The burgeoning controversy about the firing of eight U.S. attorneys has now, shamefully, reached the White House. Indeed, the president’s counsel was in the thick of it.
E-mails with Justice Department officials make it clear White House counsel Harriet Miers was intimately involved in the political shuffling, and she wasn’t alone.
It’s high time for those involved in this debacle to provide an honest explanation of an episode that looks like a political hit operation. The revelations have angered Democrats and Republicans alike.
It seems clear that some U.S. attorneys were pressured to prosecute political enemies and fired when they wouldn’t.
Federal prosecutors are supposed to enforce the nation’s laws, not do partisan dirty work. The e-mail disclosures lay bare the conniving of Justice Department officials who sought to bypass congressional scrutiny in naming replacements.
The fingerprints of White House political chief Karl Rove have appeared on the unwarranted dismissal of a U.S. attorney from Arkansas. “Getting [a favored successor] appointed was important to Harriet, Karl, etc.,” said one e-mail.
And Justice officials shared with the White House an elaborate five-step outline for firing seven U.S. attorneys last Dec. 7, a plan that won a White House go-ahead. E-mails confirmed the role of Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., in the firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias. The Washington Post quoted unnamed Justice officials on Tuesday as saying that Iglesias was put on a firing list based in part on complaints from Domenici. After the firing, a Miers’ aide wrote that Domenici’s chief of staff was “happy as a clam.”
It has all raised questions about the judgment of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who last week called the uproar an “overblown personnel matter.” Only when the maneuvering was traced to the White House did Gonzales, on Tuesday, say that “mistakes were made.” He accepted responsibility for how the firings were handled, a concession that was undermined by his insistence the firings were appropriate.
At the moment, much of the blame has fallen on Gonzales’ chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, who has resigned. Sampson contends he didn’t tell Gonzales about the extent of White House involvement in the issue and that’s why top Justice officials gave incomplete information to Congress. It’s one of several points that are hard to believe.
The Senate Judiciary Committee must press to determine how and why federal prosecutors were summarily purged. The credibility and objectivity of federal law enforcement is very much at risk.
