Justice Department expands internal investigation of U.S. Attorney firings expanded to include hiring practices
It's not just the firings of the U.S. Attorneys that demands further inquiry at the Department of Justice. For that controversy, CREW wants a special prosecutor. No, it's not just the firings, it's the hirings, too. The internal investigations over the firings has been expanded to review hiring irregularities:
"We have expanded the scope of our investigation to include allegations regarding improper political or other considerations in hiring decisions within the Department of Justice," Inspector General Glenn A. Fine and H. Marshall Jarrett, head of the Office of Professional Responsibility, wrote in joint letters to the House and Senate Judiciary committees.
The widening inquiry is likely to pose an additional challenge for Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, who is already facing lawmakers' calls for his resignation and a potential no-confidence vote by the Senate. While the U.S. attorney dismissals have prompted wide political criticism, improper hiring practices could be deemed a violation of the law.
Justice officials had previously disclosed that Fine and Jarrett's investigation would include hiring decisions made by Monica M. Goodling, a former Gonzales aide who confirmed last week in Senate testimony that she "crossed the line" in considering political affiliation when hiring career prosecutors and immigration judges.
Federal law and internal Justice Department rules bar taking such affiliations into account in hiring career personnel, the Justice Department has said. Yesterday's letter revealed that the internal inquiry will examine the hiring practices of Justice officials besides Goodling and outside the attorney general's office.
The expansion comes in the wake of claims by former Justice officials that selections by the Attorney General's Honors Program and the department's Summer Law Intern Program were rigged in favor of candidates with connections to conservative or Republican groups. In response, the department this spring agreed to place them back under the control of career officials.
last ditch stand
Could be that the fall of Gonzales means the fall of Bush.
DOJ Investigation
A couple of items - DOJ should include in its investigation the items that were not proscuted i.e
ex Rep Charles Taylor
The mess with David Stockman and his equity company
The so called private equity firms that are looting american businesses
It ought to be clear by now that ordinary folks dont stand a chance in the Federal arena.
The people who count are connected congressmen, second rate jackleg preachers who can deliver votes and cash, and corporate donors who can contribute lots of cash.
Special Prosecutor will have a big job.
This is needed. Besides the issues given above, there is the question of whether the other US Attorneys kept their positions because they used their offices politically in accordance with the wishes of their masters.
Some of these same US Attorneys may be in charge of investigations and potential investigations against corrupt Republican officeholders, and so it will be beneficial to have some outside authority seconding these efforts.
The Jack Abramoff affair is largely responsible for leading to present investigations and his testimony will hang scores. If extraordinary precautions to insure his safety have not been undertaken, perhaps Alberto Gonzales could be induced to provide this, but perhaps not.
In short, there are a lot of things wrong with today's Justice Department that a Special Prosecutor could mend.
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Re: Expanded USDOJ OPR/IG Internal Investigation
Instead of focusing solely on hiring illegalities, the investigation should also address White House interference/obstruction regarding public corruption investigation/prosecution decisions.
USA Eubanks stated that she was told to get her tobacco witness case witnesses to "change their testimony." She said there was "daily" interference from the White House. That's obstruction, folks, but where is the investigation?
Last March, Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) demanded immediate answers from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales regarding a National Journal article that reveals Gonzales worked to block an internal U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation of the National Security Agency (NSA) warrantless surveillance program after learning he would be a major subject of the investigation. According to the report, after finding out that the OPR investigation, which Hinchey and three of his House colleagues requested, would focus on his role in approving and implementing the NSA warrantless surveillance program as White House counsel and then attorney general, Gonzales advised Bush on shutting down the DOJ probe.
In particular, the OPR investigation was going to examine how two senior DOJ lawyers had repeatedly warned Gonzales that the NSA program was not legal. After meeting with Gonzales to discuss the matter, Bush, in a highly unusual move, blocked the security clearances that OPR investigators needed to conduct the internal probe. It remains unknown whether Bush knew at the time he denied the security clearances that Gonzales was going to be a focus of the OPR probe or whether Gonzales concealed the fact that he would be under investigation but worked to convince Bush to shut down the probe anyway.
"The severity of this situation cannot be overstated. This article makes it clear that Attorney General Gonzales acted to save himself from an internal Justice Department investigation by having President Bush shut it down," Hinchey said. "We are talking about some very serious ethical and quite possibly criminal violations committed by Attorney General Gonzales and maybe President Bush if he was aware of OPR's intentions when he blocked that investigation. This country cannot tolerate anyone, let alone its top law enforcement official, operating above the law. Attorney General Gonzales and President Bush must step forward and explain their actions here."
The USDOJ OPR answers to AG Gonzales. Even if he has recused himself in this matter, internal investigators aren't going to sacrifice their careers ( because there are always pay-backs ) by going after the boss or the President. Look what they have done in the past.
Last September, a group of former Florida DMV Hearing Officers presented a public corruption complaint to former FL Gov. Jeb Bush. The State refused to refer the complaint over to FDLE for a criminal investigation. US Senator Bill Nelson sent the complaint to the FBI. The FBI asked the USDOJ for permission to investigate as per policy.
For the past 8 months, the complaint has been sitting on USA Miller's desk. This is the same USA Miller that was mysteriously taken off 3 USA termination lists last November at the same time he was reviewing the corruption complaint against the President's brother with USDOJ Main Justice. The evidence that was presented served as a basis for the new FL Cabinet to fire the FL DHSMV director. Yet, the USDOJ still won't give the FBI permission to investigate the President's brother.
American needs to be screaming for a special prosecutor! There doesn't appear to be much justice left in the Justice Department.