Utahn may be charged in U.S. attorneys' firings
In response to the probe, current Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey appointed a special prosecutor on Monday to pursue possible criminal charges against those involved in the firings and subsequent deception.
"The Justice Department has an obligation to the American people to pursue this case wherever the facts and the law require," Mukasey said. He appointed Nora Dannehey, a career prosecutor, to direct the new investigation.
In 2006, the Bush administration forced nine U.S. attorneys to resign. Almost immediately, questions arose about why they were dismissed, including whether it was intended to influence some prosecutions they oversaw. It created a scandal that would lead, in part, to the resignation of Gonzales.
The Justice Department's inspector general and Office of Professional Responsibility on Monday released results of their joint investigation into the matter.
While it said presidential appointees can be removed for any reason, or even no reason, "Department officials publicly justified the removals as result of an evaluation that sought to replace underperforming U.S. attorneys."
It added, "Sampson did not adequately consult with the department officials most knowledgeable about their performance, or even examine formal evaluations of each U.S. Attorney's Office, despite his representations to the contrary."
"It is mystifying and disappointing that the inspector general chose to impugn Mr. Sampson's candor and integrity," said his attorney, Bradford Berenson. Sampson "at all times cooperated fully and voluntarily with any and all investigators, without preconditions, and provided his best, most honest and complete recollection of these events," he lawyer said.
The probe said the removed U.S. attorneys were not given an opportunity to address concerns about their performance, nor were they provided the reasons for their removal.
"And to make matters worse, after the removals became public, the statements and congressional testimony provided by the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, Sampson and other department officials about the reasons for the removals were inconsistent, misleading and inaccurate," the report said.
It added that the political reasons for removing the U.S. attorneys in various states ranged from trying to make room for political friends of the administration to removing some attorneys because of complaints about them by Republican politicians.
Recent comments
Surprising that you are willing to say again that he was caught in…
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So, if I am following you right, if I knew Sampson personally, I…
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