Feinstein asks the question everyone’s been wondering about (from the AP)…
Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Tuesday she wants answers about the departure of the former U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, who resigned last October before the Justice Department’s dismissal of eight other U.S. attorneys sparked controversy.
“I have questions about Debra Yang’s departure and I can’t answer those questions right at this time,” Feinstein, D-Calif. and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters in response to a question. “Was she asked to resign, and if so, why? We have to ferret that out.”
Debra Wong Yang went to work for a private law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, and has said she left of her own accord.
A Gibson Dunn spokeswoman issued a statement on Yang’s behalf Tuesday night. “Debra Wong Yang’s decision to leave her post as U.S. attorney to pursue a private practice was entirely her own, and she had many options to choose from. We are delighted that she chose Gibson Dunn,” it said.
As I said, this is one that’s been hanging in the background and many have been afraid to ask.
You’ll remember that the Duke Cunningham investigation spread out in several directions. One was into the CIA. Another was on to Capitol Hill. The big fish there was Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), then Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. The Lam investigation in San Diego sparked the Lewis investigation. But the Lewis investigation itself was and is being run out of the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. And that brings us to Debra Yang.
It is not at all uncommon for US Attorneys to leave their posts for private practice, very often for lucrative work as criminal defense attorneys. And a complex corruption investigation of a powerful political figure like Lewis can drag on for some time. So in isolation nothing would appear out of the ordinary or improper when a US Attorney like Yang resigned her post while her office was conducting such a high profile probe.
But of course it’s not in isolation.
It came right in the midst of the summary firings of several US Attorneys who were either investigating Republicans or failing to investigate Democrats. Yang left the US Attorneys office for a job at Gibson Dunn, the firm which happens to be the one representing Lewis. (Most lawyers would, I think, caution that this isn’t necessarily as questionable as it might seem on first blush. Gibson Dunn is a major national law firm based in LA. It’s a logical place for someone like Yang to go.) Yang is now one of three co-chairs of the firm’s Crisis Management Group, along with New York Partner Randy Mastro and GOP power player Theodore Olson.
And one other issue that might come into play here. If you look at the corruption investigations over the last two years, there’s an odd pattern of pivotal investigators and prosecutors getting fortuitous promotions or offers of employment in the private sector at key moments. Take a look at the DOJ’s Public Integrity section.
The Yang case is very different from the cases of the fired prosecutors, at least based on the evidence now on offer. To the best of my knowledge Yang has said that her departure was her decision. She wasn’t pushed. And no evidence has yet surfaced from within the DOJ that suggests otherwise. It may well just be coincidence that the two Southern California US Attorneys covering the expanding Cunningham-Lewis investigation left their posts within six weeks of each other. But this story so far has been unkind to those inclined to accept coincidences at face value.
