Alberto Gonzales

Alberto Gonzales Named 'Distinguished Chair of Law' By Belmont University

Jillian Rayfield | October 3, 2011, 6:03PM

Fmr. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President George W. Bush

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, last seen expressing "disappointment" in himself for failing to stop the politicization of the Justice Department honors program during the Bush era, has a new gig as the Doyle Rogers Distinguished Chair of Law at Belmont University College of Law in Tennessee.

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Edward Bachner

Illinois Man Pleads Guilty To Buying Puffer Fish Poison To Use As A Weapon

Jillian Rayfield | August 11, 2011, 6:31PM

Edward F. Bachner

A man in Illinois has pleaded guilty to posing as a doctor in order to purchase the poisonous toxin found in puffer fish for "use as a weapon."

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House Judiciary

Rove Protege Tim Griffin Now On Judiciary Committee

Ryan J. Reilly | January 3, 2011, 1:45PM

A few years ago, Tim Griffin was a key figure in of the biggest scandals in the Bush administration. Democrats said -- and the Justice Department Inspector General later concluded -- that the Bush White House and Justice Department pushed out U.S. Attorney H.E. "Bud" Cummins III to give Griffin, a former aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove, a plum spot as interim U.S. attorney that would pad his resume.

Now Griffin, who was elected to Congress from Arkansas in November, has been named by House Republicans to be a member of the House Judiciary Committee -- the very same committee which took a close look at his own role in the scandal that ultimately lead to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

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Alberto Gonzales

Alberto Gonzales: My Book Will 'Set The Record Straight'

Ryan J. Reilly | November 20, 2010, 9:23AM

Fmr. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President George W. Bush

George W. Bush isn't the only official in the prior administration with writing chops. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is also hard at work on a book that he told TPM will "set the record straight" on his public service and offer a "very candid, very honest" assessment of the people he worked with and decisions he made in the White House and at the Justice Department.

Gonzales also told me that he's in the midst of reading Bush's book Decision Points -- and while he's found his former boss' memoir "insightful," he remembers some events a bit differently than the former president.

"I would just simply urge your readers [to note] that he and I could observe the same thing and come away with completely different conclusions or memories of what we observed," said Gonzales. "So the fact that I might observe something or remember something differently than what he writes about in the book is just, I think, the human condition of people remembering something or observing something differently."

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Chris Christie

Chris Christie: No. 1 U.S. Attorney In Wasting Gov't Travel Money

Ryan J. Reilly | November 9, 2010, 10:06AM

NJ Gov. Chris Christie (R)

The Justice Department Inspector General released a report yesterday showing that a select number of U.S. Attorneys sought reimbursement above government lodging rates. At the top of the worst offenders list: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who was U.S. Attorney from 2002 to 2008.

The report doesn't identify Christie or any of the U.S. Attorneys by name. But thanks to stories that came out during his campaign against former Gov. Jon Corzine (D) in 2009, we know that the U.S. Attorney who went over the government-set reimbursement rate the most between 2007 and 2009 was none other than current New Jersey governor.

Specifics of Christie's travel detailed in stories during the gubernatorial race last year as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request from his opponent match with the profile of a federal prosecutor dubbed "U.S. Attorney C" in the Inspector General report.

"In terms of the percentage of travel, U.S. Attorney C was the U.S. Attorney who most often exceeded the government rate without adequate justification," the report found. "The U.S. Attorney provided insufficient, inaccurate, or no justification for 14 of 23 trips (61 percent) that exceeded the government rate."

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Tim Griffin

Fired U.S. Attorney: DOJ Decision Not An Exoneration of Griffin

Ryan J. Reilly | September 21, 2010, 10:18AM

Tim Griffin

One of the U.S. Attorneys who was fired in a scandal that lead to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales during the Bush administration remains critical of the man who replaced him -- and who is now running for Congress.

