If there was one major revelation during the hearing today, it was that James Comey had been involved in the firing of two U.S. attorneys when he was deputy attorney general.
But these firings were worlds away from the firing of the eight U.S. attorneys last December. First, they were individual cases — and in each case, Comey said, there was “serious misconduct… these were not close calls, as soon as you read about it, you said, ‘this guy’s got to go.’” Second, Comey said that there was extensive discussion with the U.S. attorneys about what the problem was. And third, Comey had discussions with senior staff and the attorney general about the problem before asking the U.S. attorneys to resign.
Comey didn’t identify either of the U.S. attorneys, and only said that one of the firings was during John Ashcroft’s tenure as attorney general, and the other was during Gonzales’. One of the U.S. attorneys voluntarily resigned, and the other refused to resign and was fired by the president “by letter,” Comey said.