A Spork in the Drawer

Who Gave The Order?

The got lost in the shuffle of the past week: You might remember the story of the "meth-heads" who appeared to have intended to assassinate Barack Obama but were only charged with gun and drug violations. A few days ago Dave Neiwert had an interesting update. It turns out the FBI very much wanted to charge the three men with conspiracy to kill Obama but the US Attorney on the case, Troy Eid, a Loyal Bushie, refused to do so.

Given that others have had the full weight of the law brought down on them for less it's interesting that these three are getting a pass.

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The Continuing Persecution Of Dr. Cyril Wecht

Gets stranger and more frightening:

Two jurors said Thursday they were unnerved by FBI requests for home visits to explain why they deadlocked in the federal public corruption trial of former Allegheny County coroner Cyril H. Wecht.

Experts said the practice of using FBI agents to contact and interview jurors in their homes after mistrials was unusual, but the U.S. Attorney's Office in Pittsburgh characterized it as "commonplace."

"I thought it was kind of intimidating," the jury foreman said about the FBI phone call.

Said another juror, "I found it kind of unusual."

But no worries:

The FBI agents simply set up appointments for federal prosecutors, said Margaret Philbin, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan.

I'm no expert but I've never heard of such a thing before and apparently those who are experts cll this "unusual".

But here is the likely point:

"If I'm a prospective juror in the second trial, and I'm hearing stories that if I don't agree with the government that I might get calls from the FBI, that could have a very, very deleterious impact," Ceraso said. "I would think that's very bothersome to have that happen."

Now, do you really think that the Bush justice department would engage in intimidation?

So do I.

And according to one person who was on the jury:

"That puzzled me," said the foreman, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because of Schwab's request. "I was surprised at how quickly the government wanted to retry him, because they didn't seem to realize where we were as a jury when the case ended. I thought they would've at least polled us to see how close the counts were.

"I would hope that the government would have our best interests at heart, but I'm concerned about the costs of another trial. For us, it was a split jury and the majority found him 'not guilty.' "

The foreman also said that he came to believe that the prosecution was "political."

There is no doubt that there needs to be federal criminal trial - not for Wecht but for Mary Beth Buchanan and the other assorted Loyal Bushies.

ADDED: House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers states:

I am deeply troubled by reports of FBI agents contacting former jurors who failed to convict Dr. Wecht. Whether reckless or intended, it is simply common sense that such contacts can have a chilling effect on future juries in this and other cases. When added to the troubling conduct of this prosecution, there is the appearance of a win at all costs mentality. The committee continues to investigate this matter.

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Stalinistic Show Trial Update

Scott Horton describes US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan thusly:

One of the more astonishing political prosecutions in the country was brought by Rick Santorum’s handpicked U.S. Attorney, Mary Beth Buchanan. Ms. Buchanan is best known for her adversity to mail order bong businesses and other matters carefully calculated to play to a right-wing political audience. She also played a handmaiden’s role in the recent U.S. Attorney’s scandal, sending one of her deputies to Alaska as an acting U.S. Attorney there. No doubt about it, Mary Beth Buchanan is Karl Rove’s very model of a modern U.S. Attorney. She breathes fire and when she utters the word “Democrat,” the adjective “corrupt” is sure to precede it.

A pretty accurate descriptin of George's own Andrei Vyshinsky. It should be noted that Buchanan single-handedly saved America from the the scourge known as Tommy Chong. Quite a feather in her cap.

So what did the jurors in the Wecht trial think?

"The majority of the jury thought he was innocent, that I can tell you," said a male juror.

The jurors took a straw poll and realized they were far apart on March 18, the first day of deliberations, said a female juror. Their opinions changed little over the ensuing 3 1/2 weeks.

"No one caved. Everybody had their belief, and they stuck to it," said the woman. She said the jurors were daunted by the more than 10,000 pages of documents contained in 17, three-inch binders.

The jurors are anonymous because the judge in the case, Arthur Schwab, whom the defense had repeatedly tried to have removed from the case, issued a nearly unprecedented gag order.

