For a detailed chronology of events, see:
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy timeline
For details about individual dismissed attorneys, see:
Dismissed U.S. attorneys summary
For access to released documents, email, and hearing transcripts, see:
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy documents
For descriptions of some of the congressional hearings, see:
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy hearings
For a detailed chronology of events, see:
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy timeline
For details about individual dismissed attorneys, see:
Dismissed U.S. attorneys summary
For access to released documents, email, and hearing transcripts, see:
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy documents
For descriptions of some of the congressional hearings, see:
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy hearings
Media Matters:
Sourcewatch
Somewhere in the article, or in a separate article it's disrable to track the offices and personnel
Definitive list, perhaps compare to non-dismissed, say number of total departures?
(More outline needed here for this section)
(This sort of paragraph is to be avoided, IMHO; looking for cohesive text, and I don't think we need all the details now that we have the timeline article. I suspect that much of this detail was to document that the AG was not being forthright in his testimony/statements. We should perhaps develop a separate section on that later in the article.)
to an assistant in the Attorney General's office, scheduling a meeting in Gonzales' conference room with senior Justice Department advisors to discuss "U.S. Attorney Appointments." Those asked to be scheduled in the meeting included Gonzales, Sampson, Monica Goodling, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, Associated Deputy A.G. William Moschella, Michael Elston, and Michael Battle. On November 27, 2006, Gonzales met with senior advisors to discuss the plan. [3] The Justice Department did not receive White House approval for the firings until early December. As late as December 2, Sampson had written to Michael Elston that the Justice department was "[s]till waiting for green light from White House" with regards to the firing. Deputy White House counsel William K. Kelley responded on December 4, 2006, stating that "We're a go for the U.S. Atty plan...[the White House office of legislative affairs], political, communications have signed off and acknowledged that we have to be committed to following through once the pressure comes." [4]
On December 7, 2006, Justice Department official Michael A. Battle informed seven U.S. Attorneys that they were being dismissed. [5]
Although seven attorneys were dismissed on December 7, 2006, subsequent disclosures show that three or more additional attorneys were dismissed under similar circumstances between 2005-2006. [6] [ citation needed] U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins in Arkansas had been informed in June 2006 that he was to be replaced, and he resigned, effective December 20, 2006, several days after the public announcement of the appointment of his successor Timothy Griffin. [7]
Three or more USAs had been forced out prior to the December 7 dismissals without documented misconduct in office. Such dismissals are almost as unusual as dismissing 7 at once.
Dismissed U.S. attorneys summary ( ) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dismissed attorney |
Effective date of resignation |
Federal district | Replacement1 | ||
Dismissed December 7, 2006 | |||||
1. | David Iglesias | Dec 19, 2006 | New Mexico | Larry Gomez | |
2. | Kevin V. Ryan | Jan 16, 2007 | Northern California | Scott Schools | |
3. | John McKay | Jan 26, 2007 | Western Washington | Jeffrey C. Sullivan | |
4. | Paul K. Charlton | Jan 31, 2007 | Arizona | Daniel G. Knauss | |
5. | Carol Lam | Feb 15, 2007 | Southern California | Karen Hewitt | |
6. | Daniel Bogden | Feb 28, 2007 | Nevada | Steven Myhre | |
7. | Margaret Chiara | Mar 16, 2007 | Western Michigan | Russell C. Stoddard | |
Others dismissed in 2006 | |||||
1. | Todd Graves | Mar 24, 20062 | Western Missouri | Bradley Schlozman6 | |
2. | Bud Cummins | Dec 20, 20063 | Eastern Arkansas | Tim Griffin5 | |
Dismissed in 2005 | |||||
1. | Thomas M. DiBiagio | Jan 2, 20054 | Maryland | Allen F. Loucks | |
2. | Kasey Warner | Jul 20054 | Southern W. Virginia | Charles T. Miller | |
1Source:
Department of Justice, U.S. Attorneys Offices 2Informed of dismissal January 2006. |
Administration repeatedly claims that the reasons were broadly performance related and deny any political motivation, yet such claims are in stark disagreement with the facts. No documentation of complaints to USAs to try to remedy the (non-existent) problems, most USAs had been reviewed with favorable performance, no documentation at DoJ specifying reasons for dismissal. AG still hasn't articulated reasons for the dismissals, and USAs themselves don't know the reasons for their dismissal. Cummins dismissal is documented to be political.
