Are we in for a repeat of Nixon-era saturday night massacre?

Saturday Night Massacre
Saturday Night Massacre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The "Saturday Night Massacre" (October 20, 1973) was the term given by political commentators to U.S. President Richard Nixon's executive dismissal of independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox, and the forced resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus during the controversial and drawn-out Watergate scandal.

Cox, who was appointed by Congress to investigate the events surrounding the Watergate break-in of June 17, 1972, had earlier issued a subpoena to President Nixon, asking for copies of taped conversations which Nixon had made in the Oval Office as evidence. Nixon initially refused to comply with the subpoena, but on October 19, 1973, he offered what was later known as the Stennis Compromise - asking a Senator to review and summarize the tapes for the special prosecutor's office.

Cox refused the compromise that same evening, and it was believed that there would be a short rest in the legal maneuvering while government offices were closed for the weekend. However, President Nixon acted to dismiss Cox from his office the next night - a Saturday. He contacted Attorney General Richardson and ordered him to fire the special prosecutor. Richardson refused, and instead resigned in protest. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General Ruckelshaus to fire Cox; he, too, refused and resigned.

Nixon then contacted the Solicitor General, Robert Bork, and ordered him as acting head of the Justice Department to fire Cox. Richardson and Ruckelshaus had both personally assured the congressional committee overseeing the special prosecutor investigation that they would not interfere - Bork had made no such assurance to the committee. Bork considered resigning as well, but was persuaded by Richardson that this would leave the Department in chaos. Bork then complied with Nixon's order and fired Cox.

Congress was infuriated by the act, which was seen as a gross abuse of Presidential power. In the days that followed, numerous bills of impeachment against the President were introduced in Congress. Nixon defended his actions in a famous press conference on November 17, 1973, in which he said,

"...in all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. And I think, too, that I should say that in my years of public life that [sic] I've welcomed this kind of examination, because people have got to know whether or not their President's a crook. Well, I'm not a crook!"
The Independent Counsel Act, passed in 1978, came as direct result of the firings. Nixon would later succumb to mounting pressures, soon resigning the Presidency.

guess fitzgerald better wrap 'er up by october 1st if he wants anything to come out of it.

Feisty U.S. attorney's job safe
Feisty U.S. attorney's job safe
July 29, 2005
BY LYNN SWEET
Chicago Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON -- It's his call.

Though his term is up this fall, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the aggressive prosecutor who is investigating Mayor Daley's City Hall, possible illegal White House leaks and who has a former Illinois governor awaiting a corruption trial, is in no danger of losing his job.

Fitzgerald's original four-year term expires in a few months, and former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.), who engineered his appointment (they are not related), is raising a concern the Chicago-based career prosecutor may be pressured out.

The former senator said in a WGN-TV interview Wednesday he feared for Patrick Fitzgerald's future because of his pursuit of official corruption. Peter Fitzgerald did not offer specifics and was vacationing Thursday and could not be reached.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) was asked about Peter Fitzgerald's concerns Thursday . "I know there [have] been innuendos about my getting pressures. I can tell you nobody has talked to me or called me about this. Anybody. Period,'' Hastert said.

For legal and political reasons, however, it seems it is Patrick Fitzgerald's decision to stay or go. Legally, if President Bush does nothing, he stays on the job even though his term is over. Politically, Bush would face a storm of protest if he fired a man who is investigating his own administration.

Patrick Fitzgerald's White House investigation of the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity is putting him at the doorstep of Bush advisor Karl Rove. His pursuit of criminality in City Hall contracts and hiring is taking him into Daley's inner circle.

Illinois Democratic Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama have been on record since January -- before the White House and City Hall probes heated up -- as wanting Patrick Fitzgerald to stay.

Hastert said Thursday, "My view on this thing, first of all, he was appointed. He serves at the pleasure of the president of the United States. As far as I know, the U.S. attorney general nor the president or anybody else has asked for his resignation. He serves for the duration as far as I'm concerned.''

Durbin spokesman Joe Shoemaker said Thursday Durbin "thinks there is no finer attorney than Patrick Fitzgerald. He is honest and thorough.''

Hastert wouldn't seek change

White House spokesman Allen Abney referred questions about Fitzgerald to the U.S. Justice Department. A Hastert confidant said the speaker did not issue a statement of support because he does not know Patrick Fitzgerald and has never talked to him.

Hastert said Thursday that before he would do that, "I'd like to see what his views are and what he plans to do," especially in the area of illegal drug money laundering.

Most important however, is this: If the White House asked, Hastert's team would not recommend a change, the source said.

Peter Fitzgerald was the state's senior Republican in 2001 when he reached outside of Illinois to recommend Patrick Fitzgerald, then a New York federal prosecutor, for the job. In the process, Peter Fitzgerald alienated Hastert by refusing to discuss with him the selection of three new U.S. attorneys for Illinois after Bush came into office.

Here is how the selection system for U.S. attorneys works:

* A U.S. attorney is nominated by the president and needs Senate confirmation, though there are no hearings.

* When the term is up, the U.S. attorney serves until a successor is named. No affirmative action -- such as a formal reappointment -- needs to take place.

Bookmarking, to get email updates. But this conversation appears to be lagging, on all sites here.

This DOES need to be cleared up.

Carville predicts Fitzgerald after several Times reporters
Former Clinton attack dog James Carville predicted Monday that Leakgate Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will be "coming after more people at the New York Times" - in addition to Times reporter Judy Miller, who is in her sixth week behind bars for refusing to divulge her sources.

Calling Fitzgerald "relentless," the Clintonista-turned-CNN commentator told radio host Don Imus: "My sense is he's coming after more people at the New York Times. He's going subpoena Bill Keller and all of them and ask them what Judy Miller told them. And if they don't talk, he's going to stick them in jail."

"There are all sorts of rumors and I hear second hand that [Miller] was screaming out in the news room about this."

The Times, said Carville, "to some extent is going to have to come clean. Because they're going to have to tell us what Judy Miller knew, when she knew it and who she told."

That would be cool.