Tuesday, June 26, 2007
The Rise And Fall Of David N. Kelly (Dem.) And James B. Comey (Rep.)
I'm turning in my 'puter for a couple of weeks and I wanted to fix my blond moment boo boos. I don't really have the patience to write these kinds of posts, so bear with me.
I took this time line, compiled from many different sources, and filled it in with the story of two attorneys.
2001
Beginning Jan. 20, 2001 -- Bush administration appoints begins nominating U.S attorneys to replace the Clinton administration's top prosecutors.
Sept. 11-- 9/11
Oct. 26 -- President Bush signs into law the USA Patriot Act.
2002
Kelley -- serves from 2002-2003 as Deputy United States Attorney, and is named on September 11, 2001 as co-chair of the Justice Department's nationwide investigation into the 9/11 attacks.
Comey -- The United States Senate confirms as United States attorney for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Comey, 41, has been serving in that position since he was appointed on Jan. 7.
2003
July -- The Justice Department's congressional liaison, William Moschella, corresponds with a department lawyer about the prospect of taking away federal district court judges' power to appoint interim U.S. attorneys.
December -- President Bush rewards U.S. Attorney James Comey with the no. 2 job at the Department of Justice. Comey is responsible for picking Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago. David N. Kelley, the former deputy to James B. Comey Jr., the United States attorney for the southern district of New York, is appointed to replace him on an interim basis for 120 days, or until a permanent replacement is named.
2004
March -- Kelley is the special prosecutor of the investigation into the unauthorized use of Senate computers by Republican aides. He is appointed in March, 2004, and then no report, nothing.
March 9 -- With then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in the hospital, acting Attorney General James Comey and other Justice lawyers are called to the White House to explain why they won't recertify a classified surveillance program. Cheney, his counsel David Addington, then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and chief of staff Andrew Card attend. Cheney and his staff later quash the promotion of one Justice lawyer in retaliation for his stance, Comey said.
March 10 -- Gonzales and Card go around Comey, making a late-night hospital visit to get Ashcroft to certify the program. When Ashcroft refuses to over-ride Comey, the White House continues the program without Justice's approval, agreeing to changes weeks later to stave off mass resignations. Bush gives Comey a derisive nickname, as “Cuomey” or “Cuomo” after New York’s former liberal Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo, Newsweek reports.
November -- Bush taps Gonzales as attorney general to replace Ashcroft, who's resigning.
Kelley not only continues to run the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, but the deputy position he left to take the job also remains unfilled.
2005
Jan. 6 -- Rove asks the White House Counsel's Office ''how we planned to proceed regarding U.S. attorneys'' according to e-mail between administration staffers. The options include replacing none of them, replacing all 93 U.S. attorneys or replacing some of them.
Jan. 9 -- Justice Department aide Kyle Sampson tells the White House Counsel's Office that he's discussed the matter with Gonzales and that they would aim to replace up to 20 percent of the U.S. attorneys. Not included are ``loyal Bushies.''
February -- A divided Senate confirms Gonzales as attorney general.
March -- On March 7, 2005, Brian McGuire writes an editorial in the New York Sun that asks why Kelley, a Democrat, is still around.
Sampson draws and sends a list to the White House that ranks all of the U.S. attorneys on their loyalty to the administration.
July -- Kelley is replaced. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Michael J. Garcia, who has headed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since the agency's creation in March 2003, is named by the White House as U.S. attorney in New York.
August -- Comey resigns, leaving a question mark in the probe into who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Comey is the only official overseeing special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's leak investigation. With Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recused, department officials say they are still trying to resolve whom Fitzgerald will now report to.
October -- Bush first tries to replace Comey with Timothy Flanigan, a former deputy White House counsel. But Flanigan’s nomination founders. He nominates McNulty on Oct. 20. McNulty was chief counsel to the Republican-run House Judiciary Committee when it pressed for impeachment of Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1998. McNulty also headed Bush’s Justice Department transition team after Election 2000.
-- Cheney chief of staff Libby is indicted for obstruction of justice and perjury related to CIA leak case. Gonzales chief of staff Sampson later tells senators that he had proposed putting special prosecutor Fitzgerald on the firing list in 2006 but the idea went nowhere.
November -- Justice's congressional liaison Moschella crafts language to insert into the Patriot Act reauthorization that, unbeknown to lawmakers, allows the administration to name interim U.S. attorneys to serve indefinitely. The revision effectively strips the Senate's confirmation power over interim U.S. attorneys.
And the rest, is history.
I don't think this is anything nefarious, but I thought it was interesting.
By David Von Drehle and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 1, 2004
I took this time line, compiled from many different sources, and filled it in with the story of two attorneys.
2001
Beginning Jan. 20, 2001 -- Bush administration appoints begins nominating U.S attorneys to replace the Clinton administration's top prosecutors.
Sept. 11-- 9/11
Oct. 26 -- President Bush signs into law the USA Patriot Act.
