Attorney Replacements Picked Prior to Firings

[KamaAina]

Source: Washington Post

The Justice Department identified five Bush administration insiders as replacement U.S. attorneys almost a year before most of the prosecutors were fired, contrary to repeated claims that no such list had ever been drawn up, according to documents released today.

E-mails sent to the White House in January and May of 2006 by D. Kyle Sampson, then chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, list potential replacements for U.S. attorneys in San Diego, San Francisco, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Little Rock, Ark.

The replacements on the list were all high-level administration insiders, including two who have gone on to different U.S. attorney postings: Jeff Taylor, now chief prosecutor in the District, and Deborah Rhodes, now U.S. attorney in Alabama. The others were Rachel L. Brand, currently head of the Office of Legal Policy, and Daniel Levin, a former senior Justice and White House official, the memos show.

Justice officials have previously said that only Tim Griffin, currently acting U.S. attorney in Little Rock, was specifically identified as a replacement candidate for one of the fired prosecutors.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041301154.html

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Welcome to the Friday Night News Dump! I'm your host, KamaAina. Our top story: Looks like the Injustice Department has been caught in a bald-faced lie. Unconfirmed reports indicate that some Justice officials' pants may be on fire...

[Kagemusha]

1. Sampson's lawyer's already denied that the replacements were 'picked'

therefore Sampson told no lie to Congress on that point.

They were considered, not picked, or something. Ugh.

[windy252]

2. Happy to be the 5th R n/t

[The Count]

3. They were laid out, not "picked" - so there!

[Judi Lynn]

4. E-Mail Identified G.O.P. Candidates for Justice Jobs

Published Saturday, April 14, 2007

E-Mail Identified G.O.P. Candidates for Justice Jobs

DAVID JOHNSTON and ERIC LIPTON

WASHINGTON, April 13 — A Justice Department e-mail message released on Friday shows that the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales proposed replacement candidates for United States attorneys nearly a year before they were dismissed in December 2006. The department has repeatedly stated that no successors were selected before the dismissals.

The Jan. 9, 2006, e-mail message, written by D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned last month as the top aide to Mr. Gonzales, identified five Bush administration officials, most of them Justice Department employees, whose names were sent to the White House for consideration as possible replacements for prosecutors slated for dismissal.

The e-mail message and several related documents provide the first evidence that Mr. Sampson, the Justice Department official in charge of the dismissals, had focused on who would succeed the ousted prosecutors. Justice officials have repeatedly said that seven of the eight prosecutors were removed without regard to who might succeed them.

Some of the new documents show the department’s acute awareness of individual United States attorney’s political and ideological views. An undated spreadsheet attached to a Feb. 12, 2007, e-mail message listed the federal prosecutors who had served under President Bush along with their past work experience.

More:
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070414/ZNYT02/704140508