Special Prosecutor to Investigate Firings of U.S. Attorneys

Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced Monday that he is appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006.

Mukasey appointed Nora R. Dannehy, the acting U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, as a special prosecutor to further investigate findings by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General’s report today. The report highlighted improprieties in the Justice Department, but refused to refer former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to a grand jury.

“[T]he Report makes plain that, at a minimum, the process by which nine U.S. Attorneys were removed in 2006 was haphazard, arbitrary and unprofessional,” Mukasey said. Dannehy will investigate whether any prosecutable offense occurred in the removal of the nine U.S. Attorneys or in the testimony of witnesses during the investigation into the firings.

“This Report describes a disappointing episode in the history of the Department,” Mukasey said.

–Michael O’Brien