Why were attorneys fired from the Department of Justice?
On March 10, 2017, Jeff Sessions, who was appointed United States Attorney General by President Donald Trump, requested the resignations of 46 United States Attorneys. Some resignations were declined by Sessions or Trump. Media outlets described Sessions' move as abrupt and unexpected but not unprecedented. It is typical that when a new president enters …
Were eight attorneys fired by the Bush administration being forced to resign?
May 14, 2007: Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty announced his resignation, to be effective in late summer 2007. He is the fourth and highest ranking Department of Justice Official to resign during the controversy, following Michael Battle, Kyle Sampson and Monica Goodling.
Where can I find out about the firings of US Attorneys?
This article about dismissed U.S. attorneys summarizes the circumstances surrounding a number of U.S. attorneys dismissed from office in the United States Department of Justice in 2006. Eight were dismissed In December 2006, and others may have been forced out of office under similar circumstances in 2005 and 2006. The manner of the firings, the congressional response to …
Did Jeff Sessions request the resignations of 46 US Attorneys?
Mar 07, 2007 · Though Attorney General Alberto Gonzales insisted to Congress that "I would never, ever make a change in a U.S. attorney position for political reasons," critics were outraged at the December...
How many US attorneys did bush fire?
On December 7, 2006, the George W. Bush Administration's Department of Justice ordered the unprecedented midterm dismissal of seven United States attorneys. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the White House were using the U.S. Attorney positions for political advantage.
Who was George W Bush's attorney general?
Alberto GonzalesOfficial portrait, 200580th United States Attorney GeneralIn office February 3, 2005 – September 17, 2007PresidentGeorge W. Bush31 more rows
Who preceded William Barr?
William BarrPresidentDonald TrumpDeputyRod Rosenstein Ed O'Callaghan (acting) Jeffrey A. RosenPreceded byJeff SessionsSucceeded byMerrick Garland30 more rows
What did George W. Bush do in his presidency?
Before 9/11, Bush had pushed through a $1.3 trillion tax cut program and the No Child Left Behind Act, a major education bill. He also pushed for socially conservative efforts, such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and faith-based welfare initiatives.
Resignations and dismissals
President Donald Trump declined to accept the resignations of Dana Boente (left) and Rod Rosenstein (right).
Reactions
Initial media reports described Sessions' move as abrupt and unexpected, but not unprecedented. Slate 's Leon Neyfakh accused media outlets of sensationalizing Sessions' actions, which he said were "nothing particularly unusual or surprising", and noted the mass firings of U.S. attorneys accompanying each presidential transition.
Who resigned from the White House?
Officials who resigned. Alberto Gonzales, United States Attorney General, former White House Counsel. Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to the Attorney General. Michael A. Battle, Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. Michael Elston, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General.
When did Gonzales resign?
August 27, 2007: Gonzales announces his resignation, to be effective September 17, 2007, at a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington. Administration officials disclose that Solicitor General Paul Clement is to become Acting Attorney General.
What did Sampson write to Harriet Miers?
January 2006: Sampson wrote in January 2006 to White House Counsel Harriet Miers that he recommended that the Department of Justice and the Office of the Counsel to the President work together to seek the replacement of a limited number of U.S. attorneys , as well as that by limiting the number of attorneys "targeted for removal and replacement" it would "mitigat [e] the shock to the system that would result from an across-the-board firing."
When was the Rove subpoena issued?
May 2, 2007: the Senate Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena to Attorney General Gonzales compelling the Department of Justice to produce all emails from Rove regarding evaluation and dismissal of attorneys that was sent to DOJ staffers, no matter what email account Rove may have used, whether White House, Republican Party, or other accounts, with a deadline of May 15, 2007 for compliance. The subpoena also demanded relevant email previously produced in the Valarie Plame controversy and investigation for the CIA leak scandal.
When was the Talking Points Memo removed?
January 30, 2008: John Conyers issues a request for information to Attorney General Mukasey in advance of a February 7, 2008 House Judiciary Committee hearing with the Attorney General, about the removal of a press outlet Talking Points Memo (TPM) from the DOJ Office of Public affairs press release distribution list about October 10, 2007. TPM had been a leading press investigator and was early to publicize many aspects of the attorney dismissal controversy. DOJ Press Assistant Jamie Hais, in the Office of Public Affairs had earlier replied to TPM's inquiry about being re-instated "As you may realize we have a lot of requests to be put on our media lists and we simply are not able to put everyone on the list."
