The special prosecutor will be Nora Dannehy, acting United States Attorney in Connecticut. The report places primary blame for the mishandling of the firings on Gonzales and his deputy Paul McNulty. Also bearing a large share of the blame: Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' former Chief of Staff.
The firings were “unsystematic and arbitrary, with little oversight by the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, or any other senior Department official,” the report continues. Improperly, the nine U.S. attorneys were not given an opportunity to address concerns about their performance, nor were they given the reasons for their removal.
In addition, Mr. Gonzales, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Sampson, and other officials failed “to provide accurate and truthful statements about the removals and their role in the process,” the report states.
Why the need for a special prosecutor? This might have something to do with it:
The report’s lead authors — Glenn A. Fine, the department’s inspector general, and H. Marshall Jarrett, the counsel for the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility — wrote that their investigation remains incomplete because of the refusal of certain key witnesses to be interviewed, including Karl Rove, the president’s former chief political adviser; Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel; Monica Goodling, the department’s former White House liaison; Senator Pete Domenici, Republican of New Mexico; and Mr. Domenici’s chief of staff, Steven Bell.
In addition, they wrote, “the White House would not provide us with internal documents related to the removals of the U.S. attorneys.”
The firing of New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, appears key to the new probe:
The report states that the most serious investigation that the inspector general was not able to fully investigate relates to the removal of Mr. Iglesias. It singles out his firing as a key reason why a counsel should be appointed to “conduct further investigation, and ultimately determine whether the evidence demonstrates that any criminal offense was committed.”
Mukasey's statement is here.
Update: It appears to me Mukasey is appointing Dannehy as a special counsel, like Patrick Fitzgerald in PlameGate. These are the Justice Department Regulations that authorized the appointment of a special counsel. That's just my guess though.
