Comments (34)

Crust wrote on April 13, 2007 12:37 PM:

So it looks like this was originally a list of seven, but attorneys #1, #2 and #4 were redacted. Any guesses who they were?

Anonymous wrote on April 13, 2007 12:37 PM:

Interestingly Brand was the recipient of a carping email from an anonymous employee complaining about Western Michigan's attorney Margaret Chiarra's alleged mishandling of staff bonuses in the Michigan office.

Sounds like Brand is a mover and shaker to watch.

steambomb wrote on April 13, 2007 12:38 PM:

Just the fact that these USAs were all recommended to replace Carol Lam casts a shadow on their viability as USAs. How do we know that these USAs are not the type of corrupt officials that would be installed to stop investigations of republicans?

jdw wrote on April 13, 2007 12:39 PM:

The document remains redacted. USAG's #1 and #2 suggested to get the boot have been removed.

The May series of emails (the third page) is also redacted.

I cuold swear that the committees specifically requested unredacted versions.

One does wonder why the WH is so set on not identifying the other USAG's that were being considered. I suspect that we'll find out down the road that Fitz was on the list far longer than Sampson tries to claim was little more than a "flip" joke by him.

One also sees in the first e-mail that the issue of nomination/confirmation is starting to come up, and the dropping of the new USAG's into the roles as Interim USAG's is being recommended. Note that the USA PATRIOT Act Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 was signed into law on March 9, 2006. The Senate passed it on March 2, and the House on March 7. The slipping of the amendment into the final version of the Patriot Act likely came *after* Sampson's January 9, 2006 e-mail. And likely because of the development of the plan to boot some USAG's.

Crust wrote on April 13, 2007 12:42 PM:

Aah, I see that on page 3 Sampson notes that two on his list have already left office, so presumably they took hints to leave (as Sampson suggests on page 1 would be a good idea). He also there are an additional 3-5 he could name, so 10-12 total USAs they were trying to push out.

William Ockham wrote on April 13, 2007 12:44 PM:

The significance of these names is that they are all people from Main Justice, i.e. people that the total team players, willing to the bidding of the political team.

Peter Duffy wrote on April 13, 2007 12:49 PM:

As I understood Sansom's testimony before the Senate last month , he said he did not make any recommend any nominees on his own account. Nominees were suggested to him by other parties, and he was merely an aggregator of other colleagues views.

So, has Kyle been a naughty boy with the Senate?

anon, too wrote on April 13, 2007 12:50 PM:

The one I like best, so far:

Check out page 1147 in dump three. In it Kyle Sampson nixes having Bud Cummings testify before Schumer’s committee. As his reasons, he says:

“How would he answer:
Did you resign voluntarily?
Were you told why you were being asked to resign?
Who told you?
When did they tell you?
What did they say?
Did you ever talk to Tim Griffin about his becoming U.S.Attorney?
What did Griffin say?
Did Griffin ever talk about being AG appointed and avoiding Senate confirmation?
Were you asked to resign because you were underperforming?
If not then why?
Etc, etc.”

Yeah, Kyle, I guess you guys really wouldn't want those answers made public, would you?

Neil B. wrote on April 13, 2007 12:51 PM:

Interesting, ironic take on this (from a Drudge link - suspicious of course...) from
http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0407/White_House_Emails_from_200103_Deleted_but_Rove_Messages_Kept_from_05_On.html

Susan Wolff wrote on April 13, 2007 12:51 PM:

Not only are these all people from Main Justice, but I believe that they could only have been appointed under the Patriot Act provisions that allow sidestepping the residency requirements for US Attorneys.

Anonymous wrote on April 13, 2007 12:53 PM:

It's amazing you were able to find anything of value in these documents. They've obviously been repeatedly gone over with a fine tooth comb and heavily redacted before being turned over. This is the Republican gameplan- trickle, trickle, trickle, delay, delay, delay, and claim they've been cooperating all along. The Dem majority needs to stop playing games with these assholes NOW!