What was the Bush administration's wiretap program?
March 2004: Confrontation over the Bush Administration 's warrantless wiretap program undermines the trust of senior Department of Justice (DOJ) staff in White House officials, and promotes turnover of senior DOJ officers over the next two years. In early March, Deputy Attorney General James Comey is advised by Jack Goldsmith (the then recently appointed head of the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel) that there is no legal basis authorizing the form of the program as it was then structured and operated. Comey briefs John Ashcroft, who hours later falls critically ill with pancreatitis, and delegates operational authority as Attorney General to Comey. On March 10, 2004, then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card, White House chief of staff visited Ashcroft at the hospital, where Ashcroft declined again to re-approve the secret program, while indicating that Comey is the presently acting Attorney General. Comey reaffirmed his rejection of the program as acting attorney general. Comey and as many as 30 senior DOJ staff were ready to resign over the issue if the President continued to carry out the program in unmodified form, and in protest over the attempt to sidestep Comey and obtain approval from the critically ill Ashcroft. The program is modified via negotiations between the President's staff and senior DOJ staff over the next several weeks.
When did John Ashcroft resign?
November 2, 2004: On the day of the presidential election, John Ashcroft submits his resignation from the post of Attorney General, marking the conclusion of a tumultuous term in office. The White House announces acceptance of the resignation a week later, on November 9, 2009, along with that of Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans. Ashcroft states in the resignation his willingness to serve until a successor is nominated and confirmed. He is the first cabinet-level officer to resign from the George W. Bush administration. It was reported that the White House had indicated to Ashcroft that his resignation would be expected. Ashcroft would remain in office until Alberto Gonzales took the oath of office on February 3, 2005, after his confirmation by the Senate.
Who was the attorney who was dismissed?
The best known of the dismissed U.S. attorneys was Carol Lam, who had successfully prosecuted then Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham for corruption. On May 11, 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that her investigation had expanded to investigate Jerry Lewis, then chair of the House Appropriations Committee. On May 10, 2006, Lam had also notified the Justice Department that she intended to execute search warrants on a high-ranking CIA official. On May 11, Kyle Sampson urged the White House counsel's office to call him regarding "the real problem we have right now with Carol Lam." She continued to work as the events unfolded and ordered her staff to finish with the indictments they were working on before her last day in office. In February 2007, two days before her last, her office indicted Dusty Foggo, the former Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and a major campaign contributor Brent R. Wilkes (who was previously named on Cunningham's guilty plea).
Who was the Missouri governor who was fired?
He was fired in December 2006 and replaced with Timothy Griffin, a controversial former Karl Rove aide.
Why was Kevin Ryan fired?
The Los Angeles Times reported on March 22, 2007, that Kevin Ryan was a loyal Bush supporter and that the only reason the DOJ fired him was because his poor performance could cause a public relations problem. The Times reported that Ryan's problems in office were "well documented in legal newspapers" but that "Justice officials wanted to keep Ryan on, even as they plotted the firings of other U.S. attorneys." The article goes on to state that it was only after a judge threatened to report this information to Congress publicly that Ryan was put on the list to be fired.
Who resigned from the White House?
Officials who resigned. Alberto Gonzales, United States Attorney General, former White House Counsel. Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to the Attorney General. Michael A. Battle, Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. Michael Elston, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General.
Who was dismissed in 2006?
Subsequent disclosures showed that two additional attorneys, Bud Cummins and Todd Graves, may have been dismissed under similar circumstances earlier in 2006. Bud Cummins is frequently associated with those dismissed on December 7 because he announced his resignation in mid-December, effective December 20, 2006.
Who was the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee?
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., issued subpoenas on March 1 requiring Iglesias, among other recently ousted U.S. attorneys, to testify before Congress about their firings. Then on March 21, Iglesias wrote an opinion piece that was published in The New York Times.
Who was Paul Charlton?
