I Talked With the Justice Department… This Is What They Said…

Obviously, the US Attorney news has not been clear and counting on the mainstream media at this point to give accurate and unbiased information is just ridiculous…

Here is just one example of the conflicting news reports:
From Mike Glover at the Associated Press on March 26, 2007, defending Bill and Hillary Clinton’s US Attorney mass dump:

The government’s 93 U.S. attorneys are presidential appointees who can be hired and fired at will. Presidents generally replace all of their predecessor’s prosecutors at the start of their administrations, and midterm firings of multiple U.S. attorneys are unusual.

Ronald Reagan fired all sitting U.S. attorneys when he took office in 1981 and Bill Clinton did the same.

But, the Opinion Journal reported this on March 14, 2007:

In fact, the dismissals were unprecedented: Previous Presidents, including Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, had both retained holdovers from the previous Administration and only replaced them gradually as their tenures expired. This allowed continuity of leadership within the U.S. Attorney offices during the transition.

The LA Times spun it this way to make it sound as if what President Clinton did was no different than his predecessor:

Reagan replaced 89 of the 93 U.S. attorneys in his first two years in office. Clinton also had 89 new U.S. attorneys in his first two years, while Bush had 88 new U.S. attorneys in his first two years in office.

* * * * *
So, I called the Justice Department and the following is a collection of information on what I found out.
First, this is what the AP reported back in 1993 on the day that Janet Reno delivered the news to the sitting US Attorneys:

All U.S. attorneys held over from the previous administration were asked today to submit their resignations so President Clinton can put its own people in place, Attorney General Janet Reno said.

She also said she would push for legislation to give federal agencies a larger role in protecting women’s abortion rights. A recent Supreme Court decision undercut some federal authority to intervene, she said.

On the future of FBI Director William Sessions, Ms. Reno said she was still reviewing his case. He was hit with a critical Office of Professional Responsibility report shortly before Clinton became president. Administration officials have said privately that Sessions is almost certain to be replaced, but Clinton told reporters at an early afternoon news conference that he has not decided whether to replace the FBI director.

Holding her first news conference since being sworn in a week and a half ago, Reno said the administration was asking for the resignations “so that the U.S. attorneys presently in position will know where they stand and that we can begin to build a team that represents a Department of Justice that represents my views and the views of President Clinton.”

U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president, but the “vast majority” of the more than 90 posts are still being held by Republican holdovers who have stayed on past Clinton’s inauguration, said a Justice Department official.

Here is the source:

Copyright 1993 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved
The Associated Press
March 23, 1993, Tuesday, PM cycle
SECTION: Washington Dateline
HEADLINE: Holdover U.S. Attorneys Asked to Submit Resignations
BYLINE: By CAROLYN SKORNECK, Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: WASHINGTON

There is a similar article from The New York Times HERE.

Here is another report from The New York Times in 1993:

With vacancies delaying almost every Clinton initiative, career prosecutors at the department were stunned when Ms. Reno called on Tuesday for the resignations of all United States Attorneys, an action that was expected to take place gradually, not in a mass dismissal.

Administration efforts to explain the decision have left confusion. Ms. Reno did not make clear when she expected the United States Attorneys to leave. Several of the 77 who have not already left say they were told that she wanted them out within two weeks.
On Wednesday, Dee Dee Myers, the White House press secretary, said that the impression of a wholesale change-over was wrong and that the transition would be gradual. But today, George Stephanopoulos, the White House director of communications, said that some prosecutors who were in the midst of trials would not be dismissed. He added, “I think the bulk of them will be replaced over the next several weeks.”

And, here is more on Reagan from The New York Times:

President Reagan has been in office less than seven months and he has replaced fewer than one-fourth of the 94 United States attorneys.

The Washington Post wrote this in May 1981:

Of the 94 U.S. attorneys, 31 have resigned, two have died and 15 more have submitted their resignations.

This means that about half those still in office, who must prosecute a rising tide of federal cases, are either lame ducks or acting U.S. attorneys who lack the political clout of a presidential appointment.

Source:
Copyright 1981 The Washington Post
The Washington Post
May 23, 1981, Saturday, Final Edition
SECTION: First Section; A4
HEADLINE: Lag in Selecting Prosecutors, Judges Take a Toll in Caseloads and Morale
BYLINE: By Thomas O’Toole, Washington Post Staff Writer
* * * * *
From this collection of articles and the conversations I had with a Justice Department official this is what I can report.

Clinton’s actions in 1993 were shocking and unprecedented. For the AP to equate what Clinton did to Ronald Reagan’s easing out the previous administration’s attorneys is biased and dishonest.

But, don’t be surprised to see this line repeated by the mainstream news anyway. It’s not about accurate reporting anymore.

Also, both the Clinton and Reagan Administration as well as the current Bush administration agree to this definition (on the mission of US Attorneys), “United States Attorneys are appointed by, and serve at the discretion of, the President of the United States…”

Previously:
Surprise! Clinton Fired All 93 US Attorneys in 1993
MSM Tries to Spin Against Bush Attorney Firings
Where the Bushies Talked The Clintons Took Action
US Attorney David Iglesias Deserved to Be Fired For Incompetence
Liberal Media OK’s Hillary’s Absurd US Attorney Statements

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

You can email Jim Hoft here, and read more of Jim Hoft's articles here.

 

Thanks for sharing!