Neil B. wrote on April 13, 2007 12:54 PM:

BTW, Josh, and especially considering the current security code about the substance that we use to wash our hands with: Pls take away that ad for email messages from Ann Coulter. I know, it either makes you look open-minded, or not into "censorship", or provides for opposition research; or some combo, but I think we'd really rather not see it here.

Doug Bostrom wrote on April 13, 2007 1:05 PM:

JDWL One does wonder why the WH is so set on not identifying the other USAG's that were being considered.

Perhaps because we'll notice they're all either graduates of Regent University and/or members in good standing of the Federalist Society? Goodling seems to have been including at least the latter in synopses of USAs delivered to the White House, heh.

Peter Duffy wrote on April 13, 2007 1:05 PM:

Any TPM MUCKRAKER Mole in the West Michigan District office that can identify the author of A DAY IN THE LIFE email sent in October 2006 to self serving job nominee Rachel Brand...pages 17 to 19 setting up Margaret Chiarra.

TheraP wrote on April 13, 2007 1:06 PM:

So Sampson was not just an "aggregator."

Obviously they're not going to protect him. Just throw him to the wolves.

Word is "school." That should teach him!

Nadja wrote on April 13, 2007 1:06 PM:

How many of these replacement folks were graduates of Regent University law school?

Ducktape wrote on April 13, 2007 1:16 PM:

Re the Federalist Society -- there seems to be a spreadsheet with the backgrounds of the various USAs that has a column for whether or not they are Federalist Society members.

anon, too wrote on April 13, 2007 1:17 PM:

Page 1172, Monica Goodling sends the “chart the AG requested” to Kyle Sampson and Michael Ealston. The actual draft of the chart is on pages 1168-1170, and summarizes the complaints against the USAs on the list for firing. What’s interesting is the side-by-side of the reasons given for the USAs being unsatisfactory, and the performance rating each received.

But more important, it established that AG Gonzoles requested the development of the list, if Monica is to be believed. To me this establishes that he was involved a bit more actively than he wants to let on.

Anonymous wrote on April 13, 2007 1:17 PM:

How many of these replacement folks were graduates of Regent University law school?

do I recall some news bytes a while back when Robertson said that he has communications with the president (bush). Then Bush came out and tried to lessen the importance of their relationship? Does anyone else recall this section of the news cycle? Maybe it was like 2 years ago. Heck there has been SO much its hard to remember.

steambomb wrote on April 13, 2007 1:23 PM:

Wow. Leahy gave a great speech on the senate floor on thursday. I am seeing it for the first time on cspan right now. He has mentioned all the civil rights abuses and appears to be taking the gloves off. Democracy in bloom again. How fitting that it is spring and the word is flower.

Richard L. Adlof wrote on April 13, 2007 1:51 PM:

Supeona the Information Services staff and all harddrives and tape/drive back-ups. There is multiple redunancy in the system (or there was when a Democrat lived there).

Also let's here about the eighteen miles of black marker . . . Stack that against eighteen blank seconds of tape . . . 30 percent of America gets their 'news' from FOX . . . We gotta spell it out for them.

Anne wrote on April 13, 2007 1:51 PM:

Well, if there was any glimmer of a chance that Congress would be issuing contempt citations for failure to comply with subpoenas to appear or to produce documents, I guess it would be good for the WH to make sure the US Attorney for the District of Columbia was a team player...

marblex wrote on April 13, 2007 2:15 PM:

is this the same Taylor who malpracticed recently so bad that he blew the government's right to obtain over 1 million in reimbursement/restitution from another rich white white collar criminal?

Anonymous wrote on April 13, 2007 2:23 PM:

Rachel Brand, courtesy of her Senate Confirmation Hearing Transcript:

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/15dec20051100/www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/pdf/109hrg/22785.pdf

Biographical Information

Rachel Lee Brand

Arlington, VA

Date and Place of birth
Muskegon, MI - May 1, 1973

Married to Jonathan F. Cohn, who is a Deputy Assistant Attorney General - Civil Division of the US DOJ.