2002
Kelley -- serves from 2002-2003 as Deputy United States Attorney, and is named on September 11, 2001 as co-chair of the Justice Department's nationwide investigation into the 9/11 attacks.
Comey -- The United States Senate confirms as United States attorney for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Comey, 41, has been serving in that position since he was appointed on Jan. 7.
2003
July -- The Justice Department's congressional liaison, William Moschella, corresponds with a department lawyer about the prospect of taking away federal district court judges' power to appoint interim U.S. attorneys.
December -- President Bush rewards U.S. Attorney James Comey with the no. 2 job at the Department of Justice. Comey is responsible for picking Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago. David N. Kelley, the former deputy to James B. Comey Jr., the United States attorney for the southern district of New York, is appointed to replace him on an interim basis for 120 days, or until a permanent replacement is named.
2004
March -- Kelley is the special prosecutor of the investigation into the unauthorized use of Senate computers by Republican aides. He is appointed in March, 2004, and then no report, nothing.
March 9 -- With then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in the hospital, acting Attorney General James Comey and other Justice lawyers are called to the White House to explain why they won't recertify a classified surveillance program. Cheney, his counsel David Addington, then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and chief of staff Andrew Card attend. Cheney and his staff later quash the promotion of one Justice lawyer in retaliation for his stance, Comey said.
March 10 -- Gonzales and Card go around Comey, making a late-night hospital visit to get Ashcroft to certify the program. When Ashcroft refuses to over-ride Comey, the White House continues the program without Justice's approval, agreeing to changes weeks later to stave off mass resignations. Bush gives Comey a derisive nickname, as “Cuomey” or “Cuomo” after New York’s former liberal Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo, Newsweek reports.
November -- Bush taps Gonzales as attorney general to replace Ashcroft, who's resigning.
Kelley not only continues to run the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, but the deputy position he left to take the job also remains unfilled.
2005
Jan. 6 -- Rove asks the White House Counsel's Office ''how we planned to proceed regarding U.S. attorneys'' according to e-mail between administration staffers. The options include replacing none of them, replacing all 93 U.S. attorneys or replacing some of them.
Jan. 9 -- Justice Department aide Kyle Sampson tells the White House Counsel's Office that he's discussed the matter with Gonzales and that they would aim to replace up to 20 percent of the U.S. attorneys. Not included are ``loyal Bushies.''
February -- A divided Senate confirms Gonzales as attorney general.
March -- On March 7, 2005, Brian McGuire writes an editorial in the New York Sun that asks why Kelley, a Democrat, is still around.
Sampson draws and sends a list to the White House that ranks all of the U.S. attorneys on their loyalty to the administration.
July -- Kelley is replaced. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Michael J. Garcia, who has headed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since the agency's creation in March 2003, is named by the White House as U.S. attorney in New York.
August -- Comey resigns, leaving a question mark in the probe into who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Comey is the only official overseeing special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's leak investigation. With Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recused, department officials say they are still trying to resolve whom Fitzgerald will now report to.
October -- Bush first tries to replace Comey with Timothy Flanigan, a former deputy White House counsel. But Flanigan’s nomination founders. He nominates McNulty on Oct. 20. McNulty was chief counsel to the Republican-run House Judiciary Committee when it pressed for impeachment of Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1998. McNulty also headed Bush’s Justice Department transition team after Election 2000.
-- Cheney chief of staff Libby is indicted for obstruction of justice and perjury related to CIA leak case. Gonzales chief of staff Sampson later tells senators that he had proposed putting special prosecutor Fitzgerald on the firing list in 2006 but the idea went nowhere.
November -- Justice's congressional liaison Moschella crafts language to insert into the Patriot Act reauthorization that, unbeknown to lawmakers, allows the administration to name interim U.S. attorneys to serve indefinitely. The revision effectively strips the Senate's confirmation power over interim U.S. attorneys.
And the rest, is history.
I don't think this is anything nefarious, but I thought it was interesting.
By David Von Drehle and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 1, 2004
Fitzgerald's personal friendship with No. 2 Department of Justice official James B. Comey Jr. -- he is the godfather of one of Comey's children -- leaves some critics complaining that top administration officials still have too much control over an investigation that is centered on the White House.¶ 10:31 AM
It was in the Manhattan office, pursuing mobsters and terrorists, that Fitzgerald and Comey became best friends, two of the "bomb boys," as the terrorism prosecutors were known around the office. They entertained colleagues with their endless comic banter -- "like 'The Brothers McMullen,' " said one movie-loving co-worker -- with Fitzie playing the straight man, except for the occasional acerbic aside.
David N. Kelley, the acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan, is another former "bomb boy"; he has known Fitzgerald for 15 years and has taken vacations with him. Kelley and others who are close to Fitzgerald stress that, while he is tough and aggressive, he is not unreasonable or overzealous.