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In January 2005, deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove asked deputy counsel David Leitch "how we planned to proceed regarding U.S. Attorneys, whether we were going to allow all to stay, request resignations from all and accept only some of them, or selectively replace them, etc." [1] In reply, Kyle Sampson, then Department of Justice counsel to Attorney General John Ashcroft, wrote that it would be "weird to ask them to leave before completing at least a 4-year term", that they "would like to replace 15–20 percent of the current U.S. Attorneys" and that the rest "are doing a great job, are loyal Bushies, etc." [1] The White House at one time suggested that the plan for dismissals came from White House counsel Harriet Miers, who left the White House in January 2007 before the dismissal received public attention. [2]
In February 2005, Sampson became Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
In March 2005, Sampson "came up with a checklist. He rated each of the U.S. attorneys with criteria that appeared to value political allegiance as much as job performance. He recommended retaining 'strong U.S. Attorneys who have ... exhibited loyalty to the President and Attorney General.' He suggested 'removing weak U.S. Attorneys who have ... chafed against Administration initiatives'". [3]
In September 2005, Sampson became Gonzales's Chief of Staff at the Department of Justice.
Sampson wrote in January 2006 to Miers that he recommended that the Department of Justice and the Office of the Counsel to the President work together to seek the replacement of a limited number of U.S. Attorneys, and that by limiting the number of attorneys "targeted for removal and replacement" it would "mitigat[e] the shock to the system that would result from an across-the-board firing." [2]
On February 12, 2006, Monica Goodling sent a spreadsheet of each U.S. Attorney's political activities and memberships in conservative political groups, in an email to senior Administration officials, with the comment "This is the chart that the AG requested". [4]
(In late February 2006, the White House and the Senate had a minor dispute over the nomination of a U.S. Attorney to Utah. The White House favored Kyle Sampson for the position, while Senator Hatch ( R, Utah) favored Brett Tolman. Tolman was eventually nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate. [5])
Sampson strongly urged using changes to the law governing U.S. Attorney appointments to bypass Congressional confirmation, writing in a September 17, 2006 memo to Harriet Miers: "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...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] 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." [2]
In October 2006, George W. Bush told Alberto Gonzales that he had received complaints that some of the U.S. Attorneys had not pursued certain voter-fraud investigations. [2] The complaints came from Republican officials, who demanded fraud investigations into a number of Democratic campaigns. The 2006 United States general election was forthcoming (November) and Republicans were concerned about losing Congressional seats to Democrats. (The election in fact did overturn Congressional control to the Democratic party).
Furthermore, "The documents show that in one case, officials were eager to free up the prosecutor’s slot in Little Rock, Ark., so it could be filled by Timothy Griffin, a GOP operative close to White House political guru Karl Rove — at all costs." [3] According to Newsweek, " Kyle Sampson, Gonzales's chief of staff, developed the list of eight prosecutors to be fired last October—with input from the White House." [6]
On November 21, 2006, Sampson sent an e-mail [7] to an assistant in the Attorney General's office, scheduling a meeting in Gonzales' conference room with senior Justice Department advisors to discuss "U.S. Attorney Appointments." Those asked to be scheduled in the meeting included Gonzales, Sampson, Monica Goodling, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, Associated Deputy A.G. William Moschella, Michael Elston, and Michael Battle. On November 27, 2006, Gonzales met with senior advisors to discuss the plan. [8] The Justice Department did not receive White House approval for the firings until early December. As late as December 2, Sampson had written to Michael Elston that the Justice department was "[s]till waiting for green light from White House" with regards to the firing. Deputy White House counsel William K. Kelley responded on December 4, 2006, stating that "We're a go for the U.S. Atty plan...[the White House office of legislative affairs], political, communications have signed off and acknowledged that we have to be committed to following through once the pressure comes." [9]
On December 7, 2006, Justice Department official Michael A. Battle informed seven U.S. Attorneys that they were being dismissed. [10]
