If firing the DAs is within the AGs scope of power, why would he lie about being involved in it in the first place?
Technically, they serve at the pleasure of the president, not the AG. Though I nimagine he can pass that power onto the AG. Well, except that both the President and the AG have denied being involved in the decision.
Why would they lie? That is exactly the crux of the question and the motivation for the investigation by congress.
"Justice Department officials at first gave no reasons for the firings, then cited performance problems with the prosecutors, and, finally, acknowledged that performance could not be cited in each of the cases as the rationale for the firings." -- from the
NYT 3/25/07
Don't like the New York Times? Ok, I get that.. here's a right wing blog
perspective:
"One cannot support an Attorney General who misleads Congress, allows his staffers to mislead Congress, and deceives the American people, regardless of whether an R or a D follows his name or the majority control of Congress."
And so what if they were politically motivated.
Depends on how much you want to keep politics and justice separated. On one side are USAs working independently deciding which cases to prosecute based only on the evidence, and on the other are USAs working under the direct direction of an administration who then has the ability to let anyone he wants to get off free and harass his enemies. Though both extremes are unrealistic caricatures, I know which side I would prefer to lean towards.
If these guys were not performing according to the administrations wishes, what's the problem with firing them?
Two sides of this coin: 1) There may or may not be some responsibility on behalf of an employer to disseminate the wishes before firing someone "for cause", and 2) It is not clear that wishes were the problem when loyalty lists are being made.
There are enough scandals for Gonzales to be handling right now. This particular one is almost purely political and serves to show the white house in a poor light.
