Entries for March 20, 2007

Here are excerpts from an exchange released in yesterday's documents with some interesting exchanges regarding Margaret M. Chiara, the former U.S. attorney in Michigan.

From: Margaret M. Chiara

Sent: February 1, 2007

To: Paul McNulty [deputy attorney general]

Cc: Michael Elston [McNulty's chief of staff]

"Everyone who knows about my required resignation, ( primarily our USA colleagues and people who are providing references ), is astonished that I am being asked to leave. Now that it has been widely reported that departing USAs have either failed to meet performance expectations or that they acted independently rather than follow DOJ/EOUSA [Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys] directives, the situation is so much worse. You know that I am in neither category. This makes me so sad. Why have I been asked to resign? The real reason, especially if true, would be a lot easier to live with."
(Doc. 1-6, pg. 21)

In his letter to members of Congress offering the Judiciary committees the right to interview Harriet Miers and Karl Rove, White House counsel Fred Fielding wrote that the interviews may cover "and would be limited to, the subject of (a) communications between the White House and persons outside the White House concerning the request for resignations of the U.S. Attorneys in question; and (b) communications between the White House and Members of Congress concerning those requests."

Read the letter here.

As currently drafted, the proposal limits the discussion to the resignations issue. Discussion about, say, communications about replacing fired U.S. attorneys would apparently be off limits.

That may be of concern to lawmakers who wish, for instance, to query Rove and Miers about their participation in the naming of Rove's onetime colleague, Tim Griffin, as U.S. attorney in Arkansas.

--Kent Allen

In an E-mail released Monday from Kyle Sampson to senior Justice Department officials dated Feb. 1, 2007, the then chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales expressed worry about the possible questions a member of Congress might pose to recently fired U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins of Arkansas. Sampson appeared to be concerned that Tim Griffin, who was named to replace Cummins as federal prosecutor, may have mentioned to Cummins that, under new provisions of the Patriot Act, he might avoid Senate confirmation.

In the E-mail to colleagues, Sampson wondered whether a senator might ask Cummins the following question:

"Did Griffin ever talk about being AG appointed and avoiding Senate confirmation?"

The hypothetical question suggests that Griffin had been told -- when and by whom is unclear -- that there was consideration of naming him not subject to Senate confirmation.

About six weeks before Sampson's E-mail, Gonzales had assured Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas that the Justice Department would seek confirmation of Griffin via the Senate. (Subsequently, Griffin announced he would not have his name submitted and would instead serve as interim U.S. attorney until a successor is confirmed.) Last week, after the publication of a first batch of Sampson E-mails from last summer and fall in which he suggested the government might stall the Senate nomination process, Gonzales said he had been unfamiliar with Sampson's E-mail correspondence.

While it remains uncertain how seriously Gonzales pondered using the Patriot Act provision and bypassing the Senate, it's clear that Gonzales's chief of staff had considered proceeding that way and that he had reason to believe that the possibility had been discussed with the nominee himself.

Our library staff here at U.S. News is knee-deep in the 3,000 pages of documents released by the Justice Department Monday evening. We'll be putting up gems throughout the day as we find them. In the meantime, here's the E-mail we reported on last night indicating Alberto Gonzales's displeasure with his deputy's testimony.

Chief legal affairs correspondent Chitra Ragavan has the story on how Gonzales will weather the storm as details from the documents emerge.

From Whispers Editor Paul Bedard:

Now is about the time that Alberto Gonzales might be wishing he'd spent a little more time at the Capitol. Senate Republican support for the embattled attorney general is sinking, and officials close to Senate leadership today said they expect the Bush ally to be out of a job by early April after the White House stages a short fight to keep him.

"It's a macho issue, a manhood issue," said one top GOP congressional aide. Another official gave Gonzales a shorter lead, guessing "in two weeks, maybe three on the outside."

Senate aides note that the relationship between Congress and the Justice Department was already strained over the surprise raid on Democratic Rep. William Jefferson's office last year during a corruption probe, an offense that has not gone overlooked as more on the Hill start calling for Gonzales's head.

Meanwhile, two Republican congressional aides today said that the White House and Justice Department were supposed to release the 3,000 pages of documents related to the prosecutor firing controversy on Friday, but a "technical glitch" caused a delay until Monday. The administration had hoped to make the document drop late Friday, allowing the story to burn out during the weekend's news abyss.

"It's just another sign of incompetence," said a key aide.

"The Clinton White House is the model and it's what we urged and they promised," said another GOP official close to the White House. "Instead they claim a technical glitch stopped that and now what we've got is the week starting on a bad note and Democrats feasting on these documents," said the official.

Joe Biden is in Carson City, Nev., today to meet with the Nevada AFL-CIO and speak at the local Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner.

Hillary Rodham Clinton holds a "kickoff" event in Washington, D.C., hosted by her husband.

John Edwards campaigns and raises funds in Iowa.

John McCain addresses the Alabama legislature today, then heads to Florida for a private fundraiser.

• The Justice Department released 3,000 pages of documents late Monday night in an ongoing investigation of why eight U.S. attorneys were abruptly fired last year. The documents are available here, on the House Judiciary website.

  As the News Desk reported Monday night, particularly worrisome for some at Justice is an e-mail relaying Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' concern over the testimony of Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. Now Gonzales' hold on his job appears to be weakening, the AP reports.

  The News Desk will be sorting through the e-mails throughout the day and posting the most interesting content.

• Russia has given Iran an ultimatum: Stop uranium enrichment, or we'll cut off your nuclear fuel.

• Some houses in Detroit are now selling for less than the price of a new car.

• Saddam Hussein's vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, was hanged this morning at dawn in Iraq.