Rep. Fattah: Justice Report Echoes Congressional Call for Special Prosecutor into Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys

Business Wire, Sept 29, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Over a year after Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA), a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice and Science, called for it, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey has appointed a Special Prosecutor to examine the removal of nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006 based on the findings of an investigative report issued today.

Concerned by what appeared to be the inappropriate firings of nine U.S. Attorneys, Congressman Fattah wrote to then Attorney General Gonzales asking for an official inquiry. A report released today by the Justice Department states that "at a minimum, the process by which nine U.S. Attorneys were removed in 2006 was haphazard, arbitrary and unprofessional, and that the way in which the Justice Department handled those removals and the resulting public controversy was profoundly lacking."

The Justice Department concurred with Congressman Fattah and found a closer look into the dismissal is necessary. Congressman Fattah said, "The American people have a right to know if the Justice Department, the office established to uphold the law, is violating the law." Acting U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy will oversee the investigation and report her findings to Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

Click here (www.house.gov/list/press/pa02_fattah030907.html) for the March 2007 press release from Congressman Fattah calling for a special investigator into the U.S. Attorney firings.