[Dialogue] White House Is Reported to Be Linked to a Dismissal

[Harry Wainwright]

Published on Friday, February 16, 2007 by the New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/16/washington/16attorneys.html>  

White House Is Reported to Be Linked to a Dismissal 

by David Johnston

 

WASHINGTON - A United States attorney in Arkansas who was dismissed from his
job last year by the Justice Department was ousted after Harriet E. Miers,
the former White House counsel, intervened on behalf of the man who replaced
him, according to Congressional aides briefed on the matter.

Ms. Miers, the aides said, phoned an aide to Attorney General Alberto R.
Gonzales suggesting the appointment of J. Timothy Griffin, a former military
and civilian prosecutor who was a political director for the Republican
National Committee and a deputy to Karl Rove, the White House political
adviser.

Later, the incumbent United States attorney, H. E. Cummins III, was removed
without explanation and replaced on an interim basis by Mr. Griffin.
Officials at the White House and Justice Department declined to comment on
Ms. Miers's role in the matter.

Paul J. McNulty, the deputy attorney general, said at a hearing last week
that Mr. Cummins had done nothing wrong but was removed to make room for Mr.
Griffin. It was not known at the time Mr. McNulty testified that Ms. Miers
had intervened on Mr. Griffin's behalf.

Her involvement was disclosed on Wednesday by Justice Department officials
led by Mr. McNulty, who held a closed-door briefing for senators on the
Judiciary Committee after Democrats criticized the dismissals of 7 to 10
United States attorneys as politically motivated.

Ms. Miers, whose resignation as White House counsel was effective Jan. 31,
could not be reached for comment Thursday. 

At the briefing, Justice Department officials denied that the White House
had been involved in any of the other dismissals, suggesting that the
department had acted on its own after advising the White House of its
intention to remove incumbents. 

Democrats have said the removals represented an effort to make room for
rising political favorites of the Bush administration and to be rid of
independent-minded prosecutors, all of whom had been appointed by President
Bush.

Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said that he was not
satisfied by the Justice Department's explanations at the briefing. 

"Yesterday's briefing by the deputy attorney general did little to alleviate
our concerns that politics was involved and, in fact, raised those
concerns," Mr. Schumer said. "Some may have been fired for political reasons
because they may have not done what Justice Department wanted them to do."

Justice Department officials have said that because United States attorneys
are presidential appointees they may be replaced at any time without a
specific reason, although they have said that none were removed for pursuing
politically sensitive cases.

Another United States attorney asked to resign was Carol C. Lam of San
Diego, who departed on Thursday at the request of the Justice Department.
Two days earlier, Ms. Lam announced two indictments, including one against a
former high-ranking Central Intelligence Agency official, in a corruption
inquiry that began with last year's guilty plea by a former Republican
representative, Randy Cunningham, who was sentenced to more than eight years
in prison.

Karen P. Hewitt, an assistant in Ms. Lam's office, was named Thursday to
serve as the interim United States attorney in the Southern District, while
Scott N. Schools, a general counsel in the Justice Department, will fill the
interim role in the Northern District, in San Francisco. 

Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, said in a statement on the
Senate floor Thursday that Ms. Lam had been dismissed despite a strong
record of prosecutions. 

"Ms. Lam has had a distinguished career, and she served the southern
district of San Diego well and everyone in that district knows that," Ms.
Feinstein said. "I regret that main Justice does not. I am quite
disappointed that main Justice chose to remove her, especially given the
ongoing work in which the office is involved."

 

C Copyright 2007 New York Times

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