Wednesday, March 14, 2007

 

Documents: How to fire a U.S. Attorney

[Yesterday the House Judiciary Committee released several sets of emails from the Justice Department touching upon the firings of seven U.S. Attorneys. I've transcribed them from the PDF to make them more accessible.

The "Plan for Replacing Certain United States Attorneys" lays out a step-by-step procedure for firing these "underperforming" attorneys. Page 2 of the document is especially interesting.]

Abbreviations used in the documents

AG: Attorney General
AGAC: Attorney General's Advisory Committee
DOJ: Department of Justice
EOUSA: Executive Office for United States Attorneys
OAG: Office of the Attorney General
ODAG: Office of the Deputy Attorney General
USAs: U.S. Attorneys
USATXW: U.S. Attorney, Texas
WHCO: White House Counsel
WH OPA: White House Office of Political Affairs

Index
Sampson to Mercer - 12/05/06 10:51 PM
"Plan for Replacing Certain United States Attorneys"
Sampson to Mercer 12/07/06 3:06 PM
Mercer to Sampson - 12/07/06 3:41 PM
Sampson to Michael Battle - 12/13/06 2:25 PM

Sellers - various memos concerning AG call to Sen. Domenici

 


[Sampson MEMO - 12/05/06 10:51 PM]

Mercer, William W                             

From: Sampson, Kyle
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 10:51 PM
To: Mercer, William W
Subject: Heads up
   
Attachments: USA replacement plan.doc

Administration has determined to ask some underperforming USAs to move on (you'll remember I beat back a much broader — like across the board — plan that WHCO was pushing after 2004). Calls will go out on Thursday. Wanted you to know in case you get some calls from the field and so you can help manage the chatter that may result. See the attached for details.


[Page 1 - Attachment]

PLAN FOR REPLACING CERTAIN
UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS

STEP 1

Senator calls: On December 7, the following Republican home-state Senators or, where there is no Republican home-state Senator, the home-state "Bush political lead" are contacted:

AG/WHCO/WH OPA inform the Senators/Bush political leads as follows:

STEP 2

U.S. Attorney calls: On December 7 (very important that Senator calls and U.S. Attorney calls happen simultaneously), Mike Battle contacts the following U.S. Attorneys:


[Page 2 - Attachment]

Battle informs the U.S. Attorneys as follows:

STEP 3

Prepare to Withstand Political Upheaval: U.S. Attorneys desiring to save their jobs (aided by their allies in the political arena as well as the Justice Department community), likely will make efforts to preserve themselves in office. We should expect these efforts to be strenuous. Direct and indirect appeals of the Administration's determination to seek these resignations likely will be directed at: various White House offices, including the Office of the Counsel to the President and the Office of Political Affairs; Attorney General Gonzales and DOJ Chief of Staff Sampson; Deputy Attorney General McNulty and ODAG staffers Moschella and Elston; Acting Associate AG Bill Mercer; EOUSA Director Mike Battle; and AGAC Chair Johnny Sutton. Recipients of such "appeals" must respond identically:

STEP 4

Evaluation and Selection of "Interim" Candidates: During December 2006-January 2007, the Department of Justice, in consultation with the Office of the Counsel to the President, evaluates and selects candidates for Attorney General-appointment (or candidates who may become Acting U.S. Attorney by operation of law) to serve upon the resignation of above-listed U.S. Attorneys.


[Page 3 - Attachment]

STEP 5

Selection, Nomination, and Appointment of New U.S. Attorneys: Beginning as soon as possible in November 2006, Office of the Counsel to the President and Department of Justice carry out (on an expedited basis) the regular U.S. Attorney appointment process: obtain recommendations from Senators/Bush political leads and other sources; evaluate candidates; make recommendations to the President; conduct background investigations; have President make nominations and work to secure confirmations of U.S. Attorney nominees.

[Return to Index]


[Sampson Memo of 12/7/06 - 3:06 PM]

Mercer, William W                             
From: Sampson, Kyle
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 3:06 PM
To: Mercer, William W
Subject: RE: Heads up

All Senators have been notified and are fine/no objections.
All USAs have been notified, except Iglesias and Chiara (Battle has left messages for them).
Who is calling you? Charlton? McKay?

---------Original Message----------
From: Mercer, William W
Sent: thursday, December 07, 2006 1:58 PM
To: Sampson, Kyle
Subject: Re: Heads up

I have what I assume is my first call. Before I respond, do you have a status report?