"He had a role [in the attorney firings scandal], and I think its been documented in the investigations," Bud Cummins said of Tim Griffin, the former Karl Rove aide who replaced Cummins and is now running for Congress in Arkansas 2nd District.

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U.S. Attorneys

Gonzales: 'I'm Probably The Least Political Animal Of The Bush Administration'

Rachel Slajda | September 13, 2010, 5:52PM

Fmr. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President George W. Bush

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal is out this weekend with a glowing profile of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, just about two months after the Justice Department dropped its investigation into whether Gonzales politicized the DOJ during his tenure.

As you might expect, Gonzales denied that his 2006 firing of U.S. attorneys was politically motivated.

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U.S. Attorneys

AP: Case Closed In U.S. Attorney Firings With No Charges

Rachel Slajda | July 21, 2010, 3:21PM

Fmr. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

The AP is reporting that the Department of Justice has closed its investigation into the U.S. attorney firings and will not file any charges.

The Bush Administration spent several years fighting allegations that it had fired several U.S. attorneys for politically motivated reasons, and then ignoring subpoenas by Congress to testify about the firings. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned because of the scandal.

You can find past TPMmuckraker coverage of the scandal here and here, and a timeline here.

Immigration

Feds Investigating The Source Of The Utah Immigrants List

Rachel Slajda | July 15, 2010, 12:40PM

At least one federal agency is now involved in the investigation into a mysterious list of the names of 1,300 purported illegal immigrants that was sent to state agencies and news outlets this week in Utah, TPMmuckraker has learned. But, despite the intention of the list-maker, the feds are investigating not the people on the list, but the person who generated it.

The Social Security Administration's Inspector General received a copy of the list -- which includes names, addresses, birth dates and, in 30 cases, Social Security numbers -- yesterday, according to spokesman Jonathan Lasher.

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Steve Biskupic

Bush-Era U.S. Attorney Cleared Of Allegations Of Politicized Prosecution

Justin Elliott | June 1, 2010, 6:03PM

George W. Bush and former US Attorney Steven Biskupic (inset)

The Justice Department's internal watchdog has cleared a Bush-era U.S. Attorney of wrongdoing in a years-old episode that sparked suspicions of politicized prosecution during the U.S. Attorneys firing scandal in 2007.

TPMmuckraker covered the story involving Steve Biskupic, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, back in 2007. To summarize, the case involved Biskupic's decision to prosecute a state government bureaucrat in a case that implicated Wisconsin's Democratic governor. When an appeals court slammed the prosecution's theory of the case as "preposterous," suspicions were raised, including by congressional Democrats, that Biskupic was attempting to curry favor with the Bush Administration and avoid being purged in the firings.

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Tim Griffin

Split Decision Tuesday For U.S. Attorney Scandal Figures Turned Congressional Hopefuls

Justin Elliott | May 19, 2010, 8:46AM

Tim Griffin

Two Republicans with roles in the Bush-era U.S. attorney firings scandal were fighting for congressional nominations Tuesday, and the result is a split decision:

Mary Beth Buchanan, who was head of the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys when the firing list was being drawn up in 2005, was, in the words of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, was "trounced" in Pennsylvania's 4th Congressional District primary, getting just 33 percent of the vote. The winner was attorney Keith Rothfus.

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Mark "Thor" Hearne

GOP Vote Suppression Expert Now Handling Anti-HCR Lawsuit

Zachary Roth | April 22, 2010, 9:37AM

Mark Hearne

A Republican operative who was behind a sophisticated effort to make it harder for poor people and minorities to vote is back in the news. He's handling Missouri's lawsuit against the health-care reform law.

Mark "Thor" Hearne has been hired by Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder to challenge the law's constitutionality. Several other states are bringing similar claims. Kinder is mounting a fundraising effort -- even launching a website -- to pay for the challenge to the law because the state's Democratic attorney general has declined to get involved.

