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DOJ Lists Documents Withheld From Congress    [

    Administration Considered Firing 12 US Attorneys But Cut List to 8
    By Ron Hutcheson
    McClatchy Newspapers

    Friday 27 April 2007

    Washington - Congressional sources who have seen unedited internal documents say the Bush administration considered firing at least a dozen U.S. attorneys before paring down its list to eight late last year.

    The four who escaped dismissal came from states considered political battlegrounds in the last presidential election: Missouri, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

    Two of the four said they resigned voluntarily before the mass firings of U.S. attorneys on Dec. 7. Two continue to serve as federal prosecutors.

    The latest revelation could provide new evidence to critics who contend that politics, not performance, played the determining role in the firings. The White House and the Justice Department have repeatedly denied that politics played any role.

    Congressional sources, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the information publicly, Friday confirmed two additional names to McClatchy Newspapers: U.S. Attorney Todd Graves of Kansas City, Mo., and U.S. Attorney Thomas Marino of Scranton, Pa. Graves resigned in March to return to private legal practice. Marino kept his job as the chief federal prosecutor in central and eastern Pennsylvania.

    McClatchy had previously identified two other prosecutors who dropped off the final "hit" list - former U.S. Attorney Thomas Heffelfinger of Minneapolis, Minn. and U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic of Milwaukee, Wisc. Heffelfinger resigned in February to go into private legal practice. Biskupic remains at his federal post in Wisconsin.

    The administration has declined to disclose the full list of U.S. attorneys who had been considered possible targets for dismissal, but redacted documents released by the administration to Congress left no doubt that other prosecutors had been targeted.

    The names of three possible targets were edited out of a January 9, 2006 internal Justice Department e-mail. But some congressional investigators were allowed to review unedited Department documents. It's not clear why any of the four prosecutors who dropped off the firings list were initially targeted or what led to their reprieve. Biskupic and Heffelfinger have said that they were unaware that they were at risk of losing their jobs.

    Graves and Marino did not respond to requests for comment Friday. The Justice Department had no immediate reaction.

    The eight fired prosecutors were: Daniel Bogden of Nevada, Paul Charlton of Arizona, Margaret Chiara of western Michigan, Bud Cummins of eastern Arkansas, David Iglesias of New Mexico, Carol Lam of southern California, Kevin Ryan of northern California and John McKay of Washington state.

    Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' former chief of staff and a central figure in the firings plan, has acknowledged that he raised the possibility of ousting U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago, Ill. Sampson said he mentioned the idea during a meeting but realized almost immediately that it would set off a firestorm of criticism.

    At the time, Fitzgerald was heading an investigation into the Bush administration's disclosure of CIA employee Valerie Plame's identity. The leak led Plame to quit her job with the spy agency, and to the conviction of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff.

 

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    DOJ Lists Documents Withheld From Congress in Attorney Probe
    By Lara Jakes Jordan
    The Associated Press

    Friday 27 April 2007

    Washington - The Justice Department released a list of internal documents Thursday focusing on lawmakers' concerns and media questions about the firings of eight federal prosecutors, but the department resisted congressional demands for copies of the memos.

    The list of 159 e-mails and memos, spanning nearly three months, at the least demonstrates concern about how the dismissals were being publicly received before they erupted into a firestorm that has resulted in calls for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign.

    The small pile of documents, sent to Capitol Hill on Thursday night, also included e-mails about articles published in The Washington Post and The New York Times that quoted unidentified Justice officials justifying the firings. A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said congressional investigators requested those two stories to determine who the unidentified officials were.

    The new documents were released on the eve of closed-door congressional testimony by Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. Documents listed as not being released were all authored by Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' former chief of staff, who resigned March 12 over the handling of the firings.

    The list briefly describes each document being withheld. It shows that many of the memos and e-mails involve internal discussions over conversations with lawmakers.

    "Request for information from Sen. Ensign re: dismissal of Bogden," reads the description of one, dated Dec. 8 - two days after Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel Bodgen and six other prosecutors were ordered to quit. "Discussion with Sen. Pryor staff re: ways a person can become a USA," reads another on Dec. 18. "USA" stands for U.S. attorney.

    The senators named in the e-mails are John Ensign, R-Nev., and Mark Pryor, D-Ark. Pryor had objected to the firing of U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins of Little Rock, who was replaced by Tim Griffin, a prot g of White House political adviser Karl Rove.

    Most of the e-mails on the list focused on media coverage of the firings.

    One, dated Jan. 13, is described as "Notifying FBI of Union-Tribune article re: Lam's resignation and FBI SAC D. Dzwilewski." Carol Lam was the U.S. attorney in San Diego, where Dan Dzwilewski is heading the FBI's local office until he resigned April 30.

    Sampson has acknowledged, under questioning by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that he complained to FBI headquarters about Dzwilewski's contention that Lam's firing was politically motivated.

    Sampson also wrote some of the e-mails, released in full, that discussed the stories in the Post and Times.

    "Great work Brian. Kudos to you and the DAG," Sampson wrote in a March 3 e-mail to several senior Justice officials, responding to a Post story that spokesman Brian Roehrkasse described as a "far better" account of the firings.

    The House Judiciary Committee has demanded the full text of all documents that had been partially or completely blacked out among nearly 6,000 pages of e-mails, calendar pages and memos released to Congress as it investigates whether the firings were politically motivated. The documents being sought include correspondence with lawmakers and journalists about the firing.

    More Justice documents are expected to be sent to Congress on Friday. Additional lists of documents that are being withheld, from other Justice staffers, will be released to Congress "on a rolling basis," Assistant Attorney General Richard Hertling told Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the two Democratic chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary committees investigating the firings.

    Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., who sits on the Senate panel, said the withheld documents "may contain very important answers. It's critical that we get them."