McKay says "sinister" call aimed at keeping him quiet (from Elston)

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

Gene Johnson

The Associated Press

A top Justice Department official tried to win the silence of fired Seattle U.S. Attorney John McKay during a "sinister" phone call in January, McKay said in response to written questions from the House Judiciary Committee.

McKay's answers — along with those of other U.S. attorneys fired during a controversial purge in December — were posted on the committee's Web site today to supplement their testimony in March.

McKay and six other prosecutors were ordered to resign Dec. 7; he announced the following week that he would be resigning to pursue other opportunities, but kept mum that he had been fired.

In response to a question asking him to enumerate conversations with Justice officials after he was ordered to resign, McKay said he received a call from Michael Elston, the chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General


Read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003690602_webmckay02m.html

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Questions and Answers from U.S. Attorneys
Q & A from Committee for John McKay

Q & A from Committee for Carol Lam

Q & A from Committee for Bud Cummins

Q & A from Committee for David Iglesias

Iglesias Supplement

Q & A from Committee for Paul K. Charlton

Charlton Supplement 1

Charlton Supplement 2

Q & A from Committee for Daniel Bogden

Bogden Supplement 1

Bogden Supplement 2

Bogden Supplement 3



http://judiciary.house.gov/Printshop.aspx?Section=534

[maddezmom]

1. Cummins: White House behind replacement plan

Cummins: White House behind replacement plan
Thursday, May 3, 2007

By Aaron Sadler
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - The former U.S. attorney in Little Rock said he was told by a top Justice Department official that the White House was responsible for his ouster and for a plan to bypass Senate confirmation for his replacement.

In a document made public on Wednesday, H.E. "Bud" Cummins III said he suggested the Justice Department "had better gag" his successor, Tim Griffin.

He said Griffin told many people that he could stay in the chief prosecutor job without Senate confirmation, even as Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was assuring senators on Capitol Hill that they would have a voice.

Cummins testified at a hearing March 6 before the House Judiciary Committee. Afterward, the committee asked him to answer written follow-up questions. His answers were made public on Wednesday.

The former prosecutor said Justice Department official Michael Battle told him it was the White House's plan to replace him with Griffin, a former aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove.

more:http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2007/05/03/WashingtonDCBureau/341913.html

[maddezmom]

2. Lam defends her performance as a U.S. attorney

Lam defends her performance as a U.S. attorney
Statements by her and several others show they are increasingly convinced politics were behind their firings.
By Richard A. Serrano, Times Staff Writer
May 3, 2007

WASHINGTON — In a strongly worded defense of her four-year tenure as U.S. attorney in San Diego, Carol C. Lam told congressional investigators that she was constantly given conflicting instructions from Washington and was expected to bring more prosecutions with fewer resources.

According to written statements released Wednesday — her first public comments since testifying two months ago about her firing — Lam also said she was given just weeks to clear out of her office and was informed by Justice Department officials that her ouster was "coming from the very highest levels of the government."

And, she said, Washington wanted her to pretend as though it was her decision to leave office. When Michael A. Battle, then a Justice Department supervisor for U.S. attorneys, called her in December to tell her she was being terminated, she said, "He advised me to simply say publicly that I had decided to pursue other opportunities."

Lam's statements, and those of five other fired federal prosecutors, are contained in written responses to the House Judiciary Committee, which is pursuing allegations that the terminations were politically motivated.

more:http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-testimony3may03,0,5926250.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[radfringe]

3. Senate panel subpoenas Rove e-mails

Senate panel subpoenas Rove e-mails
By TIMES WIRES
Published May 3, 2007
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/05/03/Worldandnation/Senate_panel_subpoena.shtml

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on Wednesday subpoenaed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to turn over all e-mails to or from White House political adviser Karl Rove in connection with the controversy over the firings last year of eight U.S. attorneys.

The subpoena suggests that the congressional inquiry is focusing on Rove and whether he shaped the firings and hirings of U.S. attorneys and whether the purge was influenced by GOP concerns about corruption inquiries and investigations of voter fraud in battleground states during the last election.

The White House also has instructed the Republican National Committee not to give Congress any Rove e-mails unless cleared by the White House.

Also Wednesday, the Justice Department said it is investigating whether its former White House liaison, Monica Goodling, used political affiliation in deciding whom to hire as entry-level prosecutors around the country. Such consideration would be a violation of federal law.

------

MORE........

Rove e-mails subpoenaed
By Klaus Marre
THE HILL | May 03, 2007
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/rove-e-mails-subpoenaed-2007-05-02.html

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) issued a subpoena yesterday to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for all e-mails from White House adviser Karl Rove that relate to the 2006 firings of eight U.S. attorneys.

In a letter to Gonzales, Leahy also harshly criticized the Department of Justice (DoJ) for not being responsive to congressional requests for information.

“I continue to hope that the Department will cooperate with the Committee’s investigation, but it is troubling that significant documents highly relevant to the Committee’s inquiry have not been produced,” Leahy said.

The subpoena requires Gonzales to appear before the committee on May 15 and to provide “all e-mails and attachments to e-mails to, from, or copied to Karl Rove related to the Committee’s investigation into the preservation of prosecutorial independence and the Department of Justice’s politicization of the hiring and firing and decision-making of United States Attorneys.”

[xchrom]

4. i'm guessing before this is over --

we'll hear about more heavy handed phone calls.

this is about the 08 and the election and setting up prosecutors who would go after dems.

i'd love to see it exposed just that way.

[maddezmom]

5. thugs

plain and simple

[xchrom]

7. never forget -- permanent republican majority.

what won't you do if that's your goal?

[annabanana]

6. In a just and honest atmosphere... this news should be PAGE ONE

In every major paper in the Country and the LEAD STORY in every newscast, Nationwide.

k&r!

[salin]

8. I am glad this story keeps dripping out -

as many in the public who were barely paying attention and might have bought the "all presidents fire USAs" line - keep having to see/hear a bit more and a bit more -til it starts to penetrate the public psyche - that this is NOT like other administrations -and that something is/was really wrong over at the DOJ.

[MagickMuffin]

9. Off to the Greatest:

"My handwritten and dated notes of this call reflect that I believed Mr. Elston's tone was sinister and that he was prepared to threaten me further if he concluded I did not intend to continue to remain silent about my dismissal."

Elston's attorney, Bob Driscoll, said, "There certainly was no intention to threaten anybody."

But two other fired U.S. attorneys wrote to the committee that they received calls from Elston admonishing them to keep quiet, and a fourth, Bud Cummins in Little Rock, Ark., made a similar accusation in an e-mail released in March.


Oops, four people claim threatening calls. Oh well, I'm sure they were all just imaging they received the calls in the first place.

[maddezmom]

10. Bogden a pawn? Maybe, he says

No 'believable explanation' offered for his ouster
By Lisa Mascaro
Las Vegas Sun


WASHINGTON - Fired U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden has told a House committee that he cannot rule out that his dismissal was part of an effort to politicize the Justice Department, according to documents released Wednesday.

The comments are the strongest to date by Bogden, who has been reluctant to speculate about why he was among eight attorneys fired by the Justice Department last year. The growing controversy threatens Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' job.

In a written response to questions posed by a House Judiciary subcommittee, Bogden said Gonzales and top Justice officials have provided "no reasonable, believable explanation" for his firing and "only offered a number of contradictions."

"As such, I am unable to rule out the possibility that ¦ my resignation may have been due, in part, to an effort to politicize the Department of Justice."

more:http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-other/2007/may/03/566669998.html