University of Minnesota 91-95
Harvard Law 95-98 (J.D. 1998)

Employment History

05-Present: Assistant Attorney General - US DOJ Office of Legal Policy

03-05: US DOJ Office of Legal Policy (Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General)

02-03: US Supreme Court (Law Clerk to Justice Kennedy)

01-02: The White House (Assistant Counsel to the President - Assosiate Counsel to the President)

01: Bush-Cheney Transitioin (Associate Counsel)

99-01: Cooper, Carvin & Rosenthal (Associate)

99: Elizabeth Dole for President Exploratory Committee (General Counsel)

98-99: Supreme Court of Mass. (Law Clerk to Justice Fried)

98: Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett (Summer Associate)

97: Cooper & Carvin (Summer Associate)

97: Harvard Law (Research Assistant to Professor David Shapiro)

96: FBI (Intern)

95: Mervenne Beverage, Inc. (Receptionist)

95: Brann's Steakhouse (Waitress)

95: Bos Landen Country Club (Waitress)

95: US Senator Charles Grassley (Intern)

95: Bennigan's (Waitress)

djcrow22 wrote on April 13, 2007 2:31 PM:

This Jeffrey A. Taylor
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/alerts/215
It was $100,000.00, yeah he blew it...

anon, too wrote on April 13, 2007 2:34 PM:

is this the same Taylor who malpracticed recently so bad that he blew the government's right to obtain over 1 million in reimbursement/restitution from another rich white white collar criminal?

Posted by: marblex

I believe that is the same Jeff Taylor, Interim USA for DC,who so poorly drafted a plea bargain agreement that the defendant is relieved of paying back $100 million in restitution.

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/alerts/215
"The case was prosecuted by the office of the interim U.S. Attorney for D.C., Jeffrey A. Taylor. Taylor was appointed directly by Attorney General Gonzales without Senate confirmation in November 2006 under a provision of the Patriot Act that Congress has recently voted to reverse.

"Sure enough, Taylor came straight from the Bush Administration. He served as Counselor to Attorney Generals John Ashcroft and Gonzales for four years prior to his selection. Before that he worked as an aide to Sen. Orrin Hatch, where he actually participated in the writing of the Patriot Act."

Foggylady wrote on April 13, 2007 2:40 PM:

Ducktape...
Re the Federalist Society -- there seems to be a spreadsheet with the backgrounds of the various USAs that has a column for whether or not they are Federalist Society members.

Can you identify where in the dump you found this spreadsheet, so we can look at it?????

Anonymous wrote on April 13, 2007 2:42 PM:

Looks like Rachel Brand was spending a lot of time out on the circuit pitching the Patriot Act in 2005 along with the FBI, namely National Security Letters.

http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/archive.htm

djcrow22 wrote on April 13, 2007 4:45 PM:

Marblex,
Thanks for the correct figure. Besides, whats a few zeros and a decimal point to the folks were dealing with? I also want to know who it is that is coming up with these codewords? Some computer in TPM's office...

The Oracle wrote on April 13, 2007 11:49 PM:

These Friday document dumps are so old news.

What I mean by this is that in the past the "powers that be" may have thought Friday document dumps would somehow soften the impact of whatever was being dumped, with the weekend providing a buffer.

However, while the "powers that be" view Friday document dumps through the prism of the old dominance of the MSM, I personally find myself spending time over the weekends checking sites like TPM and TPM Muckraker to find out the latest information about what the bastards in the Bush administration are up to... and NAIL (security codeword) their sorry asses to the wall.

Which means, with the internet becoming an important information highway for more and more citizens (like myself), that the Friday document dump actually works in a very timely fashion into my Saturday and Sunday internet surfing versus weekday work nights.

Mooser wrote on April 14, 2007 1:23 AM:

Oracle, I feel the "same". The work on the Fridays dumps by TPM readers is fantastic.

