Arizonans have been WAITING for this day since 2006, just before the election.
Shortly after initiating the investigation of Renzi, the US Attorney for Arizona, Paul Charlton, was added to a list of US attorneys the Justice Department wanted to remove, in an effort that would become the dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy. In February 2005, Charlton had been on the "retain" list of Kyle Sampson, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez's chief of staff, but "by September of 2006 —
after it became clear that Charlton had launched an investigation of Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz, — Sampson included the Arizona prosecutor on another list of U.S. attorneys 'we now should consider pushing out.'" Sampson made the comment in a Sept. 13, 2006, letter to then-White House Counsel Harriet Miers.
On March 19, 2007, the White House released 3,000 pages of records connected to the controversy, including emails sent by Charlton to the Justice Department about his dismissal. On Dec. 21, 2006, Charlton sent a message to Bill Mercer, the third-ranking official in the department, writing, "Media now asking if I was asked to resign over leak in Congressman Renzi investigation." Charlton never received a response.
The Wall Street Journal explained further allegations: that
the Department of Justice intentionally delayed part of the investigation of Renzi until after the November 2006 election. They wrote:
The delays, which postponed key approvals in the case until after the election, raise new questions about whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales or other officials may have weighed political issues in some investigations....
Investigators pursuing the Renzi case had been seeking clearance from senior Justice Department officials on search warrants, subpoenas and other legal tools for a year before the election, people close to the case said....
...the investigation clearly moved slowly: Federal agents opened the case no later than June 2005, yet key witnesses didn't get subpoenas until early this year, those close to the case said. The first publicly known search — a raid of a Renzi family business by the Federal Bureau of Investigation — was(n't)carried out (until April 2007)...Further, the Journal noted that investigators had lobbied Washington for clearance to tap Renzi's phone for months. That clearance was only given in October of 2006, but unfortunately for the investigators, word broke of the investigation soon after, disrupting their wiretap.
On April 24, 2007, Renzi stepped down from the House Financial Services and Natural Resources committees, as more revalations connected him to the U.S. attorneys controversy. During that afternoon, Paul Charlton, the US Attorney from Arizona who was one of those fired, related to a House investigators that Brian Murray, Renzi's top aide, called Charlton spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle shortly after news of Renzi's investigation became public, asking for information on the case. Charlton, in turn, notified the Department of Justice about the call. Justice, in turn, had not previously notifed Congress of the contact.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Renzi#Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy McCain" "I rely on our Department of Justice and system of justice to make the right outcome."
Stupid lying mutherfuker.
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