Although seven attorneys were dismissed on December 7, 2006, subsequent disclosures show that three or more additional attorneys were dismissed under similar circumstances between 2005-2006. [11] [ citation needed] U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins in Arkansas had been informed in June 2006 that he was to be replaced, and he resigned, effective December 20, 2006, several days after the public announcement of the appointment of his successor Timothy Griffin. [12]
Dismissed U.S. attorneys summary ( ) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dismissed attorney |
Effective date of resignation |
Federal district | Replacement1 | ||
Dismissed December 7, 2006 | |||||
1. | David Iglesias | Dec 19, 2006 | New Mexico | Larry Gomez | |
2. | Kevin V. Ryan | Jan 16, 2007 | Northern California | Scott Schools | |
3. | John McKay | Jan 26, 2007 | Western Washington | Jeffrey C. Sullivan | |
4. | Paul K. Charlton | Jan 31, 2007 | Arizona | Daniel G. Knauss | |
5. | Carol Lam | Feb 15, 2007 | Southern California | Karen Hewitt | |
6. | Daniel Bogden | Feb 28, 2007 | Nevada | Steven Myhre | |
7. | Margaret Chiara | Mar 16, 2007 | Western Michigan | Russell C. Stoddard | |
Others dismissed in 2006 | |||||
1. | Todd Graves | Mar 24, 20062 | Western Missouri | Bradley Schlozman6 | |
2. | Bud Cummins | Dec 20, 20063 | Eastern Arkansas | Tim Griffin5 | |
Dismissed in 2005 | |||||
1. | Thomas M. DiBiagio | Jan 2, 20054 | Maryland | Allen F. Loucks | |
2. | Kasey Warner | Jul 20054 | Southern W. Virginia | Charles T. Miller | |
1Source:
Department of Justice, U.S. Attorneys Offices 2Informed of dismissal January 2006. |
{{
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{{
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(
help)
{{
cite news}}
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(
help)
{{
cite news}}
: Check date values in: |date=
(
help)[
citation needed]
For a detailed chronology of events, see:
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy timeline
For details about individual dismissed attorneys, see:
Dismissed U.S. attorneys summary
For access to released documents, email, and hearing transcripts, see:
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy documents
For descriptions of some of the congressional hearings, see:
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy hearings
For a detailed chronology of events, see:
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy timeline
For details about individual dismissed attorneys, see:
Dismissed U.S. attorneys summary
For access to released documents, email, and hearing transcripts, see:
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy documents
For descriptions of some of the congressional hearings, see:
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy hearings
Media Matters:
Sourcewatch
Somewhere in the article, or in a separate article it's disrable to track the offices and personnel
Definitive list, perhaps compare to non-dismissed, say number of total departures?
(More outline needed here for this section)
(This sort of paragraph is to be avoided, IMHO; looking for cohesive text, and I don't think we need all the details now that we have the timeline article. I suspect that much of this detail was to document that the AG was not being forthright in his testimony/statements. We should perhaps develop a separate section on that later in the article.)
to an assistant in the Attorney General's office, scheduling a meeting in Gonzales' conference room with senior Justice Department advisors to discuss "U.S. Attorney Appointments." Those asked to be scheduled in the meeting included Gonzales, Sampson, Monica Goodling, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, Associated Deputy A.G. William Moschella, Michael Elston, and Michael Battle. On November 27, 2006, Gonzales met with senior advisors to discuss the plan. [3] The Justice Department did not receive White House approval for the firings until early December. As late as December 2, Sampson had written to Michael Elston that the Justice department was "[s]till waiting for green light from White House" with regards to the firing. Deputy White House counsel William K. Kelley responded on December 4, 2006, stating that "We're a go for the U.S. Atty plan...[the White House office of legislative affairs], political, communications have signed off and acknowledged that we have to be committed to following through once the pressure comes." [4]
On December 7, 2006, Justice Department official Michael A. Battle informed seven U.S. Attorneys that they were being dismissed. [5]
Although seven attorneys were dismissed on December 7, 2006, subsequent disclosures show that three or more additional attorneys were dismissed under similar circumstances between 2005-2006. [6] [ citation needed] U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins in Arkansas had been informed in June 2006 that he was to be replaced, and he resigned, effective December 20, 2006, several days after the public announcement of the appointment of his successor Timothy Griffin. [7]
Three or more USAs had been forced out prior to the December 7 dismissals without documented misconduct in office. Such dismissals are almost as unusual as dismissing 7 at once.
