Documents Reveal Personal Side of Showdown With U.S. Attorneys
"I have expended an enormous amount of effort trying to contain this situation," Chiara wrote to McNulty. She later expressed her feelings of betrayal that she had been lumped in with the other U.S. attorneys as a poor performer. "Know that I am considered," said Chiara, "as a personification of ethics and productivity." She said the "notoriety of being one of the USA-8" coupled, she said, "with my age being constantly cited in the press" was becoming a "formidable obstacle to securing employment."
Perhaps the most damaging series of E-mails was exchanged regarding the removal of the U.S. attorney from Arkansas, Bud Cummins, who made way for a former adviser to Karl Rove, Tim Griffin, who had also worked for the Republican National Committee.
On February 1, department officials began preparing to respond to what was sure to be a great political drama: the testimony before Congress by some of the fired U.S. attorneys. Elston sent an E-mail to McNulty, Sampson, and other senior department officials that Cummins had called Elston to let him know that he had been asked to testify and "wanted to know if we wanted him to testify." Sampson sent back an anxiety-ridden E-mail almost immediately, with a series of rhetorical questions.
"I don't think he should," an alarmed Sampson responded. "How would he answer:"
"Did you resign voluntarily?"
"Were you told why you were being asked to resign?"
"Who told you?"
"When did they tell you?"
"What did they say?"
"Did you ever talk to Tim Griffin about his becoming U.S. Attorney?"
"What did Griffin say?"
"Did Griffin ever talk about being AG appointed and avoiding Senate confirmation?"
"Were you asked to resign because you were underperforming?"
"If not, then why?"
"Etc., etc."
The Cummins dismissal would continue to become a thorn in the Justice Department's side, as reporters and Democrats in Congress continued to chew over the irresistible Rove connections. The Cummins firing would also lead to a rift between Gonzales and McNulty, who was trotted out February 6–seemingly well prepped–to offer congressional testimony.
McNulty acknowledged that Cummins had been fired to make way for Griffin but said the firings of the other prosecutors were related to their poor performance. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, had this interchange with McNulty:
Schumer: "First, Bud Cummins has said that he was told he had done nothing wrong and he was simply being asked to resign to let someone else have the job. Does he have it right?"
McNulty: "I'll accept that as being accurate, as best I know the facts."
Schumer: "So, in other words, Bud Cummins was fired for no reason. There was no cause."
McNulty: "No cause provided in his case, as I am aware of it."
Schumer: "None at all. And was there anything materially negative in his evaluations, in his EARS reports or anything like that? From the reports that everyone has received, he had done an outstanding job and had gotten good evaluations. Do you believe that to be true?"
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