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U.S. Attorneys

Obama U.S. Attorney Pick Criticized Over Role In Disputed Bond Deal

Justin Elliott | March 31, 2010, 1:25PM

President Barack Obama and Michael Ormsby

Mike Ormsby, President Obama's nominee to be U.S. Attorney in eastern Washington state, is being called unfit for the job by critics of his role in a 1990s bond deal that ultimately resulted in Ormsby's firm paying $1.4 million to the IRS.

Ormsby's critics, who include the former mayor of Spokane, sent a letter to President Obama and Senate leaders about a year ago when Ormsby's name was first floated for the job. Now, with Ormsby's formal nomination earlier this month, the issue is surfacing again.

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Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal

Lawyer For Alleged Phone-Tamperer: I'm Trying To Resolve Case With Feds

Justin Elliott | February 11, 2010, 5:16PM

Robert Flanagan

An attorney for one of the four men charged in the Landrieu phone-tampering case tells the AP that he met with the U.S. Attorney's office to try to come to a resolution out of court.

"We're in discussions with the government, trying to resolve this matter as expeditiously as possible in a fair and just manner," said Attorney Garrison Jordan, who represents Robert Flanagan.

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James Catledge

Investment Advice Guru Who Gave Big To GOP Accused Of Ponzi Scheme (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | February 2, 2010, 12:52PM

James Catledge

A Nevada motivational speaker-cum-investment guru who is also a major GOP donor is being accused in court documents of operating a Ponzi scheme in which investors were promised big returns for buying real estate in the Dominican Republic.

While the FBI is reportedly investigating the businessman, James Catledge, he has not been charged with a crime by the government. The accusations against Catledge are leveled in the lengthy report of a special master who was appointed by a federal judge in Florida as part of a civil suit brought by aggrieved investors.

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Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal

Breitbart Claim: Jailed O'Keefe Couldn't Access Attorney For Hours

Justin Elliott | February 1, 2010, 2:21PM

Andrew Breitbart

Interviewed on Fox just moments ago, Andrew Breitbart claimed that alleged Landrieu phone tamperer James O'Keefe "sat in jail for 28 hours without access to an attorney."

Breitbart, who has been on a public campaign defending O'Keefe, a paid contributor to Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, also charged that the U.S. Attorney's office in Louisiana leaked information to the press "helping" them to frame the episode as "Watergate Junior."

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U.S. Attorneys

Five Fired U.S. Attorneys Come Together To Remember The Bush Years (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | January 29, 2010, 5:04PM

George W. Bush

Five of the U.S. attorneys fired in the Bush Administration purge in 2006 gathered for a panel discussion this week at Arizona State University College of Law to talk about the firings and the line between policy and politics.

Rarely, if ever, have so many of the fired U.S. attorneys gathered in one place for a public discussion.

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U.S. Attorneys

Figures In U.S. Attorney Firings Now Running For Office

Zachary Roth | January 7, 2010, 2:02PM

Tim Griffin

Who ever said there are no second acts in American life never met some of the Republicans who played roles in the U.S. attorney firings.

Three figures from the Bush Justice Department scandal of 2006 are back in the limelight, running for office under the GOP banner in 2010.

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J. Christian Adams

Bush-Era DOJ-er Stoking New Black Panther Case

Zachary Roth | December 14, 2009, 3:18PM

J. Christian Adams

It was always going to take more than a few speeches by Eric Holder to clear out the rot of the Bush-Gonzales years at the Department of Justice. And sure enough, it looks like DOJ lawyers hired during the last administration are still making mischief for the current one.

Meet J. Christian Adams. He's the Civil Rights Division attorney who, according to Main Justice, helped bring that voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther party, stemming from an Election Day incident.

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Joe Arpaio

Arpaio Turns to Former Bush DOJ Official To Stymie Federal Probe

Zachary Roth | December 14, 2009, 11:12AM

Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Robert Driscoll

Sheriff Joe Arpaio has turned to a heavy-hitting former Bush Justice Department official and veteran Washington lawyer to help thwart a federal civil-rights probe of his controversial law-enforcement tactics.