---------Original Message----------
From: Sampson, Kyle
To: Mercer, William W
Sent: Tue Dec 05 22:50:48 2006
Subject Heads up

Administration has determined to ask some underperforming USAs to move on (you'll remember I beat back a much broader -- like across the board -- plan that WHCO was pushing after 2004). Calls will go out on Thursday. Wanted you to know in case you get some calls from the field and so you can help manage the chatter that may result. See the attached for the details.

<<USA replacement plan.doc>>

[Return to Index]


[Mercer to Sampson - 12/07/06 3:41 PM]

Mercer, William W                             

From: Mercer, William W
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 3:41 PM
To: Sampson, Kyle
Subject: Re: Heads up

Charlton

---------Original Message----------
From: Sampson, Kyle
To: Mercer, William W
Sent: Thu Dec 07 15:05:31 2006
Subject: RE: Heads up

All Senators have been notified and are fine/no objections.
All USAs have been notified, except Iglesias and Chiara (Battle has left messages for them).
Who is calling you? Charlton? McKay?

---------Original Message----------
From: Mercer, William W
Sent: thursday, December 07, 2006 1:58 PM
To: Sampson, Kyle
Subject: Re: Heads up

I have what I assume is my first call. Before I respond, do you have a status report?

---------Original Message----------
From: Sampson, Kyle
To: Mercer, William W
Sent: Tue Dec 05 22:50:48 2006
Subject Heads up

Administration has determined to ask some underperforming USAs to move on (you'll remember I beat back a much broader -- like across the board -- plan that WHCO was pushing after 2004). Calls will go out on Thursday. Wanted you to know in case you get some calls from the field and so you can help manage the chatter that may result. See the attached for the details.

<<USA replacement plan.doc>>

[Return to Index]


[Sampson Memo to Michael Battle - 12/13/06 2:25 PM]

From: Sampson, Kyle
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 2:25 PM
To: Battle, Michael (USAEO)
Cc: McNulty, Paul J; Elston, Michael (ODAG); Moschella, William; Mercer, William W; Gooding, Monica; Sutton Johnny K. (USATXW)
Subject: USA replacements

Mike, Bill Kelley called to report that they are weathering two main complaints: In making the calls, Battle (1) wasn't clear whether the USAs in question would be permitted to resign, or instead were being fired; and (2) was too abrupt. Bill seemed nonplussed by the complaints, but nevertheless passed them on to me.

Perhaps a second round of calls from you, Mike, to the relevant USAs is in order? Talkers would be something like:

Perhaps this is a bad idea? Thoughts?

Kyle Sampson
Chief of Staff
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530
(202) 514-2001 wk.
(202) 305-5289 cell
kyle.sampson@usdoj.gov

[Return to Index]


Sellers, Kiahna (OAG)                             

Subject: Phone Call with Senator Domenici
   
Start: Fri 9/23/2005 12:45 PM
End: Fri 9/23/2005 1:00 PM
   
Recurrence: (none)
   
Meeting Status: Meeting Organizer

AG will call Senator Domenici
AG's Office
AO: Kyle Sampson DOJ: Will Moschella


Sellers, Kiahna (OAG)                             

Subject: Phone Call to Senator Domenici
   
Start: Tue 1/31/2006 5:15 PM
End: Tue 1/31/2006 5:30 PM
   
Recurrence: (none)
   
Meeting Status: Meeting Organizer
   
Required Attendees: Sampson, Kyle; Moschella, William

AG's Office - We will call 202 224 7093
AO: Kyle Sampson DOJ: Will Moschella
POC: Jennifer Heath


Sellers, Kiahna (OAG)                             

Subject: PREP: Phone Call with Senator Domenici
   
Start: Thu 4/6/2006 3:50 PM
End: Thu 4/6/2006 4:00 PM
   
Recurrence: (none)
   
Meeting Status: Meeting Organizer
   
Required Attendees: Sampson, Kyle; Moschella, William; Gooding, Monica

AG's Office
AO: Kyle Sampson DOJ: Will Moschella, Monica Gooding


Sellers, Kiahna (OAG)                             

Subject: PREP: Phone Call with Senator Domenici
   
Start: Thu 4/6/2006 3:50 PM
End: Thu 4/6/2006 4:00 PM
   
Recurrence: (none)
   
Meeting Status: Meeting Organizer
   
Required Attendees: Sampson, Kyle; Moschella, William; Gooding, Monica

AG's Office
AO: Kyle Sampson DOJ: Will Moschella, Monica Gooding
POC: Jennifer

[Return to Index]

Tags:

Post a Comment

<< Simply Appalling Home

Atom feed

Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com
Blogarama - The Blog Directory

Blog Search Engine

Politics
Blog Top Sites

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?