Dismissed U.S. attorneys summary ( ) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dismissed attorney |
Effective date of resignation |
Federal district | Replacement1 | ||
Dismissed December 7, 2006 | |||||
1. | David Iglesias | Dec 19, 2006 | New Mexico | Larry Gomez | |
2. | Kevin V. Ryan | Jan 16, 2007 | Northern California | Scott Schools | |
3. | John McKay | Jan 26, 2007 | Western Washington | Jeffrey C. Sullivan | |
4. | Paul K. Charlton | Jan 31, 2007 | Arizona | Daniel G. Knauss | |
5. | Carol Lam | Feb 15, 2007 | Southern California | Karen Hewitt | |
6. | Daniel Bogden | Feb 28, 2007 | Nevada | Steven Myhre | |
7. | Margaret Chiara | Mar 16, 2007 | Western Michigan | Russell C. Stoddard | |
Others dismissed in 2006 | |||||
1. | Todd Graves | Mar 24, 20062 | Western Missouri | Bradley Schlozman6 | |
2. | Bud Cummins | Dec 20, 20063 | Eastern Arkansas | Tim Griffin5 | |
Dismissed in 2005 | |||||
1. | Thomas M. DiBiagio | Jan 2, 20054 | Maryland | Allen F. Loucks | |
2. | Kasey Warner | Jul 20054 | Southern W. Virginia | Charles T. Miller | |
1Source:
Department of Justice, U.S. Attorneys Offices 2Informed of dismissal January 2006. |
Administration repeatedly claims that the reasons were broadly performance related and deny any political motivation, yet such claims are in stark disagreement with the facts. No documentation of complaints to USAs to try to remedy the (non-existent) problems, most USAs had been reviewed with favorable performance, no documentation at DoJ specifying reasons for dismissal. AG still hasn't articulated reasons for the dismissals, and USAs themselves don't know the reasons for their dismissal. Cummins dismissal is documented to be political.
{{
cite news}}
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value (
help); Unknown parameter |coauthors=
ignored (|author=
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help)
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cite news}}
: Check date values in: |date=
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help)
{{
cite news}}
: Check date values in: |date=
(
help)
{{
cite news}}
: Check date values in: |date=
(
help)
{{
cite news}}
: Check date values in: |date=
(
help)[
citation needed]
In January 2005, deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove asked deputy counsel David Leitch "how we planned to proceed regarding U.S. Attorneys, whether we were going to allow all to stay, request resignations from all and accept only some of them, or selectively replace them, etc." [1] In reply, Kyle Sampson, then Department of Justice counsel to Attorney General John Ashcroft, wrote that it would be "weird to ask them to leave before completing at least a 4-year term", that they "would like to replace 15–20 percent of the current U.S. Attorneys" and that the rest "are doing a great job, are loyal Bushies, etc." [1] The White House at one time suggested that the plan for dismissals came from White House counsel Harriet Miers, who left the White House in January 2007 before the dismissal received public attention. [2]
In February 2005, Sampson became Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
In March 2005, Sampson "came up with a checklist. He rated each of the U.S. attorneys with criteria that appeared to value political allegiance as much as job performance. He recommended retaining 'strong U.S. Attorneys who have ... exhibited loyalty to the President and Attorney General.' He suggested 'removing weak U.S. Attorneys who have ... chafed against Administration initiatives'". [3]
In September 2005, Sampson became Gonzales's Chief of Staff at the Department of Justice.