Pachamama wrote on April 14, 2007 3:57 AM:

Yep, the Friday news dump is my favorite reading for the weekend too....Imagine how many of us are working away finding all the tidbits of key info and after all that sorting, making sure its diseminated to the masses and our lawmakers and media, so that by Monday and the whole following week, they can write about it and pursue it further!

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 14, 2007 5:50 AM:

Worth re-visiting.

Robert Novak
January 4, 2002

WHITE HOUSE STAFFERS SABOTAGE CONFIRMATION OF GOP HERO

NEARLY THREE years ago, career federal prosecutor Charles LaBella became a hero for Republicans, martyred by the Clinton administration's politicized Justice Department. Because he sought independent prosecution of Clinton-Gore campaign abuses, LaBella was denied promotion to be U.S. attorney in San Diego.But now that Republicans are in power, why has he not been named to the post he still wants to fill?

His new Republican critics reply that LaBella is not a "team player" --precisely the unfair description of him by Democrats working for President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno. The real answer is petty backstage politics by White House and Senate staffers who want to keep out LaBella and put in one of their own.

More than an injustice to a valued public servant is at stake. The anti-LaBella cabal threatens plans for President Bush to win approval of California federal judges in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Maneuvering overnomination of U.S. attorneys normally does not engage George W. Bush personally, but he might consider intervening for Chuck LaBella before it is too late.

In 1999, crack prosecutor LaBella was aggressively probing 1996 Clinton-Gore abuses as head of Justice's Washington-based campaign finance task force. He was suddenly transferred back to San Diego with assurances he soon would become U.S.attorney there, a particularly important post because of its proximity to the Mexican border. When word leaked that LaBella had urged Reno to name an independent counsel to investigate Clinton, the president instead named somebody else as U.S. attorney. LaBella was in limbo. Unable either to go back to Washington or stay in San Diego, he ended 17 years of public service.

THE INJUSTICE appeared sure to be redressed by the Republican takeover in 2001. Los Angeles venture capitalist Gerald Parsky, Bush's main man in California, was assigned the task of getting the state's two strong-minded Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, to approve the president's California judgeships. LaBella was a test case, and Parsky won the senators' agreement.

So, the recommendation for U.S. attorney in San Diego dispatched to Washington by Parsky contained just one name: LaBella. That report was rocketed back across the continent by White House legal aide Brad Berenson with a requestfor more names. Parsky added two more (both women), but stressed that LaBella was still first choice.

White House staffers, uninterested in the women, really wanted Jeff Taylor-- a Justice Department lawyer who has been working in the office of Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Kyle Sampson, a former Hatch aide who now works in the White House, along with Berenson has kept the LaBella nomination from getting to the president's desk.

Hatch himself, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, denied to me that he is supporting Taylor or blocking LaBella. But he has told others that Justice Department professional staffers report that LaBella is not a teamplayer. Hatch has also suggested in private that a solution might be making LaBella the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, perhaps on the theory that teamplayers are less needed there.

THE SENATOR was singing a different tune March 12, 1999, when he chaired a Judiciary Committee hearing. Attorney General Reno was being castigated by Sen.Arlen Specter, R-Pa., for LaBella's treatment. "I do share Sen. Specter's concerns," said Hatch, adding: "I think people like Chuck LaBella are one of the reasons why the Justice Department has such a good reputation."

Ironically, fervent House Republican investigators eager to nail Reno and Justice's Clinton defenders were irritated because LaBella would not join the crusade. In an off-the-record conversation with me after he resigned, LaBella refused to criticize his former colleagues or his former boss.

LaBella's supporters in California fear another name is moving through the secret bureaucratic process and soon will be unveiled as a fait accompli.Imagine Feinstein's vexation. Having accepted LaBella and sold him to Boxer, how would she react to a White House veto?

PARSKY'S CAREFULLY wrought plan to win Senate confirmation of a batch of new lifetime district judges, conservative but acceptable to California's Democratic senators, would be a shambles.

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