Finally, you're thinking, a scandal without Jews: the saga of the fired attorneys has Hispanics, Asians, Scotch-Irish, but nary a Jew among them. Not on the wrong end of the scandal, like Lewis Libby; nor caught in its maw, like journalists Judith Miller, Matt Cooper and Walter Pincus.
Hooooooold on.
I'm afraid the U.S. Attorney scandal circles back to the Rosen-Weissman-AIPAC trial. And unlike so much else in this town, the connection isn't even hard to track.
This scandal, like so many others in Washington, is less about differences over what happened, and more over whether what happened involves ethical or even legal lapses.
In other words, fool around with the jargon, and the narratives are pretty much the same: The justice department sacked a pile of attorneys because (choose one) a) they failed to adhere to the Bush administration's reasonable agenda; or b) they failed to follow questionable orders.
What follows, no matter which option above you believe to be true, is that U.S. Attorneys have a smorgasbord of possibly prosecutable cases; there's no such thing as one that's underemployed. And a big chunk of how they're assessed is based on which cases they choose to prosecute and which they choose to ignore. (The crude summary of what's emerging from this scandal is that Democrats prosecute voter access denial; Republicans prosecute voter fraud.)
Prosecutors who (again, pick one) perform well/follow political marching orders are far more likely to climb the ladder, to judgeships and other plum positions. (The Washington state prosecutor knew he was toast when he was turned down for a federal judgeship.)
OK, so, now that we know how it works, consider:
Paul McNulty was the U.S. Attorney making his name in one of the busiest districts, eastern Virginia, where a lot of the post-9/11 cases are considered.
Paul McNulty made time in his busy schedule for a major case against Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, two senior AIPAC staffers.
Not only that, but the indictment hinges on a never used -- not rarely used, but NEVER used -- 1917 statute that criminalizes the receipt of information. Not just a long shot, but one with clear First Amendment vexations in its path.
This is what McNulty CHOOSES to prosecute.
And within months, McNulty is named deputy attorney general.
Draw your own conclusions.
McNulty will testify about his role in the U.S. Attorney firings in a couple of weeks. Gotta wonder if any enterprising senator plans to raise the AIPAC affair…
