The Justice Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials have previously acknowledged, with at least 26 prosecutors suggested for termination between February 2005 and December 2006, according to sources familiar with documents withheld from the public.
Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales testified last week that the effort was limited to eight U.S. attorneys fired since June, and other administration officials have said that only a few others were suggested for removal.
In fact, Gonzales’ former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, recommended more than two dozen U.S. attorneys for termination, according to lists compiled by him and his colleagues, the sources said.
They amounted to more than a quarter of the nation’s 93 U.S. attorneys. At least 13 of those known to have been targeted are still in their posts.
It is unclear how many knew they were considered for removal. “Really? I wasn’t aware of that,” U.S. Atty. Paula Silsby of Maine said when asked about her inclusion on the lists.
When shown the lists of firing candidates late Wednesday, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), an outspoken critic of the way Gonzales handled the prosecutor dismissals, said they “show how amok this process was.”
Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the lists “reflect Kyle Sampson’s thoughts for discussion during the consultation process” and were often compiled long before the bulk of the firings were done.
One memo sent to Sampson in November from Michael Elston, chief of staff to the deputy attorney general, suggested firing Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh, who supervised the nation’s prosecutors for a year and now heads the Office of Violence Against Women, sources said.
The same e-mail also listed prosecutor Christopher Christie in New Jersey, a major GOP donor who has undertaken several high-profile public corruption probes — including one into the real estate deals of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) — and who announced indictments in a terrorism case last week.
Reached Wednesday night, Christie said Elston contacted him in mid-March. Elston told him that he had put Christie’s name on a Nov. 1 list, along with four other U.S. attorneys, and that a redacted copy was being turned over to Congress.
“I was completely shocked. No one had ever told me that my performance had been anything but good,” Christie said. “I specifically asked him why he put my name on the list. He said he couldn’t give me an explanation.”
