On Tuesday of this week Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) went to the Senate floor to sound the alarm about a series of suspicious de facto firings of U.S. attorneys (USAs) across the country in recent weeks and months. USAs, of course, serve at the president’s will. Legally and constitutionally, he can fire them whenever he chooses. In practice, however, a sitting president seldom, if ever, without cause, cashiers serving USAs whom he himself has appointed. I’ve counted as many as seven USAs who appear to have been forced out. And Feinstein said that the administration has told her that between five and 10 USAs have been asked to tender their resignations.
And there’s another wrinkle to the story. Using a little-noticed provision dropped into last year’s renewal of the Patriot Act, the attorney general can appoint new USAs to serve for the duration of the president’s term without the need for Senate approval.
So what’s going on here? For folks like myself, there’s too much water under the bridge to grant this White House too many benefits of the doubt. But the evidence on the table suggests pretty strongly that the White House is up to no good — both in the choice of USAs who are getting the boot and those they’re choosing to appoint outside the confirmation process.
First is Carol Lam, U.S. attorney in San Diego, who announced her resignation on Tuesday. Lam’s office headed up the prosecution of arch-congressional crook ex-Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.). And an expanded version of that investigation is now probing related crimes on Capitol Hill and — probably more importantly — at the CIA, particularly Bush appointee Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, longtime pal of accused Cunningham briber Brent Wilkes.
Legal sources involved in the case believe that Lam’s work on the expanded Cunningham case will be stymied by her departure. Dan Dzwilewski, head of the FBI office in San Diego, remarked to the Union-Tribune, “I can’t speak for what’s behind [her forced resignation], what’s the driving force behind this or the rationale. I guarantee politics is involved.”
The current work of the other fired USAs has less direct political implications. But several seem to have had ongoing investigations of allegedly corrupt Republicans.
And who are the folks getting the jobs? Well, the signs aren’t good there either.
Consider the estimable J. Timothy Griffin, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas since Dec. 20 of last year.
If you hadn’t heard about Griffin’s appointment, don’t feel bad; the guy he replaced hadn’t either. Griffin’s appointment was announced Dec. 15, before the then-U.S. attorney Bud Cummins had even been given a chance to resign. Cummins got the call on his cell phone telling him he was out the same day the announcement was made. He was out hiking with his son at the time.
Cummins, who subsequently said he got forced out for political reasons, resigned on Dec. 20, the same day Griffin was sworn in.
So who’s Griffin and what experience does he bring to the job?
A quick perusal of Griffin’s resume shows that his more-or-less exclusive vocation has been doing opposition research on Democrats on behalf of the Republican Party. Until recently, he was head of oppo research at the White House, working directly for Karl Rove. In 1999 and 2000, he was deputy research director for the Republican National Committee. In 2002 he returned as research director for the national GOP and stayed on for the next three years.
Before getting involved formally in oppo research he worked in what you might call de facto oppo research positions. In 1995 and 1996 he was associate independent counsel in the Henry Cisneros investigation. And after that he headed up to the Hill to work for Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) investigating political contributions from Asian-Americans to Bill Clinton.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, according to Time, back in 2000, when he was in charge of digging up dirt on Al Gore, he apparently had a poster hanging on the wall behind his desk which read: “On my command — unleash hell on Al.”
I don’t think the readers of this paper are above having an admiration for a seasoned political operative, whichever party he or she may work for. But let’s just stipulate that Griffin seems like a pretty political guy. And it’s probably no mystery why the White House doesn’t want to see Karl Rove’s deputy through the Senate confirmation process before he takes over the reins in Arkansas.
I’m only getting started looking into the circumstances of these other firings and the records of the non-confirmed USAs who are to take their place. But I get the sense my suspicions will be amply rewarded.
Marshall is editor of talkingpointsmemo.com.
His column appears in The Hill each week.
E-mail: jmarshall@thehill.com
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