Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington - Justice Department

Trial of Doolittle's chief of staff for Abramoff-related crimes involves two top officials who worked at Dept. of Justice

crew — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:46:31 -0500

It seems with every new arrest and new trial, the Abramoff scandal expands. The upcoming trial of Kevin Ring brings us two top officials in the U.S. Department of Justice. It never ends:

Two former top Justice Department officials emerged Wednesday as figures in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal as prosecutors disclosed plans to turn over some of the officials' correspondence to defense attorneys preparing for trial in the case.

The officials are former Solicitor General Paul Clement and David Ayres, one-time chief of staff to former Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Clement and Ayres were among Justice Department officials in e-mail correspondence with Kevin Ring, a former team Abramoff lobbyist and Capitol Hill aide who's facing trial on 10 counts of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, bribery and fraud.

Ring is accused of trying to get lawmakers and government officials to help him and his clients by giving them gifts such as sports tickets and meals.

Clement and Ayres were referenced by title but not by name at a federal court hearing in Ring's case Wednesday.

New report says Senior Bush officials under investigation in US Attorneys scandal

crew — Fri, 8 Aug 2008 08:21:58 -0500

From investigative reporter Murray Waas:

The Justice Department investigation into the firings of nine U.S. attorneys has been extended to encompass allegations that senior White House officials played a role in providing false and misleading information to Congress, according to numerous sources involved in the inquiry.

The widened scope raises the possibility that investigators will pursue criminal charges against some administration officials, and recommend appointment of a special prosecutor if there is evidence of criminal misconduct.

The investigators have been specifically probing the role of White House officials in the drafting and approval of a Feb. 23, 2007 letter sent to Congress by the Justice Department denying that Karl Rove (President Bush's chief political adviser at the time) had anything to do with the firing of Bud Cummins, a U.S. Attorney from Arkansas. Cummins was fired in Dec. 2006 to make room for Tim Griffin, a protégé and former top aide of Rove's.

The February 23 letter stated, "The department is not aware of Karl Rove playing any role in the decision to appoint Mr. Griffin," and that the Justice Department was "not aware of anyone lobbying, either inside or outside of the administration, for Mr. Griffin's appointment."

Federal investigators have obtained documents showing that Kyle Sampson, then-chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and Chris Oprison, then an associate White House counsel, drafted and approved the letter even though they had first-hand knowledge that the assertions were not true. The Justice Department later had to repudiate the Sampson-Oprison letter and sent a new one informing Congress that it could no longer stand by the earlier assertions.

Justice Dept. subpoenas former top Justice Dept. officials to appear at federal grand jury

crew — Wed, 6 Aug 2008 16:23:07 -0500

Murray Waas broke this story today over at Huffington Post:

A federal grand jury has subpoenaed several former senior Justice Department attorneys for an investigation into the politicization of the Department's own Civil Rights Division, according to sources close to the investigation.

The extraordinary step by the Justice Department of subpoenaing attorneys once from within its own ranks was taken because several of them refused to voluntarily give interviews to the Department Inspector General, which has been conducting its own probe of the politicization of the Civil Rights Division, the same sources said.

The grand jury has been investigating allegations that a former senior Bush administration appointee in the Civil Rights Division, Bradley Schlozman, gave false or misleading testimony on a variety of topics to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sources close to the investigation say that the grand jury is also more broadly examining whether Schlozman and other Department officials violated civil service laws by screening Civil Rights attorneys for political affiliation while hiring them.

Investigators for the Inspector General have also asked whether Schlozman, while an interim U.S. attorney in Missouri, brought certain actions and even a voting fraud indictment for political ends, according to witnesses questioned by the investigators. But it is unclear whether the grand jury is going to hear testimony on that issue as well.

One person who has been subpoenaed before the grand jury, sources said, was Hans von Spakovsky, who as a former counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights was a top aide to Schlozman. An attempt to reach Spakovsky for comment for this story was unsuccessful.

Earlier this year, Spakovsky withdrew his name from nomination by President Bush to serve on the Federal Election Commission after repeatedly claiming a faulty memory or citing the attorney-client privilege to fend off questions from senators about allegedly using his position to restrict voting rights for minorities -- and that he hindered an investigation of Republican officeholders in Minnesota accused of discriminating against Native American voters.

