The Justice Department has announced that no criminal charges will be filed in the Bush administration’s dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys in late 2006. The decision, however, is not an exoneration of the Bush officials, including former attorney general Alberto R. Gonzales.
The Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility concluded in a lengthy 2008 report that Mr. Gonzales and others had made a series of “inaccurate and misleading” statements about the dismissals and called for a criminal investigation to determine whether obstruction-of-justice laws, or laws barring false statements to Congress or federal investigators, were breached.
Nora Dannehy, a career federal prosecutor in Connecticut, was appointed by Bush Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey to look into the matter and has recommended against further action. In a July 21 letter to lawmakers, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote that the Justice Department has accepted Ms. Dannehy’s recommendation. There is “insufficient evidence to show that any witness made prosecutable false statements . . . or corruptly endeavored to impede a congressional inquiry,” the letter concluded.
If Mr. Gonzales and other Bush officials did not break the law, they also did not comport themselves in a manner worthy of the nation’s top law enforcement officers. The Justice Department letter cited the firing of U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias of New Mexico as Exhibit A.
Then-Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) had called Mr. Iglesias to inquire about the apparent lack of progress on voter fraud investigations of Democrats. Mr. Domenici also complained to the White House and the Justice Department about Mr. Iglesias. Ms. Dannehy concluded that criminal charges were unwarranted because there had been no overt or documented attempt to influence the voter fraud case — only an attempt to kick Mr. Iglesias out of the job. And that didn’t happen until after the election in question was over.
But the letter noted that the Bush administration booted Mr. Iglesias in December 2006 even though “DOJ leadership never determined whether the complaints about Mr. Iglesias were legitimate.” This failure “bespeaks undue sensitivity to politics on the part of DOJ officials who should answer not to partisan politics but to principles of fairness and justice.”
U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president and may be removed at any time, for almost any reason. But such removals should not be based on the unproven assertions of a perturbed political ally. Mr. Gonzales, who had let his cronies drive the removals, showed poor judgment and no backbone by allowing this process to run amok.
- washingtonpost -
U.s. news | national news - abc news, Abc news reports on united states politics, crime, education, legal stories, celebrities, weather, the economy and more. Watergate scandal - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, The watergate scandal was a political scandal that occurred in the united states in the 1970s as a result of the june 17, 1972, break-in at the democratic national. Eliot spitzer - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Eliot laurence spitzer (born june 10, 1959) is an american lawyer, political commentator, and former democratic party politician. he served as the 54th governor of.
Cnn video - breaking news videos from cnn.com, Get unlimited access to live cnn tv and hln tv on your computer or on the cnn apps for iphone® and ipad®.. Topic galleries -- courant.com - hartford courant - connecticut, Topic galleries provide easy access to stories and photos about people, places, organizations, events and subjects of interest to you. they bring together rich. Abuse tracker: january 2013 archives - bishopaccountability.org, Los angeles (ca) los angeles times. a trove of confidential church files detailing how the los angeles archdiocese dealt with priests accused of molestation must be.
Second mile sandusky sex scandal, Joe paterno and the sandusky scandal. the freeh report demolished, ncaa sanctions attacked, joe paterno unfairly maligned,. Arizona ag tom horne's sex scandal scuttles gubernatorial bid, Picture elmer fudd as the lead in oliver stone's nixon, and you've got arizona attorney general tom horne in a nutshell. truly, the fbi's massive, 3,000-plus page. Mediagazer, Mediagazer presents the day's must-read media news on a single page..
Posted on July 23, 2010