Charlton ranked in the top third among the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys in contributing to an overall 106,188 federal prosecutions filed in 2006; scored in the top third in number of convictions; oversaw a district in the top five highest in number of immigration-related prosecutions; ranked among the top 20 offices for drug prosecutions; and, unlike in the other seven cases, ranked high in weapons cases, prosecuting 199 of the United States' 9,313 such cases in 2006, the tenth-highest in the country and up fourfold from 2002.
Issues in Brief
By tradition, all U.S. Attorneys are asked to resign at the start of a new administration. The new President may elect to keep or remove any U.S. Attorney. They are traditionally replaced collectively only at the start of a new White House administration. U.S. Attorneys hold a political office, in which the President nomi…
Fallout
- By April 2007, there was some speculation that the dismissal of the US attorneys might affect cases of public corruption and voter fraud. According to the National Law Journal, By mid-September 2007, nine senior staff of the Department of Justice associated with the controversy had resigned.The most prominent resignations include: 1. 1.1. Attorney General Alberto Gonzale…
Replacement of The U.S. Attorneys
- Initial planning
On January 6, 2005, Colin Newman, an assistant in the White House counsels office, wrote to David Leitch stating, "Karl Rovestopped by to ask you (roughly quoting) 'how we planned to proceed regarding U.S. Attorneys, whether we were going to allow all to stay, request resignation… - Implementation: The U.S. Attorney Removal List
In October 2006, George W. Bushtold Alberto Gonzales that he had received complaints that some of the U.S. Attorneys had not pursued certain voter-fraud investigations. The complaints came from Republican officials, who demanded fraud investigations into a number of Democratic cam…
Reactions and Congressional Investigation
- Initial reaction
The initial reaction was from the senators of the affected states. In a letter to Gonzales on January 9, 2007, Senators Feinstein (D, California) and Leahy (D, Vermont; Chair of the Committee) of the Senate Judiciary Committee expressed concern that the confirmation proces… - Contempt of Congress charges
On July 11, 2007, as Sara Taylor testified, George Manning, the attorney to former White House CounselHarriet Miers, announced that Miers intended to follow the request of the Bush Administration and not appear before the Committee the following day. Manning stated Miers "c…
Aftermath
- Subpoenas and lost emails
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel stated that some of the emails that had involved official correspondence relating to the firing of attorneys may have been lost because they were conducted on Republican party accounts and not stored properly. "Some official e-mails have po… - Appointment of U.S. Attorneys and the 2005 Patriot Act reauthorization
The President of the United States has the authority to appoint U.S. Attorneys, with the consent of the United States Senate, and the President may remove U.S. Attorneys from office. In the event of a vacancy, the United States Attorney General is authorized to appoint an interim U.S. Attorney. …
See Also
References and External Links
- Resignation letters and emails, and other related documents hosted by WSJ
- Taylor, Marissa; Margaret Talev (2007-06-18). "A Q&A for the U.S. Attorneys saga". McClatchy Washington Bureau. McClatchy Newspapers. Archived from the original on June 2, 2008. Retrieved 2007-06-20.
- The Washington Post in-depth coverage site on firings: "Special Reports: U.S. Attorney Firing…
- Resignation letters and emails, and other related documents hosted by WSJ
- Taylor, Marissa; Margaret Talev (2007-06-18). "A Q&A for the U.S. Attorneys saga". McClatchy Washington Bureau. McClatchy Newspapers. Archived from the original on June 2, 2008. Retrieved 2007-06-20.
- The Washington Post in-depth coverage site on firings: "Special Reports: U.S. Attorney Firings Investigation". The Washington Post. 2007-03-05. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
- Inside the U.S. Attorneys Emails: Major Players and Themes The Wall Street Journal(review of the most significant of the emails).
Popular Posts:
- 1. why would an attorney be suspended
- 2. when did brian laundrie get an attorney
- 3. how to set up power of attorney in virginia
- 4. individuals who can request advisory from indiana attorney general are
- 5. how to get power of attorney in ga to a mentally ill parent
- 6. how to sign loan documents as power of attorney
- 7. how to write a letter for a defense attorney for a character witness
- 8. why does attorney general barr want to reinstate death penalty
- 9. how to become parents power of attorney
- 10. power of attorney when someone is dying