A chance to remix history? Confused by the current developments inside the Beltway regarding the firing of attorneys in the Justice Department? Millions of emails regarding this process are “missing” resulting in another Bush Administration scandal. Now the Democratic congress is seeking communication as to understand the process that lead to the firings. As the NYTimes reported:
“Taken together, Democrats asserted, the e-mail supported their contention that the ousted prosecutors were dismissed to make room for favored candidates who were chosen on the basis of their political qualifications as much as prosecutorial experience.”
Today the Times revealed Rachel L. Brand being considered the top political appointment for Federal Prosecutor in the Western District of Michigan admitted she “never prosecuted so much as a traffic case.” Brilliant.
The Saturday Night Massacre October 20, 1973: Special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox subpoenaed tapes of key White House conversations regarding the growing Watergate scandal.
President Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson resigned in protest.
Nixon then instructed Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox. Ruckelshaus also refused and was fired by Nixon.
Facing a crisis, Nixon turned to Solicitor General Robert Bork (third in line to the Attorney General) who fired Cox. The event was hyper escalated when the FBI sealed the offices of Richardson, Ruckelshaus and Coxs.
Today this scandal is reaching Wisconsin. The Milwaukee Journal reports the US Attorney for the Eastern District, Steven Biskupic, was on the Bush Administration’s dismissal list. But he was given a reprieve for the political prosecution of state purchasing supervisor Georgia Thompson (on corruption charges) with negative publicity to Democratic Governor Jim Doyle…only to have the Federal Appeals Court throw out her conviction. The court commented the evidence presented by Biskupic was “beyond thin.”
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