Since March, investigators with DOJ's Civil Rights Division have been looking into allegations of racial profiling and related issues in connection with Arpaio's enforcement of immigration laws. Between 2004 and 2007, Arpaio reportedly had 2,700 law suits filed against his office -- 50 times the number of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston combined.

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Max Baucus

Baucus's Girlfriend Withdrew US Atty. Nomination Only After Paper's Inquiries

Justin Elliott | December 11, 2009, 10:00AM

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT)

Sen. Max Baucus' girlfriend withdrew from consideration to be Montana's U.S. attorney in March only after a newspaper told Baucus' office it was about to publish a story on the senator's nomination of Melodee Hanes. The revelation appears to belie Baucus' original explanation -- that Hanes withdrew "after much reflection ... because [the two] wanted to live together in Washington, D.C."

That Baucus, a Montana Democrat, recommended Hanes to the White House to be U.S. Attorney was revealed last week by Main Justice. A former Baucus staffer, Hanes explained her withdrawal in March by saying she had "been presented with other opportunities that I felt I could not bypass."

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Bush Administration

Gonzo: We Should Have Known We'd Get Caught Purging US Attorneys

Justin Elliott | December 9, 2009, 9:11AM

Esquire's interview with Alberto Gonzales

Alberto Gonzales has taken a break from his teaching load at Texas Tech to give a remarkably unselfconscious interview with Esquire, saying the Bush Administration should have dropped its plan to purge U.S. attorneys in 2006 because "at that point we could really not count on Republicans to cut off investigations or help us at all with investigations."

By Gonzo's reasoning, the problem was not the firings themselves, but rather the prospect that the Bush Administration would get caught:

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Salahis

White House Stance On Rogers Testimony Mimics Bush

Zachary Roth | December 4, 2009, 11:10AM

Desirée Rogers, Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary

The underlying issue is far less consequential -- but it's ironic to see the White House falling back on a argument against transparency that Democrats have spent the last few years challenging.

Asked Wednesday whether Social Secretary Desiree Rogers would testify before Congress about her role in the Salahi affair, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters:

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Alberto Gonzales

Iglesias: Evidence Of Politicization By Arizona Sheriff "Felt Very Familiar"

Zachary Roth | November 2, 2009, 2:37PM

Fmr. US Attorney (NM) David Iglesias

David Iglesias is comparing Sheriff Joe Arpaio's alleged targeting of political foes to the notorious Rove-Gonzales politicization of DOJ, which led to Iglesias's own improper firing.

The evidence against the Arizona sheriff was "very similar to what was going on at the Department of Justice under the Bush administration," Iglesias said in an interview with TPMmuckraker. "It unfortunately felt very familiar."

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Joe Arpaio

Report: FBI Probing Controversial Arizona Sheriff For "Investigating" Political Foes

Zachary Roth | November 2, 2009, 1:12PM

Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the hard-line anti-immigration Arizona sheriff, is being probed by the FBI for allegedly using his authority to retaliate against political adversaries, sources tell a local TV station. One of the key cases cited by Phoenix-based KPHO is one we told you about recently, in which a husband-and-wife team of big-name Washington GOP lawyers was briefly recruited to try to build a case against a local official who had clashed with Arpaio.

In response to the KPHO report, Arpaio bizarrely lashed out at ... David Iglesias, the former U.S. attorney who had dared offer an expert opinion to the station.

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Mary Beth Buchanan

U.S. Attorney Who Played Role In Firings Scandal To Step Down -- Congressional Bid Next?

Zachary Roth | October 30, 2009, 10:04AM

Mary Beth Buchanan

Mary Beth Buchanan, the Bush-appointed federal prosecutor who had a cameo in the U.S. attorney firings scandal and was charged with pursuing politically motivated prosecutions, is stepping down.

Buchanan, a Republican, is said to be mulling a run for Congress against incumbent Democrat Rep. Jason Altmire. In a statement yesterday, she said she was "looking forward to the next chapter of my professional career," without elaborating.

