Bush administration U.S. attorney firings controversy/External links: May 2007

This article is part of the SourceWatch / Congresspedia coverage of the Bush administration U.S. attorney firings controversy

Main article:

Bush administration U.S. attorney firings controversy

Related articles:

Bush administration misuse of government agencies controversy Office of Special Counsel Bush administration phony 'voter fraud' vote caging

Sub-articles:

Firings and activities of fired U.S. attorneys E-mail controversy E-mail controversy/External Links gwb43.com External articles (Go to for breakdown of dates.) Office of Counsel (White House Counsel) Alberto Gonzales Monica Goodling Tim Griffin

The following are articles and commentary for May 2007 related to the Bush administration U.S. attorney firings controversy.

Coverage of overlapping issues can be found in external links for April 2007.

More links are available via the task bar.

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Timeline

• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), "A Question of Timing," The Next Hurrah, May 2, 2007.

Articles & Commentary

May 1

• Eric Lipton, "Some Ask if U.S. Attorney Dismissals Point to Pattern of Investigating Democrats," New York Times, May 1, 2007.
• James Rowley, "McNulty Asserts He Knew Little of Firings, Aides Say (Update2)," Bloomberg News, May 1, 2007.
• Elizabeth Holtzman, Opinion: "Alberto Gonzales' safety net. Confirmation hearings for his successor could spawn criminal investigations of the White House," Los Angeles Times, May 1, 2007.
• "Secret Gonzales Memo Shows Politics Reigned Supreme at DOJ," People for the American Way (Common Dreams), May 1, 2007.
• Bernard Hibbitts, "Gonzales order authorized aides to fire DOJ political appointees," Jurist, May 1, 2007.
• Michael Roston, "Leahy: Leaked Justice Department memo 'disturbing,' should have been turned over," The Raw Story, May 1, 2007.
• Christy Hardin Smith, "House Judiciary to Vote on Comey Subpoena Today," firedoglake Blog, May 1, 2007.
• Will Thomas, "House Committee Approves Subpoena for Comey," TPMmuckraker, May 1, 2007. re James B. Comey
• Paul Kiel, TPMmuckraker, May 1, 2007:

• "Gonzales' Safety Net"
• "House Committee Readies for Gonzales Redo"

May 2

• Andrew Cohen, Special Report: "Rough Justice - The Case Against Alberto Gonzales" (5 parts), Bench Conference Blog/Washington Post, May 2, 2007.
• Dan Eggen, "Residency Clause Adds Fuel To Dispute Over U.S. Attorneys. One Prosecutor Gets an Exemption, Another Gets Fired," Washington Post, May 2, 2007.
• James Rowley, "Fired Prosecutor Told His Job Needed for a Republican (Update2)," Bloomberg News, May 2, 2007.
• Thomas Ferraro, "Senate panel seeks Rove e-mails on prosecutors," Reuters, May 2, 2007.
• Laurie Kellman, "Senate Subpoenas Gonzales on Rove E-Mail," Associated Press (Washington Post), May 2, 2007.
• Ronald Goldfarb, Opinion: "Crossing a line at Justice," USA TODAY, May 2, 2007: "How an attorney general handles outside political forces is critical to the mission of true justice. Alberto Gonzales could have learned a thing or two from one of his Justice Department predecessors: RFK."
• Seth Stern, "Senate Judiciary Subpoenas E-Mail Involving Rove and U.S. Attorney Firings," Congressional Quarterly, May 2, 2007.
• Mike Rosen-Molina, "Senate committee subpoenas Gonzales for Rove emails," Jurist, May 2, 2007.
• "Justice Dept. probe may limit Goodling’s testimony," Think Progress, May 2, 2007.
• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), "A Question of Timing," firedoglake Blog, May 2, 2007.
• Scarecrow, "Jonathan Turley Describes Rove's New Politburo," firedoglake Blog, May 2, 2007.
• looseheadprop, "Some pre-Comey legal reseach for you all," firedoglake Blog, May 2, 2007.
• Jane Hamsher, "Fork ‘em Over," firedoglake Blog, May 2, 2007.
• Eli, "Gonzo's Gonzo," firedoglake Blog, May 2, 2007.
• Paul Kiel, TPMmuckraker, May 2, 2007:

