Buchanan to testify in attorney scandal today

[maddezmom]

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Friday, June 15, 2007

Mary Beth Buchanan, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, is meeting this morning with investigators in Washington to discuss what she knows about the firings of eight federal prosecutors across the nation last year.

Ms. Buchanan, who served as director of the U.S. Justice Department's Executive Office for United States Attorneys from June 2004 to June 2005, will be questioned by Republican and Democratic investigators from both the House and Senate.

A staff member for the House Judiciary Committee, where the interview will occur, said it is scheduled for the entire day. Whether it lasts that long, the staff person said, depends on where the line of questioning takes her interrogators.

Ms. Buchanan's name entered the controversy over the U.S. attorney firings in April, when D. Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff for U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, said she was among people who were consulted about which prosecutors should be asked to resign.

~snip~

Ms. Buchanan was initially scheduled to go before congressional investigators June 7, but that appearance was postponed. Today's interview will be conducted privately, though a transcript of it could be published if it is quoted during any committee hearings.




Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07166/794305-84.stm

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Why privately?

Is this good news--is this person willing to spill it all? Or is this another delaying tactic?

[mod mom]

2. Buchanan hired Goodling & Sampson discussed firings w Buchanan

from the article:

During her questioning May 23, Ms. Goodling referred to Ms. Buchanan's role in the executive office. She told the committee that Ms. Buchanan had hired her, and that she knew that Mr. Sampson had spoken with Ms. Buchanan about the firings.

-snip

[mod mom]

3. Did the Federalist Society Recommended Replacement for Lam in March 2005?

U. S. ATTORNEYS
E-mail questions if conservative group was party to plan to fire U.S. attorneys
By Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor
McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON - A leader of an influential conservative legal group recommended a replacement candidate for the U.S. attorney in San Diego just days after the sitting prosecutor's name was secretly placed on a Justice Department firing list, according to a document released Wednesday.



The recommendation by the executive vice president of the Federalist Society, Leonard Leo, came before anyone outside of a tight group in the White House and Justice Department knew about a nascent strategy that ultimately led to the firings of nine U.S. attorneys.



It could not be determined whether a short e-mail, sent on March 7, 2005, making the recommendation meant that Leo knew of the plan to fire Carol Lam or whether his message was unsolicited and coincidental.



The subject line of Leo's e-mail to Mary Beth Buchanan, then-director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, says, "USA San Diego," indicating the top prosecutor job for the Southern District of California. Lam was on the job at the time and had no plans to step down.

-snip

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/17333161.htm?source=rss&channel=krwashington_nation

[annabanana]

4. k&r. It will be interesting to see what she has to say.

(If she remembers, that is.)

[maddezmom]

6. I'll bet the line of question had something to do with Elston's departure

:D

[maddezmom]

5. House, Senate aides quiz Buchanan on firings

House, Senate aides quiz Buchanan on firings
Saturday, June 16, 2007

By Jerome L. Sherman and Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



WASHINGTON -- U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan yesterday faced six hours of questions from congressional staffers in the ongoing probe into last year's controversial firings of nine other U.S. attorneys from across the country.

Her lawyer, Roscoe C. Howard Jr., said she was "absolutely not involved" in the firings, although she served as director of the U.S. Justice Department's Executive Office for United States Attorneys from June 2004 to June 2005, part of the time period under consideration by investigators.

Ms. Buchanan was questioned by Democratic and Republican staffers from both the House and Senate Judiciary committees in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C.

"I think it's a little premature to go into the actual substance of it," Mr. Howard said after the closed-door meeting.

~snip~

The discussion, he said, focused heavily on the creation of the Justice Department's list of fired attorneys. Since the issue came to light this year, critics have charged that partisan politics dominated the process.

Several high-ranking department officials have left their jobs, including D. Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and Monica Goodling, a former White House liaison.

more:http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07167/794643-85.stm