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Global Warming

Could Coal Lobby Chief Be Probed For Perjury?

Zachary Roth | October 29, 2009, 4:49PM

CEO of ACCCE Steve Miller

Could apparently false statements made by the head of a coal-industry lobby group before Congress this morning end up being referred to the Justice Department for a criminal perjury probe? Congressional investigators aren't ruling it out.

As we reported, Steve Miller, the director of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), appears to have twice misled Congress while under oath during his testimony this morning over those forged letters sent on the coal lobby's behalf by Bonner and Associates.

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Chris Christie

Did FOIA Request On Financial Ties To Christie Prompt Top Aide's Departure?

Zachary Roth | October 27, 2009, 1:16PM

Fmr. top aide Michele Brown (inset) and NJ Gov. Candidate Chris Christie (R)

Hat tip Marcy Wheeler at Firedoglake...

Did Chris Christie's top aide resign as a top prosecutor this summer in order to prevent information about her financial ties to Christie from becoming public? Let's look at the facts:

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Mary Beth Buchanan

New Allegations Against Bush-Appointed U.S. Attorney Linked To Firings Scandal

Zachary Roth | October 23, 2009, 2:00PM

Mary Beth Buchanan

The office of a top Bush-appointed federal prosecutor who played a role in the U.S. attorney firings scandal received improper recordings of telephone calls between defense lawyers and their clients, and appears not to have turned them over to authorities, as required by law.

On Wednesday evening, Lisa Freeland, a Pittsburgh-based federal public defender, sent a lengthy email to fellow defense lawyers, reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, exposing the episode. "I am incensed," Freeland wrote.

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Chris Christie

Lautenberg To DOJ: Christie-Brown Ties Raise "Serious Concerns"

Zachary Roth | October 21, 2009, 5:27PM

Fmr. top aide Michele Brown (inset) and NJ Gov. Candidate Chris Christie (R)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has released a letter he sent today to the Justice Department calling for an investigation into the possible politicization of the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey in the service of Chris Christie's campaign for governor.

In the letter to Mary Patrice Brown, who runs DOJ's internal ethics unit, Lautenberg, the chair of the Jon Corzine campaign, focuses on ties between Christie, a Republican, and his former top aide Michele Brown, which Lautenberg says raise "serious concerns." We laid out many of those ties here.

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Chris Christie

Beyond Brown: Did Another Top Christie Aide Politicize Prosecutor's Office To Help Former Boss?

Zachary Roth | October 21, 2009, 2:35PM

U.S. prosecutor Ralph Marra

So far, the charges that Chris Christie turned the U.S. attorney's office into a "branch office" of his campaign for governor, as Jon Corzine put it yesterday, have centered on the relationship between Christie and Michele Brown, a close friend and top aide to Christie when he was US attorney. Brown reportedly took several actions this year that benefited Christie's GOP bid for governor, and in 2007 got an undisclosed $46,000 loan from him.

But did another of Christie's former top aides also put the prosecutor's office in the service of his one-time boss's political aspirations? Ralph Marra, who until this month was the acting U.S. attorney, has several times appeared to insert himself into the political back-and-forth over the race, appearing to pointedly criticize a request by the Corzine campaign for public information, and even triggering a Justice Department probe into whether he made inappropriately political public comments that may have boosted Christie.

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Frank Lautenberg

Lautenberg Calls For Federal Probe Into Whether Christie Politicized Prosecutor's Office

Zachary Roth | October 20, 2009, 5:42PM

NJ Gov. Chris Christie (R)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg is calling for a federal investigation into whether former U.S. attorney Chris Christie used his office for political gain, reports the AP.

The New York Times reported this morning that a close Christie aide and friend in the office took several steps that benefited Christie's campaign for governor, after receiving a $46,000 loan from him. We took a broader look at the case that Christie may have improperly politicized the U.S. attorney's office here.