• "Today's Must Read"
• "Fired USA: DoJ #2 Said Performance Not Reason for Firing"
• "USA: DoJ Official Wanted to Keep Me Quiet"
• "DoJ Official to Cummins: Circumventing Senate Was 'White House Plan'"
• "DoJ Official to Lam: Leave in 'Weeks, Not Months'"
• "Senate Committee Subpoenas Rove Emails"
• "Senators Request Secret Order from DoJ"
• "AP: Internal DoJ Probe Targets Goodling"
• "McNulty: 'I only work here'"

May 3

• Murray Waas, "Justice Official Says He Was Directed To Call Fired Prosecutors," National Journal, May 3, 2007.
• Aaron Sadler, "Cummins: White House behind replacement plan," Arkansas News Bureau, May 3, 2007.
• "New Documents Show Republican Involvement in U.S. Attorney Firings," Channel 4 KRNV.com (KOLO Channel 8, Nevada), May 3, 2007.
• Eric Lipton and David Johnston, "Justice Dept. Announces Inquiry Into Its Hiring," New York Times, May 3, 2007.
• Paul Kane, "Tester Calls on Montana U.S. Attorney to Resign," Washington Post, May 3, 2007.
• "Newspaper: Mercer engineered rule change of personal significance," Associated Press (Helena Independent Record (Mont.)), May 3, 2007.
• Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein, "Ex-Aide to Gonzales Accused Of Bias. Justice Department Scrutinizes Role of Politics in Hiring," Washington Post (Seattle Times; Boston Globe), May 3, 2007.
• David Bowermaster, "McKay recalls Justice official's 'sinister' call," Seattle Times, May 3, 2007.
• Dan Eggen, "Former Justice Dept. Official Praises Fired U.S. Attorneys," Washington Post, May 3, 2007.
• James Rowley and Robert Schmidt, "Fired Attorneys Did Good Job, Ex-U.S. Official Says (Update2)," Bloomberg News, May 3, 2007.
• Thomas Ferraro, "Former Gonzales aide praises fired prosecutors," Reuters (ABC News), May 3, 2007.
• Richard A. Serrano, "Lam defends her performance as a U.S. attorney. Statements indicate fired prosecutors are becoming convinced politics were behind their firings," Los Angeles Times, May 3, 2007.
• Michael Roston, "Ex-Gonzales deputy 'heard rumors' of political hiring and firing in Justice Department," The Raw Story, May 3, 2007.
• Logan Murphy, "Countdown: Turley On Goodling and Karl Rove’s E-Mail," Crooks and Liars, May 3, 2007.
• Amanda Terkel, "Cummins Confirms That Justice Dept. Used Pregnancy As Excuse To Appoint Griffin," Think Progress, May 3, 2007.
• Margie Burns, "Former Deputy Attorney General Comey Testifies Before House Judiciary Committee. Yet Another Former DoJ Official Revealed to Have Nothing to Do with the U.S. Attorney Firings. RELATED? The Murder of Seattle Prosecutor Thomas Wales Was Barely Discussed in DOJ, Comey Testimony Suggests," Brad Blog, May 3, 2007.
• Christy Hardin Smith, "Spontaneous Termination?" firedoglake Blog, May 3, 2007.
• Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), firedoglake Blog, May 3, 2007:

• "James Comey HJC Testimony Liveblog": Part One and Part Two.
• "Where We’re at on the USA Attorney Scandal"

• Paul Kiel, TPMmuckraker, May 3, 2007:

• "Comey: Lam Was a 'Fine' U.S. Attorney"
• "Cannon: Firing Was 'Fairly Thoughtful, Competent Process'"
• "Comey: Justice Dept. Must Be An 'Other' in American Life"
• "Comey Details U.S. Attorney Firings"
• "Comey to Fired USA: 'I Will Not Sit by'"
• "Gonzales Favorite Also Allegedly Hired GOPers"
• Correction
• "NJ: DAG McNulty Ordered Calls to USAs"
• "Lawyer: DoJ Release 'Smacks of Retribution'"

