Legal News

Gonzo to Get Pass on Grand Jury Referral; Prosecutor to be Named

By Dan Slater

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 30, 2008, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on politicized hiring at the DOJ. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

“Not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime,” said AG Michael Mukasey last month, referring to alleged wrongdoing by Monica Goodling, Kyle Sampson and others linked to the U.S. Attorney firing scandal. Today, according to reports, Mukasey’s words will hold true for at least one person — his predecessor, Alberto Gonzales.

In a report to be released today by DOJ Inspector General Glenn Fine and Office of Professional Responsibility Director H. Marshall Jarrett, Gonzales will not be referred to a federal grand jury for his alleged role in the 2006 firings of nine U.S. attorneys. Though the report will apparently “recommend that a prosecutor continue to probe the involvement of lawmakers and White House officials in the episode,” according to the WaPo. Here’s another report from the NYT.

“We are gratified that the report apparently verifies . . . that Judge Gonzales’s action in the removal of certain U.S. Attorneys was proper and appropriate,” said Gonzales’s lawyer, George J. Terwilliger III.

Despite an intense, 18-month review, writes the Post, the “effort to determine how the firing plan originated and whether perjury or obstruction-of-justice laws were violated in refusing to reveal the basis for the dismissals has been thwarted, partly because investigators lack the power to compel testimony from people outside the department” — such as former aide Monica Goodling, who came under fire for the sackings in an earlier IG report.

As for the probe, sources told the WaPo that Mukasey is preparing to name a prosecutor from within the department.

UPDATE: Mukasey has named Nora R. Dannehy, acting U.S. attorney in Connecticut, to oversee the new probe, which Mukasey said would ultimately “determine whether any prosecutable offense was committed with regard to the removal of a U.S. Attorney or the testimony of any witness related to the U.S. Attorney removals.” Here’s the WSJ report. Prior to joining the DOJ, Dannehy (Wellesley, Harvard law) clerked for U.S. District Judge T. Emmet Clarie, and then was an associate at Day, Berry & Howard.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on September 29, 2008 (boomark / email).