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Chris Christie

Did Christie Politicize U.S. Attorney's Office?

Zachary Roth | October 20, 2009, 2:00PM

NJ Gov. Candidate Chris Christie (R) and his fmr. top aide Michele Brown

Back in August, when it was revealed that Chris Christie had given an unreported $46,000 loan to Michele Brown, his top deputy at the US attorney's office, we had a sense there was more to the story than we'd yet learned.

And today's revelations from the New York Times help fill out the picture. Simply put, a close look at the unusually close relationship between the two -- as well as at other evidence that Christie retains ties to his former colleagues in the prosecutors' office -- strongly suggests that in the service of his bid for governor, he may have improperly politicized an office that's supposed to be an independent administrator of justice.

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Chris Christie

Christie's Top Aide Got Loan Then Helped His Campaign: Report

Zachary Roth | October 20, 2009, 10:03AM

Fmr. top aide Michele Brown (inset) and NJ Gov. Candidate Chris Christie (R)

Did a top prosecutorial deputy to Chris Christie improperly use her position earlier this year to boost his run for governor -- despite the candidate's recent claim that she had done nothing to help his campaign?

The New York Times has assembled some pretty good evidence.

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Mary Beth Buchanan

Report: Republican US Attorney With Role In Firings Scandal Mulls Bid For Congress

Justin Elliott | October 9, 2009, 1:50PM

Mary Beth Buchanan

Via Main Justice, we note with interest that
U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, who has been accused of pursuing politically motivated prosecutions and who played a role in the US attorneys firings scandal, is reportedly looking at a run for Congress in Pennsylvania.

Buchanan is consulting with state and national GOP leaders and is "50-50" on whether to run, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, quoting a local Republican county chair.

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Joe Arpaio

'America's Toughest Sheriff' Teams With Beltway GOP Power Couple In 'Inquisition' Of Arizona Official

Zachary Roth | October 7, 2009, 3:41PM

Republican lawyers Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing

Notorious anti-immigrant sheriff Joe Arpaio is working with a husband-and-wife GOP lawyer team that was one of Bill Clinton's biggest tormentors during the 90s, to go after a local Arizona official. But critics are calling the effort a politically motivated fishing expedition. And the defense lawyer on the case knows something about politicized justice: he was one of the US attorneys improperly fired by Alberto Gonzales.

Here's the back-story. It's got a few twists and turns. But stay with us -- it's worth it:

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U.S. Attorneys

US Attorney's "Convenience Store Initiative" Probed Middle Easterners For Terror Ties

Zachary Roth | September 29, 2009, 3:35PM

In the period after 9/11, law-enforcement agencies around the country suddenly made rooting out anyone with possible ties to terrorism a top priority. But did one Bush appointee take that zeal too far by targeting people based on little more than an Arabic-sounding name?

The Convenience Store Initiative was the farcical-sounding name of a program launched by the office of Jim Greenlee, the US attorney for Mississippi's northern district, according to documents obtained by the state's Clarion-Ledger newspaper.

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U.S. Attorneys

Did Rep. Lewis Cross A Line In Objecting To U.S. Attorney Candidate?

Justin Elliott | September 21, 2009, 7:18PM

Rep. John Lewis (D-GA)

The Wall Street Journal is out with a story suggesting Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) exerted untoward influence over a US Attorney pick for Georgia by blocking an experienced candidate who had prosecuted a longtime friend.

Is there anything to the story?

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Daniel Bogden

Bogden Confirmed -- Again -- As US Attorney

Justin Elliott | September 16, 2009, 9:48AM

US Attorney Daniel Bogden (NV)

Daniel Bogden, who was fired by the Bush Administration in 2006 during its purge of US Attorneys, officially got his old job back yesterday as the Senate confirmed him by unanimous consent to be US Attorney for Nevada.

President Obama nominated Bogden for the job earlier this year. Nevada Senators Harry Reid (D) And John Ensign (R) each hailed Bogden in statements.

Reid's statement after the jump:

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