Today’s Must ReadThere’s no better example of the painstaking review process that went into the Justice Department’s selection of U.S. attorneys to be fired: In the case of Nevada’s Daniel Bogden, it was a 90 second meeting that made the difference.
It’s never been clear why Bogden’s name was added — and apparently it wasn’t even clear to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, who wrote in an email on December 5th, two days before the firings, that he was “skittish about Bogden.” Bogden had been with the Justice Department for more than 16 years, McNulty wrote. What was he going to do now? “I’ll admit have not looked at his district’s performance,” he added.
Here’s what happened next, according to leaked details from Kyle Sampson’s private testimony to Congress. From The Las Vegas Review-Journal:
A former high level department executive has told congressional investigators that a Justice Department team held a last-minute discussion after McNulty said in an e-mail on Dec. 5 that he was “skittish” about firing Bogden.
McNulty; his chief of staff, [Michael] Elston; Monica Goodling, a senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; and possibly one other official gathered in the office of Kyle Sampson, Gonzales’ chief of staff.
McNulty said he was concerned about Bogden, 50, getting a job outside government after 16 years at Justice and being able to care for his family.
When it was pointed out that Bogden was not married, McNulty withdrew his concern and the conversation ended after about 90 seconds, according to the account gathered by investigators. Bogden was dismissed on Dec. 7.
Sampson couldn’t say who had put Bogden on the list (even though he was the “keeper of the list”) or why. He’d never looked at Bogden’s performance, and neither did Alberto Gonzales. The only thing he can remember is that there was “a general feeling among senior staffers at the Justice Department that a ‘stronger leader’ could be put in Nevada.” So he was fired. And then the Justice Department told Congress that he’d been fired for “performance” reasons.
All that remained, apparently, was to find out what those were.
Update: The Las Vegas Sun has a more detailed rundown of Sampson’s testimony.