CREW files bar complaints against DOJ officials Michael Elston and Esther Slater McDonald over illegal hiring practices

crew — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 15:31:48 -0500

Two weeks ago, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility released a report tiled "An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring in the Department of Justice Honors Program and Summer Law Intern Program" (DOJ Report). A pdf version of the DOJ Report can be found here. Release of this report generated widespread media coverage. The June 25, 2008 edition of the Los Angeles Times reported:

Scores of highly credentialed young lawyers and law students were denied interviews for coveted positions at the Justice Department because of an illegal screening process that took political and ideological views and affiliations into account rather than merit, Justice Department investigators concluded in a report released Tuesday.

Today, based on that report, CREW filed bar complaints against former Department of Justice officials Michael J. Elston and Esther Slater McDonald. Copies of the complaints can be found here.

According to the DOJ Report, Mr. Elston, formerly Chief of Staff and Counselor to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, and Ms. McDonald, formerly Counsel to Acting Associate Attorney General William Mercer, violated federal law and DOJ policy by making hiring decisions based on political and ideological affiliations. Both Ms. McDonald and Mr. Elston rejected applicants who they believed to be liberal or who had worked for Democrats.

Mr. Elston is a member of the Virginia, Kansas, Illinois and Missouri state bars and Ms. McDonald is a member of the District of Columbia and Virginia bars. CREW filed its complaints, with the DOJ Report attached, against Ms. McDonald in the District of Columbia and the complaint against Mr. Elston in Virginia, but sent copies to the other jurisdictions.

The Rules of Professional Conduct prohibit attorneys from engaging in conduct involving dishonesty and conduct that “seriously interferes with the administration of justice.” By illegally taking political and ideological affiliations into account in screening applicants for career DOJ position, Mr. Elston and Ms. McDonald may have violated bar rules could be subject to discipline.

After filing the bar complaints, CREW’s executive director Melanie Sloan said:

The Department of Justice’s mission is to 'ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans,' not just conservatives. Ironically, Elston and McDonald engaged in clearly illegal conduct while serving in the top echelon of the very agency charged with enforcing our nation’s laws; their respective bars’ disciplinary committees should take this into account. Ideology should never trump the rule of law, not even in the Bush administration.

Top DOJ officials "committed misconduct" by politicizing hiring process

crew — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:13:52 -0500

A new report documents the troubling -- and improper -- behavior of top officials in the U.S. Department of Justice:

Justice Department officials improperly used political and ideological factors to screen applicants for the agency's prestigious honors and summer intern programs, sometimes rejecting otherwise qualified candidates because of their ties to Democrats, internal auditors said in a report issued this morning.

The long awaited review faulted Bush administration officials for violating Justice Department policy and civil service rules beginning in 2002, when they tried to fill career posts with rookie lawyers whose political affiliations mirrored their own.

Investigators for the Justice Department's Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility, which oversees legal ethics, reviewed thousands of e-mail messages and conducted interviews with current and former officials, concluding that the hiring efforts "undermined confidence in the integrity of the department's hiring processes."

The report traced the problems back six years, to when Justice officials urged political appointees in the department's many divisions to take a more active role in hiring for the summer intern and honors programs. The activity flourished in 2002, dying down for a few years, before reviving in 2006, according to the investigative report.

Two members of the screening committee in 2006, Esther Slater McDonald, an adviser to the associate attorney general, and Michael J. Elston, chief of staff to the deputy attorney general, considered political and ideological factors when rejecting candidates "and thereby committed misconduct," the investigators said.

Dept. of Justice investigating "improper" use of staff and offices by members of Congress

crew — Tue, 6 May 2008 08:47:17 -0500

Over the weekend, we learned from the Washington Post that Laura Flores, a former Capito Hill staffer, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud. But, that's not all. Ms. Flores is cooperating with federal authorities looking into whether members of Congress use government resources for political campaigns and other personal purposes:

In the course of plea negotiations, however, Flores provided testimony and documents as part of a previously unreported Justice Department investigation into whether members of Congress used phones, supplies and staff time for campaign purposes, according to the source.

Investigators also are looking into whether members of Congress directed their staffs to perform personal errands on government time, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is at an early stage.

Congressional aides are prohibited from raising money or participating in campaign activities while on the government payroll, said election law expert Lawrence M. Noble. "It's a serious matter," he added.

The Politico has today's update:

The news was buried deep in a Page Two story in Saturday’s Washington Post, but it’s gotten the city’s lawyers chattering. The Department of Justice, according to a confidential source in the Post article, is investigating whether members of Congress have been improperly using staff and office resources.