One of Wecht's legal advisors, former US Attorney, Pennsylvania Governor, and US Attorney General (under Bush I) Richard Thornburgh has personally appealed the AG Michael Mukasey to give up the persecution, er, prosecution. Good luck with that.

While Cyril Wecht's unfortunate position may not rise to the level of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman it does show that the Loyal Bushies are going to carry out their marching orders to the very last day.

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ADDED: See also Brian O'Neill who points out:

Anyone can look up how many millions Kevin Costner cost his studio for "Waterworld'' or "The Postman,'' but no federal taxpayer will ever know the tab for the Cyril Wecht mistrial.

We can guess the cost is already millions of dollars, but all we know is that the price can only go up. Federal prosecutors will try the case again, and if they prove nothing else, they will at least prove that even flops can have sequels.

Your tax dollars at work.

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Show Trial

One of the administration's political show trials ends with a hung jury. BushCo's™ own Andrei Vyshinsky Mary Beth Buchanan, however, has already announced a new trial set for 27 May.

This is a major embarrassment for Buchanan and her masters.

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Client-9

Jane has some interesting questions concerning le mess du Spitzer.

That said, I concur with watertiger.

Idiot.

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Ick

The Pride of Pat Robertson's Regent University Law School, Monica Goodling, is getting hitched to rightwing blogmeister Mike Krempasky*.

May they have many Aryan babies.

[Via watertiger.]

*If you've never visited Red State you're a much happier person.

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It's Very Simple

If Harriet Miers refuses to appear before Congress then chuck her ass into the pokey for contempt.

As Pat Leahy asks, “What is the White House trying to hide?”

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ADDED: Marty Lederman examines what Congress can do and Cass Sunstein explains the legal confusion over "executive privilege."

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Bush To Congress:

Drop dead:

President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from two former aides about the firings of federal prosecutors.

Still, you have to admit that the White House is generous:

The White House, however, did offer again to make former counsel Harriet Miers and one-time political director Sara Taylor available for private, off-the-record interviews.

Ah, yes, the old "off-the-record-no-swearing-in-so-there's-no-perjury" plan.

And it will likely work.

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Raise Your Hands...

...if you saw this coming:

Defense lawyers in a growing number of cases are raising questions about the motives of government lawyers who have brought charges against their clients. In court papers, they are citing the furor over the U.S. attorney dismissals as evidence that their cases may have been infected by politics.

[...]

There has long been a presumption that, because they represented the Justice Department, prosecutors had no political agenda and their word could be trusted. But some legal experts say the controversy threatens to undermine their credibility.

"It provides defendants an opportunity to make an argument that would not have been made two years ago," said Daniel J. French, a former U.S. attorney in Albany, N.Y. "It has a tremendously corrosive effect."

Of course the politicization of US Attorneys has a "corrosive effect." Of course it gives even those who are actually guilty a new defense. And justifiably so.

When the Executive Branch turns the Justice Department into an arm of its political machine then of course every investigation, every prosecution, becomes questionable. What is questionable is how much of this was intentional. Were the Loyal Bushies simply so intent on agglomerating political power that the corruption of the entire criminal justice system was never considered? Or was that corruption part of the plan?

My guess is the former. I think they simply don't care what happens to the country so long as they get what they want. But I'm open to arguments on that.

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Deaf And Blind

Eugene Robinson:

Everyone else who was listening Wednesday had to be flabbergasted as Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee -- apparently having been struck deaf and blind -- lobbed softball after softball at witness Monica Goodling. This was after Goodling had already 'fessed up to applying a political litmus test for career Justice employees. I repeat: career employees, not political appointees. Only loyal Republicans should bother to apply.

The deaf and blind Republicans on the committee apparently missed that part of her opening statement. They also missed the part when she accused Gonzales's former deputy, Paul McNulty, of telling untruths to Congress -- and, in the process, hanging Goodling out to dry. Those dogged GOP interrogators did, however, manage to elicit from Goodling the startling disclosure that she believes she is a good person and also the revelation that while she might have broken a few laws, she didn't set out to do anything illegal.

[...]

