Legal News

Report on U.S. attorney firings answers questions on Carol Lam's firing

By Jason Siegel

A nearly 400-page government report blames former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty and Gonzales' chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, over the controversial removal of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006, The National Law Journal reported.

Regarding former-U.S. Attorney Carol Lam in San Diego, no evidence was found to support that her removal was in retaliation over the "investigation or prosecution of Representative [Randy 'Duke'] Cunningham or CIA official [Kyle 'Dusty'] Foggo**," found the report by the Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility.

Instead, Lam was removed because of an evaluation by the Justice Department that found her office prosecuting fewer gun cases than the national and state average for U.S. Attorneys and fewer immigration cases than other U.S. Attorneys near the country's Southwest Border.

According to the report, Deputy Attorney General James Comey claims he told Lam in a 2004 phone call that the number of firearms cases were too low, but stated that he "was keen not to convey that directly," assuming that the numbers would go up and didn't tell her that she'd be removed if the numbers didn't improve.

"Nobody ever told her either change or get out, they never gave her an ultimatum, they never told her failure to increase those cases would lead to her being removed," former U.S. Attorney Pete Nunez told KPBS. (LISTEN)

When Lam was notified of her removal on Dec. 7, 2006 by Michael Battle, the director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, he couldn't tell her why she was being removed.

No one, including then Deputy U.S. Attorney General Paul McNulty would let her know, according to the report.

Read the NLJ's full story on the report

**"Former CIA executive pleads guilty to defrauding government," L.A. Times

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on October 01, 2008 (boomark / email).