 13, 2007
Story Highlights• Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will hold a news conference at 2 p.m.
• Senator alleges "Unprecedented breach of trust, abuse of power"
• Gonzales' chief of staff resigns amid furor over firing of 8 U.S. attorneys
• White House: Former aide wanted to sack attorneys to make way for "fresh blood"


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Democrats are examining e-mails they say prove the White House was far more involved in the firings of U.S. attorneys than it has acknowledged.

The e-mails between the Department of Justice and White House were handed on Tuesday to congressional committees investigating the firing of eight U.S. attorneys and whether there was political motivation behind the dismissals.

White House spokesman Tony Snow confirmed that it was former White House counsel Harriet Miers who came up with an idea to remove all the federal prosecutors and bring in "fresh blood" at the beginning of President Bush's second term.

Meanwhile, the chief of staff to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has resigned, the Justice Department said Tuesday, as criticism grows over the firing of eight federal prosecutors last year.

Gonzales will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. Tuesday to address the issue.

D. Kyle Sampson, who also was a top lawyer under Gonzales' predecessor, John Ashcroft, has been at the center of the storm. His resignation was effective Monday.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, has said Gonzales should follow suit and tender his resignation.

"Just when we thought our faith could not be shaken any further, it has been," Schumer said. "At the very beginning, it was clear that something didn't smell right. But I had no idea how high it went."

He added: "The latest revelations proved beyond any reasonable doubt that there has been an unprecedented breach of trust, abuse of power and misuse of the Justice Department. And that is very serious and very important."

Schumer also warned the White House against making Sampson "the next fall guy."

"Today's staff resignation does not take heat off the attorney general. In fact, it raises the temperature. Kyle Sampson will not become the next Scooter Libby," the senator added, referring to Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff who was convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury last week over the outing of a CIA agent. (Watch Schumer call for Gonzales to step down )

Gonzales spoke highly of Sampson in a news release.

"Kyle Sampson has served as a key member of my team beginning at the White House and continuing here at the Department of Justice -- first as my deputy chief of staff and then as my chief of staff," Gonzales said in a statement.

"I am very appreciative for his service, counsel and friendship during the last six years, and I thank him for his service to the department."

The Bush administration has said the firings -- seven in December and one months earlier -- were routine personnel matters that were the result of poor performances.

However, Democrats accuse the administration of trying to dictate to the prosecutors, who are supposed to be nonpartisan.

Allegations of pressure
Snow told reporters traveling with the president in Mexico that made the proposal to fire all 93 U.S. attorneys at the beginning of Bush's second term.

Several of the prosecutors who were fired have said they were being pressured to move more quickly on investigations into voter fraud.

Miers resigned in January. President Bush had nominated her as a Supreme Court justice in October 2005 but she withdrew after conservatives and others questioned her credentials.

"We continue to believe that the decision to remove and replace U.S. attorneys who serve at the pleasure of the president was perfectly appropriate and within our discretion," said White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino.

"And we stand by the Department of Justice's assertion that they identified the seven U.S. attorneys who were removed [in December] for performance and managerial reasons."

Snow said Miers' proposal was a suggestion not a recommendation to fire all the federal prosecutors. Bush made "no recommendations on specific individuals," he said.

"We don't have anything to indicate the president made any calls on specific U.S. attorneys."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/13/fired.attorneys/index.html

[Byron]

E-mail indicates Rove role in firings By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer



WASHINGTON - White House political adviser Karl Rove raised questions in early 2005 about replacing some federal prosecutors but allowing others to stay, an e-mail released Thursday shows.

 
The one-page document, which spans e-mails between the White House and the Justice Department in January 2005, also indicates Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was considering a range of options in dismissing U.S. attorneys early in        President Bush's second term.

But it concludes with Gonzales' top aide warning that an across-the-board housecleaning "would certainly send ripples through the U.S. attorney community if we told folks they got one term only."

The e-mails released Thursday by the Justice Department indicated that Gonzales and his then-chief aide, Kyle Sampson, suggested replacing 15 percent to 20 percent of federal prosecutors they identified as underperformers.

Sampson resigned under fire this week over the Justice Department's mishandling of the firings of eight U.S. attorneys — and misleading Congress about the process

[Byron]

Subpoenas target Justice; White House could be next
POSTED: 11:46 a.m. EDT, March 15, 2007

 
 
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said he doesn't care what the White House and Justice Department think of his subpoenas -- he wants answers.

The committee Thursday authorized the use of subpoenas to five Justice Department officials in the investigation into the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys.

It postponed a vote on the authorization to use subpoenas to compel White House officials to testify, including President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, and former White House counsel Harriet Miers.

Most of the federal prosecutors claim they were the political casualties of rankling the White House, and some say they were pressured by members of Congress to expedite politically charged cases.

Justice Department officials initially told Congress the removals were performance-related, which prompted an outcry from the fired lawyers.

The administration later admitted one of the fired prosecutors had been removed to make way for a former aide to Rove but said the remainder were fired over management concerns and policy disagreements.