Did all this fly over the heads of the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee? Of course not. But House Republicans evidently have made the cynical political calculation that to acknowledge reality would be to grant the Democrats some sort of victory. This, apparently, must be avoided at all costs.

Of course the they're cynical; the only thing the modern Republican Party cares about is power. Authoritarians to the core, they subscribe whole-heartedly to a strange code:

The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." ... "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

Normal people call this "delusional."

Whether cynical or delusional, or both, the failure to recognize reality (real reality) alone should disqualify the Republican Party (in it's current form) from holding any position of power. Sane Republicans (if such an animal still exists) should either reform their party or quit and create a new conservative party.

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The WaPo Starts To Get A Clue

Who knew what when?

Yesterday, promised that her testimony could not be used against her in a criminal prosecution, Monica M. Goodling, former senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, admitted to doing exactly that as she screened applicants for prosecutorial positions. "I know I took political considerations into account on some occasions . . . I know I crossed the line," Ms. Goodling said. This was, for the reasons Mr. Comey suggested, a sad moment for anyone who cares about the Justice Department.

It was sad, as well, that so many Republican committee members chose to ignore this ugly fact and heap praise on Ms. Goodling. "I think you have . . . shown people who are here. . . . why people in the Justice Department thought you were worthy of your job," said Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.). "Millions of Americans now know a lot more about you, and they're proud to have somebody like you serving in government," said Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) Violating the law against politicizing the civil service is no grounds for pride.

[...]

In pushing prosecutors to investigate voter fraud and dumping ones who didn't perform, was the White House pursuing a legitimate prosecutorial priority or an avenue of partisan gain? The complaints from lawmakers that President Bush passed on to Mr. Gonzales and the similar involvement of Mr. Rove contain more than a whiff of political self-interest. That is a legitimate and important area for congressional inquiry, and it is looking increasingly as if the answers are to be found at the White House.

One of the most painful parts of listening to Monica's testimony yesterday were the House Republicans. One used his five minutes to attack John Murtha, who, of course, wasn't the subject of the hearing. And, as the WaPo notes, the rest were content to heap praise on our dear little Monica. In comparison, the Senate Repubs sound like veritable Ciceros.

And we know, even if we can't prove it yet, that this and other instances of corruption lead directly to the top. Former Republican Senator Howard Baker's famous question applies here: What did the president know and when did he know it?

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Monica Madness! III

At least we're now going to have other photos:



(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

It's a shame Monica has such a poor memory.

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Monica Madness! II

From Tim Grieve:

"All I ever wanted to do was serve this president and this administration and this department." -- Regent University Law School graduate and Justice Department White House liaison Monica Goodling in a teary conversation with Associate Attorney General David Margolis on March 8, 2007.

Something's missing there. I can't quite put my finger on it...oh, yeah, how about "serve my country"? Then again, since that's antithetical to serving the GOP I can understand why Monica left that out.

In an interview released by the House Judiciary Committee yesterday in advance of Goodling's immunized testimony today, Margolis says Goodling came to his office on the evening of March 8 -- about a month before she resigned from the Justice Department -- and asked if Kyle Sampson had talked with him. When Margolis said yes, Goodling proceeded to "bawl her eyes out." How long did the crying last? "It seemed like forever," Margolis says, "but it was probably only 30 or 45 minutes."

Here's hoping Monica can keep it together during her testimony today.

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Iglesias

Purged US Attorney David Iglesias writes:

WHAT HAPPENS in a presidential administration when loyalty, to borrow a phrase from "Star Trek," becomes the "prime directive"? What happens when its all-encompassing fog obscures all other values — such as fealty to the Constitution, the rule of law or simple humanity?

What happens is that terrible decisions are made, repeated and then justified by this shibboleth. That's just one of the lessons that has emerged from the U.S. attorney scandal.

[...]

What has become clear already is that the "loyalty uber alles" mentality has infected a wide swath of the Bush administration. Simple notions like right and wrong are, in their eyes, matters of allegiance, not conscience.

[...]

