The White House approved the firings of seven U.S. attorneys
late last year after senior Justice Department officials identified
the prosecutors they believed were not doing enough to carry out
President Bush's policies on immigration, firearms and other issues,
White House and Justice Department officials said yesterday.
The list of prosecutors was assembled last fall, based largely
on complaints from members of Congress, law enforcement officials
and career Justice Department lawyers, administration officials
said.
One of the complaints came from Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.),
who specifically raised concerns with the Justice Department last
fall about the performance of then-U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias
of New Mexico, according to administration officials and Domenici's
office.
Iglesias has alleged that two unnamed New Mexico lawmakers pressured
him in October to speed up the indictments of Democrats before
the elections. Domenici has declined to comment on that allegation.
Since the mass firings were carried out three months ago, Justice
Department officials have consistently portrayed them as personnel
decisions based on the prosecutors' "performance-related"
problems. But, yesterday, officials acknowledged that the ousters
were based primarily on the administration's unhappiness with
the prosecutors' policy decisions and revealed the White House's
role in the matter.
"At the end of the day, this was a decision to pick the
prosecutors we felt would most effectively carry out the department's
policies and priorities in the last two years," said Justice
Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.
Officials portrayed the firings as part of a routine process,
saying the White House did not play any role in identifying which
U.S. attorneys should be removed or encourage the dismissals.
The administration previously said that the White House counsel
recommended a GOP replacement for one U.S. attorney, in Arkansas,
but did not say that the White House approved the seven other
firings.
"If any agency wants to make a change regarding a presidential
appointee, they run that change by the White House counsel's office,"
said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "That is standard
operating procedure, and that is what happened here. The White
House did not object to the Justice Department decision."
The seven prosecutors were first identified by the Justice Department's
senior leadership shortly before the November elections, officials
said. The final decision was supported by Attorney General Alberto
R. Gonzales and his deputy, Paul J. McNulty, and cleared with
the White House counsel's office, including deputy counsel William
Kelly, they said.
The firings have sparked outrage from Democrats and some Republicans
in Congress as details emerge about the unusual decision to remove
so many at once on Dec. 7, in the middle of the administration's
term. The issue escalated this week with the allegations from
Iglesias, who has said he will name the two New Mexico lawmakers
who called him if he is asked under oath.
The House Judiciary Committee has issued subpoenas for Iglesias
and three other fired prosecutors, who are set to testify in both
the House and the Senate on Tuesday. Lawmakers plan to press for
answers, including what triggered the creation of the list and
who else was involved.
Most of the prosecutors have said they were given no reason for
their dismissals and have responded angrily to the Justice Department's
contention that they were fired because of their performance.
At least five of the prosecutors, including Iglesias, were presiding
over public corruption investigations when they were fired, but
Justice Department officials have said that those probes played
no role in the dismissals.
Domenici's office confirmed yesterday that it had raised concerns
with the Justice Department about Iglesias's office, particularly
on immigration.
"We had very legitimate concerns expressed to us by hundreds
of New Mexicans -- in the media, in the legal communities and
just regular citizens -- about the resources that were available
to the U.S. attorney," said Steve Bell, Domenici's chief
of staff.
Domenici and his aides have declined to comment on whether the
lawmaker called Iglesias. Any communication by a senator or House
member with a federal prosecutor regarding an ongoing criminal
investigation is a violation of ethics rules.
The fired prosecutors in San Diego and Nevada are registered
independents, while the rest are generally viewed as moderate
Republicans, according to administration officials and many of
the fired prosecutors.
In a recent briefing with lawmakers, McNulty said one factor
in the decision to create the list of U.S. attorneys was the concern
raised by various members of Congress and law enforcement officials
that some U.S. attorneys were not following Bush administration
policies or federal sentencing rules, administration officials
said.
The Justice Department received several letters dating to 2005
and signed by more than a dozen California lawmakers, mostly Republicans,
raising concerns about then-U.S. Attorney Carol S. Lam's approach
to prosecuting immigration cases. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California,
a Democrat, also wrote Gonzales in June, saying that the "low
prosecution rates have a demoralizing effect on the men and women
patrolling our nation's borders."
On the job less than a year, McNulty consulted his predecessor
as deputy attorney general, James B. Comey, about some of the
prosecutors before approving the list, officials said. Comey,
who did not return a telephone call seeking comment yesterday,
praised Iglesias earlier this week as one of the department's
best prosecutors.
The seven prosecutors outside Arkansas were informed about their
ousters on Dec. 7, after the White House counsel's office signed
off.
A few days before the firings, administration officials began
the traditional process of calling lawmakers in the affected states
to inform them about the decisions and to gather early input on
possible successors, officials said.
Although the White House approved the firings, two administration
officials said the counsel's office did not suggest replacements.
But the officials said White House political affairs officials
keep databases on potential job candidates that Justice Department
officials could have accessed if they chose.
An administration official said White House Chief of Staff Joshua
B. Bolten does not recall whether he was briefed about the firings
before they occurred.
Privately, White House officials acknowledged that the administration
mishandled the firings by not explaining more clearly to lawmakers
that a large group was being terminated at once -- which is unusual
-- and that the reason was the policy performance review.
Staff writer Michael Abramowitz, washingtonpost.com staff writer
Paul Kane and staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this
report.
