Mukasey Taps Prosecutor To Investigate Removal Of U.S. Attorneys
Following the recommendation of today’s extensive report from the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), Attorney General Michael Mukasey named a federal prosecutor to investigate the removal of nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006. The report, more than 300 pages, revealed a “blistering critique of the political motivations that lead to the firings” of the attorneys, The New York Times reported.
In announcing the special prosecutor, Mukasey in a statement issued this morning notes that the OIG/OPR findings “have made the judgment that the circumstances” warrant a special prosecutor to continue investigating the firings. “This Report describes a disappointing episode in the history of the Department,” Mukasey said in his statement. “What should not be lost in this are the efforts of the dedicated and hard-working employees of the Justice Department who are focused on what they do best, which is protecting our country and faithfully enforcing our laws.” Mukasey named Nora Dannehy, a career federal prosecutor, to the job.
Today’s report concludes that, “we believe that the process used to remove the nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006 was fundamentally flawed. While the Presidential appointees can be removed for any reason or for no reason, as long as it is not an illegal or improper reason, Department officials publicly justified the removals as the result of an evaluation that sought to replace underperforming U.S. Attorneys. In fact, we determined that the process implemented largely by Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to the Attorney General, was unsystematic and arbitrary, with little oversight by the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, or any other senior Department official.”
The reported, continued, that, “These removals were not a minor personnel matter – they were an unprecedented removal of a group of high-level Department officials that was certain to raise concerns if not handled properly.”
Finally, the OIG/OPR report concluded that their investigation into the removal of the attorneys was hampered by the actions of high-level Bush administration officials. The report states that “there are gaps in our investigation because of the refusal of certain key witnesses to be interviewed by us, including former White House officials Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, and William Kelly, former Department of Justice White House Liaison Monica Goodling, Senator Pete Domenici, and his Chief of Staff. In addition, the White House would not provide us internal documents related to the removals of the U.S. Attorneys.”
The entire report is here.
Today’s report follows two others by the OIG/OPR on politicization of hiring within the department. The June 24 report concluded that candidates for nonpolitical jobs in the Justice Department were rejected because of their affiliations with progressive organizations, including the American Constitution Society (ACS) and the July 28 report found that former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales aides, Monica Goodling and Kyle Sampson used political criteria to fill nonpolitical jobs within the Department.