May 4

• Adam Cohen, "The U.S. Attorney, the G.O.P. Congressman and the Timely Job Offer," New York Times, May 4, 2007. re Debra Wong Yang of Los Angeles who was investigating Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), then Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Also see Paul Kiel's April 24, 2007, posting.
• Dan Eggen, "Former Supervisor Extols Fired Prosecutors. Praise Undermines Case for Dismissals," Washington Post, May 4, 2007.
• David Johnston, "Ex-Justice Dept. Official Defends Ousted U.S. Attorneys," New York Times, May 4, 2007.
• Richard B. Schmitt, "Fired attorneys did a good job, ex-boss testifies. Ex-Justice official contradicts Bush administration," Baltimore Sun, May 4, 2007.
• David Bowermaster and Mike Carter, "McKay targeted earlier than 2006," Seattle Times, May 4, 2007.
• Charles Pope, "Former No. 2 at Justice has praise for McKay. He was effective prosecutor, Comey testifies," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 4, 2007.
• David Kranz, "S.D. back in U.S. attorney spotlight," ArgusLeader.com, May 4, 2007.
• "I-Team: Justice Attorneys," WJLA.com ABC 7 News, May 4, 2007.
• Paul Kiel, TPMmuckraker, May 4, 2007:

• "Today's Must Read"
• "Who Dunnit?"

May 6

• Charlie Savage, "Missouri attorney a focus in firings. Senate bypassed in appointment of Schlozman," Boston Globe, May 6, 2007.
• Paul Kiel, "DoJ: What Policy?" TPMmuckraker, May 6, 2007.

May 7

• Kelli Arena, "Congress probes allegations of politicized hiring," CNN, May 7, 2007.
• "Congress seeks more testimony in expanded U.S. Justice Department inquiry," Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), May 7, 2007.
• Greg Gordon and David Goldstein, "Senate panel wants to question Justice Department official," McClatchy Newspapers, May 7, 2007.
• Greg Gordon and Margaret Talev, "Congress may look at accusations of partisan hiring," McClatchy Newspapers, May 7, 2007.
• Sam Hananel, "Lawmakers probing whether Missouri prosecutor was forced out," Associated Press (examiner.com), May 7, 2007.
• Andrew Cohen, "Here Is Your Justice Department," Washington Post, May 7, 2007.
• "U.S. Attorneys to Leave in '09, but Conservative Political Hirees in Justice Dept. will Remain," BuzzFlash, May 7, 2007.
• Matt Apuzzo, "DOJ won't oppose immunity for Goodling in U.S. attorneys probe," Associated Press (San Diego Union-Tribune), May 7, 2007.
• Sean O'Sullivan, "Freebery lawyers say case is politically motivated," The News Journal (Del.), May 7, 2007.
• Thomas Charles, "Why Did Todd Graves Mislead The KC Star In Their April-2006 Story," Fired Up Missouri!, May 7, 2007.
• Paul Kiel, TPMmuckraker, May 7, 2007:

• "Today's Must Read"
• "Goodling Immunity Moves Forward"
• "Senate Committee Wants to Hear from Schlozman"
• "CNN Reports on Civil Rights Division"

May 8

• Carol D. Leonnig, "Hiring Process Was Bypassed for Prosecutor. D.C. District Attorney Says Justice Officials Recommended Candidate but the Decision Was His," Washington Post, May 8, 2007.
• Dan Eggen, "Justice Dept. Allows Immunity Deal for Former Gonzales Aide's Testimony," Washington Post, May 8, 2007.
• Sean O'Sullivan, "Freebery says she's victim of Republican witch hunt. Filing cites investigation of U.S. attorney firings," The News Journal (Del.), May 8, 2007.
• News Release: "Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to Appoint Kenneth E. Melson as Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys," PressZoom, May 8, 2007.
• Massimo Calabresi, "Who's Afraid of the White House Attorneys Link?" TIME Magazine, May 8, 2007.
• Greg Palast, "RFK: Rove And Rove's Brain, 'Should be in jail,' Not In Office," OpEdNews, May 8, 2007.
• Howard Beale, "Star Bowing to Pressure from Its Attorney Lathrop & Gage to Soften Coverage of GOP Scandal?" Fired Up Missouri!, May 8, 2007.
• "Gonzales challenges House panel to move past firings; focus on fighting crime," Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), May 8, 2007.
• Paul Kiel, TPMmuckraker, May 8, 2007:

• "WaPo: Senior DoJ Officials Pulled Strings to Hire Prosecutor"
• "Dems Ask Gonzales for Answers about Minnesota USA"
• "Senate Committee Schedules Hearing with Schlozman"

