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House Judiciary Committee Release “Privileged” Logs in U.S. Attorney Probe
New documents shed light on the reaction within the Justice Department to the on-going controversy surrounding the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.
The House Judiciary Committee released today what are known as “privileged” logs—brief descriptions of e-mail and telephone communications among Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty and other high ranking Justice officials.
“While the committee appreciates the production of these logs as a first step toward responding to our subpoena, the logs only further highlight the need to review the listed documents,” said Rep. John Conyers, Jr., D-Mich., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
“The information listed in these logs raise further concerns about the White House’s involvement in the process of hiring and firing US Attorneys,as well as the way that process was communicated to Congress,” Conyers said.
Log highlights include:
A series of emails between McNulty and his Mike Elston, his chief of staff, about a briefing with White House Counsel Fred Fielding.
An e-mail on March 3 Tasia Scolinos, director of public affiars, to McNulty, Kyle Sampson, the attorney general’s former chief of staff, and Brian Roehrkasse, deputy director of public affairs, entitled, “Discussions re: phone call with Comey re:USAs.” The e-mail is referring to former Deputy Attorney James Comey, who is scheduled to testify before the House panel on Thursday.
A bunch of “phone message slips” from early December regarding Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. The senator called David Iglesias, the fired U.S. attorney from New Mexico, to ask about an on-going investigation of a state Democrat a few weeks before last November’s election that put the Democrats back in charge of Congress.
Two emails that McNulty forwarded to himself on 3/3 and 3/4 entitled, “Draft communication to USAs re: problems in DOJs handling of US Attorney matter.”
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