from MSNBC via Raw Story
A prosecutor who is investigating the dismissals of nine U.S. attorneys has been meeting with defense lawyers, dispatching subpoenas and seeking information about the events, according to legal sources familiar with the case. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey appointed prosecutor Nora R. Dannehy two months ago, after the department’s Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility reported that they had hit a roadblock in their lengthy probe into whether political interference prompted the dismissals. Internal investigators said they had been stymied by the refusal of key witnesses, including former presidential adviser Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers, to cooperate.
By naming a federal prosecutor to determine whether crimes have been committed, the attorney general ensured that authorities would have the power to compel testimony and documents. Dannehy, a longtime assistant U.S. attorney in Connecticut, in recent weeks has met with lawyers and government officials involved in the case. A grand jury in the District has issued subpoenas, the sources said. The requests for documents could provoke another legal skirmish in a fight over the scope of executive power wielded by the Bush administration. In past cases, White House lawyers have asserted executive privilege in refusing to make available witnesses and information to Congress and interest groups. A lawsuit filed by the House, which also is demanding information about the prosecutor firings, is under consideration by an appeals court…
The problem facing Obama is that retrospective investigations of the Bush Administration are in direct conflict with his plan to diminish Partisan Polarization in Washington. In the U.S. Attoney Firing Scandal, the nature of the alleged crime makes avoiding this one problematic. The implied charge is that the White House was directly using the DOJ for political purposes – prosecuting “voter fraud cases.” If the allegations are even close to correct, this one simply can’t be overlooked. The Special Prosecutor appointment may be turning out to be the right way to handle things. Obama is out of the loop, as is the Congress. Nora R. Dannehy could turn out to be the person who begins to restore the reputation of the DoJ as the place to go for Justice…
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