U.S. Attorney Resignation Made on Threat of Immediate Firing (TPM Muckracker re: Lam)

[struggle4progress]

By Paul Kiel - June 19, 2007, 4:15 PM

When a Justice Department official asked eight U.S. attorneys for their resignations last December, most of them went quietly (initially at least), agreeing to resign on relatively short notice and with no public fuss. But one U.S. attorney, Carol Lam in San Diego, had contentious private exchanges with Department officials about her end date.

An email released to Congress last week shows just how heated those discussions got. When Lam delayed announcing her date of resignation -- wanting more time to tend to several high profile cases, the expanded Duke Cunningham investigation among them --, Justice Department officials prepared to have the president fire her immediately.

The email was amongst those (pdf) released by the Justice Department to Congress last week. Writing to William Kelley, an attorney in the White House counsel's office, Kyle Sampson, Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff and the orchestrator of the U.S. attorney firings, wrote:

FYI – our USA in SD is refusing to resign (though we’ve given her until 5pm eastern); recommendation that she be removed immediately should be over to you by the end of the day. ~snip~

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003470.php

[Kagemusha]

1. The snipped part includes that the interim replacement's still there.

Though with the recent law signed by Bush re: ending the Patriot Act II provision for indefinite interim replacement (what a huge oxymoron that is!), there's a 4 month timer that's begun before the admin gets someone confirmed by the Senate or the federal courts appoint someone for it. (Which is apparently the last thing the administration wants. Someone with integrity might slip through.)

[L. Coyote]

2. WOW, this e-mail is a new development. We knew she asked for more time.

Here is some context preceeding the firing
================================
TIMELINE:
June 5, 2003 - Barry Weinbaum, CEO Alvarado Hospital (owned by Tenet), indicted for conspiracy to violate the federal antikickback statute and seven counts for offer and payment of illegal compensation
Oct. 2004 - Leonard Senerote, Michael Uhl and Michael Snipes dismissed on No TX USA office
Feb. 2005 - Lam's name first appears on a firings list
Oct. 20, 2005 - Eighteen Republican lawmakers, in a letter (signed by Cunningham while under investigation by Lam for corruption), criticize Lam's handling of immigration cases.
Mar. 9, 2006 - Bush signs the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act.
Apr. 2006 - Second mistrial in Lam's illegal-kickback trial of Alvarado execs.
May 5, 2006 - CIA director Porter Goss resigns unexpectedly.
May 10, 2006 - Lam notifies DoJ she planned to serve search warrants on Kyle Foggo, who resigned two days earlier as No. 3 official at the CIA.
May 10, 2006 - HHS Seeks to end Medicare payments to Tenet's Alvarado Hospital. Lam is prosecuting Alvarado's CEO and the Medicare fraud.
May 11, 2006 - Kyle Sampson e-mails deputy White House counsel William Kelley, re "the real problem we have right now with Carol Lam ....
May 11, 2006 - LA Times reports Cunningham probe expanded to include CA Republican, then-House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis.
May 12, 2006 - FBI agents seizes records from Foggo's CIA offices and his suburban Vienna, Va.
May 17, 2006 - Tenet Healthcare Agrees to Divest Alvarado Hospital
May 18, 2006 - Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) provides false information to AP that Lam has prosecuted only 6% of 289 suspected immigrant smugglers.
Jul 31, 2006 - London Times quotes Prakash Sethi "GPOs extract extra profits of $5 billion to $6 billion" illegitimately.
Dec. 7, 2006 - Michael Battle, director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, calls seven U.S. Attorneys to ask for their resignations.
Dec 13, 2006 - Deputy AG Paul McNulty curbs USAs' prosecutorial powers, centralizes authority of USAs to charge corporate fraud to his office.
Feb 15, 2007 - Carol Lam resigns as U.S. Attorney for San Diego just days after filing indictments in public corruption case.