The Justice Department declined to comment, but that hasn’t diminished the buzz on Capitol Hill. “Nobody’s heard anything,” said Andrew Herman, a congressional ethics attorney who by Monday morning had already fielded a number of calls from nervous lawyers. “There’s just concern that this could become another House banking investigation.”

If Justice is, in fact, looking into the way that members of Congress use taxpayer dollars, Herman said the concern might be justified. “I’m sure that there are certainly times that staff is used inappropriately. How could there not be?” he said, though he added that he had no specific examples of irregularities.

It’s unclear how serious the investigation is or whether there actually is an investigation.

Justice Dept. Inspector General is investigating whether Gonzales gave "false or misleading testimony to Congress"

crew — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:47:59 -0500

The Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Justice is still investigating outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales -- and the charges are very serious:

The Justice Department is investigating whether departing Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales gave false or misleading testimony to Congress on a broad range of issues, including the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program and the removal of nine U.S. attorneys last year, the lead investigator said today.

The disclosure by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine shows that internal investigations that began with the prosecutor firings have widened substantially to include a focus on Gonzales's actions and statements.

Capitol Hill Democrats will continue investigations of Justice Department

crew — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:04:39 -0500

Following the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, leading Congressional Democrats vowed to continue their investigations of the Justice Department and Gonzales:

Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill reacted swiftly Monday to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, calling it long overdue and vowing to continue their investigations of the Justice Department and whether it had been politicized under his tenure.

The attorney general has been under intense scrutiny since Democrats took control of Congress and began investigating the firings of several U.S. attorneys and whether they were ousted for improper political reasons. Throughout the probe, Gonzales’s public statements and testimony before Congress, as well as those of his subordinates at the Department of Justice (DoJ), spurred more questions from Democrats and several Republican senators than they answered.

Most recently, Democrats and former DoJ officials have disputed Gonzales’s account of a bedside meeting with his predecessor, John Ashcroft, about a disagreement over the legal basis for the administration’s wiretapping program that occurred while Ashcroft was recovering from surgery and Gonzales was White House counsel. Critics have accused Gonzales of committing perjury in his testimony before Congress on that matter.

Yesterday, CREW renewed our call for a Special Prosecutor to investigate wrongdoing at the Justice Department.

CREW: Gonzales' overdue resignation cannot end the investigation of criminal misconduct -- and still need Special Prosecutor

crew — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 08:30:54 -0500

It is CREW's strongly held view that the investigation of criminal misconduct must continue. Melanie Sloan had this to say about the resignation of Alberto Gonzales:

Attorney General Gonzales’ resignation is welcome – and overdue – news. His resignation should not, however, end congressional and Department of Justice investigations into misconduct by the Attorney General and his former top aides. Questions of whether Justice Department officials lied to Congress, conducted criminal inquiries to further political ends, illegally fired U.S. Attorneys and made hiring decisions based on political affiliation still merit investigation regardless of Mr. Gonzales’ resignation.

Just as former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s resignation did not impede the ongoing criminal investigation into his conduct while a member of Congress, so Mr. Gonzales’ departure should not stop Congress, the Department of Justice’s Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility from continuing their probes into the illegal actions of our nation’s top ranking law enforcement officials. Our democratic system of government depends on the principle that all public officials be held accountable for their conduct. To that end, CREW still believes that a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate the potentially criminal conduct of Mr. Gonzales and his former aides.

Alberto Gonzales resigns

crew — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 07:38:27 -0500

Major news development on this Monday morning. The Attorney General has resigned. Cable news reporters are speculating that the replacement will be Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff:

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, has resigned. A senior administration official said he would announce the decision later this morning in Washington.

Mr. Gonzales, who had rebuffed calls for his resignation, submitted his to President Bush by telephone on Friday, the official said. His decision was not immediately announced, the official added, until after the president invited him and his wife to lunch at his ranch near here.

Mr. Bush has not yet chosen a replacement but will not leave the position open long, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Attorney General's resignation had not yet been made public.

Mr. Bush had repeatedly stood by Mr. Gonzales, an old friend and colleague from Texas, even as he faced increasing scrutiny for his leadership of the Justice Department, including his role in the dismissals of nine United States attorneys late last year and questions about whether he testified truthfully about the National Security Agency's surveillance programs.