"I'm surprised that they're saying that there's no politics involved, and we're still 2½ weeks away from April Fool's Day," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-New Hampshire, chairman of the Senate panel. "How can they possibly stand there with a straight face and say that's not politics? Of course it's politics."

Leahy said Wednesday he told Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that he was "furious" with how his department handled the dismissals. (Watch Leahy insist on testimony under oath javascript:cnnVideo('play','javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/politics/2007/03/14/blitzer.leahy.interview.cnn','2007/03/28');','2007/03/15'); javascript:cnnVideo('play','javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/politics/2007/03/14/blitzer.leahy.interview.cnn','2007/03/28');','2007/03/15')

The senator went on to say that he feels Gonzales and Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty were less than forthcoming when they attended earlier hearings on the matter.

"I believe that they misled my committee. Whether it was deliberate or not is what we're going to have to find out," Leahy said.

Leahy delivered his remarks -- and his threat to subpoena members of the Bush administration, including Rove -- as John Sununu of New Hampshire became the first Republican senator to call for Gonzales' head.

Leahy bristled at the idea that Gonzales and White House counsel Fred Fielding would decide whether to "allow" members of the administration to testify.

In remarks directed toward Fielding, Leahy said, "Frankly, I don't care whether he says he's going to allow people or not. We'll subpoena the people we want. If they want to defy the subpoena, then you get into a stonewall situation I suspect they don't want to have."

The senator recalled a conversation he had with Gonzales in which the attorney general said there were low-level Justice Department staffers he didn't want to testify. (Watch a Republican strategist defend the firings javascript:cnnVideo('play','javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/politics/2007/03/14/sot.strategy.session.wednesday.cnn','2007/03/28');','2007/03/15'); javascript:cnnVideo('play','javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/politics/2007/03/14/sot.strategy.session.wednesday.cnn','2007/03/28');','2007/03/15')

"I said, frankly, Mr. Attorney General, it's not your decision. It's mine and the committee's. We will have subpoenas. I would hope that they will not try to stonewall subpoenas," Leahy said.

Gonzales conceded Wednesday that he "absolutely" should have been more involved in the decision to fire the eight prosecutors.

The attorney general said he charged his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, with determining "where we could do better" after Miers, then-White House counsel, suggested canning all 93 U.S. attorneys, an idea Gonzales says he opposed.

Sampson came back with the list of names of eight U.S. attorneys whose dismissals have sparked the political furor ushering Gonzales' aide out of the Justice Department. Sampson stepped down from his post Monday.

Sununu said Wednesday that Gonzales should follow suit or be replaced.
"The president should fire the attorney general and replace him as soon as possible with someone who can provide strong, aggressive leadership," Sununu said in a statement. (Watch Gonzales navigate a minefield of questions javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/politics/2007/03/14/foreman.gonzales.mistake.cnn','2007/03/28'); javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/politics/2007/03/14/foreman.gonzales.mistake.cnn','2007/03/28')

Sununu said that Gonzales has lost all credibility because of the firings, controversy over renewal of the USA Patriot Act and a report last week that the FBI had underreported its use of national security letters to snoop on Americans. "These failures have created a deep, widespread lack of confidence," Sununu said.

Several Democratic senators, including Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, also have called for Gonzales to resign or be fired.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Bush was disappointed with Sununu's stance.
Bush said Wednesday he is "not happy" about mistakes surrounding the decision to fire the eight attorneys, but his faith in his attorney general is unwavering.

"I do have confidence in AG Al Gonzales," Bush said during a joint news conference with President Felipe Calderon in Merida, Mexico. "I talked to him this morning, and we talked about his need to go up to Capitol Hill and make it very clear to members in both political parties why the Justice Department made the decision it made."

He further said the decision to fire the eight was "entirely appropriate" and that the mistakes involved how the firings were explained to Congress. Past administrations have removed U.S. attorneys, and it's their right to do so, Bush said. (Watch Bush defend Gonzales but express displeasure javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/politics/2007/03/14/sot.bush.on.gonzales.cnn','2007/03/28'); javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/politics/2007/03/14/sot.bush.on.gonzales.cnn','2007/03/28')

U.S. attorneys are political appointees who are routinely replaced when a new president takes office, but their removal in the middle of a presidential administration is rare -- and some say unprecedented.

Fielding, the White House counsel, held a meeting Wednesday with leaders of the House and Senate judiciary committees to discuss requests for testimony, but Leahy has insisted, "We'll subpoena who we want."

Included is Rove, who the White House say was not involved in the firings.
Though there are no allegations a crime was committed, Leahy, who was a prosecutor for eight years, said pressuring a U.S. attorney is inexcusable.

"That's the one person in the criminal justice system that has to be totally independent. If you try to manipulate the prosecutor, then you're manipulating everybody all the way down to the investigating police officer and it hurts everybody," he said.

Leahy added that it sends a message to law enforcement: "You either play by our political rules -- by our political rules, not by law enforcement rules, but by our political rules -- or you're out of a job."

CNN's Dana Bash, Ed Henry, Terry Frieden and Suzanne Malveaux contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/15/fired.attorneys/index.html