Sampson wrote in January 2006 to Miers that he recommended that the Department of Justice and the Office of the Counsel to the President work together to seek the replacement of a limited number of U.S. Attorneys, and that by limiting the number of attorneys "targeted for removal and replacement" it would "mitigat[e] the shock to the system that would result from an across-the-board firing." [2]
On February 12, 2006, Monica Goodling sent a spreadsheet of each U.S. Attorney's political activities and memberships in conservative political groups, in an email to senior Administration officials, with the comment "This is the chart that the AG requested". [4]
(In late February 2006, the White House and the Senate had a minor dispute over the nomination of a U.S. Attorney to Utah. The White House favored Kyle Sampson for the position, while Senator Hatch ( R, Utah) favored Brett Tolman. Tolman was eventually nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate. [5])
Sampson strongly urged using changes to the law governing U.S. Attorney appointments to bypass Congressional confirmation, writing in a September 17, 2006 memo to Harriet Miers: "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...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] 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." [2]
In October 2006, George W. Bush told Alberto Gonzales that he had received complaints that some of the U.S. Attorneys had not pursued certain voter-fraud investigations. [2] The complaints came from Republican officials, who demanded fraud investigations into a number of Democratic campaigns. The 2006 United States general election was forthcoming (November) and Republicans were concerned about losing Congressional seats to Democrats. (The election in fact did overturn Congressional control to the Democratic party).
Furthermore, "The documents show that in one case, officials were eager to free up the prosecutor’s slot in Little Rock, Ark., so it could be filled by Timothy Griffin, a GOP operative close to White House political guru Karl Rove — at all costs." [3] According to Newsweek, " Kyle Sampson, Gonzales's chief of staff, developed the list of eight prosecutors to be fired last October—with input from the White House." [6]
On November 21, 2006, Sampson sent an e-mail [7] to an assistant in the Attorney General's office, scheduling a meeting in Gonzales' conference room with senior Justice Department advisors to discuss "U.S. Attorney Appointments." Those asked to be scheduled in the meeting included Gonzales, Sampson, Monica Goodling, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, Associated Deputy A.G. William Moschella, Michael Elston, and Michael Battle. On November 27, 2006, Gonzales met with senior advisors to discuss the plan. [8] The Justice Department did not receive White House approval for the firings until early December. As late as December 2, Sampson had written to Michael Elston that the Justice department was "[s]till waiting for green light from White House" with regards to the firing. Deputy White House counsel William K. Kelley responded on December 4, 2006, stating that "We're a go for the U.S. Atty plan...[the White House office of legislative affairs], political, communications have signed off and acknowledged that we have to be committed to following through once the pressure comes." [9]
On December 7, 2006, Justice Department official Michael A. Battle informed seven U.S. Attorneys that they were being dismissed. [10]
Although seven attorneys were dismissed on December 7, 2006, subsequent disclosures show that three or more additional attorneys were dismissed under similar circumstances between 2005-2006. [11] [ citation needed] U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins in Arkansas had been informed in June 2006 that he was to be replaced, and he resigned, effective December 20, 2006, several days after the public announcement of the appointment of his successor Timothy Griffin. [12]
Dismissed U.S. attorneys summary ( ) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dismissed attorney |
Effective date of resignation |
Federal district | Replacement1 | ||
Dismissed December 7, 2006 | |||||
1. | David Iglesias | Dec 19, 2006 | New Mexico | Larry Gomez | |
2. | Kevin V. Ryan | Jan 16, 2007 | Northern California | Scott Schools | |
3. | John McKay | Jan 26, 2007 | Western Washington | Jeffrey C. Sullivan | |
4. | Paul K. Charlton | Jan 31, 2007 | Arizona | Daniel G. Knauss | |
5. | Carol Lam | Feb 15, 2007 | Southern California | Karen Hewitt | |
6. | Daniel Bogden | Feb 28, 2007 | Nevada | Steven Myhre | |
7. | Margaret Chiara | Mar 16, 2007 | Western Michigan | Russell C. Stoddard | |
Others dismissed in 2006 | |||||
1. | Todd Graves | Mar 24, 20062 | Western Missouri | Bradley Schlozman6 | |
2. | Bud Cummins | Dec 20, 20063 | Eastern Arkansas | Tim Griffin5 | |
Dismissed in 2005 | |||||
1. | Thomas M. DiBiagio | Jan 2, 20054 | Maryland | Allen F. Loucks | |
2. | Kasey Warner | Jul 20054 | Southern W. Virginia | Charles T. Miller | |
1Source:
Department of Justice, U.S. Attorneys Offices 2Informed of dismissal January 2006. |
{{
cite news}}
: Check date values in: |date=
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Cite error: The named reference "Eggen-Solomon20070313" was defined multiple times with different content (see the
help page).
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citation needed]