All federal prosecutors take a public oath when they assume office. I personally swore in about 30 new federal prosecutors during my tenure as U.S. attorney for New Mexico. The oath is to the U.S. Constitution, not to the president or his Cabinet.

Somehow Goodling did not understand this keystone concept. She appears to have placed her loyalty to the Bush administration and the Republican Party above any allegiance to the Constitution — which may have led her to believe that Bush acolytes would make the best federal prosecutors. Paradoxically, she knew enough of the Constitution to claim the protections afforded by the 5th Amendment—the right against self-incrimination.

[...]

Will [Gonzales] "cowboy up," as we say in New Mexico — that is, find the courage to do the right thing? Or will he make the Senate go right up to the precipice of a no-confidence vote?

Abu? Doing the right thing? If the right thing is to protect and cater to George regardless of the cost (to the Constitution, among other minor things) then, yes.

Otherwise, no.

And when are we going to hear coherent excuses from Sen. Pete Dominici and Rep. "Halliburton Heather" Wilson about their participation?

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Monica Madness!

Today's the day.

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It's His Story...

...and he's sticking to it:

The Justice Department said yesterday that it will not retract a sworn statement in 2006 by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales that the Terrorist Surveillance Program had aroused no controversy inside the Bush administration, despite congressional testimony Tuesday that senior departmental officials nearly resigned in 2004 to protest such a program.

So they're going to let the perjured statements stand.

Par for the course these days.

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How Many More Shoes To Drop?

26:

The Justice Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials have previously acknowledged, with at least 26 prosecutors suggested for termination between February 2005 and December 2006, according to sources familiar with documents withheld from the public.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales testified last week that the effort was limited to eight U.S. attorneys fired since last June, and other administration officials have said that only a few others were suggested for removal.

[...]

One memo sent to Sampson last November from Michael J. Elston, chief of staff to the deputy attorney general, suggested firing Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh, who supervised the nation's prosecutors for a year and now heads the Office on Violence Against Women, sources said.

[...]

Another prosecutor, Anna Mills Wagoner of Greensboro, N.C., is included on three lists. Documents show that Monica M. Goodling, a Gonzales aide set to testify next week in Congress, removed her from consideration because of her work prosecuting gun crimes.

So more evidence of perjury by Abu. And Monica, a dim twinkie from a fourth-rate law school, wanted to fire a USA for actually, y'know, prosecuting crimes.

I don't think we've yet seen the true dimensions of the crowd's corruption and moral depravity.

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Hi-larious

Once again, It's always someone else's fault:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday that his deputy, who is resigning, was the most important player in the controversial decision about which U.S. attorneys should be fired last year.

[...]

"The one person I would care about would be the views of the deputy attorney general, because the deputy attorney general is the direct supervisor of the United States attorneys," Gonzales said.

Gonzales said he was reassured by McNulty as recently as March that the firings all were justified.

Be careful, Abu, McNulty just might decide to sing. And what fun that would be! (Well, for those of us who aren't Loyal Bushies, at least.)

Poor Abu and poor George, it's so hard to find good help anymore.

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Overboard

Not much higher to go:

Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty announced his resignation today, saying he is leaving the Justice Department later this summer to enter the private sector, officials said.

[...]McNulty is the latest senior Justice official to announce his departure amid the swirl of controversy over the firings last year of nine U.S. attorneys. Three other top aides to Gonzales have quit in recent months.

From McNulty's resignation letter (pdf):

This is to advise you of my intention to step down from my position as Deputy Attorney General on a date to be determined in the late summer. The financial realities of college-age children and two decades of public service lead me to a long overdue transition in my career.

Ah, yes, the old "spend more time with my family" excuse. (Does anyone actually buy that rationale anymore?)

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Magical Pixies

Dahlia Lithwick on Abu Gonzales:

Finally, the AG proves himself to be as defiantly incurious as his boss. He tells the committee at various times that he didn't read the CRS report detailing how previous administrations handled U.S. attorney dismissals. He didn't read the University of Minnesota study that broke down the disparity in investigations of Democrats over Republicans He tells Maxine Waters, D-Calif., that he still has not read the fired U.S. attorneys' personnel files. He notes several times that he hasn't much read the newspapers. He tells Sanchez that he still doesn't know who at Justice had more than "limited input" into these decisions. The most revealing moment, perhaps, is when Gonzales inadvertently confesses that some members of this secret cabal of senior leaders may not have even "known that they were involved in making this list." Poor James Comey thought he was making cocktail-party conversation, when in fact Kyle Sampson was using his judgments on U.S. attorneys as ammunition against them.