May 9

• Amy Goldstein, "Lawmaker's Aide Targeted Prosecutor Before List Was Made," Washington Post, May 9, 2007.
• David Bowermaster, "Charges may result from firings, say two former U.S. attorneys," Seattle Times, May 9, 2007.
• Peter Grier, "It's not just about fired US attorneys anymore. Congress is asking pointed questions about the role of partisanship in prosecutions, hirings at Justice Department," Christian Science Monitor, May 9, 2007.
• "FBI director embraces one embattled figure, keeps his distance from another," On Deadline Blog / USA TODAY, May 9, 2007.
• Bill Boyarsky, "Republicans in Disneyland," Truthdig, May 9, 2007.
• Laura McGann, TPMmuckraker, May 9, 2007:

• "MO U.S.A. Is Ninth Purged Prosecutor"
• "Details Emerge on Graves' Firing: DOJ Told Different Stories to Graves and Sen. Bond"

• Paul Kiel, TPMmuckraker, May 9, 2007:

• "Gonzales: Blame It on The Aide"
• "DoJ Releases Gonzales' Secret Hiring Order"
• "Fired USA: Scandal Will Get 'Worse, Not Better'"

May 10

• Murray Waas, "Administration Withheld E-Mails About Rove," National Journal, May 10, 2007. See observation at end of posting by Swopa, "From the Department of Friends in High Places," Needlenose, May 10, 2007.
• Michael Gisick, "Fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias embraces the media in his quest for vindication," The Albuquerque Tribune, May 10, 2007.
• Mark Benjamin and Walter Shapiro, "'All roads lead to the White House'. As Alberto Gonzales returns to Capitol Hill to testify, the whodunit at the heart of the U.S. attorneys scandal remains," Salon, May 10, 2007.
• Amy Goldstein and Dan Eggen, "9th U.S. attorney says he was pushed out," Washington Post (Seattle Times), May 10, 2007.
• David Bowermaster, "McKay: White House had us fired," Seattle Times, May 10, 2007.
• Laurie Kellman, "Dems shift focus in prosecutors' probe," Associated Press (Houston Chronicle), May 10, 2007.
• David Johnston and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, "Gonzales seems confident he will stay, officials say," International Herald Tribune, May 10, 2007.
• "Talking Points: Back to the Hill," Center for American Progress Action Fund, May 10, 2007.
• Laura McGann, "Self-Demoted Prosecutors Send Paulose Letter Over Media Comments," TPMmuckraker, May 10, 2007.
• Amanda Terkel, "Bush Officials Mocked Sen. Pryor’s Concerns About Gender Discrimination At DoJ," Think Progress, May 10, 2007.

• Also see Alberto Gonzales congressional testimony, May 10, 2007.

• Dahlia Lithwick, "Alberto Gonzales, Zen Master. The attorney general jiujitsus Congress with a smile," Slate, May 10, 2007.
• Mike Rosen-Molina, "US House panel questions Gonzales on US Attorney firings," Jurist, May 10, 2007.
• Marty Lederman, "The Hollow Men," Balkinization Blogspot, May 10, 2007.
• Scott Horton, "About those e-mails . . .," Harper's Magazine, May 10, 2007.

May 11

• Dana Milbank, "Another Hearing, Another Chance to Say Nothing," Washington Post, May 11, 2007.
• Dan Eggen and Paul Kane, "House GOP Stands Behind Gonzales. New Details of White House Pressure to Fire U.S. Attorneys Do Not Sway Republicans," Washington Post, May 11, 2007.
• "Judge OKs Immunity Deal in Firings Probe," Associated Press (New York Times), May 11, 2007.
• Richard B. Schmitt, "Attorney general frustrates Democrats. Gonzales deflects most questions about prosecutor resignations and firings in House testimony," Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2007.
• Lara Jakes Jordan, "Gonzales parries questions on firings. Controversy losing steam, GOP maintains," Associated Press (Boston Globe), May 11, 2007.
• "Ex-U.S. Attorney Questions Own Firing. Former W.Va. Prosecutor Says He Has 'Concerns' About Firing By Bush Administration," Associated Press (CBS News), May 11, 2007.
• Michael Roston, "Conyers to Gonzales: No, Let's Keep Talking about the US Attorneys," The Raw Story (AlterNet), May 11, 2007.
• Josh Marshall, "Schlozman Testify Delayed till June By Vacation," TPMmuckraker, May 11, 2007.
• Paul Kiel, TPMmuckraker, May 11, 2007:

• "Today's Must Read"
• "Court Grants Goodling Immunity"
• "Gonzales: If I Had to Do Over Again..."
• "Dems to Intro New U.S. Attorney Bill"

May 12

• Eric Lipton, "Colleagues Cite Partisan Focus by Justice Official," New York Times (truthout), May 12, 2007.
• Scott Horton, "U.S. Attorneys Scandal—West Virginia," Harper's Magazine, May 12, 2007.

