The Washington Post is reporting today, based on “sources familiar with documents withheld from the public,” that Justice had considered firing as many as 26 U.S. Attorneys. That’s more than 1 in 4. Contrast that to Alberto Gonzales’s sworn testimony last week that the spate of firings was limited to the 8 USAs the public already knows about. The news reveals not just more potential creepiness on the part of the DOJ, given that the 8 firings have been pretty compellingly shown to be a strong-arming attempt to force USAs to prosecute “voter fraud,” which doesn’t really exist. It also reveals a greater degree of incompetence in the department. Some of the most frequently listed attorneys were not among those ultimately fired, suggesting that the process wasn’t especially systematic. The purge was “handled badly” not just because it was ultimately discovered, but in pretty much every way imaginable.
In one especially bizarre development, prosecutor Christopher J. Christie in New Jersey appeared on one list of names. Christie is a major GOP donor, who conducted a corruption probe into Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez’s real estate dealings (D-N.J.) and is among that elite and teensy-tiny class of prosecutors who have gotten indictments in terrorism cases.