[...]

Long silence. Pause. "They wouldn't do that," hems Gonzales. "The White House has said publicly that it was not involved in adding or deleting people from the list." Someone needs to tell that to Kyle Sampson. And as for Gonzales, he has made himself immortal by merely willing himself to be so. That must be what accounts for his Zenlike state today. It's an ingenious strategy. Instead of letting the president throw him under the bus to protect Karl Rove, Gonzales just lies down in the road, then giggles as the bus runs over his head.

Lithwick doesn't much respect Abu G. Then again, nobody with a lick of sense does, either.

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The Big Question

One that perhaps will be answered soon: Why was this twit given such power?

“You have a Monica problem,” Ms. Ashton was told, according to several Justice Department officials. Referring to Monica M. Goodling, a 31-year-old, relatively inexperienced lawyer who had only recently arrived in the office, the boss added, “She believes you’re a Democrat and doesn’t feel you can be trusted.”

Ms. Ashton’s ouster — she left the Executive Office for United States Attorneys for another Justice Department post two weeks later — was a critical early step in a plan that would later culminate in the ouster of nine United States attorneys last year.

It appears that Monica's true calling is that of a music critic:

She joined the department in the press office. Soon after, two lawyers said, Ms. Goodling complained that staff members in Puerto Rico had used rap music in a public service announcement intended to discourage gun crime.

“That is just outrageous,” she told one department lawyer. “How could they use government money for an ad that featured rap music? That kind of music glorifies violence.”

No doubt, when Monica wants to get funky she listens to Percy Faith.

Then again, Monica could offer herself up as an expert in race relations:

In one case, Ms. Goodling told a federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia that she was not signing off on an applicant who had graduated from Howard University Law School, and then worked at the Environmental Protection Agency. [Link added.]

“He appeared, based on his résumé, to be a liberal Democrat,” Ms. Goodling told Jeffrey A. Taylor, the acting United States attorney in Washington, according to two of the department employees who asked not to be named. “That wasn’t what she was looking for.”

Monica the historian:

“Which Supreme Court justice do you most admire and why? Which legislator do you most admire and why? And which president do you most admire and why?” Mr. Nicholson was asked by Ms. Goodling, according to Ms. Chiara and the other lawyer, who asked not to be named.

Correct answers: Antonin Scalia, Joseph McCarthy, and George W. Bush.

Monica the Grand Inquisitor:

In another instance, two Justice Department officials said, Ms. Goodling decided she did not like the applicants for one prestigious posting at department headquarters and decided to offer the job to David C. Woll Jr., a young lawyer who she knew was a Republican. In the interview, a department official said, she asked Mr. Woll if he had ever cheated on his wife. Mr. Woll declined to comment for this article.

Even John Mitchell would have been embarrassed by this dope.

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Monica To Sing

Might be fun:

Lawyers for Monica Goodling, who had served as the Justice Department's liaison to the White House, said she would appear before the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.

[...]

A hearing date was not immediately set.

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All Roads Lead To Rove

Fired USA David Iglesias:

And while he says it's not his place to call for the resignation of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, he says Gonzales failed to protect the eight fired U.S. attorneys from political fallout. Things would have been different, Iglesias says, under Gonzales' predecessor, John Ashcroft.

"He was a tough old bird."

I've noticed the irony of Ashcroft having more integrity than Abu Gonzales.

"I think all roads lead to Rove," Iglesias says. "I think that's why the president is circling some pretty major wagons around him to keep him from testifying under oath, which subjects him to criminal prosecution."

[Via CREW.]