May 13

• Project Vote, "Bush Administration Makes DOJ a Partisan Political Machine," OpEdNews (TPMCafe), May 13, 2007.

May 14

• Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein, "Voter-Fraud Complaints by GOP Drove Dismissals," Washington Post, May 14, 2007.
• Dan Froomkin, "Why Karl Rove Cared," Washington Post, May 14, 2007.
• Dan Eggen, "Deputy A.G. McNulty Announces Resignation," Washington Post, May 14, 2007. re Paul J. McNulty
• Robert Schmidt, "McNulty, No. 2 Justice Department Official, to Resign (Update2)," Bloomberg News, May 14, 2007.
• David Alexander, "Gonzales deputy resigns from Justice Department," ABC News, May 14, 2007.
• Greg Palast, "Fired Prosecuters: Rove’s 'Obstruction of Justice?'. RFK says 'They Ought to be in Jail'," Democracy Now! (GregPalast.com), May 14, 2007.
• Michael Isikoff, "Bloody Monday. In a blow to the Bush administration, the deputy attorney general and the only Democrat on the White House's Privacy and Civil Liberties Board have resigned," Newsweek (MSNBC), May 14, 2007. also re Lanny Davis
• "Rove fingered five of the US Attorneys slated for dismissal," The Raw Story, May 14, 2007.
• Benjamin Wittes, "Alberto Gonzales digs himself a deeper hole. No Comparison," The New Republic Online (CBS News), May 14, 2007.
• Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, "Attorney General Gonzales. Why he must go now," National Law Journal, May 14, 2007 (issue). Also see Elizabeth de la Vega's related "The Problem With Alberto," truthout, April 22, 2007.
• Laura McGann, "Alberto Gonzales' Statement on McNulty Resignation," TPMmuckraker, May 14, 2007.
• Paul Kiel, TPMmuckraker, May 14, 2007:

• "Today's Must Read"
• "In Civil Rights Division, Employees Claim Discrimination"
• "Fired USA: Here's Some Reading of 'Interest'"

May 15

• Robert Schmidt, "McNulty Resignation May Open White House to More Senate Probing," Bloomberg News, May 15, 2007.
• Karen Tumulty, "Is the Noose Tightening on Gonzales?" TIME Magazine, May 15, 2007.
• Lara Jakes Jordan, "Gonzales: Deputy was pointman on firings. Outgoing Deputy Knew Best About Prosecutor Firings, Gonzales Says," Associated Press (ABC News), May 15, 2007.
• "US attorneys scandal deepens with key resignation," Sapa-Agence France Presse (BusinessDay.co.za), May 15, 2007.
• Andrew Zajac, "Resignation deals blow to Gonzales. No. 2 official in department to quit," Chicago Tribune, May 15, 2007.
• Brooke Masters, "Gonzales' top deputy resigns," Financial Times (MSNBC), May 15, 2007.
• Andrew Cohen, "McNulty & Comey: A Tale Of Two Prosectuors," Couric & Co. Blog/CBS News, May 15, 2007.
• Andrew Cohen, "Alberto Throws Paul Under Bus: Ditto James to Alberto," Bench Conference Blog/Washington Post, May 15, 2007.
• looseheadprop, "Fingerprints," firedoglake Blog, May 15, 2007.
• Paul Kiel, "McNulty Resignation to Lead to Confirmation Battle," TPMmuckraker, May 15, 2007:

• James Comey Testimony:

• Transcript of Testimony.
• Video of Testimony.

• Re Bush administration warrantless wiretapping and USA firings (intermingled): Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel), firedoglake, May 15, 2007: "Comey SJC Testimony, LiveBlog One; Two; and Three.

• Paul Kiel, "Comey Details White House Attempt to Force Approval of Secret Program," TPMmuckraker, May 15, 2007.
• Re warrantless wiretapping: Marty Lederman, "Comey Testifies that the President Broke the Law," Balkinization Blogspot, May 15, 2007.