And as wonderful bit of synconicity Murray Waas today reports:

The Bush administration has withheld a series of e-mails from Congress showing that senior White House and Justice Department officials worked together to conceal the role of Karl Rove in installing Timothy Griffin, a protégé of Rove's, as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

[...]

The withheld e-mails show that Sampson's draft was forwarded for review to Chris Oprison, an associate White House counsel, who approved the language saying that Justice was not aware of Rove having played any role in supporting Griffin. But an earlier e-mail from Sampson to Oprison that has already been made public indicates that the two men discussed Rove and then-White House Counsel Harriet Miers as being at the forefront of Griffin's nomination.

[...]

The senior official said that Gonzales, in preparing for testimony before Congress, has personally reviewed the withheld records and has a responsibility to make public any information he has about efforts by his former chief of staff, other department aides, and White House officials to conceal Rove's role.

"If [Gonzales] didn't know everything that was going on when it went down, that is one thing," this official said. "But he knows and understands chapter and verse. If there was an effort within Justice and the White House to mislead Congress, it is his duty to disclose that to Congress. As the country's chief law enforcement official, he has a higher duty to disclose than to protect himself or the administration."

Where there's sleaze there's Karl.

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#9

Todd P. Graves:

An aide to Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.) urged the White House to replace the U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo., months before Todd P. Graves's name was included on a Justice Department list of federal prosecutors the Bush administration was thinking of pushing out of their jobs.

[...]

Graves's name was included on a January 2006 memo, drafted by the then-chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, that recommended to the White House seven U.S. attorneys who "might be considered for removal and replacement," according to administration and legislative sources. Two months later, on March 10, 2006, Graves resigned.

Graves is the second U.S. attorney whose ouster is known to have been encouraged by the office of a Republican senator. Sen. Pete V. Domenici (N.M.) complained last October about New Mexico's David C. Iglesias, who was later fired.

[...]

Last night, Graves issued a statement that said: "This would be humorous if we were not talking about the United States Department of Justice. First, you tell me that DOJ staffers were making secret hit lists and my name was on one of them. Then, you tell me that a staffer for Missouri's senior senator had a hit list so secret that not even the senator knew about it."

So, who will be revealed as the tenth USA to have been sacked for not being a "Loyal Bushie?"

Abu Gonzales testifies before the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow. Any bets on how any times he says "I don't recall" or variants thereof?

JMM has more.

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Lawbreaker

Abu Gonzo:

On Nov. 10, 2005, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales sent a letter to a federal judge in Montana, assuring him that the U.S. attorney there, William W. Mercer, was not violating federal law by spending most of his time in Washington as a senior Justice Department official.

That same day, Mercer had a GOP Senate staffer insert into a bill a provision that would change the rules so that federal prosecutors could live outside their districts to serve in other jobs, according to documents and interviews

[...]

But the episode, which received little notice at the time, provides another example in which Gonzales's statements appear to conflict with simultaneous actions by his aides in connection with U.S. attorney policies. Lawmakers investigating the department's handling of the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys have repeatedly accused Gonzales of being less than truthful about the roles played by himself and the White House.

[...]

Mercer made his request to Brett Tolman, who was counsel to Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A spokeswoman for Tolman, now the U.S. attorney in Utah, declined to comment yesterday.

Specter's office suggested the measure was unremarkable.

[...]

Mercer currently serves as the acting associate attorney general and has been nominated for appointment to the job permanently. He spends only about three days a month in Montana as U.S. attorney, according to congressional testimony, and is among about a half-dozen U.S. attorneys who currently work in senior jobs in Washington.

The practice has come under scrutiny in Congress because of claims by the Justice Department that it fired New Mexico prosecutor David C. Iglesias in part because he was absent from the job too much. Iglesias, who is a Naval Reserve officer, has filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel alleging that the firing was, among other things, a violation of federal laws prohibiting discrimination against military personnel.

"It's a curious contrast that leaders in the Department of Justice would slip a change into law to allow one U.S. Attorney to spend only a few days a month in his district and keep his job, while at the same time claiming to fire another for spending a few days a month away from his district to serve his country," Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a statement.

At this point anything I might write would be redundant.

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